Curious about the history of an item

[JohnBuell]

eBay Auction -- Item Number: 130454978103

I had NEVER seen an Atari-branded CD-ROM until I came across that a couple nights ago. Way too rich for my blood, I didn't bid at all. But I'm just curious if there's anything else known about these drives and why Atari never went the CD-ROM route after promoting it so heavily in the mid-late 1980s.

[OldAtarian]

eBay Auction -- Item Number: 130454978103

I had NEVER seen an Atari-branded CD-ROM until I came across that a couple nights ago. Way too rich for my blood, I didn't bid at all. But I'm just curious if there's anything else known about these drives and why Atari never went the CD-ROM route after promoting it so heavily in the mid-late 1980s.

 

Just like the listing said. Limited production run for devs to use before regular production started, which it never did. New discoveries of vaporware from Atari don't surprise me in the least anymore. I do remember reading about the CD-ROM drive back when it was originally going to be sold, though.

[JohnBuell]

eBay Auction -- Item Number: 130454978103

I had NEVER seen an Atari-branded CD-ROM until I came across that a couple nights ago. Way too rich for my blood, I didn't bid at all. But I'm just curious if there's anything else known about these drives and why Atari never went the CD-ROM route after promoting it so heavily in the mid-late 1980s.

 

Just like the listing said. Limited production run for devs to use before regular production started, which it never did. New discoveries of vaporware from Atari don't surprise me in the least anymore. I do remember reading about the CD-ROM drive back when it was originally going to be sold, though.

 

Ah, but do any still exist in North America? I noticed this one was configured for 240V.

[Rybags]

I had my eye on that one the other day - would have been a nice aquisition.

 

Pretty much gave up on it once it headed past $90, which was 5 days before the end ($357).

[JohnBuell]

I had my eye on that one the other day - would have been a nice aquisition.

 

Pretty much gave up on it once it headed past $90, which was 5 days before the end ($357).

 

If you had, a YouTube video of its operation would now be compulsory.

[atarian1]

The CDAR-504 was sold in Canada for a little while before 3rd party drives pretty much killed it. The 3rd party drives were faster and cheaper than the Atari drive. In fact, one dealer (Computer Rock in San Francisco) actually advertised it and imported them from Canada. I was lucky to get one myself from someone who was leaving the Atari scene.

[wongck]

It's like the first CD-ROM drive for Computers that are available for Home Computers.

[lp060]

Ah, but do any still exist in North America? I noticed this one was configured for 240V.

 

I seen one at the Dayton Hamvention a long time ago, and it was a working unit at the time.

[OldAtarian]

I've got piles of CD-ROM drives for PC's collecting dust. It probably wouldn't be too difficult, and a lot less expensive, to just put one in an external case for use with an ST. Would be faster and more reliable than the Atari drive, too.

[Rhod]

it's the second on ebay, in last 2 months

 

you can see it from a friend

http://mpc.fab.free.fr/atari/atari16-32/cdar-504.htm

[JohnBuell]

it's the second on ebay, in last 2 months

 

you can see it from a friend

http://mpc.fab.free....32/cdar-504.htm

 

Thanks for the link Rhod!