Problems with factory CD player

I have a 2001 Chevy Impala and recently it was been rather picky about what cds it will play and just the other day it would not play any cds at all. The problem is that it keeps trying to eject the cd that isnt in the player (even when the keys are out of it and no power is on). I let the car sit for a couple of days and I tried to go to work this morning only to discover that the battery was dead. Since the care is equipped with automatic everything the lights shut off automatically even if I have the knob pulled out the only conclusion I could come to was that the cd player killed my battery. Please if anyone has any information please please help me I cannot afford to take it to the dealership and the Chevy Hotline was no help at all.