Connect M3 MacBookAir to 3rd party CD/DVD player?

Apple makes a portable CD/DVD burner ( Apple USB SuperDrive ). It has a reputation for being very finicky about power, so you might be forced to hook it directly to your Mac using an Apple USB-C to USB Adapter – even if you have a third-party hub or dock.

I have one of these:

Other World Computing – 24X OWC Mercury Pro Super-Multi DVD/CD Burner/Reader External Optical Drive with M-DISC Support

It has its own power supply. The USB 3.0 B to USB-A cable supplied with it is rather short – but you can get longer USB 3.0 B to USB-A and USB 3.0 B to USB-C cables (e.g., on Amazon).

There are also many portable CD/DVD burners on Amazon. (Read descriptions carefully. Some, like the one on the OWC site, want you to run cables to two USB ports so the drive can suck extra power from the second point. That would not be an ideal arrangement for a M3 MacBook Air that doesn't have a lot of ports to spare.)

There are also two security hoops that you may need to jump through.

Allow accessories to connect to Mac - Apple Support

"If you have a Mac laptop with Apple silicon, you have to approve new USB or Thunderbolt devices and SD cards that you connect to your Mac."

Music won't play or import audio CD - Apple Community

As of macOS 14 (Sonoma), you need to give the Music application permission to access removable volumes. See this Apple Community thread for details.

Carol Scott Zimmerman wrote:

Again, I cannot solve the puzzle, the secret trail of crumbs that lets me find songs by Dylan, Talking Heads, Pink Floyd, Emmy Lou Harris, the Beatles, and on and on.

I have a large collection of music from my own CDs, and an Apple Music subscription. I keep Apple Music's "Sync Library" feature off by choice (which unfortunately also disables the ability to create playlists and download offline listening copies of subscription songs). But I don't find it hard to locate music by the artists you mention.

Here are the steps that work for me on Ventura:

1. Run the Music application.
2. Click in the Search field at the top left of the Music window, to select it for text entry. The screen will change and a tab bar saying "Apple Music | Your Library | iTunes Store" will appear in the upper right part of the window.
3. Click on "Apple Music" in that tab bar.
4. Enter an artist name in the search field, and press RETURN.