Creative Zen Stone Plus review

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Verdict:

The Zen Stone Plus does a lot for such a compact player, but in including so many features it no longer has the major advantage of its predecessor - a low price. It now competes head-on with the iPod Shuffle, and while it has twice the capacity of Apple's player, the Zen is let down by very poor battery life. Meanwhile, other players in the same price range offer many more features.

Review Date: 19 Sep 2007

Price when reviewed: inc VAT

Reviewed By: Kat Orphanides

Our Rating 3 stars out of 5

Review
Specs

Earlier versions of Creative's rival to the iPod Shuffle were basic but cheap. This latest version, the Zen Stone Plus, costs more but is packed with extra features, including an FM radio, an integrated microphone and a tiny round LCD.

This screen displays track data and provides access to the menu system, which allows you to browse through your music archive, alter the mixer settings and access the player's extra functions. We found the menu system somewhat unintuitive, and the button layout makes it too easy to switch the radio on accidentally instead of pausing the current track.

The sound quality isn't quite as clear as the iPod Shuffle's, but there was no audible distortion even when we switched on the bass boost. Bass was generally quiet, with frequencies under 40Hz virtually inaudible, a problem that was exacerbated by the poor headphones.

The Zen Stone Plus didn't do well in our battery life tests. It managed less than seven hours of continuous playback, the worst performance here.

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