You weren't trying hard enough. You just have to fold the CDs a few times and you'll be able to fit them into mini slot. Sometimes, you may even need to cut the disk into bits and feed them to the slot one by one. Like those game installs on old 3 1/2" disks. Isn't it obvious?

I have an old sony usb external cdwriter/dvdplayer that's portable and it'd be neat to be able to hook it up to the n810 for backups. Also would be neat to just be able to have something like that for backups while on the road. I suppose ultraportable notebooks have reduced the need for stuff like that now...