Working in an electronics store, I got to try everything. I was surprised to learn one thing all CD players have in common: quality of sound. Some have a bass boost (this one does) and some don't. But what really makes the difference is the headphones.

Panasonic's Shockwave headphones have the best quality of sound available in a portable headphone. The range of sound reproduction is very impressive for such a small element, and no matter how high I turned the volume and no matter how much bass the music demanded, there was not a hint of distortion. You will not find this level of quality in any other headphone, unless you buy it separately and spend a good deal of money on it. My hat is off to Panasonic for including headphones of such a high level of quality with their disc player. Other companies (especially Sony) would do well to take note.

As for the player itself, I find it to be sturdy, functional and waterproof (or at least, soda-proof as tested accidentally by myself). The headphone jack cover doesn't stay in any more, so I will have to try to keep it out of direct rainfall. I know that the batteries last at least 24 hours because I left it running in my car all day, overnight and into the next day. I use it as a car CD player, plugging it into my cassette player with a car kit (sold separately, naturally). It has never skipped, even with only 10 seconds of anti-skip memory.

If you're looking for a portable disc player as a gift, especially for a child (or a klutz), get this one or newer model.