fine unit, but does go through the batteries

I was looking for a discman that was good for walking with and also played MP3s. I bought this particular player in February of 03 and my wife and I have been pretty happy with it. We share it and take turns watching our son at home when one of us wants to work out.

It is absolutely perfect for walking with, but it might be a little bulky for those who are into running jogging. For the price (I paid $105) you can't beat the fact that you can use 700mb CD-R discs, which usually hold enough music to outlast the batteries.

I thought about buying a smaller MP3-only player, but I wanted to be able to fit more music and not have to be constantly arranging the songs or tracks on a little unit.

Now, about the PSA-12

First off, the actual device works well. It is advertised as having an eight minute anti-shock and I haven't had it skip yet, even when playing MP3s. The buttons are laid out in a manner that the play/pause button and the volume buttons are raised, so you can find them easily. It is a little hard to find the skip forward or skip backward buttons, especially if you are on the move. In MP3 mode, the displays are relatively small, but easy to read. I can't imagine being able to put much larger text on the device anyway. It has separate arrow buttons for "next file" (single arrow) and "next track" which makes it easy to use.

As for internal features, the PSA-12 has digital bass and treble equalization, repeat mode, random mode and also random within a file or an entire MP3. It also has a ESP (shock protection) mode and a battery saver mode (which I always use, since it doesn't skip). It also has a large hold/resume sliding button so that the features are all locked in except the volume.

Externally, my PSA-12 came with an inline remote that I personally don't care for. It has its own volume control, stop button, hold/resume button, a four way "hat" that lets you change tracks or folders and it has a digital screen that shows the track number and the file number. This remote is kind of a pain for me to use because it is difficult for me to have that volume wheel and the volume on the actual unit in sync. When I walk, I seem to bump the volume up or down on the remote because it won't lock. I tried to use the remote at first, but now I generally don't use it, since it can be removed.

One interesting feature is the use of small, strong magnets that can be used to attach the wires on the remote and the headphones to your clothes. They actually work very well on T-shirts or light clothes, but I lost one of the small discs when I had the remote affixed to a sweatshirt.

The headphones that come with the PSA-12 are in-ear units that wrap around the back of your head. There are magnets built into the wire that can be slid up or down. The headphones are adequate, but I had to buy a different set for me, since I don't use the remote. Without the remote wire there, the headphone wire is too short for me to reach.

Another nice feature is a rubber and lycra "jacket" that fits snugly around the disc player. It is kind of tough to get on, but it makes the unit fit snugly in your hand.

Aside from the remote and headphones (which aren't that big of a deal to me), the biggest disappointment to me is the way this thing eats the batteries. I don't think it can last more than maybe four or five hours of continuous play without going dead. That's in the battery saver mode, too. I think this is rather poor, considering I will listen to my discs without any interruption (no changing tracks or adjusting anything). It takes two AA batteries and I have gone through several bricks of duracells from Costco. I wish they would come up with a really good rechargeable battery for these things. I would be willing to put up with more weight in order to run it for a couple of days while on vacation.