Features. It has standard features to most MD portables, track and disc labeling, a variety of play modes, etc, etc. One thing that this one had that some others didn't, was the fast play option, for when playing from a mono source eg; microphone. Another potential problem is its relatively small 10 second anti-skip. Not very good for jogging, tho I havn't had any problems with it. Although it lacks the remote that almost all Md's have which I am starting to miss, it certainly is worth it for how much cheaper it is.

Durabiliy. It has a nice aluminum casing, and seeing as how everyone in my family has tripped over the cord and sent it flying across te room, and it STILL WORKS... I'd say it can take care of itself if it has too.. :]

Overall. Despite the lack of remote, digital cable and its *slightly* larger size then most units, I found this to be the perfect unit for a first minidisc recorder. If you don't need certain accessories, like say, a remote, then the price of the Sharp MT15 is right and the sound is excellent. Even though it's supposed to be the cost reduced version of the Sharp 831, it reminds me of a stripped down version of the 702, which I owned. It operates pretty much the 702 does, it's just that it comes without the remote, digital cable and rechargeable battery. And for some who have used other models, they may miss things like a jog dial and so on. I figured it this way--the only accessory it doesn't have, which I want--the rechargeable battery--is something I can order, which I have done. Meanwhile, it's similar to the 702, which cost me 200 dollars more in Canadian money than the MT15.

The MT15 isn't the smallest unit around, in fact it's similar in bulk to the 702, but to me, size doesn't matter that much when it comes to an MD portable. The unit is attractive and the buttons are well laid out. It feels reasonably solid, although I'd prefer a metal switch to a plastic one for opening up the unit to insert a disc. The clamshell, which is the first I've used, works well. There's Sharp's usual analog and digital synch recording, you can adjust levels while recording in analog mode.

One improvement over the 702 seems to be the speed of reading the disc and playing a track, or switching from track to track. It's also fairly quiet.

The MT15 runs on 2 AA alkalines, but you can order the NiMH rechargeable battery for $20 dollars from Sharp USA. The NiMH can be recharged in the unit by plugging in the adaptor and pressing the "charge"/stop button.

Only time will tell whether the unit's also reasonably reliable. However, if you can do without some extras, but you are looking for a solid unit which offers the features that are most important at an affordable price, consider the Sharp MT15. Two months ago, I purchased a Sharp MD-MT15. It has a pair of earphones, an analog cable and a soft clothy bag included. No adaptor, no rechargeable batteries, no remote control, no optical cable. I've already got an optical cable (Sony POC-MZ1), which I used for my DCC (dead technology), so that wasn't an issue. Too bad about the remote though. A friend of mine got the MD-MT20 and the remote really comes in handy, because of the flat rew/ffwd/stop/play buttons on top of the MD-MT15 and MD-MT20, which are somewhat hard to find in your pocket. The volume buttons can be found much easier than the other buttons. The unit is thick (3 cm), but still very compact for any pocket. The display isn't backlit which is disappointing. It's not even clear, you have to watch the contents of the display in 45 degrees from the bottomside. The MD-MT20 also has this problem.

The MD-MT15 uses 2 AA batteries. Alkaline, NiCd, NiMH and Accucell batteries (rechargeable Alkaline) all work, although Accucell batteries are crap. It takes 16 hours to charge (in a special Accucell charger) and is empty in no time (not to mention they cost the earth!). I use both NiCd and NiMH batteries. They work nicely. The NiMH batteries however, don't seem to last much longer than NiCd in an MD-MT15 and take much more time to charge (16 hours!). I use a 2 hour quickcharger for the NiCd batteries and it's a great alternative for the NiMH set for the MD-MT20. NiCd batteries won't give you 15 hours of play, but around 10 hours or less. I haven't tried alkaline batteries, but those would probably reach the 15 hours. Since the official MD-MT15 adaptor isn't sold in my country, I bought an alternative cheap adaptor for only 20 guilders. No more "BATT EMPTY" message during recording :)

The recording and editing functions are great. All menus are very logical, except the lack of text on top of the shell. The "BASS" button is the delete button for text. It would be nice if it said "BASS/DELETE". The trackmarks are written at shutdown. Adding titles are like writing SMS messages on mobile phones: a tedious and annoying process! The longplay function comes in handy for mono microphone recordings. The synchro function for automatic recording and auto-numbering rules. The 10 second anti-shock is not enough. Even walking can shake the thing and a couple of steps later it'll skip. I noticed the anti-shock in some discs (Sony ES, Sony Colour Collection) really work and aren't just marketing tricks. They'll give much less skips in the MD-MT20. Fourty seconds anti-shock would totally get rid of the problem with good discs (well, except of you're jogging ofcourse).

Now the most important factor: sound quality. The 24-bit ATRAC encoding/decoding ensures perfect sound quality. The sound is very dynamic, much better than my 18-bit DCC 170 portable. Analog recordings are very accurate, even my PC-microphone is very sensible in mic recordings. The noise-level is very low, good earphones won't give any noise. Bass, earphones and microphones will give a little bit of noise, but that's not from the MD and isn't very noticeable. The earphones have great bass, much lower than my "For CD" earphones from Sony. The cable is also very long (about one meter!), so you won't have the problem of pulling your MD from at every movement.

All in all the MD-MT15 is a great first portable MiniDisc recorder, I'm very satisfied with the quality and features. The lack of extra's can be solved cheaply, except for the remote and backlight. The price of 330 guilders (about 165 US dollars) is really reasonable for equipment of such quality. The low price is because of the lack of extra's, not the quality.

If you don't own an optical cable (70 guilders), rechargable battery equipment and a universal adaptor, go for the MD-MT20 instead. It's technically the same, but with the extra's for an added 80 guilders (40 USD).

See ya! The MT15 was my first MD investment, and for a few months, I was in love. It was one of the best investments I ever made. It had a pretty user-friendly interface, the sound quality was awesome - the unit pushed a lot of bass, and it seemed to ooze with quality. I was able to overlook the shortcomings, like the lack of a remote control (didn't need it, I liked showing off my unit my playing with it in public), lack of an included rechargeable battery pack (bought my own set of rechargeable AAs), and lack of an optical cable (most of my equipment doesn't support it anyway).

Unfortunately, my love-fest was to be ended with one inexcuseable flaw...it was just not very well made...I guess...I was showing the player off to my friends one day, and he noticed that one of the screws had fallen out of the unit's cover. That was when he came to a realization that this was not an isolated problem. His friend happened to have the same model as I did, and through no apparent fault of his own, all four cover screws had managed to fall off!

I immediately ordered a Sony MZ-R90, and sold the Sharp model to another friend for a paltry $60. Now that I have the Sony model, I must say that there were things about the Sharp that I miss so much. First, the smart design of the unit makes it very hard for a button to be accidentally pressed. The recording functions are also very well-thought out. I will miss the ability to play all the tracks on a disc randomly just once (Sony's model only has 3 modes of playback, Repeat, Repeat 1, and Shuffle Repeat). I miss being able to go to sleep listening to any random tracks on my MD, knowing that once it has played through all the tracks once, it will stop and shut itself off. I miss also miss being able to combine two tracks into one with ease.

The one problem aside, I could not have asked for a better MD player...I will miss it very much... Everything has basically been said about the MD-MT15 in the other reviews. It's a great "value" unit that lasts. A few things that weren't pointed out in the other reviews that may be of benefit...

• You can buy, use and charge generic NiMH rechargeable batteries in the unit. Simply get a business card, cut it down to size, and fold a little crease up the middle, between the two batteries so it hits the switch at the bottom.
• Loose screws. You can tell when the screws are getting loose when the cover of the unit feels less solidly intact. Tighten the screws and your problems are gone. Check regularly, just in case - though many people reported only needing to tighten them once.
• Despite what Sharp will tell you, the MD-MT15 unit is fully compatible with a remote from the MD-MT20. Sharp supplies the MD-MT20 remote as a replacement part for a premium price.
• Optical cable for digital recording, as mentioned, is not included in the package. What used to be somewhat rare, is becoming more popular with stereo units and sound cards with digital optical out. There are many inexpensive optical cables out there, like Recoton, that will save you a ton (of $).