If you're like me, you've probably spent way too much time making a decision on your first MP3 player to buy and are afraid you're going to make a wrong choice. I was a little nervous going with this more "economical" model, but ended up pleasantly surprised. Bearing in mind this is the only portable MP3 player I've owned so far, I'll base my review on what I was looking to get out of the player for my needs. I decided to consider Creative Labs in the first place because they've been making solid computer sound products for over a decade, and I've found their PC soundcards to be far superior to others in their price range.

If you're sitting there thinking "All I want is a good player so I can have tunes while I'm excercizing, without spending a firtune, and I don't want to spend 10 hours learning how to use it" then I would say that this is the one for you.

Size & weight - The unit itself is very small and light, easy to stick in your pocket and easy to forget about if you've got it strapped to your wrist or arm with the velcro strap (included). Picture a bic cigarette lighter, maybe just a tad heavier because of the little AAA battery it takes.

Sound - very surprising for it's price range and size. While the pickiest of audophiles out there might find something lacking, I certainly can't for all it's intents and purposes. The sound is clear and strong enough that you'll never have to turn it up all the way. Adjust the EQ a little based on your music and you should have no problems.

Unit Interface / Menu - navigating the menu is fairly easy, but it can get a little bit tiresome if you're trying to take advantage of the "extra" features. It's a simple scroll left & right "choose an option" kind of menu that causes you to go back and forth a bit while you're learning it, but it's still easy to understand. The buttons are tiny, but that hasn't presented a problem for me.

Completeness - there's nothing more to buy. It comes with earbuds, a velcro armband/wristband, a AAA battery, and software for copying your music files to it. The earbuds are not top of the line but they're just fine for general use and I like getting everything I need in one order!

Software and Setup - very easy. The "brain" slides out of the unit and plugs into your USB port. The software CD walks you through an easy installation process and makes it easy for you to drag & drop tunes into it. There are advanced features for special playlists and such, but I haven't bothered with it. I just want to plug it in, throw some music on it, and press play to hear music. I was able to do that without reading the manual, so I don't really care about the special features right now.

Extra goodies - aside from special playlist stuff you can do with the software, it has a built in microphone to record sound with. Don't expect great quality audio from the record mode. Consider it an easy way to take notes without a pen, and not much more. The FM radio feature is nice. It will let you easily "auto-program" the strongest station signals near you, and it's pretty simple to delete the ones you don't want and save the ones you do. You can also copy computer files to it, such as digital photos, word documents, excel, zip, etc... which makes it double as a flash drive.

Storage - I've found the 128mb to be enough space for about 2 hours of MP3's. You can fit more on it if you use WMA files instead of MP3. 2 hours of tunes is enough for my needs (and yes of course you can delete songs to add more) but if you think you need more then go for the 256 or 512.

This unit gives you more control over the playlist / songs than some other units that are much more expensive. Sure, you can just turn it on and let it play, or shuffle, but you can ALSO create ordered playlists and have more control if you want. More than I can say for some "trendy" common names you see brandished about ;)

My bottom line - you cannot go wrong with this, especially at it's price (at the time of writing this) of $67. This is the answer for anyone looking for a fast solution to their basic portable MP3 player needs, with a couple of extra fun/handy goodies on top.

If you're sitting there torturing yourself over a decision right now, and all you really want is a fast easy solution to portable tunes, then just buy this with confidence right now. You'll have it out of the package and playing your music within 15 minutes.