Creative Zen Stone Plus 4GB

The basics

Creative Zen Stone Plus 4GB is an MP3 player with built in radio. It measures 55.6 mm (width) x 12.8 mm (depth) x 35.4 mm (length), and weighs 21 grams. The player has a maximum memory capacity of 4 GB, and can hold up to 1000 songs. The audio formats supported are: MP3, WAV, and WMA.

The good

So, has this MP3 player got the stones to take on the iPod Shuffle? In short, yes. Two hefty stones to be precise. And by stones, we mean gigabytes. For £2 more than a 2GB Shuffle, you get double the amount of storage – that’s effectively £1 per GB – capable of holding 2,000 songs. Managing your music is effortless with drag 'n' drop facilities, while the dimpled directional controls on the face of the player are a solid way to jump through tracks. It spits out some tasty well-balanced audio too, delivering surprisingly thick bass. It even has a 20-hour battery – that’s eight more hours than the Shuffle!

The bad

The lack of a hold button is frustrating, and the headphones aren't much to shout about, but considering that this offers 4GB of storage and costs just shy of a demi-ton, we’ll forgive it.

The bottom line

Easy to use, plenty of storage space, tiny, and available in a variety of different colours – there’s not much to dislike about this rock-solid MP3 player.