You can make Win2000 speak also, but only if the proper updates have been installed. The first development of a speaking system I developed for AutoCAD was done on Win2000 and A2k.
The CD tray thingy can be done in VBA .. and you can call it in lisp ...
VBA Part (put in ThisDrawing window)
Private Declare Function mciSendString Lib "winmm.dll" Alias "mciSendStringA" (ByVal lpstrCommand As String, ByVal lpstrReturnString As String, ByVal uReturnLength As Long, ByVal hwndCallback As Long) As Long
Sub OpenCD()
mciSendString "open CDAudio", vbNull, 0&, vbNull
mciSendString "set CDAudio door open", vbNull, 0&, vbNull
End Sub
Lisp Part
(vl-vbarun "ThisDrawing.OpenCD")
Have fun