14 DAY TRIAL // iPod is the uncontested MP3 player market leader, with monthly record sales and stocks depleted as soon as newcomers are released in these series. The market however still includes several hundreds, maybe even thousands of players, many of them technologically superior to iPod-s (or at least comparable to it); Zen Mini is one of them.
One of the success criteria for assessing an MP3 player is the line of accessories developed by the mother company or by third parties, designed for the respective device. iPod has no match, as the market is overwhelmed by gadgets designed for the Apple creation, starting with metal cases protecting the delicate player shell, and ending with wireless transmitters for cars. The analysis actually announced at the beginning of the month that for this year only, the MP3 player accessories market is expected to reach half billion dollars, a consistent slice in it being reserved to iPod.
Creative Labs however does not feel intimidated and, besides the newly released MP3 players with more storage capabilities and increased autonomies, started suggesting accessories valuing the excellent quality of the Zen product family sound. Even though for most manufacturers sound fidelity translates to fixed speakers, such speakers limit and even annul one of the main player advantages: mobility. High-quality headsets are a different story, and the leading range of products includes wireless solutions based on magnetic induction, so far prototypes only.
Such solutions barely use one fifth of the Bluetooth power, and is not subject to the interference usually occurring when using such technologies. The headset range is around 1.5 meters, and the sound quality never suffers whenever the user goes jogging or plays games while listening to music. The Creative Labs solution was focusing on the best sound quality; as long as transmitter signal is strong enough, the sound transmission and fidelity in headsets is just perfect, while whenever the signal intensity falls, the transmission ends.
The headsets will be released this summer, powered by AAA batteries providing 10 hours of use. The design is still to be completed, but all clues plead for an extremely useful gadget dedicated to Zen.
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