When I saw your story on the Wegener Media US$145 CDRW for original iBooks I did a little homework.

If you check the drive compatability section at xlr8yourmac and search for Drive Brand “Matshita” you will find many reports of users who have successfully installed model UJDA330(8x4x24) CDRW in their original iBook.

You can purchase the Matshita UJDA330 on eBay for about US$45. This is a cheaper and better alternative if you want to install the drive yourself. The drive being sold by Wegner Media appears to be the Matshita UJDA320(4x4x24)(although I could be wrong) which sells on eBay for about US$40.