Does a cheap cd transport create poor digital copies?

I want to load some CDs onto the hard drive of a music server via a USB port. I have a quality USB cable, but I’m wondering if using a standard issue external CD drive ($50 type thing) as a transport will imbed the common cheap player problems onto the stored music (jitter, etc.)...or does it simply create a digital copy of the original onto the player?

I’m not going to run out and buy a transport as my CD collection is limited, but I am curious about this and maybe it will help others. Anyone know the technical facts or have an opinion?