Product: Creative MuVo? FM 5GB player Price: About $2,000 Pros: Big capacity in a tiny package, reliable performance and easy to operate Cons: Does not have the aura and allure of the stylish iPod
Hot on the heels of Apple Computer's four-gigabyte iPod mini and the Rio Carbon comes the latest offering from the Singapore-based electronics firm Creative Technology.
While Apple's iPod mini is aimed squarely at the market segment for mini hard drive-based MP3 players, both the Creative and Rio products straddle the line between full-size hard drive-based MP3 player and compact flash memory-based players. Users get the best of both worlds, as players in this category provide capacities of up to five gigabytes.
Like the Rio Carbon, the Creative MuVo? FM 5GB player uses Seagate Technology's inch-thick, 5GB ST1 hard disk drive.
Tipping the scales at 103 grams, the Creative MuVo? FM 5GB player is no heavyweight and it is significantly smaller than Apple's iPod mini.
Creative, which has a 10 per cent share of the worldwide portable audio player market, has added new features to its latest player. These include the ability to record from its built-in FM radio and a navigational joystick to toggle between tracks and the device's various functions.
