In the cut-throat world that is the MP3 player industry, it isn’t enough to launch a new player that is just as good as its direct competitor. It always helps to have an edge over all your rivals, and no one seems to know this better than the guys at Creative. After having launched the pebble-esque Zen Stone to take the teeth off the Ipod shuffle, that was almost dominating the 1 GB MP3 market, the company has stretched their “Creative” genius and come out with a potential winner right on target.

Maintaining the sleek and smooth stone like appeal that the Zen Stone had, the Creative team has added a bunch of other features that you don’t find on the Ipod Shuffle; the best of which is a screen. This feather-weight delight also has a stopwatch, FM radio and Voice Recorder thrown in just for fun.

One thing that you can always guarantee from Creative is a super-cool design, and this player is no different. Stylish looks aside, the sturdy build and well made buttons ensure that this player will physically last a long time.

One of this player’s best qualities is that it is a Mass Storage Class Device which means that it can work with any operating system just like a USB Flash Device would. Transferring music is absolutely simple- an uncomplicated drag and drop method. And you can not only store music in it but use it as a normal USB player and store data in it as well.

The playback gives multiple options including repeating single songs, repeating the entire album, playing the whole list from start to end or the shuffle mode. This little player also manages to produce a nice warm sound along with some useful equalizer settings.

The FM radio gives you a whopping 32 preset-storing capacity. The sound recording function is very usable to take quick notes and it records in the .wav format.

Overall, this 2 GB player packs a punch, with great sound, superb features along with a great price to match.