After breaking my Avixe i-Rock Cube (no idea how, or why, but it just stopped working) I was on the lookout for a new MP3 player. What I wanted was basically, a small player, with built in memory, and a built in rechargeable battery. Screen was really an optional thing.
My first thought of course was the Apple Shuffle, but just for the hell of it, I decided to have a look at Creative’s site if they had anything like the Shuffle. Surely enough they did, and not just something like the Shuffle, but something better than the Shuffle.
The biggest selling point of the Zen Stone is its price, I bought mine from Amazon for 33 EUR, which is about half the price of an Apple Shuffle. Other than that, the two players are pretty much identical. Both of them look really nice, though personally I really like the black (very shiny and sexy) Zen Stone more.
The player has just 1GB capacity, which is about enough to hold 12 to 14 albums. I find that more than enough if you have access to a PC/Mac on a regular basis, and can just swap out the music. Speaking of putting music on the player, it is really simple, just connect it to your PC/Mac with the USB cable and you can add/delete songs from it just like from a normal USB stick, no additional software needed.
The only thing where the Shuffle is nicer is the little clip that it has that lets you attach the Shuffle to your clothing. Sadly the Zen Stone doesn’t have that, but I haven’t had the need for it yet anyway, as it fits in perfectly in a beltloop.
For its price, the Zen Stone is really a brilliant piece of gadget, one couldn’t really want for more if one wants a small MP3 player which you can take with you wherever you go. Not to mention the fact that if something happens to it, you won’t be as sad as if it were a 300+ EUR MP3 player.
3 replies to “Creative Zen Stone Review”
Kev said on June 23rd, 2007 at 12:20
One of my friends has the Zen equivalent of an Ipod, pretty much the same except it can store videos as well.
Crazykinux said on June 25th, 2007 at 13:22
I just love my u10 from iRiver. It does video, radio, mp3, wmv, storage, flash games, and records both voice and radio. And with the iRiverter, I can rip 2 movies and play them (though it’s a bit of a small screen).
Mark said on June 25th, 2007 at 22:33
Is shiny and nice, I’ve got the Zen V plus, tiny and biggish capacity – 8gigs, its very shiny, but yeah not nearly as cheap :D Which is cool I’m not one for shuffling songs though I like albums heh Mmm stone.