I was using a long thin blade kitchen knife under the cassette to release it, and get it out. I was at a car stereo repair shop to get it fixed. After he got the player unit out, it took the guy all of 10 minutes to fix it. No parts needed to be replaced. No more CD's jamming, the 6-disk cassette kicks out easily. The issue is in the unit, not the cassette. Grease gets dried out and sticky was his answer. I'll let someone who's taken CD players apart and knows what they are doing handle it.