KDS 75-Disc Organizer for PCs
Added 2024-07-08 21:57:31 +0000 UTCAnother early 2000s oddity here on LGR this week! One that I'd never heard of before it was sent to me in the mail some months back, and boy was I intrigued to try it out and poke around its mechanisms.
The KDS PC CD Organizer was first released in 2001 and holds 75 discs of any type! Mainly because it doesn't do any actual reading of the discs itself and instead relies on your PC for all the smarts and data-related stuff. Still, it's a fascinating solution to quickly storing and retrieving optical media! And the innards are just fun to look at, too.
Comments
Can the software do something like you put a disk in the CDrom drive, scan it and tell you which self it belongs if it's already in the catalog?
Dukefazon
2024-07-12 17:43:51 +0000 UTCWell, it was surely meant to store all your Linux Distro discs *cough**cough* :D
BastetFurry
2024-07-10 19:30:48 +0000 UTCAt my first job in the early 2k's we wanted an automated CD organizer like this. We had lots of discs for mostly Apple OSes, tools, and diagnostics. Certain ones would only be good for some models. We couldn't get a PO for such a think, so we just had a huge pile of discs instead.
Kadah
2024-07-09 19:37:15 +0000 UTCWhat? And I'm still doing things by hand like a cavemen. This is awesome.
Deckard Games
2024-07-09 19:00:59 +0000 UTCI imagine if you used this for library purposes you would have the cases stored separately so you could put the disc back in when handing it out. But yeah I would probably have the cases stored somewhere. Could use a numbering system too with how the tower uses numbers for each slot.
Alyxx the Rat
2024-07-09 15:29:04 +0000 UTCSo cool. I would use this to store all the driver, backup and other such discs that always came in a paper sleeve anyway. Would have used it for that back in the day and still. Need to reinstall a driver? Just search it in there, pop it out and do it.
J Ruonti
2024-07-09 12:28:23 +0000 UTCHey, I have a couple of OpdiTracker rotating disc distributors (no boxes), if you want them. I have to unbury them from all the junk that's on top of them, but I've never used them after switching to 64-bit Windows Vista (the plugin for Explorer was only 32-bit), they're just sitting there taking up space.
George Schizas
2024-07-09 07:23:19 +0000 UTCLeftfield? Heck yeah! Rhythm and Stealth is a great album. Their previous album, Leftism, is one of my favorite albums.
Patrick Moore
2024-07-09 02:58:31 +0000 UTCI had something that looked like an oversized slide (projector) ring. They stacked on top of each other. You entered the disc info in a database and it would "spit" out the disc
Jim Hooke
2024-07-09 01:36:26 +0000 UTCOop. Juuust gonna snip that tiny bit outta there, nothing to see here :P Thank you!
LGR
2024-07-09 01:17:39 +0000 UTCUhh... don't you mean USB-B not A? You might get a little called out on that one without a little "*B" flashing on-screen. ;)
Kris Asick
2024-07-09 01:08:05 +0000 UTCI really enjoyed this, kind of wish I had a reason to need one! Seemed to be done pretty well. I can imagine spending hours filling out all of the CD info so it was just right (like I used to carefully label all of my mini-discs before NetMD was a thing). Oh and - flippin' 'eck, that's a nice mug ;-)
Gareth P
2024-07-08 23:01:30 +0000 UTCI just saw that as I'm watching the video. They do look awesome, for sure. I got it to replace a couple of 50-disc organizers similar in function to the one in your video. I need to break those out as well and see what is inside them.
Chris Munch
2024-07-08 23:00:48 +0000 UTCDamn, I must of spaced out during that first bit. And then the second. Sorry about that 😂
Jason Rabinowitz
2024-07-08 22:54:39 +0000 UTCIndeed, I mentioned that in the video at 14:48 It pulled from CD databases (such as Gracenote) and filled in all the information automatically if the disc was recognized, the same type of service used in Nero Burning ROM that I mentioned shortly after that :) I'll add a screenshot of the service being used in the final edit!
LGR
2024-07-08 22:53:32 +0000 UTCDefinitely giving me tape library vibes seeing the "grabber" (tape library lingo) going up & down with that ribbon cable.
Jason Wellband
2024-07-08 22:52:59 +0000 UTCI mentioned the VGX-XL1A in the video at 02:25 :) I hope your XL1B still works! Mine is iffy mechanically and I don't have the matching Vaio PC, but it's such a big beautiful beast that I can't help but hold onto it in case I find a use case for it.
LGR
2024-07-08 22:51:39 +0000 UTCI looked it up the matching PC and DVD setup was the SONY VAIO VGX-XL1A DIGITAL LIVING SYSTEM HOME THEATRE. I found this PDF of the setup manual from Sony which gives a good overview. https://www.sony.com/electronics/support/res/manuals/W000/W0000001M.pdf
Chris Munch
2024-07-08 22:50:49 +0000 UTCIt looks like the CD Organizer software had an option to get some sort of data from an online database. Was that for audio CDs? I wonder what service that would have been back the.
Jason Rabinowitz
2024-07-08 22:49:01 +0000 UTCI have a Sony VAIO VGP-XL1B 200 DVD changer sitting in my garage for the last 10 years or so, I need to break it out. It was meant to be used with Windows Media Center, and you could change discs from within it. It's giant and heavy. I need to break it out and see if it still works along with the matching PC. Once I started using Plex and the price of hard drives plummeted, I sort of put it to the side and forgot about it until now.
Chris Munch
2024-07-08 22:46:28 +0000 UTCImagine every time you needed a game, you'd have footage of them all and one tray opening with your CD :D
Jason Wellband
2024-07-08 22:37:53 +0000 UTCThat truly would be the most gloriously stupid thing imaginable. Heck I'd love to see someone try to max out the USB bus's max limit of 128 devices, period!
LGR
2024-07-08 22:32:47 +0000 UTCHey that's really neat! I forgot all about that Imation carousel thing.
LGR
2024-07-08 22:32:09 +0000 UTC🔥holy crap🔥 And I was leaving that thing plugged in overnight!
LGR
2024-07-08 22:31:57 +0000 UTCIt's a classic https://x.com/lazygamereviews/status/1558334682432946176
LGR
2024-07-08 22:31:44 +0000 UTCI wanted one of the horizontal ones that could actually read discs, but I had no money at the time :D And we seriously need to find 127 of these guys and enough USB hubbage for you to set them all up :D
Jason Wellband
2024-07-08 22:30:44 +0000 UTCI don't have a use for it but by the glory of himem.sys I need it. Multimedia cats video, when?
Dave Velociraptor
2024-07-08 22:25:01 +0000 UTCWe had one of these. It ended up bursting into flames one day. If I recall the power supply shorted out or something. But I honestly hated it. Ended using a DVD/CD wallet for my games instead.
Vaggumon
2024-07-08 22:08:43 +0000 UTCThis very much reminds me of a project that I worked on with a friend of mine back in the day: https://libcdorganizer.sourceforge.net/ He had one of these devices, and we attempted to cobble together some Linux software to work with it. I'm not sure how far we got, and I never ended up actually buying one myself, but I think he did have a bit of a setup going.
Derek Konigsberg
2024-07-08 22:03:47 +0000 UTC
