One of the most difficult design decisions must have been where to position the Tenori-on''s connections to the outside world; unfortunately, putting them anywhere would present problems. Placing them on the bottom is apparently the lesser of four evils but still less than ideal. Putting them on either side would have interfered with manual operation, and putting them on top would have interfered visually. If you hold the Tenori-on in your lap, the cables press slightly against your abdomen. On one occasion, I accidentally unplugged the power cable just before saving my work for the first time—boy, was I mad! The batteries didn''t kick in for a couple of seconds, and by then my new composition had evaporated into the ether.