Most slot load drives eject the disc no more than 1" - 1.5".
How are you going to grab the disc without fingerprinting it without either using two hands or tongs?
With a tray there are multiple ways you can get the disc with one hand without touching the playing surface, from the wide grip to poking a finger in the middle.
I’ve never used two hands to put a CD in a tray or remove it.
We won’t even talk about what happens to the playing surface if one of the rollers in the drive should somehow get dirty.
My Kaleidescape M700 BR player has a vertical slot load drive. You can easily get discs in and out of that with thumb and finger without touching the disc optical surface. However in this case you aren’t feeding the disc directly in to the optical reader. The slot feeds a rotary disc carousel, which then automatically feeds the disc into the optical drive.
I prefer a slot drive over drawer. I think slots are cleaner looking.
They avoid the external structure that seems to inconvenience me when loading and unloading (I really can’t explain). I have scratched cds on drawers and had a few finger print mishaps. Years of experience handling cds have benefited my recent slot drive, as I am more careful. Yet my real problems happened with the cd cases.
I feel slots are quieter and smoother.
I recently purchased a server with an upgrade to a slot drive for ripping, on trail; and, I am keeping.
However, if buy the next PSA DMP, I can live with either drive.
On rare occasions, my Cocktail Audio ejects with only a 1" exposure, in which case I use a clean tissue, paper towel or fabric (or even the tail of my shirt) to remove it without getting the CD dirty.
I will say that not all slot drives are created equal. I sympathize for those who own appliances with slot drives that only eject the disc 1" to 1.5". This issue is not the fault of the device type, but rather the device design. I have a slot drive in my 432 EVO Aeon music server. As you can see, my slot drive ejects the disc far enough to to allow me to remove it from the edge surface alone - no need to grasp the top/bottom and fingerprint either surface.
That being said, it is an optical disc which is a clear plastic disc with the data film applied. The data resides on the film/label side and not the clear plastic surface. Oils from your fingers are not inherently abrasive. If you utilize an appropriate cloth, wiping your fingerprints off the clear side of the disc should not damage the disc. In an unusual event the disc does gets scratch, it is not beyond repair.
