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Creative ZEN Mozaic

Creative seems to be tapping up the budget end of the PMP market these days, and the Zen ‘Mozaic’ is really just another testament to this end. Gone are the days when Creative battled alongside Apple with the Vision W. Following on from a spate or announcements, namely the Krystal, the Zen Mozaic wont be grabbing everyone’s hearts any time soon. Here’s why.

The rubberised styling leaves something, if not everything, to be desired. Clearly aimed at a younger, perhaps female, market, the new PMP from Creative has off-centred controls which will probably be enough to drive even the most flexible users away. Furthermore, the spaces left by the choice of layout just make the ‘Mozaic’ look ugly. The feature list isn’t great either, only offering a limited codec selection (MP3, WMA, WAV, Audible, Jpeg, transcoded AVI) that does not include Ogg or the lossless Flac we know and love. So, what do you get for your money? Let’s find out.

Fortunately, you can make use of the 1.8in LCD display to allow you to pick your favourite radio station via the inbuilt FM tuner. If you prefer to make your own playlists, the range of 2GB to 16GB capacities is appealing. Otherwise, if you like to take voice notes, or think of yourself as a budding journalist, why not take to the streets (please seek parental permission…) and do some interviewing with the voice recorder. Alternatively, ghetto-blast your neighbour with the onboard speakers. Your choice. When you’re listening normally (through headphones), you should expect 32 hours continuous music playback.

Pricing is quite reasonable, ranging from ~$100 for the 2GB up to ~$240 for the 16GB. You’ll also get an alarm, clock, calendar, PIM (Personal Information Management) tasks and contacts display for your money.

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