Did you solve this problem? I have the exact same problem. I try to put in a cd but it seems like there's something right at the opening thats blocking it from going in.
I'm going to try to open it up and see what happened.
bj
i have a 2001 is300, and I'm talking about the 6 disk in-dash player.
I just bought a 2001 IS 300 and found out the 6-disc in-dash cd player didn't work. *BLEEP*ed, my brother and I opened the unit up and found that it had 7 cd's in it. We were able to take the cd's out and reinstall the player which now works.
If you press the load button and can hear the motor turning but never get a "load disc" message, you have a jammed disc. If you can find someone who knows a little about cd players, simply remove the cd player and remove the cd's carefully. Usually it only takes removing one that looks out of place. I think the unit has a hard time recognizing CD-R's so if you can, stay away from putting burned cd's into the unit. Good luck!
Peyton