Sony W-Series Walkman now shipping

Ah, love. The Sony W-Series Walkman includes a charging stand that keeps things neat and may inspire you to write some bad poetry.

(Credit: CNET Networks)

Just in time to give Apple's latest iPod Shuffle a run for its money, the Sony W-Series Walkman is now shipping from Sony's online store. The MP3 player melds basic music playback features into an active-style pair of headphones, and sells for $69 with 2GB of built-in memory.

We saw the W-Series in a handful of color combinations back at CES 2009, but the only colors currently shipping in the U.S. are black/silver and pink/silver.

Other specs include 12 hours of battery life (includes a 3 minute quick-charge), a "Zappin" feature that lets you browse through tracks by playing a snippet of each song, and support for MP3, WMA, AAC, and WAV file playback.

To see these in action, check out our First Look video from CES 2009, featuring none other than CNET's own Brian Tong.

Sony W-Series Walkman--photos

[iSony]

That thing is pretty neat for 70 bucks. It's not my cup of tea though.