I’ve not previously had much of an opinion on optical media drives in computers: tray-loading, slot-loading, is there really a difference? The answer turns out to be yes. Here is why (the following is a transcript of a conversation between myself and my two-and-a-half year old daughter):

“Hi sweetheart.” “Hi Daddy.” “How are you?” “Mmm… Mommy sad.” “Um. Why is mommy sad?” “com-put-er broken” “What do you mean? How did mommy’s computer get broken?” “I put money in it… Make mommy sad.” Fortunately the genius at the Apple store had a tool for just this occasion so we could get the coins out and the computer is unharmed. But I’m not such a fan of these slot-loading drives any more!