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Apple PowerCD
The Apple PowerCD, portable audio CD player/SCSI CD ROM,
plus power supply, and remote control. The pen is there to give a
sense of size.
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Name
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Apple PowerCD
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Manufacturer
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Apple Computer, Inc.
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Original Price
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? (This unit was given to me.)
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Ports
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SCSI / Audio / Video / Headphone / Speaker
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Sound
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stereo out
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Operating Systems Compatible with
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System 6 - 7.6.1 (??)
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Condition
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Very clean and in working condition (at least as an audio
cd player)
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What exactly is this thing?
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The following are several answers I got to this question
on the Vintage Macs mailing list, sponsored by
Low
End Mac
.(Thank you to those that replied.)
It was designed by a group called MLT (Mac Like Things) and
to be portable (as I said, it should have had a 5v ADB power
supply), but needed the bulky base with the big 50 pin
centronix connector (it should have been HDI-30, or at least
DB-25). So, it couldn't be really used like a Walkman, which
Sony and so many others implemented correctly. MLT was
charged with various projects having to do with Multimedia
(and eventually became that).
The only other project they developed which shipped was The
Apple Powered Speakers. They did in fact come up with and
had prototypes for a smaller hand held CD-ROM which was a
much better implementation of the PowerCD (which was really
a desktop model). But Apple's management couldn't get it
straight. MLT also developed the Paladin.
Like so many other products, Apple was on the cutting
edge and gave up after spending millions in development,
only to let somebody else learn from their mistakes, do it
right and reap the benefits.
IIRC it was meant to play those wonderful Photo CDs from
KODAK.
I have this unit purchased new, ages ago. It belongs on the
set of a Batman Movie, which is why I bought it. Good
industrial Design sells. It requires the proprietary PowerCD
extension to run. I never got it to run with AppleCD
extension. It is very slow, but for downloading software,
how much speed do you really need anyway? Forget about
booting, gaming or entertainment titles on it. Too slow! The
remote works in Audio CD mode only. There is a switch on the
side of the unit to switch to this mode. Audio CD mode is
for using the unit with your stereo amp to listen to audio
CDs. That is the only way the remote works. I think this
unit was created in the early days of data CDRoms, with the
expectation that the user would only need to own one CD Rom
reader for all their CD viewing, reading and listening
pleasures. It is a nifty looking unit thiugh, isn't it?
Enjoy it! Tom
I got that one. It will play Video CDs of some format, but
not sure if its the standard VCD. Its a 2x drive, with
autotermination. I didnt know the base was
detachable.....
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Photo gallery
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This is the main view of the unit attached to it's base. |
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This is the back of the CD player unit only. The black port is for
power/video through the base, and the other port is the SCSI port that
attaches to the base.
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This is the front of the base unit without the CD player. Notice
the SCSI port and next to it is a sticker with part numbers.
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This is the back of the base unit, showing the standard (at the
time) SCSI port. Next to the port is the SCSI selector.
The black switch at the top was to lock the player into the base.
The base could also run on batteries!
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This is the player and base, showing the LCD screen lit up when
an audio CD is in. The unit can be operated by the remote control in
this mode.
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Power CD Power supply information:
Input: 120V 60Hz 22w
Output: DC 10V, 1.0A
The polarity is -...CO...+
Changes those dots to a line, the C circles the O.
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Several people have emailed me asking for the power supply specs, so
here they are.
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Links
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