On 30/5/2011, at 11:33am, Alan McKinnon wrote:
>> ....
>> You're dashed right.  I now understand what's happening:  When a CD is
>> inserted and Gnome detects it as an audio CD, the CD drive is locked.  At
>> the same time, a stupid icon "Audio Disc" appears on the screen.
> 
> I don't understand why they lock it. If you can physically press the eject 
> button the drive should open because you can just as easily put a paperclip in 
> the little hole and force it open.
> 
> A case can be made for locking the software controls - with software, open the 
> drive using the matching command to what loads it. But not physical controls

The button *isn't* fully a physical control, though. It reports to the o/s "I've been pressed" and the o/s should open the drive, as long as (for instance) you're not in the middle of burning a CD (which would ruin the CD; clearly pressing the button at such a time would be accidental; the user would have to cancel through the on-screen burning dialogue which would normally ask "are you really sure?")

Ejecting the disk with the paper clip is liable to scratch the CD, if the disk is being read. That's why the button isn't as fully physical as the paper clip method, that's why the paper clip method should be reserved for "emergencies" and that's why the o/s may choose to "lock" the eject button. 

Stroller.