Rugged MP3 Player A Solid Idea

Sharp plans to ship November 26 two ruggedized mobile music players that can survive being dropped from 1.4 meters.

The Sharp MP-S200 (512MB) and MP-S300 (1GB) players' electronics are protected against damage with what the Japanese news site Nikkei.net Interactive describes as a "honeycomb protection structure."

The gadget looks like an ordinary music player jammed into a rock-climber's carabiner, which not only adds protection, but gives it a macho look and enables users to hook it into a belt.

Each player feature FM tuners and transmitters (for playing wirelessly over a car stereo), direct encoding, MP3 and WMA DRM support, is powered by a single AAA battery and comes in silver, red, blue and black.

Sharp has not announced pricing.