Sony on Tuesday updated its range of USB Walkman E-series personal music players with a slight redesign and a new model with a higher capacity, at 8GB, the NW-E044. There is also the 2GB NW-E042 and the 4GB NW-E043; each new Walkman includes one extra interchangeable skin, or what Sony calls a Style-UP Panel, with more available for purchase separately. There will be five bundles available at launch, each with two skins of different color and style.

The music players feature a 3-line color LCD display, and support ATRAC, MP3, WMA, AAC and WAV audio files. In an unusual twist, however, playback of DRM-locked music isn't supported. Users can search their libraries by genre or playlist. SonicStage V music management and transfer software is included on the player's flash drive, so there is no installation CD included. Charging is also performed via the USB connection, but users cannot drag and drop files onto the new E-series players. An FM radio is standard across all models.

Each player ships with Sony's EX earbuds that have 13.5mm (0.53-inch) drivers and a 40cm (15.7-inch) long cable. A full battery is good for 28 hours of music playback, Sony says.

The new E-series Walkmans will begin shipping in Japan on May 16th, priced at $81, $102 and $132 for the 2GB, 4GB and 8GB models, respectively. Accessories, such as new skins, silicon cases, armbands and lanyards, will be available at the same time and range in price from $15 to $25. US versions are likely but haven't yet been announced. [via Impress]