Buying Sony DEJ011 CD Walkman« Portable CD Player

I purchased my Sony CD Walkman D-EJ011 at Best Buy when my Memorex portable CD player died after a few years of heavy use. I typically use the CD player to listen to audio books while walking, gardening, doing housework, etc. My primary reason for purchasing this model was because of its memory feature which resumes play right where it was stopped. Since I check audio books out of my local library, they are often slightly scratched and the result is akin to a needle skipping on an old vinyl record whenever there is the slightest scratch. I've been able play the disk on my home sound system confirming the disk is playable. Even after having the disks buffed out at the library, the disks typically will still not play in the Walkman. The only way to continue listening is to forward to the next track which is unacceptable because you may be miss several minutes of play time each time. Additionally, I do not care for the placement of the controls and have frequenly had to restart the player whenever I bumped ever so slightly into anything or had to reset after accidentally going into shuffle mode. Additionally, changing the batteries is more than a little akward since you must remove the disk from the player to pry out the batteries from inside the unit. Although my hands are not large, I literally used a nail grooming instrument to extract the batteries. I much preferred the ease of swapping out batteries on the back panel of my old Memorex player and never worried about dropping and potentially damaging a disk in the process. Within 4 months of operating my Sony player, the audio control got flaky and the unit displays "AVLS" when I attempt to increase the volume; I presume this means the unit has reached its maximum available volume. The end result is that I can not hear the reader when passing either a vehicle or people talking while walking down an otherwise quiet street. The appearance is good is the battery life, but I'm looking for another player. This is the first time I've ever been disappointed by a Sony product and I certainly have higher expectations of their products, especially since they are not shy about charging premium prices. 2 starGet more detail about Sony DEJ011 CD Walkman« Portable CD Player.