Review: Creative Zen Stone Plus 2GB

The Creative Zen Stone, which we reviewed last year, was a worthy attempt on the iPod Shuffle.

This was because, although slightly bulkier than the Shuffle, it offers twice the storage capacity, better sound quality, and it was cheaper. Apple didn't lose much sleep over it, though, because two things prevented it gaining mass market appeal: it looked like an oversized jelly bean, and it wasn't an iPod. Now Creative is trying again, with the Zen Stone Plus.

The Zen Stone Plus is a touch bigger than its forerunner, making it roughly twice the size of the Shuffle. Its nearly 10-hour battery life is around two hours short of that of the Apple player. Creative has dispensed with the rainbow colours of the original in favour of chic retro shades, such as champagne. The result is a more serious-looking device, and less something that looks like a toddler choking-hazard.

The Zen Stone's features were minimal – it played MP3, WMA or AAC files without requiring special software to transfer tracks – but that was the appeal, because it did that well. Unfortunately, Creative seems to have forgotten this: the Zen Stone Plus has been laden with features, but we're not convinced how useful any of them are.

The tiny screen allows the user to select a specific track but there's no way of browsing through tracks while one is playing. It also has a tiny, tinny speaker on the back but it's hard to think of any real use for this. There's a voice recorder facility but this only picks up sounds in close range of the device. Runners may find the stopwatch function useful, however.

Despite all this, the Zen Stone Plus still provides better sound quality than the Shuffle once the cheap earphones are replaced with something better. It also looks the part when using the supplied clip to attach it to an item of clothing. It comes with a case and it's also available in a 4GB version.

Despite all that, last year's original 2GB Zen Stone (now available in subdued colours) represents a better buy for those looking for a basic music player.

See also:

Review: Apple iPod Shuffle digital media player

Apple’s tiniest, cheapest mp3 player yet  30 Nov 2006

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