Incoming: Can Sony's bean defeat Apple's giant?

Magic beans were once the stuff of fairy tales, but Sony has taken the myths of old and transformed them into something new. This is its new MP3 player design. The Sony Bean is not yet available to buy, but we're jiggling about with lust already.

First of all, can we officially say: thank the gods! Finally, Sony has realised that no sane person wants to ask for the Sony NWF-34P-ZNG221 MP3 player. They would much rather say, "A bean please, sir." Apple realised this long ago and has always called its players nice, reasonable names like iPod, iPod mini and Shuffle. Why almost every other manufacturer persists in throwing obscure numbers at customers never ceases to flabbergast Crave.

Not only has Sony done away with stupid names, but it looks like it's actually designed an MP3 player that neither attempts to rip off Apple, nor is exceedingly dull. What's the world come to? We'll keep you posted, but in the meantime, here's a preview. - CS