Ray, for WIndows NT, the following procedure fragment will give some hints:

procedure TAudioCD.set_drive_letter (c: char);

var

 cd_name: string;

 er: integer;

begin

 FDriveLetter := UpCase (C);

 cd_name := '\\.\' + FDriveLetter + ':';

 // connect to the CD-ROM directly, note the file name used....

 hCD := CreateFile (PChar (cd_name), GENERIC_READ, FILE_SHARE_READ, nil,

OPEN_EXISTING, 0, 0);

 if hCD = INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE then

   begin

   er := GetLastError;

   Raise Exception.Create ('Failed to connect to CD-ROM drive, error ' +

IntToStr (er));

   Exit;

   end;

end;

Once you have hCD, look at the SetFilePointer and ReadFile Win32

functions....

You already have hints for Windows 98.