To add a more common scenario to whay we might want a CD player: I hate going to the store and buying a new CD only to have to wait to get back home to rip it and transfer it before I can listen to it. Also when a friend wants you to listen to a CD. That hate is easily outweighed by the rest of the features of the empeg, but it does annoy me when it happens. I'll probably just get a cheap portable cd player and a cheap FM transmitter for this sort of thing, once I get a job.