To celebrate the 10th anniversary of the DAT format, Sony has introduced a small Walkman Personal DAT player/recorder with extended battery life capability. The TCD-D100 measures 1 1/8 inches by 3 1/8 inches by 4 5/8 inches deep and weighs only 13.3 ounces with batteries. This is 35% smaller and lighter than previous models.

Sony has reduce the total power consumption by 25%. Now you can record or play up to four hours on two "AA" alkaline batteries, nine hours on the optional six-battery pack and up to 21 hours with the lithium-ion battery. The new DAT Walkman comes with headphones and a LCD remote control that looks like a digital sport watch and "mirrors" the unit's own internal LCD display. Also included are two rechargeable nickel-metal-hydride "AA" batteries, AC adapter and battery charger. The unit features a new digital automatic gain control that has two modes for distortion-free recording of either voice or music. Besides the AGC, you can use either a microphone limiter or manual record level control. The built-in LCD display shows current operational status, remaining battery life as well as date and time. As with many of the newer DAT machines, the date and time can be recorded right on the DAT tape as a method of automatic identification.