PowerBook G4 dvd drive not accepting dics

PowerBook G4 will not accept disc, doesn't read If one is already in it

Seems like the solution is to remove the disc that is currently in the optical drive. 🙂 Is it stuck?

https://www.ifixit.com/Answers/View/15314/How+do+I+remove+a+stuck+disk+from+driv e

If you need an external optical drive because the built-in drive is broken, does your PowerBook have USB 2.0 or 1.1? USB 1.1 is very slow, so if your PowerBook does not have USB 2.0 ports, the external drive should connect using FireWire. Those are much less common, but OWC has a few (which also connect using USB 2.0/3.0), for example

http://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/MR3F82SD24S/

Also, a PowerPC Mac cannot boot from USB, so if you need to start up from an optical drive, it needs to connect using FireWire. If you don't need to boot from it AND your PowerBook has USB 2.0, there are less expensive optical drives that connect using USB. You should confirm with vendor that it works with older PowerPC Macs running Tiger (10.4).