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When it comes to the world of portable music, there is little doubt that the iPod holds the lead. But there are also a good many strong contenders, like Creative for example who, when given half the chance, give the iPod team a good run for the money.
Creative is a name that hardly needs introduction, having made its mark a long time ago in the world of music and technology with its SoundBlaster.
It has come a long way since then, building on its expertise in the area of sound to offer consumers a range of music-related gadgets, not least of which is the Zen, which can leave you quite zen really.
Let's start with size. It really does matter. Now, much as I love my iPod, each time it leaves its cradle, my bag gets just a little heavier. What's just a few grams you may ask? Well, alot if you consider the wallet full of coins, mobile phone and various odds and ends also taking up space and contributing to the weight. With the latest Zen, the weight difference is hardly noticeable since it is just 65 grams compared to the iPod's 162 grams.
Of course, the comparison is a little unfair here since the iPod Classic is almost double the size of the Zen. The Creative is just slightly larger than the screen on the iPod and can be best compared against the iPod Nano, except you'll find the Zen offering more for the eye with it's 2.5 inch TFT screen.
You can add and watch Mpeg4 or WMV clips quite easily on the Zen, and if it's some other format you'll have to use the converter programmes that come with the Zen which will load onto your PC. Be warned though, the option to convert and then transfer to the device doesn't always work and you may have to do a three-step job of converting, finding the converted clip and finally adding the media to the device.
In the music department, you can add unprotected AAC (also known an iTunes Plus music tracks) together with WMA and MP3 or choose to run the FM Radio which can be pre-set to a good number of stations. The experience is pretty good even in an area with poor reception.
The Zen also comes bundled with Zencast which offers free podcast downloads from partner channels which offer everything from wine and car reviews to sport and movie backgrounders. There's even an audio-book service where you can have the latest books read to you.
That's a big plus when you want to listen to more than just your CD collection and compared to let's say, the iTunes store, where consumers in Asia can only window shop and not download, let alone buy.
The Zen comes with memory capacities of a low of 4GB and a top end of 16 GB, with space for more. The expandable memory from the slot provided for an SD card, means you can quite happily download the frequently updated Zencasts, as well as as many of your favourite music, videos and photos which you can set as a slideshow with music.
With 16.7 million color support, the photos which can be viewed at a glance in thumbnails, appear crisp when opened up. Each can be rotated for different views and if you need a closer look, you can also choose to zoom in.
There is a microphone function too, but it is just too fussy to use if you have serious voice recording needs.
What's also fussy are the buttons to scroll and choose the different programs which somehow can only be paused in some cases.
The saving graces are the screen and rich display, the little 'extras' programmed into the Zen such as the contact list, calendar and date-time display and the easy portability so that your music and pictures are never too far from reach.
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