Sony Australia today announced the Walkman X and the Walkman W series of portable media players, with units available for sale from April.

The Walkman X series features two models with 3in OLED touch screens, positioning them as competitors to Apple's iPod touch. The units will also have Wi-Fi connectivity and digital noise cancelling technology. Buyers will be able to choose between 16GB and a 32GB models. According to Sony, the low power consumption of the OLED screen means a battery life of up to 30 hours or eight hours while playing full-screen video content. The players are bundled with Sony's MDR-EX85LP in-ear headphones.

The Walkman W is a 2GB MP3 player without a screen that is designed to be worn as headphones — with EX monitor ear-buds built in. Units will be available in five different colours and have a 'Zappin' mode that plays four second snippets of each song in a playlist until the desired song is found. The units will play up to 12 hours of music with fully charged batteries, according to Sony. A quick charge of three minutes — facilitated by a standard mini-USB jack — is sufficient to play back 90 minutes of music.

Sony has not confirmed the pricing of the Walkman W or X series.