I always feel like a moron after posting, mainly because people point out all the things I should have thought of including in original post.

My search turned up a program named multicd. Here it is on freshmeat. http://freshmeat.net/projects/multicd/

Seeing that made me think that someone had written what I want, they just named it something different. Hence my post looking for ideas. I was looking for feedback on my thought process, it always seems easier in my head. I appreciate the pointers and the feedback.