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> directory while boring a hole in the sky. It is a music
> player that holds
> somewhere around 200 CD's without the hassle of the CDs,
> interested?

Equipment that contains mechanical hard disks (this player uses a 2.5"
drive) can be a problem for unpressurized airplanes. The read/write heads in
these drives 'fly' over a rotating magnetic platter on a microns-thick
cushion of air which maintains proper clearance. The drives are sealed to
keep out dirt, but are equalized to ambient pressure.

Thinner air does the same thing to the heads as it does to your wings, ie.
makes it harder for them to stay aloft. The drives are typically rated to
about 10k ft., above which performance is not guaranteed and shock tolerance
is reduced. Interestingly, contact between head and platter is called a
crash, and produces the results you would expect from an event with this
name.

Solid State (no moving parts) and laser based (cdrom and dvd) disks are not
susceptible to this problem, though laser heads still skip in turbulence.
Solid state drives are made in a 2.5" size and presumably could be used in
this player if you have enough money. 2GB of mechanical disk costs a couple
of hundred dollars; half this much solid state would be closer to a couple
of thousand.
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Please send your photos and drawings to marvkaye@olsusa.com.
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