“Would you believe it is a shoe?” This MP3 playing , phone call making digital music player reminds me of something off of Get Smart from the ’60s. With a builtin mic to make calls when connected to a network, this device is truly a strange hybrid.

Ezmax Co. Ltd. of South Korea will put on sale this May an MP3 player that allows users to make and receive telephone calls using VOIP (voice over Internet Protocol), the company said at the Cebit trade show in Hanover, Germany, last week.

The EZMP4200P contains software so that when the device is linked to an Internet-connected PC via a USB (Universal Serial Bus) 2.0 port, people can make local and international calls using a microphone that is included in the device’s earphone cord, said Ezmax’s director, Lee Sung Soo.

When the device is connected to a desktop or notebook PC it appears on screen as a removable disk icon. When the icon is double clicked, dialing software appears, enabling the user to make calls, he said.

Users need to sign up with a VOIP provider. The company is talking to providers in South Korea, Germany and other European countries to sign agreements that will enable the company to adjust the software in the device to the software used by the providers, Lee said.