This unit is quite small, smaller then the smallest a casette player, but not so small for an MD player. It is not very light, but it`s fine. It will fit to any pocket. Mine came with AC Adapter, Li-Ion Battery (charged in the unit), carrying cloth, LCD remote control, in-ear headphones and attachable box for 3 AA batteries. It`s plastic body doesn`t feel sturdy, but it is. And even if you scrath it, it makes almost no visual difference. The player is just great in hard conditions! It has only 10-sec. memory, but the mechanism is so good, that I couldn`t manage to make it stop playing even through making crazy vibrations-that`s beats all the other players (worked easily with the MZ-E35)! Humidity also makes no impression on it. I was using it while a storm (no umbrella or coat) and it kept playing! Comparing to this MZ-E35 is just shitty (skiing with it was a total failure-after few minutes it refused to work and I wasn`t able to use it for next 2 days because of the humidity built-up inside it). The MZ-E2 handles all the conditions, even when the casette players refuse to work (for example a hard bicycle ride).

I think it looks great and very attractive (looks as being very small). It is very comfortable in use and the remote is very good (although it schould have backlit anyway...). The remote is also quite sturdy and I think it will last quite long. It has some clip, but it is so light that you don`t have to clip it. Headphones are a little poor to me, but one may find it good. The sound is very good. ATRAC 2 has some problems with worse-quality recordings (like from an old casette or TV), but generally operates same to newer ones, although the sound is a little specyfic (in plus for me, except for the lowest frequencies being a little too quiet). The unit has a very good quality amplifier (much better than MZ-E35`s) an really powerful (non-digital yet) bass sound with two-step bass boost. The sound is very sharp and clear (no spare trebles like the MZ-E35), no distortion appears even on maximum volume with maximum bass (which is really loud) - it`s a milestone comparing to MZ-E35! The unit is also dead quiet between songs and accesses them very fast and precisely (much better than MZ-E35). Try it on Groove headphones or some good monitors-it`s just great! It also reads TOC quite fast.

The main problem about the unit it`s the energy efficiency. On Li-Ion it lasts for a little more than 2 hours, wchich is poor. Reacharging takes 3 (80%) to 5 hours, but it automatically finishes, so you can don`t have to remember about turning it off. Li-Ion can be charched independent to it`s actual level of charge (half or totally discharged) which is very useful. Plaing lasts for about 6 hours with 3 alkalines (both alkalines and LI-Ion about 10). The playing time is supposed to be longer on Pre-recorded MDs, but I don`t have any to try:( I`m about to buy a spare Li-Ion (or even few of them), maybe they will have a bigger capacity than present 750mAh-they even schould, looking at it`s size. Anyway it`s not enough for farther trips, but generally fits me well (I will use the Panasonic then). The unit was really worth of it`s price-about 175 USD (thanks to it`s being so old, original price was about 550 USD...) and I really liked it; I would pay even twice as much for it! For about 60 USD you can buy some spare Li-Ion battery and for 25 USD in-ear Groove headphones with microplug, which fits the unit`s remote, and that`s a great way to have a really great player with great accesories at a very low price of about 260 USD! I found it just accidentally in some AV shop... Having recently joined as a Resident Expert for MiniDiscussion.com and noticing that there was only one other review for this particular unit (others may have been posted since then) I felt it would be good to not only write another review about this unit to give a second opinion, but also just in case you happen to come across it on e-bay, a second hand electronics store, or by chance, a yard sale.

It's now 11/2000, and I bought this unit way back in 5/1994 BRAND NEW. (back in the "good 'ol days, when a damn player-only MD unit cost a 'MERE' $550.00 bucks.) I have since then purchased more MD stuff than I can shake a stick at, but this unit will always have a warm spot in my heart since this is when I truly first fell in love with MD. Your first question is probably, "Does the thing still work?" and I can say with a smile that I've gone to hell and back, sometimes bringing my MD unit with me and each and every time, my MD unit has come back with me, working as good as new and seemingly ready for more. I've crash landed back to earth with it when snowboarding, together we've met the pavement face to face a little harder than I would assume either one of us wanted or would have liked to while inline skating and skateboarding, I've fallen and barely been able to get up from some decent and respectable falls on my mountain bike (with me on/off it and the MZ- E2 involuntarily along for the ride, regardless.) I've landed hard while my MZ-E2 retained it's forward momentum and skidded along the dirt/mud puddles/snow/etc until finding something that finally stopped it. In short, this thing should not be working. I've had CD players meet their makers, Walkmans come back in pieces and still others of both groups not come back at all. I don't know what it is, if it was luck or otherwise, but this thing is the "Volkswagen Rabbit" of portable devices to me. It takes a licking and keeps on ticking. Or is that from Timex? : ) It's survived longer than most things in my life. It's older than my TV, my stereos, my car, my furniture, most everything. I've since then given up skateboarding, turned from aggro skating to speed and fitness skating, the mountain bike I left ten miles out on a trail due to a flat tire (I had already used the repair kit to fix a tire about five miles before that) and is presumably still there, rusting/corroding away and not to mention surviving six years of my life, one marriage (Losing a good bike was much more tragic for me) and countless other things. It's survived these hobbies much better than I did over the years.

Since then, I've found many things that are 'better' - I have a wonderful girlfriend instead of the wife, I have a beautiful daughter now (with the girlfriend, not the wife, thank god!) when I used to think not having any children was better (I was way wrong on that!) and I've since then bought many other portable MD players and recorders. (Most broken, some sold, all of them gone except for the MZR-55 I still have and use.)

Sure, the MZ-E2 is a little heavier, a little bigger, (But not a whole lot, even today. The MZ-E2 is 4 1/4" x 3/4" x 3" - the MZ-90 is 3 1/8" x 9/16" x 2 7/8" ) the ten second shock protection was okay then (It's not like anything back then had any 'shock protection memory' at all.) but alas, forty seconds is better now, the battery barely played a disk or two (even when it was new) when the newest players will play a half dozen or more and the external battery pack that holds three AA batteries and physically plugs into the jack for the power adapter and screws into the back of the unit (not to mention doubles the size of the unit's depth) has been redesigned for the better, the two step 'bass boost' on it has been replaced with something better, eight step digital mega-bass, and over the years, this unit has been much improved upon over the years. Still, I love this machine. It has clean lines, buttons where they should be (On the top where you can reach them when it's in a pocket and you don't happen to have the remote headphones with you.) The internal amplifier is wonderful. (It's exceptionally loud, has a wonderful sound to it, and even though there isn't mega-bass on it, produces a very full, clean and pure sound and clarity that surpasses my MZR-55.) So if you find one for sale, still working and cheap (As it invariably will be now.) BUY IT. I can't guarantee you'll be able to bring it through hell as well as I have, but if it's anything like my unit, it should stand the test of time. (Just try to buy yourself another battery for it. The battery pack for it is for the birds.) And enjoy. I know I still do, six years later. : )