Wrestling with technology

Need to get some Windows software on the Asus Eee PC. I have the software on CDs, but the Eee has no CD player. I tried to use an old external (USB) CD/camera card drive, but failed. Sometimes the computer sees the camera card part, but not the CD drive; sometimes it won't see either. Over to USB sticks: copy CD onto USB stick, install on Eee from that. So far that's been successful, if tedious.