A media separator, that cooperates with a media pick to form a nip in a
feed path of a media handling apparatus, supports a separation pad that
includes first and second friction regions for movement relative to the
media separator, against a bias force, in a feed direction of a sheet of
media through the nip. The first and second friction regions selectively
engage the sheet of media passing through the nip with a
retard/separation force determined by the bias force, to retard and
control a feeding operation of the sheet of media through the nip, and to
feed plural sheets of media through the nip one at a time.