Sony Walkman Bean NW-E305 (512MB, Tropical Ice Blue)

Sony is working hard to reestablish itself as a leader--or at least a competitor--in the portable music market. First, it added native MP3 support to its players, starting with the NW-S23 S2 Sports Network Walkman series. Next came the übersleek E400 series, followed by lower prices across the board--an effort to compete more aggressively with Apple's iPods. Now, with the arrival of the Walkman Bean NW-E300 series, Sony tackles the iPod Shuffle head-on with hip design, lots more features, amazing battery life, and an affordable price. Sony also wisely banished the awkward, off-putting word Network from the product's branding. Unfortunately, these positive moves can't overcome the player's poor controls, awkward interface, hiss-filled playback, and steadfast reliance on Sony's weak SonicStage software.

The 512MB NW-E305 comes in Coconut White and Tropical Ice Blue, while the 1GB NW-E307 comes in Black Licorice and, especially for the girls, Cotton Candy Pink. Sony has already lowered prices since announcing the Beans in August; you'll pay $119.95 and $149.95 for the 512MB and 1GB versions, respectively.

It'll come as little surprise that the Bean is shaped like, well, a bean--specifically, a kidney bean, with rounded edges and a slight bend in the middle. Although we applaud Sony's attempt at innovative design, there's nothing particularly practical about a bean-shaped audio player. If anything, the device is harder to hold and manipulate than it should be. It is adorable, though.

The Sony Bean has a small but very bright one-line OLED screen, a five-way D-pad controller, and three buttons, two of which are maddeningly stiff and shallow. A sliding plastic cover reveals a retractable, pop-out USB connector. That's handy, but the cover itself is a problem. When you close it all the way, it engages the player's Hold mode. To disable Hold, you have to nudge the cover back a notch, at which point it wobbles loosely and easily pops open again.

Although the screen gives the Sony Walkman Bean an immediate edge over the iPod Shuffle, its tiny size limits its value. Song navigation is fairly straightforward: press the up or down arrow on the D-pad to scroll through your playlist. But it takes considerable effort to figure out the complicated one-line menu system. Sony's kooky terminology doesn't help. For example, an option called Sound has three settings: Off, 1, and 2. You'll need lots of luck figuring out what any of that means without consulting the electronic manual.

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