Sony Announce New E020 Walkman Budget USB Flash Based MP3 Sticks with Customisable Faceplates

Hot on the heels of the news concerning Sony announcing its new range of NWZ-A820 Walkman MP3 players, and just as Apple announce a lower price point for its 1GB Shuffle following the announcement of a new 2GB Shuffle model, Sony have also revealed a new model in their cut-price range of MP3 Walkman flash memory based sticks in the form of the E020 which not only sports swappable faceplates but is supplied with a decent pair of EX earbuds rather than those cheap and horrendously tacky affairs as is usually the case.

As well as supporting Sony’s much maligned ATRAC standard (we won’t mention SonicStage), the E020 players also support AAC, MP3, PCM and WMA file formats and feature a 3 line colour LCD, integral FM tuner, a purported battery life of up to 30 hours based on a three minute quick charge and come in six colour schemes with an initial choice of 10 faceplates.

Due to become available in Japan from early March, with a worldwide roll-out expected some time after, Sony’s E020 comes with 1GB, 2GB and 4GB flavours with pricing expected to be around $100 / $120 / $150 respectively.

UPDATE: 23/05/08 Sony have announced US availability and pricing, see Sony NWD-E020F (E020) Walkman USB Based MP3 Walkman Headed For US Market [Sony E020 US Pricing Confirmed, SonicStage Dropped].