Yeah, but maybe just more efficient generally, so an "apples - to - apples"
comparison might not be possible.

Mark Z.

old style Sony Discman that plays only audio CDs
will burn through a pair of AAs in an hour or two continuously playing
audio
CDs while I can get 10-12 hours out of a pair of AAs in the Rio Volt as it
spins the disc up and down as needed, and it even has a backlit LCD screen
"Harv" wrote in message
...

"Mark D. Zacharias" wrote in message
news
Well, this is a bit more than the original question.
No "regular" cd player that I'm aware of spins down at any point while
in
PAUSE mode. Just sits there and spins indefinitely. Same for home DVD
players I've seen.
My computer DVD drive does seem to spin down after about 60 seconds or
so.
As to your portables, I've no real experience with those, but spinning
down
and restarting the motor frequently might use MORE battery power under
some
circumstances, since the braking and acceleration require MUCH more
current
from the batteries. Up to 100% duty cycle from the drive IC, vs. about
50%
duty cycle just maintaining a constant speed.

Mark Z.

Yeah, I know, I strayed far afield in my reply last night.. but I can tell
you for a fact that the old style Sony Discman that plays only audio CDs
will burn through a pair of AAs in an hour or two continuously playing
audio
CDs while I can get 10-12 hours out of a pair of AAs in the Rio Volt as it
spins the disc up and down as needed, and it even has a backlit LCD screen
on top along with a few minutes of anti-shock (buffering) while the old
Discman has a much smaller, unlit one, and no anti-shock buffering at all.
Even though the Discman still works fine, I use it as a paperweight now.
MP3s didn't even exist back when I bought it

Technology marches on..

Harv