A usb cd/dvd/bluray drive is like $20 on amazon, nothing stopping you.

Just torrent it. It's actually pretty legal in that case

I have an external cd drive that I plug in via USB for this purpose. Tech ain't limiting you.

I have one that's mostly broken, which isn't a surprise as I took it from e-waste.
When I tried to burn a disc with it, it suddenly started accelerating out of control and I had to kill the power to it. It almost shattered the disc:

Clearly that wasn't burning it quite well.

But there's another interesting thing. It won't read CDs. Except, somehow, VLC manages to get something out of it. It's earrape, and the recording from VLC ends up corrupted, but FFMPEG can still process it as raw audio (and so can aplay).
Here's a sample:
https://files.catbox.moe/bkwt82.flac
Audio should embed on desktop:

They sell the drive as a USB item, buy one of those and enjoy.

I picked up a lil usb dvd drive years ago

Don't use it much but it waits ready in the tech closet. Cost like $20.

Been moving the same DVD-RW drive to every new computer for like 20 years. I'll be able to read Mechwarrior 2 until I die.

Currently rocking an internal blu ray drive and external floppy one (only because I couldn't find an internal one), I can't possibly imagine not having an optical drive on my computers. I still own a lot of disks including software and movies, I won't just throw everything away because the tech is now deemed obsolete (which is debatable on top of that, currently have a better quality on blu ray than on streaming platforms, plus no ads and works offline) If only it were easier to install multi-disk software through wine/proton though...

I searched for and found an audio CD last month, and then proceeded to rip it on my PC as mp3.

No idea why some people don't have CD drives anymore.

This is why piracy is so important.

Cutely goes to the internet and download the game for free from there with hopefully no viruses

I basically haven't used my multiple external cd dvd drives in years, but i will not get rid of them for the just in case factor. Speaking of my father gave me a handful of live music cds he wanted me to rip so it will get some use very soon.

I have a disc drive in my computer. I've still torrented games that I have on my shelf because its easier.

I have a CD drive you can plug into your computer for CDs.

Look up your old favourite games. A lot of them have communities that have kept them updated so they’re playable on modern hardware as long as you have a (totally legal) ISO or disc in your possession.

For example, Project Magma has been keeping Myth The Fallen Lords and Myth II: Soulblighter going for 25+ years now.

I loved this game back when Bungie was a Mac-only developer and it holds up pretty well with a couple graphics mods in addition to the work Project Magma has done.

I currently have 4 old Thinkpad T420s (nice) set up just to run this game on Linux with some friends around the kitchen table.

http://projectmagma.net/

LibreQuake is another one. I’m not as familiar with what they’ve been up to, as I never had a computer that could run Quake in its heyday, so it doesn’t hold the same nostalgia for me. That said, I appreciate their work anyway.

https://librequake.queer.sh/

OpenRA keeps Command & Conquer and its various sequels and spin-offs alive, including Dune 2000. Combined Arms is especially fun; a version that includes all the armies from all the games.

https://www.openra.net/

Honestly, invest in a Blu-ray writer and pick up some decent 25gb discs.

Not only can you play old games, but you can archive data in a relatively stable format at a much lower price point.

I have a blu-ray drive that got a lot of action at one point backing up movies. Now it just sits there sad and lifeless. This might be my inspiration to get that guy back in action.

ive still got cds with programs that just wont even install on 10

You can get USB drives for a pittance.

Steam allowed me to use the old security code for my physical copy of Medieval 2: Total War to allow me to download a digital copy updated to work on Windows 10.

I have several dozen optical drives. It's pretty great.

Blud, I have this problem. But with 3.5" floppy disks.

Imagine if someone managed to make software for your phone that could use the camera to read a compact disc. That would be rad as fuck.

Meanwhile I still have a couple disc drives and the one that came with my laptop is still with me but has been replaced by a caddy to access my data from the old hard drive alongside my smol new SSD.

And I have so many discs too...

I ripped them 10 years ago. But prefer cracks; less hassle.

That's the nice part about Linux, you rip the CD to an Iso file, and can directly Mount the ISO file as a drive.

I got an unopened box with a USB DVD/Blue ray player. I am good.

I gutted my old defunct laptop to get its CD Drive then bought a cheap convertor on aliexpress. Now it connects to my pc via USB.

Anyway unless it's something from the 90s, the DRM is one or all of those:

• Hardcoded for windows XP and refuse to run on anything else
• Must connect to an activation server that was turned off two decades ago
• Requires the installation of a rootkit

I've got an optical drive mainly because of the audio CDs I buy. Back in the time when games on CD/DVD were a thing, I was too poor to afford one.

Even back when my PC still had a disc drive, even compatibility mode wouldn't let it function

I tried this the other day only to realize I don't have a drive.

I bought this back in in COVID times as I saw the writing on the wall for physical media, and I could sneak it past the ATO as a WFH deduction: https://www.pccasegear.com/products/48810/pioneer-bdrxs07tuhd-slot-load-4k-external-blu-ray-writer

Probably the best investment I could have made in terms of continuing to be able to use the media I’ve purchased.