This CD player is amazing for one simple reason: you can fit up to 15-17 CDs worth of music on it. I am fairly experienced with computers--I used Windows Media Player to rip songs from 11 CDs from my CD collection, then burned them to ONE CD. Windows Media Player was able to automatically download song/album information using CDDB--navigating from CD to CD and within each virtual CD is a breeze. Now--I *have* put my MP3s onto a CD and I will acknowledge that many, many mp3s will fit onto a single CD. However, I am amazed that so many MORE WMAs will fit onto the same CD. The manual recommends ripping songs at 96kbps and this is fine for me. I notice no sound degradation at all.

The sound is very good. (...)

This is a very cool piece of technology and I am very pleased with the sound--but I am so over-the-edge happy about the WMA format and functionality.

This is a must-get.

Somethings you just need to see and buy in a store to learn all the hidden facts, a lesson learned for me. I hope this helps you.

One major feature thats lacking is fast-forwarding on MP3 CDs -- you can only do this on audio CDs, as holding down the seek buttons just move you up and down the folders in data CDs. But my only other complaint would be the lack of a LCD backlight -- its really difficult to figure out what Im doing in the dark, though the button configuration is still intuitive. Id also have prefered a scrolling (vs. the button-based) volume control, but thats not all that important either.

The playback of MP3s and WMAs is useful, though if you have no use for the latter just save yourself some money and get the MP70 (unless you like the concentric ring design of the MP80 to the MP70s blue gradient). There are no problems with sound, a hold button exists, skipping has never happened to me, having ID3 tags is nice, and read time is good.

Priced on the lower end of MP3 CD players, Id say this one is a good buy, but Id shop around a little more to make sure you get the features you want. Theres no remote or FM tuner on this one, and some players boast even higher battery lives. But if all you need is a reliable MP3 CD player thatll play everything on it reasonably conveniently (as long as you dont need to see song info in the dark or be able to search within an MP3 track), this may be the one youre looking for.

The point is, this is a very solid CD player that can also play MP3 and WMA files. The interface is very simple, just like on a regular CD discman. Yes, if you had 1000 songs youd have to press the forward button 999 times to get to the last one. But this is not meant to be a dedicated MP3 player. For that you have the iPods, the RCA Lyras, the Rios, the Archos jukeboxes. If you listen to a lot of MP3s, you should get a dedicated MP3 player, not this. This is for those of us who listen to CDs on the go a lot, and sometimes have a CD-R or two burned with our favorite MP3s.

Tip - to get around the "press forward 99 times to get to the 100th song or 999 times to get to the 1000th song" problem, put a dozen songs in each folder. The Panasonic automatically designates each folder an album, and you can skip to the next album by holding down the fast-forward button.

As for the criticism of the volume, I guess its a very personal thing. I listen to music on the earphones for about 1.5 hours each day, usually during my commute to and from work. I believe my hearing is excellent -- at least thats what my company doctor tells me -- so to me, the bundled Panasonic headphones are already pretty loud at volume level 18, even on a noisy subway such as the No. 1 train or one of the older N trains here in New York. But I usually use a set of Aiwa headphones with bass boost and in-line volume control (bought at Centure 21 downtown near the World Trade Center site) and everyone Ive let try out this combination says the volume is more than adequate, even at mid-level settings. I think the upshot is, you have to try it yourself. If you have indulged in loud music directly over your ears over the years, the sad truth is you probably should cut down the amount of music you listen to and work with a specialist to restore some of your hearing abilities.

So these are my 2 cents on the excellent SL-MP80. (The slightly cheaper SL-MP70 does not support WMA but is otherwise identical. I have a longer review for that model because thats what I eventually kept.) The sound quality is great, battery life is excellent (although its stupid for Panasonic to put the battery compartment inside the player so you cant change batteries without taking out the CD), and the design is stylish. I think youll like this CD player a lot, assuming you are not too hard at hearing.

Negatives:
-Soft (weak maximum volume)
-Inability to ff/rew inside mp3/wma files
-Having to press the ff/rew button 25 times to get to the 26th song.
-No power supply included
-No remote
-Doesnt feel durable (has panasonic lost its quality control?)

I think Im going to return this tomorrow...

Also, it felt cheap... very "plasticy" if youll pardon my nonsense word. I really expected more from Panasonic.

P.S. For MP3s this unit displays the regular windows-named filename in a scrolling billboard way (when you ask for it by switching views - otherwise its track # and time) which works for me. If you are outdoors/active I recommend obtaining a Case Logic or some kind of see-through padded outer case for bad weather as icing on the cake.

Now on to the actual review:
At first glance the player looks pretty attractive, although a tad bulky. When it was started, it took about 10 seconds to load the cd and start playing.
The audio quality was quite excellent especially if you like listening to music with a lot of bass, such as rap , r+b, alternative rock, etc; the EQ bass mode takes care of that.
The battery life does indeed live up to its claim. I still havent listened to the cd player until the batteries have died, and I use the player quite a bit.
The only thing lacking with the player is the inadequate navigation system. To get to track 100, you have to click the skip button 99 times. Although this problem can be somewhat remedied by putting songs in specific albums, panasonic could definitely improve this aspect of the player. Then it truly would be the best.
Overall, the ML-70/80 are definitely the best bangs for the buck. Its affordable price, great functionality, and aesthetic design will provide countless hours of entertainment.

The sound quality is excellent, easily in the upper levels for portable CD players. The headphones that come with the SL-MP80 are unexceptional but perfectly adequate, although audiophiles will probably want to use their own set of lightweight headphones to really get full performance.

Durability is another nice touch. Im currently on deployment at Camp Arifjan, Kuwait; heat and dust make this a tough tour for electronic devices, but this one has held up like a champ. It sees particularly rough handling as I like to take my music with me when I exercise, but so far I havent even scratched the case.

The only complaint I have is a minor one: The SL-MP80 does not read v2 ID3 tags! The older ID3 format is supported, but the newer extended format isnt. The v2 standard is hardly new, and I dont see any compelling reason to exclude it, but for some reason this unit simply doesnt support them. It will, however, read ID3 v1 tags, as well as MP3s with both v1 and v2 tags.

All in all, I couldnt suggest a better portable CD/MP3 player.

At first I had my doubts, but once I got past the WMA copy protection issue and the Variable-Bit-Rate problem, Voila!

Do NOT use Windows Media Variable-bit-rate recording option for the WMAs.

IMHO, this is a real sophisticated piece of electronics with such versatility and portability.

And, so far, it is quite easy on the standard alkaline off-the-shelf AA batteries, at least with MP3s and WMAs.

The three choices of Equalizer pre-sets include S-XBS (bass boost), LIVE, and blank/standard. The LIVE setting is HI-FI when used on a number recorded before a live audience and to me sounds like the listener is on the front row of a concert. 3D?

One word of caution, however: I am a mature adult and I treat this hardware with the somewhat delicate care such technology deserves. Im afraid my young adult son would break it in a few days; dont skateboard with it in your pocket! ;-)

Also, read the user manual! The player does have other limitations, but theyre stated in black-and-white.

And last but not least: I just burned ONE CD with 122 songs on it! Thats really compact, to me. (In case you cant tell, this is my first experience with a portable MP3 player.)

I tested the player with a CD-R with WMA files encoded at 128 Kbps, and I was happy with the playback.

BTW, the claim that the players can do 48 hours of playback for a pair of AA batteries is true only for alkaline batteries and 128 Kbps MP3 playback under specific conditions. If you are playing something else and/or not using alkaline batteries, the claim probably does not apply.