Creative Zen Stone and Stone Plus With Built-In Speaker
Creative never ceases to amaze me on the crazy stuff they jam into their already confusing product line. So here we go with another such product. Creative has managed to cram a speaker into both the Zen Stone and the Zen Stone Plus, keeping the same product name, and merely added a caveat to them- “with built in speaker”. If someone emailed me a leaked photo of this I probably would not have posted because it’s almost not believable.
So how does it sound? It was actually surprisingly loud. Clear? Yes, but I could see the lack of full range becoming rather fatiguing on your ears for extended periods of time- much like the Zen WAV’s tinny sounding speaker. I can see some applications for the Zen Stone Plus (with built in speaker) since it has an FM radio. It might come in handy at the gym. However, the Zen Stone (with built in speaker), I’m going to go ahead and skip this one across the pond of wtf.
The 2GB Stone Plus retails for $60 and the 2GB screenless Stone retails for $50. Available for preorder on Creative’s site now. There are a few photos below comparing the Stone (with built in speaker) to the Stone Plus.
Comments
whoopass on January 13, 2008 8:21 PM
"I’m going to go ahead and skip this one across the pond of wtf." lol random
ATMOS9 on January 13, 2008 9:43 PM
..hey, there trying
DeeJay on January 13, 2008 9:55 PM
pathetic...just pathetic...
Utew on January 13, 2008 10:35 PM
16 of these placed strategically around a room, could add up to some very convincing surround-sound. Next step.. build a sub-woofer into a Stone.;)
kadajawi on January 14, 2008 6:48 AM
I can actually thing of an application for these. When I'm at home sometimes I listen to podcasts while doing things. Usually I do this with the speaker on my mobile phone, but sometimes it just isn't loud enough (brushing teeth, having a shower, ...). But really, besides that I don't see a point, and I probably just should get some cheap computer speakers for the bathroom.
beefamato on January 14, 2008 2:03 PM
I would buy this in a second if it included one thing...playback speed control. I listen to lots and lots of mp3 courses and spoken word stuff. It makes it way faster and easier to get through a whole semester if you can playback at 1.3x speed.
I love the speaker idea because I could go running and listen to my course without headphones. I could also listen to a portion of a class with other people without needing a computer or sharing headphones. So cool!
PS I know I hit a nerd factor of at least 8 with this post.
JDGAFFLIN on January 14, 2008 3:08 PM
Not bad for books, and podcasts, I suppose....
But still, Why Creative? Why?
Christopher on January 14, 2008 5:25 PM
I wonder if it could be used as an alarm clock...
Joe T. on January 31, 2008 3:13 PM
Thanks for telling us it's loud enough.
I agree with kadajawi and beefamato, this is for spoken word: podcasts, audiobooks, text-to-speech. I get tired of the clumsiness of separate units, and separate batteries, and separate on/off switches and plugging/unplugging speakers and headphones.
Great suggestion, beefamato, for variable-speed playback on an inexpensive MP3 player. There are so few such players available, just a couple of expensive iRiver and Samsungs and a Pogo that's really more of a recorder.
Jai K. on February 2, 2008 2:09 PM
With the built-in mic and speaker, it could serve as a nice voice memo unit. I also think the variable-speed playback would be a nice feature to have. Creative probably already has the technology for that - their earliest mp3 player, the Nomad, had that feature, but they stopped offering it after that.
wjk on February 3, 2008 10:45 AM
Agree, this is a great idea and wish all mp3 manufacturers would include more built in speakers in their line-ups. I'm an avid Audible book listener and find headphones and fm transmitters lousy. Thanks Creative for this and wish you'd offer this option in your other players.
morris on February 26, 2008 12:16 AM
shit