Comparison Chart: 4 GB MP3s/PMPs

Here's a comparison chart of the Sandisk SDMX4-4096 Sansa e260, Creative Zen V Plus, Zune Digital Media Player (2nd gen), and the Apple 4 GB iPod nano AAC/MP3 Player (3rd gen). All players have 4 GB of memory. Click on the image to display actual size.


Check out the following in the webstore:

--- Sandisk Sansa PMPs
--- Creative Zen V PMPs
--- Zune PMPs
--- Apple iPod nano

iPod Shuffle versus the Zen Stone Plus

iPod Shuffle

Apple has created an iPod of an almost impossibly small size: the 1 GB iPod Shuffle. It has an attached a clip on the back, so it can be clipped anywhere for skip-free music playback. Perfect for working out or just walking down the street.

Purchase songs from the iTunes Store and sync with iTunes Jukebox.

The third generation shuffle comes in purple, blue, green, silver. The second generation comes in green, blue, orange, metal, pink and green.

Creative ZEN Stone Plus

This little device gives the iPod Shuffle a run for its money. The Zen Stone Plus 2 GB mp3 player is a little larger than the Shuffle but it features a built in FM radio with 32 presets, a stopwatch, countdown timer, clock and a voice recorder. It supports MP3, WMA, and Audible file formats.

Music can be sync’ed with drag and drop or via Creative Media Lite software which is downloadable from the Creative site. Creative Media Lite allows users to rip CDs, manage folders, transfer files and access other functions. The Stone Plus is compatible with most online music stores. And it can even be used as a USB drive.

The Zen Stone Plus comes in black, blue, pink, red, green, and white.

To summarize, the Zen Stone has double the memory (2 GB versus 1 GB), an FM radio, song display, etc, and it's cheaper than the Shuffle. The Shuffle is still smaller than the Zen Stone Plus and has a clip on the back.

Check out the iPod shuffle and the Zen Stone Plus players in the webstore.

Creative Zen

The Zen is a cute device. It's smaller than an average credit card and has a 2.5” TFT color display. It comes with either 4GB, 8GB or 16GB capacity. It also features an SD slot for even more music and videos. And there's a built-in microphone for capturing notes on the go.

The device supports iTunes Plus tracks from the iTunes store and MP3 and WMA tracks. Subscription and pay-per-download music services are supported, as well.

MJPEG, WMV9 and MPEG1 and 2 (with transcoding), MPEG4-SP, DivX 4 and 5, and XviD video formats are supported. And home videos, purchased or rented movies and TV shows from online services like Amazon Unbox can be watched on the Zen. Even Tivo To Go movies and TV shows can be loaded.

The Zen has clock and alarm function, volume restriction, eight equalizer settings, and a USB hard drive mode. There’s even a FM radio which allows up to 34 presets.

Check out other Creative Zen players in the webstore.