The Zen Stone is the new entry level of Creative MP3 players, and will replace the aging Zen Nano. This is a very simple 1 Go player, as its main competitor, the Apple Shuffle. The Shuffle benefits from its design and its clip to be classier, smaller and maybe more practical, but the design of the Creative is cute, and I like the colours. Its main argument is its price : it will cost at least half the price the Apple player.

It will be MP3, WMA and Audible compatible, with a 10 hours runtine (Shuffle : 12 hours, Zen Nano : 18 hours on an alkaline AAA battery).
One thing that I like, it’s you can drag-and-drop files through USB connexion, so you don’t have to use proprietary formats or software to listen to your music.

Two things that I don’t like :
- the switch from AAA batts to integrated lithium battery : that means that if you travel, and not just commute, you must bring with you cables for charging and depend on anomad energy sources, rather than just bring one or two extra little batteries.
- the lack of an SD-card port, another cool MP3 player lacking of evolution capacities. 1 Go isn’t always enough.

Beside the Apple Shuffle, you may be interested in looking at the old Nano Zen, since you can find now 1 Go version for about $ 50 (and will probably keep lowering with destocking). You won’t have the cute pebble design and it’s almost twice heavier, but this challenger is available with some nice colours, and you got a recording function (micro and in-line), FM radio, a (tiny) screen (and it uses an AAA battery with good runtime).

54 x 35 x 13 mm for 18.5 grams. Retails about $ 35.

See also : Zen Nano on GrandesPoches

Creative Zen Stone