The sound quality is awesome, very good. Unfortunately it doesn't get very loud. But with headphones it's just fine. Playing music on this thing is extremely simple. You connect to your PC via the USB Connection option. Then you drag and drop your favorite songs into your music folder. After that scroll to your music section and click on the song you want to listen to. I love drag and drop MP3 players. I still can't figure out how to drag and drop songs onto my friend's IPod. The Memory Stick the PSP comes with is only a 32 MB and cannot carry many songs. It's a shame. I have to go out and buy a bigger one, that's for later in time, though. If you put a few songs on your PSP, be sure not to lose your USB cable as I have recently managed to accomplish. It makes you heart-broken, it really does.