Sony has introduced a new MP3 player, called Walkman, available in two capacity sizes - 20GB (NW-A3000) and 6GB (NW-A1000).

Featuring an advanced organic EL display (2 inches on the 20GB NW-A3000 version and 1.5 inches on the 6GB NW-A1000 model), the Sony Walkman features two new shuffle functions.

By selecting 'My Favorite Shuffle', the device automatically selects the most listened to 100 songs and plays them at random. The 'Time Machine Shuffle' function randomly selects a year and plays all of the songs from that particular year that are currently held on the device.

Once switched on, a mobile phone style 'Home' menu appears offering nine different options that can be selected via the four-way directional button. These include 'Music Library', 'Play Mode', 'Initial Search', 'Intelligent Shuffle', 'Favorite 100', 'Play History', 'Settings', 'Playlist' and 'Now Playing'.

Music can be searched in a variety of ways, via 'Genre', 'Artist', 'Album', 'Song', 'Release Date', 'Rating' and 'Recently Transferred', all of which can be scrolled through to enable users to find their music faster and easier. Sony WALKMAN records three years of playback history that can be searched and also features the first ever 'Initial Search' on a hard disc device, allowing the user to scroll from A-Z for ultimate ease of use.

The 20GB Sony Walkman is available in two colours, violet and silver; while the 6GB unit comes in the additional colours of pink and blue. All models are packaged with colour-coordinated headphones.

Sony WALKMAN features ATRAC3plus and MP3 playback and ships with the new "CONNECT Player" that offers advanced music library management as well as providing seamless access to the CONNECT™ catalogue of more than one million tracks and albums available for download.