I bought my mini disc player to take to the gym. I had a walkman, but I never bought tapes, so I was pretty much stuck listening to the radio all the time. If you workout, you know they never play the kind of music to get you motivated on the radio. I had a discman, but it always skipped on me. So I said "What the heck." I got this off of E-bay for about $125 brand new...(heck of a price) I got it out of the box, plugged it right into my computer and started downloading songs to it.The sound quality is unbelievable...it is all digital! I have been getting about 17 or 18 songs on each minidisc depending on song length. Best of all, it hooks right up to my home stereo so that I can either record or playback minidisc on there. As for my gym situation, I have dropped this thing, banged it around, and sweated on it. It keeps coming back for more...all I may add without skipping a beat. With the 40 second memory, I don't think I'll ever have to worry about it! The included remote is simple to use and very accessible as it is built right into the headphone wires. What more can I say, they include everything to get you started. From the rechargeable batteries down to the computer interface cables. I've had mine for about 1 1/2 months with no problems. So if you are like me and need something to play music on without having to worry about skipping, this is your product. Any further questions, please feel free to leave a comment and I'll respond promptly.