Sony Walkman S540: Perfect for oiks

Those who love to share their music with everyone on their chosen public transport conveyance now have a Walkman option -- the S540 is the first Sony player to have speakers built-in

Richard Trenholm

Richard Trenholm was CNET's film and TV editor, covering the big screen, small screen and streaming. A member of the Film Critic's Circle, he's covered technology and culture from London's tech scene to Europe's refugee camps to the Sundance film festival.

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Richard Trenholm

Aug. 25, 2009 10:45 a.m. PT

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In a move that will delight and inspire anti-social oiks everywhere, Sony has announced its first Walkman with built-in stereo speakers. The Walkman S540 video MP3 player includes a 61mm (2.4-inch) screen and will no doubt be blaring out its wares on the back of a bus near you soon.

The speakers benefit from something called 'Digital Linear Phase Speaker System with Virtual Bass and Linear Phase Correction', which is a load of old PR bobbins if ever we heard it. As well as MP3 and video playback, the S540 includes a voice recorder and FM radio with record function.

Sony reckons you'll get up to ten hours of annoying people from the speakers, or up to 30 hours from the headphones, and up to six hours of video.

The S540 comes in black, pink, violet and red. Click through our gallery for more pictures, and meet some of the other new Walkman products announced today.

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Here it is in red, showing off the user interface.

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Blimey! This is the pink version.

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This is the back, in purple. In the file name of this image, Sony spells it 'vaiolet'. Nurse, my sides: they are broken.

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More purple action, now with headphones.

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Here's the handy little stand for watching the videofilms. Sadly, it's an attachment rather than being built-in.

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Here's what your Walkman looks like when you drop it.

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The BCR-NWU7 charging cradle allows you to transfer music, charge the battery and play over external speakers via an analogue connection.

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Also announced today is this Walkman E440K kit, which consists of a Walkman E440 and dock.

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Chuffin' 'eck, that's ugly.

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The E440's best trick is that it appears able to launch the Walkman into space. Snazzy.

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As per usual, Sony won't reveal prices until the product hits shops. We do know the Walkman S540 will come with a voucher for five free, DRM-free music videos from 7digital.