Denim giant Levi Strauss has said it had designed jeans compatible with the iPod music player, featuring a joystick in the watch pocket to operate the device.  Obviously, this was designed to compete with the iBoxer - iPod-ready underwear.

The Levi's RedWire DLX Jeans for men and women, which will be available this fall, also have a built-in docking cradle for the iPod and retractable headphones. Pricing was not immediately available.

Apple Computer Inc.'s iPod is the No. 1 digital music player. The company said 42 million of the devices have been sold to date.

Levi's is not the first company to feature iPod-friendly apparel, although it may be the first to make iPod-compatible jeans. Haute couture fashion houses began featuring pricey iPod carrying cases after the device's 2001 launch, while outdoor company Burton Snowboards unveiled what it called the first iPod-compatible waterproof snowboarding jacket in 2003.