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Apple vs. Creative—again

This is yet another no-nonsense digital music player from Creative. It is squarely aimed at Apple’s Shuffle.

Dimensions-wise, the Stone is small; it will comfortably rest in your palm. Finished in glossy piano black, it looks good, and the rounded edges add in that “cute” factor. Like the Shuffle, the stone is devoid of a screen.

The controls—Play, Pause, Next, Previous, and volume—are placed on a round crested dial (similar to that on the Shuffle) that fits flush with the player’s surface. Ergonomically, the dial could have been raised a little, and that’s about the only gripe we have.

A little slider on the side allows toggling between repeat modes. The same slider can be used to skip an entire folder. The player hooks up to a computer via USB and gets detected as a Flash drive. Thankfully, there are no software hassles when transferring files (a pain with the Shuffle). File transfers are quite fast.     

The player did commendably well in our performance tests. The bundled earphones, though low on bass, have a good mid and high frequency response; in fact, it’s really good. We also tried the player using our reference Bose earphones, and fidelity was right up there. The volume level isn’t particularly high, though. Battery life, at eight hours, is relatively good.

It’s quite strange to see that Creative didn’t integrate a voice recorder or FM Radio in the Stone. That said, the Stone should be appropriately priced—read affordable. The one we got was a press sample; pricing will be disclosed in July. Like we said, Creative definitely has the Shuffle in the crosshairs, but we do think the Shuffle has an edge.

Specifications
1 GB; USB 2.0 interface; Repeat All and Shuffle modes; ¼-inch earphone jack; blinking battery indicator LED

Contact : Creative Technologies Ltd
Phone : 9833596972
E-mail : india_getcreative@ctl.creative.com
Web site : http://in.creative.com
Price : Approx Rs 3,500