It looks quite fine in silver (although I accept only black and dark blue for this kind of things, but there was no choice) and even attractive. It looks like being bigger than it is. The back side seemed very ugly to me, but I somehow got used to it. I was very surprised when it got a "design award" in Germany and I think it`s a mistake. The size is okay, it`s a litlle bigger than MD pocket and a little less thick than 2 MD pockets, it is also quite light. With it came a carrying case, NiMH gumpack-type battery (with carrying case for it), recharger and attachable case for 1 AA battery (makes player longer when attached), LCD remote control and headphones.

The player and the remote are quite sturdy. But the player can be scratched easily and then it gets very inatractive (as mine is after a year of use). There is a LCD on both player and remote, wchich is useful. Only the remote`s can display song names. The remote is big and heavy, which makes it not very useful (although all the functions are on it-except for Megabass and AVLS). The headphones are poor and I never use them. The sound is very good, but there is to much spare trebles. There is a two-step Digital Megabass, which I found poor. It gives even more trebles, and the bass is not very enriched. And there is a lot of distortion while using the bass at maximum volume with most MDs. There can be heard some hiss between songs, which schould not be there. The sound is very agressive-it gives much energy, but after some hours of listening your ears will be very tired. Maximum volume is not enough for quiet parts of classical music (and you have to turn off the bass:( ). The sound itself is okay, but I would expect something more.

The energy efficiency is okay-about 6 hours with NiMH and 8 from an alkaline (both about 16). It can alco use AC adapter (separately available). The battery recharges fully in 1 hour with auto-off function, which is great! 40-sec. memory fits jogging and most situations well (altough the gumpack sometimes "escapes" from the player...). The remote/phones cord is put in a very stupid place, but thanks to unit`s small size it is not so bad. The worst thing about the unit is that it is very susceptible to humidity. Some storm and there`s no music for two days, until the water evaporates. I tried downhill skiing with it and it failed due to humidity (it was snowing just a bit!).

The unit is fine, but expensive. Sony doesn`t change anything about it`s newer players (like MZ-E55 or MZ-E70) except for their energy efficiency and size, so this all schould be true for them also. That`s why I have bought Sony MZ-E2 (found it better then MZ-E35, though two times cheaper and 4 years older) and I`m selling the MZ-E35 and buying Panasonic SJ-MJ70. I always prefered Panasonic to Sony :)