Creative is not in a comfortable seat right now after the debacle with driver modder Daniel K and ASUS moving in on the sound card market. Even so Creative has continued to launch new products and its latest creation is an MP3 player called Zen Krystal. The player is pretty slim and stylish using a very simple single-color 0.7″ OLED display with 64×64 pixel resolution. It might seem, and it is, pretty weak compared to what most other MP3 players has to offer, but Creative is targeting a very special group of consumers.
This is because Zen Krystal is designed for the active users. The player is supposed to be the optimal choice for the music listener on the go, the jogger and other people who move around a lot while listening to music. Except from there mere size, Creative has fitted it with a step counter which keeps track of how far you’ve run, but also how many calories you have burnt. Creative has also added a timer feature for the competitive kind.
Zen Krystal has 4GB storage and offers up to 10 hours of listening on a single charge. It supports MP3, WMA and WMA (DRM9). The player has minimal measurements (57x37x10.8mm) and weighs only 22g. Exactly when the player will reach the North American and European markets is uncertain, but it will be priced at $89.
