Start by looking at the fine detail of the exterior.

Open it, remove any CDs and put away. Open the battery cover and remove the battery.

Close the battery cover and locate your screwdriver.

Unscrew the six screws and place them on the magnet so you'll be able to find them later. Sony was nice enough to put the screws next to the lid at an angle so you can fit a screwdriver in there.

Insert the tip of a screwdriver between the white upper layer and the gray lower layer. Carefully pry apart. There are small clips that help hold the two layers together and you don't want to snap them.

Here's the inside of the bottom layer.

Now to remove the laser reading assembly. Carefully peel the orange data ribbon off the circuit board to the plug. Using the flat screwdriver, pry the black clip away from the tan part.