NW-W274S

The NW-W274S was an 8 GB W Series Network Walkman in Sony's waterproof wearable line. It supported MP3, AAC, and WMA playback and used a lithium-ion battery rated for up to 8 hours.

The larger storage made the waterproof W platform feel more complete for exercise and outdoor use. Its value was not in acting like a traditional screen-based player, but in removing the separate player body entirely. Music stayed on the headset, and the device could be worn through conditions that would have made an ordinary Walkman awkward.

It shows one of the late Walkman paths that still had a clear reason to exist: changing the form around a specific use case rather than simply improving specifications.