The microcontroller would be to avoid using the front buttons

Besides, you could add a nifty display, programming, shuffle and other things that you miss when you don't have avaliable without much sweat. For the psu a 9vac transformer and a regulator for the 5v are more than adequate i beleive (the 12vdc are used for the "power" devices such as servos, motors, etc, so it can go unregulated). All the micro has to do is to send MFC commands through the IDE port (things like "gimme the table of contents", "start playing track X", "go to time frame XXX") and the CDROM drive makes the rest, that's what makes it so appealing to me. You strip the case, mount it on a nice box, put a new front panel on the tray

and you're set!
How did you like the analog output of the cdrom compared to a regular CD deck? I found the threads a bit after i posted this

but no one commented on their results. I have to try both the analog output and the S/PDIF connected to a nice D/A, but i just checked out an old cdrom i had lying arround (which is unsuitable for me as the tray is NOT motorized, a pitty...) and the sound quality was VERY good right from the headphones output. I imagine sticking a buffer to the analog out would be even better...
Ah, and about the "magic smoke"... i ran into it more times than i'd like to remeber, yet i somehow manage to keep popping it up

I feel your pain!
