Apple PowerCD
| Apple PowerCD | |
|---|---|
.jpg) |
|
| Apple PowerCD (Hannes Grobe, CC BY 3.0) | |
| Manufacturer | Apple Computer, Inc. (Philips design) |
| Type | Portable CD, Photo CD and SCSI CD-ROM player |
| Release date | 1993 |
| Interface | SCSI (50-pin) on the base; composite video/audio; line audio out; headphones |
| Compatible | Macintosh with SCSI; televisions; stereo amplifiers |
| Dimensions | 165 × 220 × 125 mm (H × W × D, on its base) |
| Weight | 1.4 kg |
| Power | AC adapter (regional versions); DC input 7-11 V, 1.2 A; eight AA cells; 15 W |
| Storage | 656 MB (Mode 1), 748 MB (Mode 2) per disc |
| Media | 12 cm audio CD, CD-ROM, Kodak Photo CD and Portfolio CD |
The Apple PowerCD is a portable CD player that Apple sold from 1993. It plays audio CDs on its own or through a stereo, shows Kodak Photo CDs on a television, and acts as a single-speed SCSI CD-ROM drive for a Macintosh when it sits on its base. It is a re-badged version of the Philips CDF-100.[1][2] Apple's guide notes that the PowerCD name was a trademark of ZCI, Inc. of Dallas.[2]
Specifications
[edit | edit source]| Item | Value |
|---|---|
| Data rate | 75 blocks/s; 153.6K/s (Mode 1), 175.2K/s (Mode 2) |
| SCSI transfer rate | 2.1 MB/s |
| Buffer | 256K |
| Capacity | 656 MB (Mode 1), 748 MB (Mode 2); about 270,000 blocks |
| Video out | Composite (CVBS), 1 V p-p into 75 ohms |
| Audio out | 2 V rms ±2 dB line output; headphones at least 30 mW into 47 ohms |
| Laser | Semiconductor GaAlAs, 780 nm, 0.6 mW |
| Power | AC adapter for 100, 120, 230 or 240 V, or 100-240 V; DC input 7-11 V, 1.2 A; 15 W; or eight AA cells |
| Operating environment | 5-40 °C; 5-90% RH non-condensing |
Controls and connections
[edit | edit source]The top of the player has the message display, the disc compartment lid and the playback buttons. The back carries the Open button, the power switch, the video/audio port for a television, the battery compartment door, the headphone port and its volume control, the sound output port for an amplifier or powered speakers, the power adapter port, the SCSI port, the SCSI ID switch and the base lock/unlock switch. The power adapter plugs into a socket on the side of the base. A remote control, running on two AAA cells, came with the player.[2]
The SCSI ID is preset to 3 and is changed with two small buttons above and below the number; Apple says not to use ID 0 on a Macintosh with a built-in hard disk. The Macintosh needs the PowerCD software and QuickTime, installed from the PowerCD Setup disk with the Installer.[2]
Hardware
[edit | edit source]The player and base are separate units. On 68kMLA, a member who took a base apart warns that the DB-25 connector between player and base is not a SCSI port and the player must never be connected to a Macintosh SCSI port directly; a TinkerDifferent member who opened a base in 2025 found two boards with through-hole electrolytics, and another member identified an NCR SCSI chip on the larger board.[3][4] One TinkerDifferent owner found the PowerCD in two colours, a platinum grey and a bluer grey.[5]
Known faults
[edit | edit source]The fault most often reported is a disc that will not spin, sometimes with "ERR" on the display. Owners on 68kMLA and TinkerDifferent traced it to the grey spindle hub having been pushed down onto the motor, probably by people pressing discs on too hard; lifting the hub slightly with a small screwdriver freed the motor.[6][5] The Apple PowerCD Troubleshooting Guide has the details and Apple's own troubleshooting list; the Apple PowerCD General Maintenance page covers batteries, care and dismantling.
Related pages
[edit | edit source]References
[edit | edit source]- ↑ "PowerCD", Wikipedia, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PowerCD (retrieved 4 October 2026). Sold from 1993; re-badged Philips CDF-100; Photo CD, data and audio CDs; developed by Apple's short-lived "Mac Like Things" group alongside the AppleDesign Powered Speakers (citing Paul Kunkel, AppleDesign, 1997, p. 246).
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Apple Computer, PowerCD User's Guide (1993), hosted as File:Apple PowerCD User's Guide (1993).pdf. Chapter 1, PowerCD at a glance, pp. 2-6 (PDF pp. 9-13); Chapter 2, Setting up, pp. 8-20 (PDF pp. 15-27); Chapter 8, Troubleshooting, pp. 51-55 (PDF pp. 56-60); Chapter 9, Technical specifications, pp. 57-61 (PDF pp. 61-65).
- ↑ "Apple PowerCD 'portable' CD ROM drive", 68kMLA forum thread, February 2018, 68kmla.org. Post by Trash80toHP_Mini: the player-to-base DB-25 interconnect is not SCSI.
- ↑ "Apple PowerCD Base Station / Dock Teardown", TinkerDifferent forum, March 2025, tinkerdifferent.com. Posts by Garrett (base boards, through-hole electrolytics not leaking; a base that lights the display but never spins a disc), This Does Not Compute (NCR SCSI chip on the larger board; drive mechanism faults more common than base faults) and Fizzbinn (the Philips CDF-100 uses a DB-9 player-base connector).
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 wottle, "PowerCD problem / fix", TinkerDifferent forum, August 2022, tinkerdifferent.com. Two case colours; spindle pushed down onto its bearing as the cause of discs not spinning; repair by lifting the spindle hub.
- ↑ "PowerCD repair", 68kMLA forum thread, June to October 2019, 68kmla.org. Posts by bibilit ("ERR" fault, seized spindle, 5.9 V DC spindle motor, lifting the grey hub) and Byrd (same fault; three cables to disconnect when dismantling; the laser ribbon cable is short and fragile).