Creative Zen Stone Plus

Ever wonder how companies sometimes manage to cram so many features into a small device? I do too. And here’s another for your amazement. If you thought the Zen Stone was a tiny powerhouse for music, you’ll love the Zen Stone Plus.

Design
The design hasn’t undergone any significant change. It’s still as cute as a button and almost as small as one too; just a few millimeters larger in dimensions than its smaller sibling, the Zen Stone. At 21g it also weighs 2.5g more than the Zen Stone, and has a 64 x 64 pixel, blue OLED display. Another plus point is that the Plus is available with 2Gb of storage.

Instead of the slider on top to change folders etc. there’s now a shortcut key and Play/Pause key that doubles as the power switch. The reset node has been shifted to the bottom, next to the mini-USB port, and has been replaced with the microphone. The 3.5mm earphone socket, navigation keys and strap are still in the same place.

Features and Performance
As I said in the beginning, I don’t know how they did it but they did. The Zen Stone Plus is jam-packed with features, from an FM radio with great pickup and auto scanning with 32 presets (even while on the commute), a voice recorder, which is okay too. For some reason they’ve even thrown in a stopwatch and, thankfully, a button lock option, which was lacking in the Stone. Navigating the menus are also easy using the control keys.

What I liked most about this player is of course the size and the fact that there’s a customizable EQ and Bass Booster setting as well. That’s besides the presets already present. There are also options for idle shutdown and a screen saver, with the date and time in block letters on the whole screen which looks pretty cool. You can also flip the display if you prefer it that way and change the language, should you be in any other part of the world. When in China…