Back in the days when I used to pound my local swimming pool three times a week, I used to mutter the number of the length I was on. As you can imagine, it made for a pretty interesting conversation with myself. "One" would turn into "Two" and, mantra-like, it would get me to the end of my mile and a half or so. But, Feist on a bike with stabilizers, it was boring, and it made me realize that I would never grow up to be the Dalai Lama.

So, as I one-d and two-d it up and down the lanes, I used to fantasize about having a walkman (yes, dear reader, it was THAT long ago) that I could shove down the side of my bikini bottoms and listen to my latest mix tape. Then, when MP3s came out, I started to think about a chip that I could implant into my brain and listen to my latest playlist, all the while knowing that it wouldn't be too long before some clever person came up with a waterproof MP3 player.

That was three or four years ago, and look what we've got now. Speedo and iRiver, two companies at the top of their game, have got together and come up with the LZR Aquabeat Racer, a rubberized, ergonomic and strappy piece of hotness that you sling round your head before making like a slo-mo version of Michael Phelps. With 2GB of memory — that's about four times more than what waterproof MP3 players were boasting way back then — and a depth limit of around ten feet, the only downside is that you get a mere 30 minutes of music per charge. Looks like I'm going to have to swim faster if I want to get my mile-and-a-half with accompaniment. The LZR Aquabeat Racer is only available in Japan at the moment, at a cost of $145.

[iRiver via New Launches]