The front of the unit featured a vacuum fluorescent display panel to provide information such as track number and playing time, an infrared receiver for the included remote control, and buttons to control playback, open and close the tray and toggle the display between showing elapsed and remaining playing time.

At the back of the unit there are two on/off switches, one labeled Auto Pause and the other Anti Shock.

There are two RCA jacks to carry left and right channels of audio; a 26-pin accessory connector is included, presumably for future developments that did not materialize.

The model name CDP-101 was chosen by Nobuyuki Idei, who headed Sony's Audio Division.

"101" represents the number 5 in binary notation and was chosen because Idei considered the model to be of "medium class".