The Apple iPod may be a design classic, but it wasn't the first hard disk-based MP3 player - that honour goes to the Creative Jukebox, launched in 2000. Similarly, while you can't buy a 4Gb iPod mini until April, Creative's own 4Gb player is already in the shops.

'Mini' is indeed the motto of the MuVo2 - it's barely bigger than a box of Bryant and May matches. Creative has still managed to cram in 4Gb of storage though - enough for just over 1,000 MP3s, or twice as many WMA files (the MuVo2 can play both). Solid-state storage can't yet stretch to such capacities (at least not for an affordable sum), so the MuVo2 uses a miniature hard disk instead. This does make it more prone to shock damage than memory card-based players, but unless you plan to juggle with the MuVo2 to, it works just fine.

Creative often makes some bizarre design decisions with its MP3 players, but we're pleased to report that it has managed to get more things right than wrong with the MuVo2. The tiny two-line screen may cause the odd squint and the teeny four-way control button can be fiddly, but the simple menu system is easy to use.

Even better, while Creative supplies its own quirky MediaSource application for managing your music and transferring it to the MuVo2, you can just drag and drop files instead, which is far more sensible. The bad news, however, is that the MuVo2 then flies in the face of convention and lists tracks alphabetically rather than by ID3 tag track number, which is inexcusable on a player of this capacity.

That oversight notwithstanding, however, the MuVo2 performs extremely well and the sound quality is superb, even when using the supplied earphones (which are not bad at all). Unfortunately, at £280, we can't see too many people experiencing it for themselves. When it launches in the UK, the iPod mini will be at least £80 cheaper and the 15Gb iPod is available now for £250 - and that can't be right.

Contact: Creative
www.creative.com