Sony gets edgy with the Walkman NWZ-E450 range

Media players for the young (and young at heart)

15 July 2010 10:12 GMT / By Paul Lamkin

If you're young and hip like us (honestly) then an iPod is probably a bit middle of the road for you. It's probably a bit safe - your dad probably has one, which definitely isn't cool. What you need is an MP3 player with a bit of an edge.

And Sony thinks it may have the answer with its Walkman NWZ-E450 series. After all, one of the press shots features the Walkman and a skateboard - we mean, how more edgy can you get?

Squarely aimed at the younger music lover, the NWZ-E450 series comes in a range of five colours and includes support for .lrc files meaning that it is a karaoke machine as well. These Walkmans will dim the singer's voice so you can sing instead. Or you don't have to sing, you can just dim the singer's voice - perfect if you've got any Florence and the Machine on your device. (Harsh? Probably).

The NWZ-E450s have a 2-inch QVGA screen and you can customise the desktop wallpaper - you can even stick your own pictures on there if you want.

They are Windows 7 optimised, meaning that when you plug them into your PC you'll get the full Device Stage user interface, making it easier to transfer your tunes. When playing your music you can make use of the SenseMe feature, which is a bit like Genius on iTunes.

Music quality should be pretty decent (they are Sony Walkmans after all) as you've got a dynamic normaliser, VPT and an equaliser all built in.

As well as music playback (MP3, WMA, AAC) these devices can also play back video (AVC - H.264, MPEG4, WMV).

Playback on a full charge, which takes 3 hours, is 50 hours for music and 10 hours for video.

The NWZ-E450 range comes in either 4GB (NWZ-E453), 8GB (NWZ-E454) or 16GB (NWZ-E455) and there is also a NWZ-E450K version that comes with a cradle.

They are out in August, although prices are still to be confirmed.