Sony this week pitched its new, tubular digital music players at joggers, offering one under the old Sports Walkman brand and equipping it with the kind of features iPod owners who've splashed out on the Nike+iPod gizmo get.

The S2 Sports Walkman ship in 1GB and 2GB versions. Each is fitted with Sony's G-Sensor movement-sensing technology allowing them to operate as a pedometer. On-board software matches the tempo of the music to the rate of your footfalls. What we like best is the Shuffle Shake feature: shake the player three times in a two-second period and it'll randomise your tracks.

The S2 sports a one-line organic electroluminescence display switchable to an orientation friendly for left-handed and right-handed users alike.

There's an FM tuner on board should you tire of the songs you've transferred using Sony's own SonicStage CP application. The player supports DRM-less AAC and WMA tracks, along with MP3s and ATRAC files (DRM-protected and non-DRM).

The devices come with black, sports style headphones and an armband. It's due to ship in the US in September - there's no word yet on UK availability - for $120 (1GB) and $150 (2GB). ®