CompuServe Thread

Going back through some early CD-ROM source articles (1988 and before) it seems caddies allowed the design of drives that would fit in a standard half-height computer bay. From the CD-DATA REPORT (1987): "… The reasons for requiring the use of cartridges vary from drive to drive. In the case of half-height drives, the limited height of the drive precludes the use of a mechanism to elevate the disc on a spindle prior to spinning and reading. Instead the disc must be used in the same plane in which it is inserted. The cartridge makes such "spinning in place" possible." The idea that caddies exist primarily to protect discs came along later, primarily from people who didn't know the technical necessity of them. Now, as to your question, "Why can't the publishers just slap the caddy on?" Very simple. I have two drives, neither require caddies — SO THERE! Just jokin' of course. Actually when caddies first came out they weren't standardized. A CD-ROM producer had no way of knowing what type of caddy you needed — or if you didn't need any at all. There are still some non-standard caddies out there — and of course there are all those machines that don't need them. I think you'll see more and more non-caddy machines as drive technology improves. Cheers!

Howard, I like the caddies because I can keep my most heavily used discs in them and never have to handle them (nor do my kids!!). It would be nice if there was a slip-in deal that you could keep in your drive tray to make caddies optional…. Bill Hines

I wish I had a caddy for my audio player too! A couple of weeks ago, I killed my favorite audio CD ("John Barleycorn must die" by Traffic) with a simple little 1/32" scratch. The audio CD player loses its mind every time it gets to that point and will not pass it. Now I can't find another copy. but that's just a $9.95 CD. Could you imagine losing an Oxford English Dictionary at about half the national debt?