Don't Get Caught Skipping
You should consider how and where you'll be using your personal CD player. For instance, the buffer memory — also called anti-skip protection, ESP Squared (Sony's acronym for Electronic Sound Protection) or various other fancy names that all mean the same thing — soaks up battery life when activated. Therefore, consider how you will use your personal CD player. If you're going to use it while jogging, we recommend a sports portable; anything less and the player will eventually skip. If you're merely strolling around town, get at least a 20-second buffer. If you're going to use it in the car, opt for at least a 10-second memory — bear in mind that a car does encounter bumps in the road.

Reading and Writing
All CD players play back the discs made on a CD recordable (CD-R) deck. Not all CD players — particularly the portable variety — will play back CD-RW (CD rewritable) discs, however. Unlike the make-one-mistake-and-you're-done CD-R discs, CD-RW discs work like tape or MiniDiscs you can record, erase and record again. This capability makes CD-RW discs incompatible with many CD players. Many companies are including this feature on select products in their lineup. CD-RW compatibility should be indicated on the personal CD player's packaging. But no Sony Discman will be compatible with CD-RW. CD-RW compatibility would put Sony personal CD players in competition with its own rewritable format, MiniDisc. So if you know someone who's going to make CD-RW disc mixes for you, or if you plan on buying and using a CD-RW deck, look for a personal CD player that is CD-RW-compatible.

Car Kits
Many personal CD players now come with a car kit, which typically consists of a cigarette lighter power adapter and a cassette adapter — a cassette-shaped device that is placed into your car cassette player to allow the CD to play through your car speakers. Some car kits also include some sort of player mount that attaches to the dashboard.