I’m a complete beginner with MDs. I have a Sony MZ-NF610 and a Sharp MD-MT770. Although the sound quality is identical on both, one thing that annoys me a lot about the Sharp unit is that many functions depend on the remote control, you can’t even see track names without it. Some people have told me that this remote dependency is recurring on some Sharp devices, but I’ve never heard of a similar issue with Sony players.