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Hello Keyboard Experts, I received my MZ-X500 a week ago Wednesday (Dec 6th) and have since been overwhelming myself with the myriad of possibilities this instrument offers. I'm pretty sure I got a good deal on it even though it was an "open box"/demo model (called B-Ware here in Germany). Everywhere now they seem to be going for a lot more. No scratches and looked brand new to me. The first thing I did was upgrade the firmware to 1.50 and restored to factory settings. It came with a USB stick that contained additional Tones, Rhythms, etc., installed that. I guess my main questions are (asked here to spare readers the lengthy append below, if so desired): 1 - How does the Casio MZ-X500 stack up (in terms of function, price and quality) against the Yamaha PSR-EW400 or PSR-E453 for someone learning piano and with interests in music synthesis? Should I keep it or return it and opt for something else? 2 - It seems the whole keyboard moves a very little bit when striking a key or more and the keys click a little bit at the bottom of the key travel. Is this normal? I did see the forum entry where someone got their keyboard repaired and the recommendation to have it done under warranty. Noted. 3 - Sometimes the touch screen doesn't seem to react. Is it the way I am touching it or a response time issue? Does using a stylus (for better accuracy) make sense? I will be playing the instrument mainly for my personal enjoyment and if I ever get good enough, the enjoyment of others. I have a somewhat decent singing voice (some kind of mix between Dean Martin and Johnny Cash - I like to think so), so singing could also play a role in my musical endeavors. When I see some of these YouTube videos I realize I have zero musical talent in comparison. However, those videos can also serve as inspiration. I had been considering a Yamaha PSR-EW400 (less expensive) and then after visiting the local music store, also a Yamaha PSR-E453 (even less expensive). The E453 was still in the box so I couldn't try it out and then it was sold when I went back a few days later. So I only have YouTube videos and forums and my personal experience with the MZ-X500 to determine if I made the right decision. After playing around a little bit, I read through both manuals completely (some parts multiple times). Now I am racing against the clock (I have a two week grace period to return the MX) to assure myself I have purchased a machine appropriate for me and that I will take advantage of most, or at least some, of the great features this keyboard has to offer. I also have a Casio AP-22 (APS or APK, I think) e-piano, a Keilwerth Bb Clarinet, and a Selmer (I think) Bb clarinet. I am not a professional musician or I would probably say I am not a musician at all. I've had 2 years of piano lessons 45 years ago (gulp, that's a long time, eh?), played clarinet in junior high school (40 years ago) and more intensely played bassoon in high school. When I was actively playing music, I enjoyed it a lot and found it to be rewarding. So now that I am retired, my desire to play music has been rekindled. It was precipitated about a month ago at a birthday party where the entertainer there had a nord stage 2 keyboard/e-piano. That got me playing around with synthesizer apps on my iPad and subsequently GarageBand on my Mac. So much for background. The MZ has a great sound and multitude of features that will probably take me to the end of my life to master if I could even achieve mastery by then (I doubt it). So the past week I have been experimenting with the MZ, Garageband and other iPad synth apps, checking out learning piano and clarinet via the internet, practicing piano (just learned that there's such a thing as Blues scales - that's cool), practicing clarinet and am now just about ready to go completely crazy. I worked most of my life as a Systems Engineer so I love technical stuff but music synthesis and DSP is currently just blowing me away. I will probably be putting that aside for the moment and trying to develop a disciplined approach to learning what to do with a keyboard and at the same time furthering my musical skill both for piano (I'll probably have to sell the Celviano because of space limitations - but maybe I can stack my MZ on top ) and clarinet. Oh, and just for kicks, I ordered a Melodica that should get here tomorrow (no problems with price for that - I got the non pro version for 17€). I'll be 66 in February so I guess I fall in the senior citizen budding musician category. I was going to summarize my questions here but that wouldn't be fair with such a long entry so I've put them at the top. If you've made it to here, thanks very much for your interest and please make whatever comments you have (and thanks in advance for those). Sorry for the long entry.