It's not the smallest, or best looking recorder in the world, it's rounded at the edges which gives it an 'older' look, and the combination of round and square buttons does nothing for the looks of the thing. Petty design issues aside, it is slightly larger than some of the new Sony models, largely because of the battery, but also because of needless spaces inside.

However it does play extremely well. The first biggie is the fact that the TOC is automatically written on recording (I've heard that this is not the case for other recorders). You get all the standard stuff: bass control, random, repeat, program etc. The sound quality is excellent on both analogue and digital. And the jog dial is great both for volume control and character input.

There are a couple of (fairly major) downers though. The worst of them all is the lack of compatibility with any AA cell adapters - if you have a look at one you'll find that there are no terminals for these adaptors. It's not so bad unless you travel abroad, where you'll have to find a voltage adaptor to recharge.

The other major downer is the remote control. It's the same design as other Aiwa remotes, minus the display. As a result, it feels big, cheap and tacky, and because of its design it's a pain if yiou can't find anywhere to clip it.

Overall, it's a smart litle player, and any annoyances can be forgiven by the sheer goodness of it. I think the line's been discontinued to make way for the AM-F75, which does support AA adaptors, but it's ex. nonetheless.