[robjones]

I think the main reason for the masking tape is to stop the battery from wandering. It is probably there from new. There is so little room in these things that there is barely any room for the battery let alone a battery holder. Masking tape is not a totally bad thing. If the battery was held by insulating tape there is a good chance that it would start to loosen before too long and either the battery wires would break due to the flexing or the plastic coating on the battery would wear against the solderred connections underneath and lead to a short. Masking tape may look bad, but it sticks very well to most surfaces. I suppose that is one of the reasons why they use it when repainting car panels to prevent overspray. It also has to put up with a lot of heat in the car body respray business. I also had masking tape inside the two hacked players I bought from red-vision. They were on the inside back of the player which had metal casing to prevent a short circuit.