Mp3 Players and Ipod Reviews

In a world of iPod domination, you can’t really blame competitors for taking cues from the MP3 player giant. Such is the case with the Creative Zen Stone, a simple and diminutive flash player reminiscent of the second-generation iPod Shuffle. Though the Stone may have taken its design cues from the popular iPod, it outshines the latter in sound quality and costs only half the price: the 1GB Stone lists at a mere $39.99.The Zen Stone is swathed in the same shiny-plastic casing as the Zen V Plus and that, combined with its rounded-rectangle shape, does rather give it the appearance of a pebble; too bad that name was already taken. As with the Shuffle, the Stone’s user interface has no screen and uses a tactile control pad consisting of volume controls and track shuttle keys circling a play/pause button. You also get a choice of colors: black, white, blue, pink, red, or yellow. The similarities pretty much end there, though.

Creative Zen Stone (1GB, black) Reviews From pricegrabber

Strengths: Small size, light weight, easy controls, folder jump feature, works with Mac
Weaknesses: Doesn’t allow random within a single folder. Moderately delicate. Earbuds may be uncomfortable to some. Extra software is Mac incompatable.

Creative Zen Stone (1GB, black) Reviews From trustedreviews

Features 6/10
Performance 7/10
Value 10/10
Overall 8/10

Creative Zen Stone (1GB, black) Reviews From amazon

It’s a great little player. I run various versions of Linux, they all see the Zen Stone as a media player and support drag ‘n’ drop. As with Windows, click on the Eject Device/Unmount before unplugging.
Sound quality is good, but both the headphones and Quick Start Guide are both a little lacking. I replaced the headphones with my own and needed to look online to decipher the various flashing LED displays.
The controls are comfortable to use, and are easy to navigate even when you are not looking at them (I wear my Zen underneath my T-Shirt). The Zen typically organizes its tracks first by artist name then by track name. Since there is no display, be aware the music is played back in this order, but the controls do allow artist/folder jumping. Great if you want to jump past a certain artist.

Creative Zen Stone (1GB, black) Reviews From cnet

The good: The Creative Zen Stone is an exceptional bargain, and it comes in a choice of six colors. It offers good sound quality, is easy to use, and includes a standard mini-USB port for syncing and charging. It supports Audible files and has a Skip Folder function that makes it easy to skip through groups of tracks.

The bad: The Creative Zen Stone has no screen, no extra features, and no built-in clip like that of the iPod Shuffle. The rated battery life is unimpressive.

The bottom line: The Creative Zen Stone is a fantastic choice as a secondary MP3 player or for first timers on a budget who want a simple, great-sounding device with limited features and a bargain basement price tag.