well it is tru that Sony portables r becoming more "cheap" and that they aren't so rugged nemore...but that aside i still remain sceptical about the integrity of the internal li-ion battery employed by the N10...function wise i think th unit is great...in terms of build??? i'm not 2 sure about since i do not own 1...but if u hav the money and u treat ur md rite (like not drop it outta a 2 storey building on2 a concrete sidewalk) then i'd say the newer Sony units will last quite some time...i think the sound in the Sony units are generally the same amoungst the models i'v owned...itz usability has somewhat degraded...like trying 2 access simple functions hav gone from only having 2 push just 1 button press to having 2 go thru a menu and sub menus just 2 get the md 2 repeat a track 4 example...otherwise i would say look @ other brands like Sharp, Panasonic or Aiwa since their build seems more solid than the newer Sony units...