Faced with stiffer competition from Apple as well as Microsoft, Creative has updated its venerable Zen series. The new Zen (just Zen) uses flash memory and is available in sizes ranging from 2 GB to 32 GB. It's an excellent iPod alternative, although the video support could be better.

The Zen, which comes only in black, is a little smaller than a credit card. Unlike most iPods, the Zen has a landscape orientation. This means that it can have a pretty large screen for its size at 2.5 inches (which is bigger than the comparable iPod Nano). The controls for the player sit to the right of the screen and are actual tactile buttons as opposed to touch controls. A set of mediocre earbuds are included with the player as is an inexplicably short mini-USB cord.

Setting up the player is easy enough, if not a bit time-consuming. What takes up much of the time is updating. Upon installing the software from the CD, Creative's auto-update will prompt you to not only update said software but also the firmware of the player itself.

Adding music is easy as you can either add files with compatible programs like Windows Media Player or with the included Zen Media Explorer. My player hung up a couple of times when transferring a lot of files but after that, I've had no trouble with it since.

The TFT screen on the Zen is colorful and bright. Videos look very nice. You might want to invest in a screen protector or case of some kind, however, because the screen is plastic and can scratch easily.

The menu uses large, easy-to-identify icons and is pretty simple to navigate. In addition to navigation buttons and play/pause, the player has a “back” button, a “menu” button (which provides a context relevant menu on every screen), and a shortcut button that can be configured to do any number of tasks.

The Zen has quite a few features, including some firsts for Creative players. One of the more attractive features of the Zen is that it can play unprotected AAC files. This means that it can play the files you create in iTunes as well as the DRM-free iTunes Plus files from the iTunes store. I downloaded an iTunes Plus release and it played just fine on the player, complete with album art. In addition, the Zen also supports audiobooks from Audible.com.