Sony's new Vaio WA1 streams internet radio through the home

Streaming music and internet radio stations from you PC to a shiny WiFi-equipped box is not a new idea by a long shot, but it's nice to see Sony joining the fray with its Vaio WA1 all the same. The boombox works via a normal wireless network or a peer-to-peer connection with your computer, and includes a USB WiFi adapter for sans-wireless luddites. Naturally, the player supports that codec of codecs, Sony's ATRAC, but there's also unprotected AAC and WMA, along with good ol' MP3. Internet radio comes courtesy of Live365.com. If you'd rather not be cooped up in the house all day to rock out to your tunes, you can pull 128MB of musics over to the WA1 and hoist the unit onto your shoulder for 4 hours of battery-fueled boombox-style tunes. There's a remote included, along with touch-screen controls, a five-line LCD, line-in, analog and S/PDIF audio out, a heaphone jack and a music alarm clock function. Of course, all these frills don't come cheap: Sony's charging $350 for the unit. They'll be selling 'em online in white and black varieties.