By Stevie Smith Jun 22, 2007, 12:36 GMT
Singapore-based Creative Technologies Ltd. has this week revealed a snazzy little upgrade edition of its existing ZEN Stone MP3 player that delivers bigger storage and extra functionality while being wrapped up in the same diminutively familiar form.
Specifically, Creative’s new ZEN Stone Plus arrives as a lightweight mobile music-playing hardware option that packs 2GB of storage space and also includes a full colour display, onboard FM radio, a clock, stopwatch, sound equaliser, and even voice recording features – and all for the pocket-worthy price of just $65 USD.
Similar to its existing ZEN Stone counterpart, the new ZEN Stone Plus is also set to hit the market in a wide range of appealing and trendy colours, those being black, white, red, blue, pink, and green, while it also offers up the same snugly contoured ‘palm of your hand’ physical design introduced by its ZEN Stone predecessor.
Furthermore, in order to carry the ZEN Stone Plus much like a wristwatch and therefore more naturally utilise its clock and stopwatch functions, Creative is also introducing a complementary wristband peripheral (approx. $19.50 USD), which will support the ZEN Stone Plus for easy viewing and reliable stowage.
Plus, ever keen to push the design flexibility of its iPod Shuffle-rivalling ZEN Stone range, Creative is also issuing two different three-packs of coloured silicon skins, including clips (for approx. $16 USD). And, if that weren’t enough in the way of optional extras dedicated to one single device, then there’s also a gym-friendly armband and skin for around $19.50 USD and a ‘take it with you everywhere’ ZEN Stone Plus keychain and case for around $16 USD.
"On May 3, we introduced a huge new market for MP3 players with the introduction of the Creative ZEN Stone, the tiny, featherweight 1GB MP3 player priced at only S$69.00," trumpeted Sim Wong Hoo, chairman and CEO of Creative Technologies. "Now with the Creative ZEN Stone Plus, we give consumers another great choice. For just $99.00 [Singapore dollars], they can have 2GB of memory with a vibrant colour screen for access to all their favourite FM radio stations, plus a built-in microphone for voice recording. There's even a clock, stopwatch, and customisable equaliser settings."
Without requiring any form of driver installation before use, ZEN Stone Plus owners can jump straight into the mobile music experience by swiftly dragging and dropping as many as 1000 song tracks to the device and then simply selecting ‘Play’ or ‘Random’ to enjoy up to 9.5 hours of playback on a single battery charge, claims the company.
Creative’s ZEN Stone Plus MP3 player is currently available in the Singapore region only, but given the popularity of Creative products, it’s likely that more international coverage will quickly follow. The black, white and pink players are on sale as of today (Friday, June 22). The red, blue and green players will be made available soon after.
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