On Thu, 28 Feb 2008 10:41:11 GMT, Eddy
wrote:

After much trouble trying to get through to the right people at Sony, I
have been told by two people there that the "Sony ICF-CD855L CD Clock
Radio" does NOT have the usual form of "battery backup" but that there
IS "battery backup".

snip

So, are they fitting some kind of "eternal" self-charging battery inside
gadgets these days? If so, how "eternal" are they? What's their
life-span?

Probably a simple capacitor. Perfectly standard practice in such
appliances as TV sets and video recorders, ensuring that program data
was not lost if mains power was briefly interrupted.