It really looks like Sony's decided to simply flood the world with a very large number of products today. So, besides video-related products, the Japanese company has pushed out some new portable players as well, belonging to the famous Walkman family. However, unlike Sony's previous announcement related to the field of multimedia playback on the go, the fresh NW-E040 series doesn't really bring big novelties to the table.

Now, as far as their design is concerned, what's really important to mention about the three new E-Series models, namely the 8GB NW-E044, 4GB NW-E043 and 2GB NW-E042, is the fact that they allow users to change their looks. That's possible due to the fact that the players' colors can be very easily swapped, since the front panel and cap are removable.

Sony's actually providing an extra set of such accessories within the sales package, but in order to really turn their MP3 players in some eye-catchy pieces of portable tech, users will also be able to purchase some additional color options and even the “Style-Up Panels,” which feature more intricate designs.

From the point of view of technical specs, the Walkman NW-E040 Series is not exactly what one might call impressive, since the gadgets don't offer a breathtaking improvement over the previous similar USB stick-like Walkman players. Hence, the devices will play MP3, WMA, ATRAC, Linear PCM and AAC files, which can be transferred directly from a computer via the built-in full-size USB 2.0 connector.

Moreover, the same connector can be used for recharging the player's built-in battery, which apparently provides enough juice for up to a whopping 30 hours of non-stop playback after just a one-hour charge. Plus, if you get tired of listening to your own music, you can always use the built-in FM tuner.

The future NW-E040 Series Walkman players from Sony are scheduled to arrive on the Japanese market (with the rest of the world probably to follow) on May 16 and will retail starting at around 80 US dollars (the 2GB model) and up to roughly $132 (the 8GB version).

We are just a few, but there are many of you, Softpedia users, out there. That's why we thought it would be a good idea to create an email address for you to help us a little in finding gadgets we missed. Interesting links are bound to be posted with recognition going mainly to those who submit. The address is .