[Arkay]

I have that boombox in both silver-fronted and black-fronted versions. Don't know which I like better; maybe the black (like yours).

APSS stands for "Automatic Program Search System". It scans the tape looking for blank/silent spaces between songs; when in use, it will scan ahead to the next pause and start playing the next song automatically.

To work properly, the space between the songs should be 4 seconds or longer; less than that, and the APSS may think it is just a pause within a single song, and skip it. Similarly, if there is a pause longer than 4 seconds within a song, the APSS will mistake that for the transition to a new song.

APLD stands for "Automatic Program Locate Device". It works on the same principle as APSS; the difference is that you can set it to skip ahead a specified number of songs to play a particular song on the tape, whereas APSS only advances to the NEXT song.

On many (but not all) of the Sharp boxes with these functions, pretty-colored indicator light "logos" automatically light up
whenever these functions are actually in operation.


Below is the text from a Sharp tag or box, talking about this function, that was posted by someone ("JLF") on another discussion board (Stereo2Go):

THE SHARP EYE ENDS THE HIT AND MISS METHOD OF FINDING SONGS ON TAPE.

THE SHARP EYE AUTOMATICALLY FINDS EACH MUSIC SELECTION ON A TAPE AND PLAYS IT AUTOMATICALLY.
THIS AUTOMATIC PROGRAM SEARCH SYSTEM (APSS) IS MANY TIMES FASTER AND EASIER THAN THE MANUAL, IMPRECISE METHOD NECESSARY WITH EVEN THE MOST EXPENSIVE AUDIO EQUIPMENT.
IT ELECTRONICALLY "READS" THE SHORT PAUSE, OR ABSENCE OF SOUND, BETWEEN SONGS ON THE TAPE.
IF YOU'RE IN THE MIDDLE OF ONE SONG AND YOU WANT TO GO TO THE NEXT, JUST HIT THE FORWARD APSS BUTTON. THE MACHINE AUTOMATICALLY RACES IN FAST FORWARD TO THE NEXT PAUSE AND PLAYS THE NEXT SONG. ON CASSETTE, IF YOU WANT TO HEAR A SELECTION AGAIN, JUST PRESS THE REVERSE APSS BUTTON.
THE SHARP EYE IS AVAILABLE ON SHARP RADIO/CASSETTE RECORDERS, STEREO CASSETTE DECKS AND STEREO MUSIC SYSTEMS. INCLUDING THE SHARP YOUR LOOKING AT NOW.