I'm a newbie poster but a long time reader of this forum. I'm more than disappointed at Sony's decision to drop the MD format. I have been a huge fan of MD even before I could afford one. After years of drooling, I finally bought my first MD player two years ago - the RH910. And there aren't enough words to express how happy I am with my purchase. I didn't buy it because of its sound quality, or removable battery, or field recording abilities, or it's looks, or any of the many perks ofen listed by it's die-hard fans....I bought it because I didn't own a computer at the time and needed something reasonably priced to digitalize my analog cassette recordings without the contraints of needing a computer to do so. I hate that all MP3 players tie you to the computer; making it virtually impossible to transfer music by any other means. I know, there are gadgets out there that enable you to record minus a computer, but they are expensive and they are battery hogs. Oh Why, Oh Why Sony!