So I recently bought a CD, but once I got it I realized I no longer have a usable optical drive at my disposal to rip the music off of it with. I intend to do a lossless audio rip from the drive, so I've been looking around at various websites to figure out what kind of hardware I should be getting, but haven't seen anything that looks particularly promising to me. I was about to buy a cheap $20 drive to plug into my PC, but that was going to run me $80+ on shipping so I'll put some thought into getting a better drive that is actually going to do what I want. I figured I'd come here to help me in making an informed decision about my purchase. (The rip is only for me, I do not intend to share the files, and therefore it is totally legal in certain regions. No need to say anything else about the legality of the matter)
Do you have an old system lying around that you could scavenge the drive from? Maybe a friend's or relative's?
I only ever salvaged ram and HD's from old computers, so the best I could try is looking at the computer bin at the dump, but it just rained so I doubt that there's anything there. I'll make a decision by midnight.
You are in canada right? Wherever that is... can't you buy a usb optical drive on newegg for 20 bucks with free shipping?
locally i can get a used, but almost pristine and working optical drives for less than 5usd equivalent from a refurbishing/used systems store. it even came with a 1-month warranty. if i want a much, much cheaper alternative, a recycle centre is the place i'll go next. while the drawback of a recycle centre is that you can't test the stuff there, nor they guarantee the item you took is working one, you can still exchange it for free within a couple of days.
When you say, 'Plug into my PC,' do you mean you want an internal SATA CD drive, or would you rather get a USB CD drive? You also didn't confirm if you're in Canada, but I'll assume you are. Here's a USB DVD R/W drive that should do everything you need. https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B00VWVZ0V0