Most of the stuff I knew about, but I typically toss the motor that actually spins the disk since it since I never really figured out to do with them, well apparently the author found another write-up that tells you how to use it and control it via an arduino (its a brushless DC Motor by the way):
http://www.instructables.com/id/Disassembling-a-CDDVD-reader-and-reusing-its-parts/
CD motor write-up: http://www.instructables.com/id/Arduino-CDROM-BLDC-Motor-Driver-Enhanced-Performan/