The Gadget

UncategorizedJune 22, 2007 12:03 pm

Creative Zen Stone Plus announced for European Music Day

Creative are taking the virtues of their budget, cute, mini MP3 player and expanding it for those who demand just a touch more from their ultra-portable player.

New features include a tiny screen to help with surfing (arguably lacking from the original Zen Stone) and an extra gig of memory taking it up to 2GB, or 1000 songs. There’s also an FM radio, voice recorder and clock/stopwatch. It’s also very customisable - from a shortcut button for one-touch access to your most-used feature to equaliser settings. All this, wrapped in a range of colourful cases, for the princely sum of £49.99.

Creative aren’t allowed to say it, but even an Apple fan like me can see it blasting the Shuffle out of the water.

Gadget 11:55 am

Digital Cube M43 iStation PMP designed with women in mind

As a PMP for 20-30 year old women, this slim, elegant DS Lite-esque design is definitely on to something. Some women would say there isn’t enough Hello Kitty, others might complain that a sleek silver finish might have been sexier. It’s a tough job trying to appeal to a broad spectrum of female tastes, but the M43 iStation does a reasonably good job, including a 4.3" comfortable touchscreen. Currently available in South Korea in black or white 30GB (approx £163) and 60GB (apprx £217) models, you can use it to play music and videos, view photos, read eBooks and even scan DMB digital TV with the built in receiver.