Name: Thanko Sport MP2
Category: audio player
Price: JPY4980
Release date in Japan: May 1, 2008

The hard way to make a wireless audio player is to use Bluetooth (or some such) to pair player and headphones. The easier way, at least as far as connectivity goes, is to just place the music player into the 'phones. (Okay, so it's not really "wireless" any more, as little wires run from the music player circuits to the speakers, but the effect is that of a wireless setup.)

Thanko's new Sport MP2 takes the all-in-one route with a rubberized behind-the-head piece that places the music player in the middle and loops two curved arms over and into the ears. It fits comfortably but snugly, says Thanko, staying in place even during vigorous exercise (like kicking the stuffing out of imaginary ninja; see photo). A lithium ion battery keeps it all a light 30 grams while playing for up to 3 hours. Connect the headpiece to your PC via its protected USB port to upload MP3 or WMA music into the 2GB memory (it'll function as general storage as well), and to recharge the battery.

Having no wires trailing from ear to armband sounds great, but the tradeoff with headpiece designs is operability: you can't see the controls. The Sport MP2's forward, back, play, reset, and volume buttons are on the arms just above the earbuds; they look easy to use, and require solid pushing to avoid mis-control while fumbling blindly. (Tip: while you're poking at mysterious buttons over your ears, say things like "Eagle Six to Red Base, target has been acquired, over" to amuse onlookers.)

More info: http://thanko.jp/sportsmp3/ (Japanese)