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Can more experienced engineers give me their input on this. If I open a CD player, what electronic parts should I expect to find?

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May I refer you to a type of DNA sequencing called "shotgun sequencing". To characterize the DNA of certain organism, it is blasted into millions of pieces, then sequenced in parallel. I suggest the same with a CD player, using a big hammer and a room full of people. :D (I kid..) – tyblu Jan 13 '11 at 21:27
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The general process you are asking about is often called a teardown, which is used by engineers to examine a product. Searching for CD player teardown will find one at iFixit, that can give you a general idea even if you do not have the same model. ifixit.com/Teardown/Sony-CD-Walkman-D-NF430-Teardown/1249/2 – mctylr Jan 13 '11 at 22:41
@ tyblu, lol, this was my favourite thing when I was a kid. Electronics are just made to be smashed to smithereens – Anonymous Type Jan 13 '11 at 22:53

1 Answer

up vote 4 down vote

By searching the web, you'll find plenty of information.

Here's a teardown of a CD player.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gpi_8Vodi5w

Here's a picture of the internals:

Here's a basic guide to the workings http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/cd4.htm

But, the best way to find out is to take it apart.

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and the lasers in these are IR, aren't they? – JustJeff Jan 13 '11 at 22:20
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@JustJeff, yes IR, 780 nm – mctylr Jan 13 '11 at 22:40

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