Play a music CD and, if possible, a DVD movie.

FORBES: Personal Technology

Pioneer's DV-AX10 model also comes with the ability to play SuperAudio CD discs - a format developed by Sony and already commercialized that is battling with DVD Audio for the place as the successor to compact disks.

CNN: Pioneer to launch DVD Audio players without waiting for copy protection

If you're in a really old-school kinda mood, you can play burned MP3s on a subtle, hidden CD player.

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If you don't have 1 GB of hard drive space for Descent 3, you'll need a CD-ROM to play the movies (and to access data files on a bare minimum install).

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Knowing her love of music, I recently decided to find a CD player that would enable her to play discs from her collection when she tires of radio programming.

FORBES: When I'm 64

The IS9181 also includes an auxiliary audio cable to play files from MP3 or CD players or any other device with a 3.5mm headset jack.

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Basement Bhangra does feature artists who've performed at her parties over the years, but the songs on the CD are much shorter than what she could play in a room full of people dancing.

NPR: Bhangra's DJ Rekha Takes the Dance Floor

SonicBlue (nasdaq: SBLU - news - people ) has a device with which you can record your CD collection on a hard drive and select hundreds of different ways to play music on your home audio system.

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You probably already know that Sony BMG has started selling at least some CDs that include built-in copy-protection, making it difficult to play the CDs on a computer using any media player other than the one bundled on the CD, and limiting the number of copies you can make.

ENGADGET: Sony DRM hacks your PC

He has the power to hire and fire, and thus can make or break a musical career depending on whether he presses "play" or "eject" on the expensive CD player in his office.

CNN: The Quest for music