Kenwood makes the most poorly built portables on the market, short of no name brands. What you think you are buying is a quality product because of the Kenwood name. That's what I thought when I got my first one. I even got a 4 year extended warranty just to make sure. Since the start I have had to take back 3 units, and am on my 4th unit which is nearly dead now. In less than a year and a half, I have had 4 Kenwood portable cd players, all of which came with some type of manufacturing defect. 2 of the units totally failed. I hope few other people have to experience what I did, and waste money.