The cdspeed software can reduce the speed of your CD-ROM drive.
In particular, cdspeed is great for users who only need to access small files occasionally. By reducing the speed of your drive, you can significantly improve access times and reduce the amount of noise produced by the drive. Additionally, for music lovers who prefer to listen to their mp3 CDs, cdspeed can help reduce the noise produced by their cdrom drive.
It's worth noting that recent versions of the eject command include similar functionality to cdspeed, via the -x option. However, if you're looking for a standalone solution that's easy to use, cdspeed is definitely worth considering.
Installation is straightforward - simply type "make" to compile, and "make install" to install the application to /usr/bin. You can also copy the cdmount script to /usr/bin if you wish, which automatically reduces the speed of the drive before mounting the cd. Full installation instructions are provided in the application documentation.
Finally, if you're interested in the latest updates to cdspeed, the most recent release included an init script for Mandrake distributions, added by Roberto Foglietta on March 31st 2004.
Version 0.4: N/A