I'm looking to buy a new portable CD player to take to work with me
every day. The one must-have feature that I need is "resume" - if
the player is stopped in the middle of a long track, it should pick
up at the exact point it left off next time play is pressed. I tend
to listen to a lot of bands who have 10-20 minute long songs, and it
seems like I always get interrupted half-way into a track.

Years ago I bought a Sony D-F415 that has a "resume" switch on the
side - when this switch is "on", it does exactly what I described
above. If I stop at 15:05 into a track, the next time I hit play it
starts up at 15:05 of that track.

The Sony player is starting to die, so I've been hitting the local
audio stores to try to find a replacement. None of the current Sony
models seem to have that resume switch any more, and no other portable
CD players mention having a resume feature either.

I searched the web and eventually noticed that Amazon's description
of all their Panasonic players list a resume feature that supposedly
"picks up exactly where the player left off". So I went to Best Buy
and bought a Panasonic SL-SV550 CD/MP3 player, and unless I'm missing
something (after reading the manual and playing with all the buttons),
their idea of "exactly where the player left off" is the beginning of
the track where stop was pressed, even if you were 15 minutes into the
track. Which is not what I'm looking for at all, so I have to take
this one back (hope Best Buy doesn't give me a hard time about it).

Anyway, can someone recommend a portable CD player that you know for
sure has the exact-position resume feature I'm looking for? I've
read that most iRiver and Aiwa players have a resume feature, but it's
not clear if that's exact-position resume or beginning-of-track resume.

The exact-resume feature is a must have, but the following would also
be nice:

1. Comes with a power adapter that can be plugged in to a wall outlet
(or at least can use one that's bought seperately - if the thing
only runs off batteries, that's no good).

2. Small enough to stick in a backpack to carry to work and back.

3. Has some sort of equalization features, even if it's just a bass
boost (I listen to a lot of audience recordings of concerts, which
can usually use some help in this area).

4. Preferrably under a hundred bucks, or thereabout.

5. Primarily designed to be used with headphones (i.e. I don't want
something that comes with speakers because I'd never use them).

6. My current Sony came with rechargable batteries that the player can
recharge itself, which comes in handy on occasion. The new one
doesn't absolutely need this feature, but it'd be nice.

7. If someone other than Sony makes what I'm looking for, that'd be
perfect. I'll buy Sony again if I have to, but would prefer not to.

8. Ability to play MP3 discs would be a bonus, but not vital.

9. Built-in radio would be a bonus, but not vital.

If anyone could suggest a manufacturer and model (especially one that
I could find at a local Best Buy/Circuit City/etc), I'd be very
grateful.

-- Bob "Bice" Eichler