If you're looking for a straightforward, great-sounding MP3 player at a bargain price, the $39.99 Creative Zen Stone is a good option. Just be prepared for a bare-bones feature set to match the bare-bones price.
Measuring 2.1×1.4×0.5 inches, the 0.7-ounce Stone does look a bit like a small rock, thanks to its smooth body and rounded edges. The color choices are also nice: blue, red, pink, green, white, and our review unit's glossy black (which looks sleek but smudges easily).
As for capacity, the Stone contains 1GB of flash memory. You add music by dragging and dropping files or syncing the gadget with Windows Media Player. In our tests, we had no problems doing either. The Stone charges while connected.
The other controls are straightforward as well. To turn the player on, you hold down the play/pause button (located in the center of the circular control pad) until a green LED lights up on the player's left edge. The control pad also houses the volume controls. On the top, you'll find a reset hole, a standard headphone jack, and a slide switch that lets you change between shuffle and repeat modes, as well as to a Skip Folder function. The latter is particularly handy since the Stone—like the iPod Shuffle—has no screen for displaying track information. Instead, you navigate through your songs “blindly” using the control pad. Skip Folder lets you jump alphabetically between folders that you've stored on the device. Depending on how you organize your music, this feature can make it a lot easier to find a particular artist or playlist.
Where the Stone truly excels, though, is audio quality, and not just when compared with the low-cost competition. Even when we used the second-rate earbuds that came in the box, songs sounded rich, clear, and loud. Plugging in better-quality headphones—in our case, Creative's $99 Zen Aurvana—added depth and enhanced the bass. In fact, it brought audio quality up to par with that of high-end digital audio devices we've tested, such as the Archos 404 Camcorder. Meanwhile, the Stone lasted just over 10 hours in our battery-drain test&151;that's a bit short of other flash memory-based players we've seen, but it's plenty of juice to get you threw a few gym sessions or a long flight.
A few things nagged at us. The Stone's pocketable size makes it an ideal gym companion, but we wish it had a belt clip for easier transport, like the iPod Shuffle does. The Stone does have holes for attaching a lanyard, but Creative doesn't supply a lanyard in the player's accessory bundle. All you get are a set of standard earbuds and a USB cable for connecting the player to your Windows PC. In addition, as with most low-cost MP3 players, the Stone is light on features. The device supports MP3, WMA, and Audible files, as well as protected WMA tracks from online stores like Napster, but not subscription services. And you won't find niceties like an FM tuner or voice recorder.
Overall, though, we were impressed with the Zen Stone. It delivers just about all the basic features and dead-simple usability you get with the iPod Shuffle, but for half the price. We recommend it for discerning bargain hunters, as well as audiophiles looking for a supplementary MP3 player to take to the gym or on a run.
Pros
Bargain price; superb audio quality; syncs easily with Windows PCs; relatively easy navigation for a screenless design; comes in six colors
Cons
No screen; minimal feature set; no built-in belt clip
Editors' Take
Move over, iPod Shuffle—Creative's Zen Stone offers a similar (read: bare-bones) feature set, plus great audio quality, for half the price.
Reviewed by: Erin Kandel
