I've had the idea that a single, dumb (no controls except eject button), front loading CD player would be usefull in these kind of situations. it would only have to be the thickness of a portable's CD player with just the slot for front loading (black too!)

it just has audio outs and a serial connector.
The empeg sends instructions to it, play, stop, RW etc and it JUST PLAYS.
certainly there is more than this but it would be a simple option

____________________
Murray 06000047