Recently the CD portion of my Bose CD/Cassette head unit died. It now only says "Err." I tried cleaning the lens without any luck. I've heard that the older head units have a hard time with CD-R's and my laser may be dead. If I get the laser repaired, will it eventually succumb to the CD-R's again? Can I switch this unit for a the comparable 97 head unit? Can this unit handle CD-R's?

first have you tried playing a regular cd yet?

Hope this helps
 

CD-R's are thiner and more transparent than regular CD's and some lenses are not verry good a reading them. My Jvc has no problem reading the CD-R's. I don't think that your laser is dead it sould be fine they don't die. Maybe it was knocked a bit and is pointing a bit off the lines that would be your problem. Aftermarket CD players are really good you should take a look at some of them.

CD-Rs don't fry lasers in CD players. More than likely what's happened is just use from 6 years of ownership and the deck is staring to lose it. My 95 Bose unit reads my 75 and 80 min CD-Rs just fine w/o any skipping problems (I use a HP 9110i CD burner with quality CD-Rs). Try out regular audio CDs in the unit, and then if you still have the problem you might want to explore repair options (Clarion Corp. (use the search function) or a reputable electronics repair shop) and/or aftermarket replacement. But remember no aftermarket headunit is immune to breakage after many years of use, like your Bose system. Personally, I like the Bose and would keep things stock for ease of selling the car in the future (for those buyers who may worry about non-OEM equipment), and a factory finish in the dash.