If you want a hard disk MP3 player then the Apple iPod is the first product that springs to mind. But the 10Gb model still costs £249 while for same price, you could have a player with three times the capacity - the 30Gb Jukebox Zen NX. There must be a catch, right?

Well, the Zen NX certainly represents excellent value, but it's no iPod. It's bigger, for a start, about the size of a cassette walkman. It'll still slip into a pocket but with no remote control, you'll have to fish it out whenever you want to make any adjustments.

Four buttons down either side control the player and there's also a scroll wheel for browsing the music library. Unfortunately the wheel is tiny, fiddly and not particularly responsive. An equal pain is the latch on the bottom of the unit designed to pop open the case so that you can replace the rechargeable battery (great for long trips). Its hair-trigger action makes it all too easy to press accidentally.

Getting music onto the Zen NX involves Creative's Media Center Application. As a one-stop shop for managing, ripping and transferring your files, it does the job but it's not simple to get to grips with. It is, however, quick to transfer music to the Zen NX, thanks to the USB 2 connection.

You can also use the NX as a portable hard disk but as this is only possible if you install the Creative File Manager application first, it's a fairly useless feature. The good news is that, despite these idiosyncrasies, the Zen NX is an excellent digital music player. We'd prefer a larger, clearer screen but that's a minor complaint and one you'll forget about when you plug in some headphones. In short, the Zen NX sounds great with both MP3 and WMA tracks and it even makes the iPod sound a bit weedy to our ears.

Contact: Creative
http://uk.europe.creative.com