Creative Labs Zen Sleek 20GB MP3 player

You want the Creative Zen Sleek. It starts when you first see it. It looks incredible and feels great to the touch before you have even turned it on. The classy build quality with the brushed aluminium case set it apart from the plastic competitors. It is smaller than an iPod, admittedly not by much, but every little counts in this market. You turn it on and the control interface is intuitive with the controls easy to use and the menus superb to navigate. Tracks can be selected in a variety of ways. Finding your way around the folders to find a particular song is simple as the Sleek has functions to display tracks sorted by Title, Genre, Album, Artist and a number of other ways. The DJ mode gives some cool features such as Least Heard tracks and Album of the Day and this helps to keep things fresh.

In this market we talk a lot of sound quality. I have had several devices from tape walkmans to CD players and Hi-Fis as well as a Creative Zen Xtra 30GB as well as having listened to iPods and various other MP3 devices. I have to say, even with the supplied headphones, the sound quality outstrips the competitors. The EQs available from Rock to Pop or the like really enhances each song so you can get the most out of it. Custom EQ allows you to play with the settings as you like.

I have also had a chance to use various different types of software and have found that Creative Mediasource (supplied) is a quick and easy way to transfer tracks, organise them, create playlists as well as edit their properties. Transferring music is as easy as selecting music in one box and clicking th arrow button to transfer it to the other box. Both of these boxes can be used to represent any compatible devices connected, My Computer and your PC Music Library (which has a handy search function).

As for other functions, it has a radio. This function is not as bad as some have made out and in fact on national and local stations it handles them well with interference only truly detracting on weak stations. With a microphone it can also make voice recordings. This is what it was intended for and this is why more distant sounds may not be picked up. That is not the purpose of this microphone and if you want better sound recording equipment, you should go out and buy hardware tailored for that specific task.

Finally, the battery life. This is one thing that the iPod and many other devices fall down on. The Sleek gives up to 16 hours and in practice you can expect above 10-12 hours if you have the volume a little louder than optimum and play about with stuff more than the optimum. This is superior to even many devices' claimed battery lives.

All in all, go for the Sleek. It does not try to do extravagant things which are unneccessary and fail at them like many other devices. If you want an MP3 player, buy this one. Don't be fooled by colour screens and being able to store and view photos. These functions are often poorly thought out and are just an excuse to slap an expensive price tag on it and ignore making a good music playing device. At a starting price of about £190 it is the MP3 player for the smart buyers out there.

The controls took a couple of hours to master, but once you have the sensitivity right it's really easy and intuitive to use. Within no time I was working my way through the menus and singing loudly and out of tune around the house and on the exercise bike (no jogging).

The loading process was a doddle. I'm an MP3 virgin but I've worked my way through loads of CDs and still have 16GB left. I love the look and feel of the sleek (really classy) and the added bonus of the FM radio, voice recorder and external disk. These all tick the right boxes for what I need. I also bought a Y cable to connect it to the home stereo and 3.5mm to 3.5mm to connect to car stereo, it so easy now, no fiddling with CDs all over the house and car. It really does go everywhere with me.

The battery life is fair - I think I went mad with the menus for the first few days - now I've got the hang of it, the battery life is absolutely fine for my 2 hour a day usage.

All in all, a real looker, great sound quality (with upgraded headphones) and a nice compact size with 20 GB ... all for under £180. I'm looking forward to the accessories from creative - case, docking station etc (come on Amazon, get a move on).

I chanced it and bought another Zen Sleek, this time from a high street shop, and this time around I am thrilled. I'm on my first charge right now and It's been going for about 10 hours, of just normal play with me occasionally skipping a track. It has not skipped once, and the sound quality with no equalizer is stunning. I hear things in music I've never heard with my CD player, and there is no background hiss. I am using Sony Fontopia in-ear earphones.

However, since I've got a new laptop, I usd the oppurtunity to rip my music collection to MP2 192kbps rather than WMA which seems to have limited support across the market, so I cannot really comment on how it plays WMAs. I have played a few with no problems, but be advised that WMAs require more processing so they do impact battery life by about an hour or so, supposedly. I have noticed that when fast fowarding through WMAs, they resume playback slower than MP3s. Perhaps and indication of the extra work needed?

I've left the touchpad on medium sensitivity as I am a laptop user, so I'm right at home with the touchpad. It is much, much better than ust having buttons to scroll, as you can vary the speed at which you scroll, and you will have no worries scrolling through a huge list of music... although I would have appreciated dedicated volume buttons like the Zen touch, but it's no biggie! The music organisation this time around is top notch, allowing easy access through Artist, Album, All tracks and genre. The radio is perfectly acceptable.

Music transfer is fast and simple, through Windows Media's sync opton. I didn't even bother installing Creative's Mediasource. If you've got Windows Media Player 10 (and it's supplied on the installtion CD), then you should use it as it is an amazing all-in-one centre for all your digital media.

Oh, and, this time around, they have sealed off the hole at the bottom below the dock connector, which makes sense, at least they realised their mistake! Only four stars, because hey, it's not perfect. Longer battery would have been appreciated and improved WMA support should be sorted out.

I'm thrilled with my new Sleek and I can see us having a long and healthy relationship for many, many months to come. I recommend the Zen Sleek to anyone who is looking for an MP3 player with stunning sound quality, very respctable battery life, and easy transfer and navigation.