The unit itself is silver, about the size of two cassette tape cases put together but smaller. It is front-loading (which is cool -- enables you to access the write-protect on your minidisc is you're into experimenting with TOC's and copying, hacking, etc.) with a non-backlit LCD display. The record meter segments are easy to view in normal situations and the controls are small but nicely laid-out.

It comes with a remote, which has no LCD screen -- just a plastic control pad with buttons. Not that useful, since it's black, small, and the buttons are hard to figure out as it is. I've never used mine.

The Lithium Ion battery it comes with is supposedly good for 300 charges. I've charged mine a zillion times in the past 2 years and the battery has been fantastic. It's got lots of power during recording and playback. Great job, Sharp!

Sound quality is fabulous. Even though it's ATRAC 4.0, it sounds great. Shortly after I got the unit I dumped a CD onto MD using my optical cable (bought sep.) and hooked up my Sharp to my home system and then did a blind listening test, flicking back and forth between the CD and MD. I thought for sure that I'd be able to tell the diff, and after 30 minutes of repeated intense listening, I actually thought the CD was the MD!

BEEFS: No backlit LCD on main unit, no LCD at all on the remote. Includes plain "just ok" Sharp headphones. Recording levels hard to tweak when you're in stealth mode because you have no idea if it's clipping or not. Have had trouble with Sony blank minidiscs! Gasp! Made a couple of really important stealth recordings with Sony discs and got glitches and lost data -- haven't had that problem with any other brand.

VERDICT: A really decent MD unit from Sharp. A great buy if you can find one, and they're probably quite cheap now.