Actually, I find the Whitespider review rather misinformed in some ways-one example, the Microtek much heralded "glassless" scanning (which I see as marketing hype). In fact it is not used on the best Microtec or any other high end flatbed scanners. The XY 6000, Microtek's flagship which retailed at $12k, scanned through the glass as do the high end Creo's, Screens, and Kodaks. Why?, I suspect the glass is less an issue than mirror alignment, vibration etc.