Maybe I'm not a slope-wise skier, but when I'm hurtling down a mountain I love to hear wind sounds—not music from my iPod. Other people are different, and this waterproof MP3 player from Lancer certainly fits the "rugged enough for big snowboard crashes" bill. The Laqa3's design is a plain metal tube. And... well, that's it. There's a headphone connector, and presumably controls somewhere, but other than that it's a plain metal tube. You may dig its industrial-look, or not, but it weighs just 25g, has IPX7 waterproofing so it's good for swimming, and comes with IPX7 silicon ear buds. It plays MP3s and WMAs, has an eight-hour lithium battery. It's released July 25th in Japan for about $185, which is lots considering it's 1GB. [AVWatch]

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