I agree with you Clinton. MD's are superb. I use them for field recording of interviews for my radio show and they are very convenient, the sound quality is excellent, and the functionality and ease of use is perfect for most applications. I interviewed Peggy Seeger a few years ago and she marveled at the size of my recorder. It was a few ounces and fits in the palm of my hand.   She remarked how she and Ewan MacColl dragged a "portable" real-to-real recorder around for field recordings in the 50's and 60's. This "convenient" recorder weighed about 150 pounds!

The only problem is that here in the U.S., MD's are not being marketed properly. I know there are MD units for cars, but I haven't heard of Ford or anyone else installing them here. From what I hear, the MD is bigger in Europe and Asia.

I own a Sharp portable and a Sony deck for my home unit. My brother-in-law gave me a Sony NetMD player for Christmas. I haven't had a chance to use it yet, but it looks like fun!

Cassettes do make good doorstops and you can use them to scrape mud off your shoes.   I wouldn't recommend using an MD for that!

Ron