Sony last week revived its famed Walkman brand of portable music players, with a trio of updated products that feature Android 16, touch screens, eye-popping prices, and dubious assertions of audiophile appeal. The Japanese giant named the new models the NW-WM1ZM3, NW-WM1AM3 and NW-ZX900. All can store and play many codecs, including MP3s, WMA, and FLAC files, plus others like Direct Stream Digital (DSD) and Apple Lossless, which use various tricks to avoid nasty artefacts accruing during the digitization process. Sony also says it has used “key components made from oxygen-free copper” because that apparently delivers “uncompromising sound quality.” The machines also include “screws featuring a low-resistance gold-plated treatment … providing a stable ground connection that delivers powerful bass, an expansive soundstage and smooth, extended high frequencies.” Sony claims even the cabling it’s used in the devices “further reduces noise and preserves signal integrity for rich, detailed sound.” They’re also housed in carefully-milled slabs of copper – gold-plated in the case of the NW-WM1ZM3 – because that apparently improves sound, too. And then Sony’s gone and spoiled it all by offering Bluetooth connectivity, a notorious music-mangler, in addition to wired headphone ports. Sony’s US site lists all three devices, which run Android 16 and include Wi-Fi so they can access streaming music services. All are USB-chargeable and Sony claims their batteries allow 30-odd hours of music playback. The NW-ZX900 packs a five-inch touch screen and 64GB of onboard memory. It’s the baby of the range at just $1,900. The NW-WM1AM3 will set you back $3,000, which buys 128GB of memory and a 5.5-inch screen. The flagship NW-WM1ZM3 has the same size screen and includes 256GB of memory. It’s also a ‘Droid. Don’t bother trying to put these under a Christmas tree because Sony says it will ship them mid-January. ®