Sony has announced the latest update of its enduring stalwart, the Walkman, with some additions to their range of portable music players. Rather than just providing music for one, the S-Series includes built-in speakers to share the sound, while the new E-Series offers a stylish entry-level option.
The new S-Series Walkman boasts a 2.4” LCD screen with playback at up to 30 frames per second, as well as voice recording and an additional FM recorder for capturing tunes from the radio. When using the headphones, battery life is touted to offer 42 hours of music and around 6 hours of video playback. When playing through the built-in speakers, users can expect playback time of 17 hours and 5 hours for music and video respectively.
The entry level E-Series, while sporting a smaller screen, still has a purported battery life of 30 hours for music and 4 hours for video. Both units make use of Sony’s “Clear Audio” technology to enhance sound quality, and both compact units have a width of less than half an inch. The portable music players are iTunes and Windows Media Player compatible and support most popular formats like MP3, WMA and JPEG.
With the release of these latest S-Series and E-Series models complimenting the recent X-Series release, Sony seem to be making up for lost ground in the PMP field. The S-Series will be available in 8GB and 16GB models, priced at US$110 and US$130 respectively, with the E-Series also set to be released in 8GB (US$80) and 16GB (US$100) formats.
Of course, they will be available in several cool colors and can be pre-ordered now from Sony Style ahead of their release next month.