Creative Announces Zen Stone

Posted May 4, 2007 at 02:02 AM by Indraneel Purohit

Section: Audio, Portable Audio

Creative, in an apparent effort to do battle with Apple’s iPod Shuffle, has announced their bite sized iteration of the MP3 Player, the Creative Zen Stone.

As an addition to Creative’s Zen line, the Stone bears resemblance to Zen Micro, Zen Vision:M, et al, in that has a distinctive rounded shape to it, and comes in multiple colors: Black, Red, Pink, Blue, Yellow, and White. The player has a dedicated button for shuffle playback, a feature that we have heard somewhere before...Hmm.

The 1GB player weighs .88 ounces, and measures in at 2.1” x 1.4” x 0.5”; small, yet not unprecedentedly so. As per usual, it supports the MP3, WAV, WMA, and Audible file formats, and can playback these files for up to 10 hours continuously.

The Zen Stone is currently only compatible with Microsoft Windows XP (the site has no mention of Vista) and can be used in conjunction with Creative’s proprietary software.

Finally, perhaps to match the iPod Shuffle, Creative brandishes this bullet point on their site:

Rock your Accessories. Zen Stone Skin with Clip comes in five fun skin colors. The cool keychain lets you carry your music everywhere. And when you’re working out, the armband fits comfortably on your arm.

An iPod killer? Perhaps not. A worthy foe? Indubitably.

Read [The Boy Genius Report] Product Page [Creative]