• The Wall Street Journal (subscription required), Friday, October 13, 2006 1:15 PM

Sony Corp. yesterday unwrapped a lineup of Walkman portable music players for the holiday season that it hopes will erode Apple iPod's commanding share of the digital-music player market. One distinctive feature of the new devices is the ability to sidestep the computer altogether by allowing users to upload music directly onto the device by connecting it to a CD player with a cord. While stressing the new Walkman allows users to organize music on personal computers in a similar way to Apple's iTunes, Sony sees non-PC users as a significant opportunity for growth.

In Japan, Sony's four-gigabyte Walkman--the most expensive model--will retail at about 29,000 yen ($240). That is about the same price as the top iPod Nano model but with half the memory. The devices will be launched in Japan on Oct. 21, and in the U.S. and Europe by year-end.

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