Sony’s Walkman Bean: Cute and cuddly

With flash-based MP3 players seemingly coming out of the woodwork and Apple’s iPod Nano and Shuffle dominating the genre, what’s a portable audio player manufacturer to do to get noticed? Create a unique new shape that’s guaranteed to turn heads and become a conversation piece, that’s what.

And that’s precisely what Sony set out to do when it designed its new NW-E300 series of portable MP3 players in its expansive Walkman line. It shaped it after a bean. Why a bean? Don’t ask me. But the moment you wrap your hand around one of these cute and colorful little gizmos, you’ll never want to let go of it again. It just seems to fit so perfectly in your grip as if Mother Nature meant it to be.

But the appeal of this novel-shaped music player does not rest on its looks alone. One click and you change from listening to your favorite MP3 to the on-board FM radio. Yes, it’s got an FM tuner – something Apple has resisted installing in any of its many iPod models. The Walkman Bean’s one-line Organic Electroluminescence Display (OLED) scrolls through the song information and displays time and a calendar as well. Music tracks are transferred onto the player using the same Sonic Stage software that all Network Walkmans use.

Available in 512MB (NW-305) and 1GB (NW-307) memory capacities – the latter storing around 700 songs – the 1.6-ounce, thumb-sized Walkman Bean connects directly to your PC with a built-in pop-up USB connector for charging and transferring files without the hassle of carrying additional cables.

Battery life is one of the Walkman Bean’s strong suits. For those who always forget to charge their batteries, Sony’s Super Quick Battery Charge gives them three hours of playback with just a three-minute charge of its lithium-ion battery. A full charge gives enough juice for 50 full hours of playtime. Sony also bolstered the battery’s life by using software that allocates precise amounts of power based on what the player is doing (rather than operating at full power all the time). The Walkman Bean supports MP3, WMA, WAV and ATRAC3 formats.

The Sony Walkman Bean comes in tropical ice (blue), cotton candy (pink), licorice (black) and coconut (white) – colors that take their inspiration from various flavors of fruit-flavored jellybeans.

The 512MB model costs P9,999, while the 1GB Bean has a retail price of P11,999.