Every morning I wake up and go to work. In order to go to work, I use the subway. On the subway, I listen to music using my headphones and a tiny mp3 player (why should I bother anyone else with my music?). But then, high schoolers come and start playing music on their mobile phones' speaker so that all of us enjoy their favorite tunes (man, today's music is creepy!). Why, I may never find out! This new device from Sony Ericsson removes that problem but adds another.

Instead of listening to incredibly annoying music via a person's latest generation mobile phone, Sony decided to give teenagers a new weapon: the first Bluetooth outdoor speaker! As Sony puts it, “Whether hanging out on a beach or enjoying urban life, the superior sound quality and cool design of the MS500 will impress all your friends.” Available in orange and black or white and pink (pink is my nightmare), the MS500 is small and light enough to fit in your palm.

It has a rugged, splash proof shell and a handy strap allowing you to take you speaker everywhere so everyone can enjoy your tunes even if they like a totally different style of music and hate yours. I don't like this kind of devices. OK, we live in a Facebook world, where intimacy is a notion only written about in articles such as this one but a little decency and respect should exist. Anyway, it's powered by two AA batteries that give it five hours of continuous playback before changing its batteries.

Leonardo Salzedo, the designer of the MS500, had this to say, “If I had to describe the MS500 speaker in three words, I would use the following; fun, compact and freedom.” I only pray, mister Salzedo, that you'll have the honor of being stuck for a few minutes in a subway with two kids listening to two songs you hate (in repeat mode) or two different speakers. There's no release date, nor pricing but I'll wager that it will be launched pretty soon.


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