my disco has got the bog standard cassette player with the multi changer under the seat, half the buttons are missing and i find the changer hit and miss (just like the rest of the lanny lol) but my question is if i was to take it out and put a normal cd player in would my volume and skip controls still work on the steering wheel??

yes sort of depending on what make of unit you replace it with.
me personally would get alpine. i have had my dvd / cd changer/screen for over 7 years and it never missed a beat. and you can buy the stalk adapater for alpine units.
kenwood do stalk adapters to and i sure pioneer do.
just bare in mind tho , the adapters can be around £50.00 or so on top of the price of the head unit...... reaching over to turn it down FREE.....

i changed mine but needed to do a rewire as land rover put a amp in which is not compatable with after market head unit i had static noise as soon as i turned it to stage 2 on ignition took it to sextons and they were going to rob me of £300 so did it myself i have a 300 tdi auto 97 plate but was glad toget rid of the original head unit freelanders are totally different setup to superior disco, sorry to be a snob(not really) well it was meant to be manufactured by rover until bmw stuck there oar in