Creative announces Zen MP3 player with AAC playback

The Zen is a new MP3 player from Creative that can play AAC files in addition to the usual crop of media file formats. The credit card-size, solid-state player can play both AAC files ripped in iTunes and non-DRM iTunes Music Store downloads, along with MP3, WMA, and M4A audio files. It's available in three capacities - 4Gb, 8Gb and 16Gb - and each model also has an SD memory card slot for additional storage.

The player is the same size as Creative's current Zen Vision: M, but much thinner and lighter. It also supports video playback on its 2.5in, 16.7 million colour screen, and can handle MPEG-4, DiVX, XViD and WMV video. Battery life is pegged at 25 hours for music and five for video.

At £99.99 for the 4Gb model and £139.99 for the 8Gb (no price for the 16Gb yet), the Zen is priced similarly to the same-capacity iPod Nano, but the inclusion of a memory card slot, FM tuner and, in our opinion, better sound quality, make it a tempting proposition.

The Zen will be on show at IFA in Berlin from August 31 to 5 September, and we'll hopefully be able to review it in issue 10 of Mobile Computer, which is on sale 4th October.