Sony battles iPod with new Walkman player

Sony Thursday unveiled its lastest Walkman digital music players, in a bid to battle Apple Computer's iPod, according to media reports.

The company says that these latest Walkman players, which are flash memory-based, will be the first of Sony's digital music players to have built-in noise-cancellation technology.

The new Walkman also will let users upload music from a CD directly to the portable player without a computer. The music transfer will require an additional cable or cradle accessory to connect the Walkman to a CD player.

Sony plans to offer two models: a 2-gigabyte version for 200 U.S. dollars and a 1-gigabyte version for 170 dollars.

"In one sense, the products are competing against the iPod, but in another sense they are more about Sony's strengths," said Hiroshi Yoshioka, a Sony executive overseeing the audio equipment business.

Source: Xinhua/agencies