Copy-protected audio CDs that get stuck in drives:

KB doc modified and reposted; more reader tips KB document returns The now famous KB document 106882 (on copy-protected CDs that get stuck in drives) has returned from its brief vacation (see prior coverage). The revised version mainly eliminates the latter half of the paragraph in the section where Apple essentially said it is not responsible for fixing this problem. Initially, it said:

"Apple computers are not designed to support copyright protected media that do not conform to such standards. Therefore, any attempt to use non standard discs with Apple CD drives will be considered a misapplication of the product. Under the terms of Apple's One-Year Limited Warranty, AppleCare Protection Plan, or other AppleCare agreement any misapplication of the product is excluded from Apple's repair coverage. Because the Apple product is functioning correctly according to its design specifications, any fee assessed by an Apple Authorized Service Provider or Apple for repair service will not be Apple's responsibility."

Now it says only:

"Apple designs its optical disc drives to support media that conform to such standards."

The revised article also no longer mentions the titles of specific CDs known to be copy-protected.

Finding the manual eject hole on a new iMac Meanwhile, Andy Greener explains how he was able to get a stuck CD out of his new iMac (supposedly sans a manual eject hole): "Nothing, not even the Open Firmware 'eject cd' command worked. I eventually contacted Sony and they pointed out that the new iMac does have a manual eject hole - you just need to know where to look. Here is what to do:

Pry open the outer curved tray cover, and right near the bottom of the front of the actual drive (about mid-way, and below the slide-out tray) you can just see a hole (the fascia is black, and the plate behind the hole is black). Poke your straightened paper-clip in here and voila! the tray pops open.

This is an 800MHz iMac with a SuperDrive, shipped in early Feb. It may be that different drives are used in newer models, so this technique may not work in all cases."

Getting new iMac tray to manually open even without a manual eject hole Guillaume Gete offered this further suggestion for the new iMac, if normal methods fail and no manual eject hole can be found (try at your own risk!):

1. Using a thin object, manually open the door at the front of the optical drive.
2. Using a small flat screwrdriver, push on the small gear visible in the optical drive to make it rotate. If you do this many times, you will see that the optical drive tray opens slowly but surely. Once opened, there should be no problem to get the CD.
3. Reboot your iMac and close the door manually.

Update: Defeating the copy-protection: a follow-up We previously linked to articles on how to defeat the copy protection of these CDs. A newscientist.com article confirms that the technique of applying tape or marker pen ink around the edge of the disc does work. However, Sony warns that it may damage the disc or drive. See also this related Register article.