< why... she... had to go, I don't know
My reminiscing took me back to a couple of the CD players I owned along the way.
There was a Sony that had a turntable that held 300 CD. Nice, but not super efficient when wanting to bring several CDs elsewhere.
My favorite was a Pioneer that utilized cartridges that held six CDs. One popped a cartridge in/out of the front of the unit. That not only worked well, but made bringing CDs along in the car exceptionally easy - while simultaneously keeping them mostly safe from handling.
Still have the nine cartridges I wound up with, but of course the player itself is long gone....