https://tedium.co/2021/03/12/cd-rom-caddy-history/
For one: Benj Edwards, a pal of mine who writes about stuff like this, speculated nearly a decade ago that the reason why CD-ROMs came in caddies was because the disc media itself was expensive, costing hundreds of dollars and therefore being more valuable than it should possibly be. Which is true.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxt5A0KJ9nw
In the early days of computer CD-ROM drives users were often re... Today if you even have an optical drive, it is likely a tray-loader or a slide-in mechanism. In the early days of computer CD-ROM

https://retrocomputing.stackexchange.com/questions/28245/why-didnt-the-cd-come-with-a-caddy-by-default
The CD was intended as a medium for delivering music, and no CD audio player intended for playing music (that I am aware of) ever accepted a CD in a caddy -- because there was no need for it. - dave. Jan 6 at 19:25. 3. Depending on the scratch depth, your Call of Duty World at War might be salvageable.

https://www.vintagecomputing.com/index.php/archives/842/retro-scan-of-the-week-cd-rom-caddy
Inserting and removing a disc from a caddy was a tedious operation that actually increased disc handling time, thus negating the protective benefits of the caddy to begin with. As CD-ROM titles began to drop to the under $100-per-disc mark (very early 1990s), tray-loading CD-ROM drives emerged that did not require caddies.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caddy_(hardware)
A Macintosh Quadra 660AV with a caddy-based CD drive. Caddies date at least to the Capacitance Electronic Disc, which used a caddy from 1981 to protect the grooves of the disc. Some early CD-ROM drives used a mechanism where CDs had to be inserted into special cartridges, somewhat similar in appearance to a jewel case. Although the idea behind

https://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/why-did-black-cds-never-catch-on-or-cds-with-caddys.986767/page-2
Also, I remember in the early 90's seeing cd-rom's that were enclosed in plastic caddy's, similar to a minidisc but cd sized. I always thought that designed would better protect your disc, plus it gave the media a cartridge feel, kind of like an 8-track.

https://www.reddit.com/r/nostalgia/comments/59k50x/using_a_caddy_to_play_your_cdroms_in_the_90s/
Early CD-ROM drives looked a bit more like 3.5" floppy drives - rectangular slot, little spring loaded door. You'd take your CD out of its jewel case (mostly CDs were too valuable yet to be shipped in flimsy paper sleeves), then put it into this caddy. The caddy flipped closed and you'd slide it into the CD-ROM slot.

https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/lets-talk-about-optical-disc-drives.31203/
Caddy CD-ROM Disc Drives: Caddy's existed in the mid 1980s to early 1990s, nobody knew why they existed. They main theory is that people wanted to protect there multi-hundred CD-ROMs. ... Many people liked this tech, no need for printer & you didn't need to worry if the disc jammed some drives like *cough* label maker discs *cough*. Read only

https://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/why-did-black-cds-never-catch-on-or-cds-with-caddys.986767/
At my high school in the early 90's we had an encyclopedia system on discs in caddy's. I guess this was supposed to be high tech until the internet took off. Still, I really like how they protected the discs and still think the design could be improved and reimplemented, with the discs having larger storage for high bit rate audio

https://kotaku.com/the-weird-history-of-the-super-nes-cd-rom-nintendos-mo-1828860861
Published September 7, 2018. Nintendo never released a CD-ROM gaming system. But for a while in the early 1990s, it flirted with the idea. That protracted will-they-won't-they romance produced

https://www.reddit.com/r/geek/comments/35my36/cds_vs_floppy_disk/
NEC made some CD-ROM drives that needed a caddy back in the mid-1990s. The first drive I ever had was a Mitsumi 1X CD-ROM drive. Bought in 1993 or 1994. The entire drive ejected (sort of). So no, not all early CD-ROM drives used a caddy. Those were actually later models.

https://www.reddit.com/r/VintageApple/comments/iunu32/when_even_the_cdrom_drives_need_recapping_sony/
My drive was basically working, but often needed inserting the caddy several times before it was accepted. While this might have been purely a mechanical issue, apparently the caps also cause errors reading the disc. My drive is a Sony CDU561-25, caddy loading 2X-speed SCSI drive. I took it apart, cleaned it and recapped it.

https://forum.vcfed.org/index.php?threads/cd-dvd-drive-for-retro-usage.75690/
This topic will discuss vintage and non-vintage cd/dvd and blu ray disc drivers from the aspect of retro usage. There is two main concerns with optical media, when the retro usage is in the focus: 1. Having slow reading (spinning) speed to avoid old original pressed disks to be exploded. 2. Having slow burning speed to be able to produce disks

https://poketube.fun/watch?v=jxt5A0KJ9nw
Today if you even have an optical drive, it is likely a tray-loader or a slide-in mechanism. In the early days of computer CD-ROM drives users were often required to place their precious CDs into an awkward little container called a CD Caddy.

https://applerescueofdenver.com/products-page/apple-ii/drives-apple-ii/cd-rom-drives-apple-ii/cd-rom-caddy/
CD-ROM caddies are used in the early CD-ROM drives. The CD is inserted into the caddy, then the caddy is inserted into the drive. This caddy is used, intact and working condition. It does have a label on the end and may have some sun discoloration. Sold singly and in groups of 3.

https://stason.org/TULARC//pc/cd-recordable/4-5-Why-did-my-CD-R-eject-and-re-load-the-disc-between-oper.html
Back in the early days of CD recording, the situation was a bit more awkward. Caddy drives were the norm, so an ejected disc had to be manually re-inserted. Some poorly-written CD recording software would automatically start the "write" pass a few seconds after the "test" pass, without waiting for the disc to be re-inserted, so you either had to be

https://www.reddit.com/r/hardware/comments/o07eci/how_on_earth_did_they_develop_cdrom_holding_650mb/
So they invented an optical disc and the drives/readers for it that could store 600MB of information. In 1982. When a 20MB HDD cost $5000 (1982 dollars). I'm sure it was all extremely expensive in the beginning, but even in the late 80s and early 90s, it was a stupendous amount of information on a medium that was fully commoditized.

https://forum.vcfed.org/index.php?threads/db37-cdrom-port.1237936/
Sony Caddy CD-ROM Drive CDU-535-01 VERY RARE ITEM in Working condition - One caddy is included - PDF Instruction manual - DOS/WIN/OS2 drivers - $398.00 - Call or Text 289-990-6060. www.kijiji.ca. It's using a proprietary interface and the port on the card is for an external drive.

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/buysellwanted/wtb-scsi-cd-writer-with-caddy/
wtb: SCSI CD writer with caddy. « on: July 21, 2018, 03:38:42 pm ». Some early CD-ROM and CD Writer drives used a mechanism where CDs had to be inserted into special cartridges or caddies to protect the disc from damage. It was cool, but it did not gain wide acceptance among disc manufacturers. Drives that used the caddy format required "bare

https://www.reddit.com/r/VintageApple/comments/l372i0/why_cd_caddies/
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