Seems to me that I tried cleaning the optics not too long ago, but I may be thinking of a different CD player. The unit in question is away at the summer cottage, so I won't be able to get at it until the next time I'm out there, which will be a few days.
If it turns out that the laser optical assembly is bad, where does one find a replacement?
I'm wondering if audio CD drives are interchangeable the same way that CD data drives are. If so, the simplest solution might be to replace the entire drive part.