This is a portable player, meant to be carried while walking or jogging, right? Apparently, the company does not know this, or they would have placed the battery access OUTSIDE the machine, rather than inside. So, when the batteries die while you're out jogging, you have to stop jogging, stop the CD player, find a surface on which to work, open the CD player and remove the CD, THEN open the battery compartment to change batteries. Does that make ANY sense at all? My suggestion is to not buy this machine. Wait until the company wises up and puts its appliances through some usability testing.