cd player repair or time bomb

Cd player packed it in on 1998 Prado, after having a look on the net about repair of the CD player it seemed 90% of the problems with them are a dirty lens.Tried disconnecting the power to see it all was needed was a reset,nothing.I wont you bother with quotes to repair it after mentally hearing the repair guy planning his next trip away OS , might as well forget about playing CD's in the car again.
All Web sites said CD cleaners are a waste of money & the only sure way is to physically clean the lens & not just move the muck around with a mechanical cleaner.Now to get at it you have to remove fascia panels,wiring etc & it took a few afternoons with stubbie in hand to sus it all out & of course build up a bit of Dutch courage to tackle it. After removing the combination radio,CD & cassette player I very slowly pulled it apart as that is the only way you can access the lens, felt like I was defusing a time bomb as one false move could wreck the lot. It was very dusty & had some ingrained muck inside & the lens had a very small film of dust on it. After very gently blowing out the dust with low pressure I cleaned the lens with a medical swab, the type used for cleaning wounds.According to the Web sites you should use Isopropyl alcohol to clean with.
Put it all back together & with tongue firmly in cheek turned on the ignition & inserted a CD.
Bloody worked.Guess who's pretty chuffed with himself.