Creative ZEN Mozaic

The Creative ZEN Mozaic is the latest example of Creative's long standing tradition of developing good looking budget portable media players. The Mozaic comes in 2GB ($59.99 direct), 4GB ($79.99), and 8GB ($119.99) capacities, and its control pad, as its name would suggest, looks a lot like a tile mosaic.

It's the kind of player that puts fashion before function, but that doesn't mean the Mozaic is a clunker.

The user interface isn't going to win any awards for ease of use, but with an FM radio, voice recording, and a small screen for video and photo, it offers a lot more than the no frills, screen free iPod shuffle for about the same price. The itty bitty Mozaic measures 3.1 by 1.6 by 0.5 (HWD) and weighs 1.6 ounces. It comes in three colors black (all capacities), silver (4GB only), and pink (2GB and 4GB only). The black and silver versions look cool, while the pink player is more cute than slick.

(We looked at the 2GB version in black.) The 1.8 inch screen has a low 128 by 160 pixel resolution, but that's to be expected for a device in this price range. The controls on the front face offer typical navigation : Up, Down, Previous Menu, Extra Features, and a user assignable Shortcut button that comes in handy if, say, you want to be only a click away from your photo collection.

The Mozaic is also outfitted with a Power/Hold switch, a built in speaker, a microphone for voice recording, a miniUSB jack for PC syncing, and a lanyard loop. The included earbuds sound typically subpar. If you want to stay in the budget range but improve your audio experience, upgrade to the Radius Atomic Bass or the Ultimate Ears Loud Enough earphones both pairs are in the $40 range.Also included is software that is pretty much essential if you want to load your videos onto the device.

It converts most popular codecs into AVI files that will play on the Mozaic. Don't expect to be blown away by the video quality here, but it's not horrible considering the price. The same goes for photos, if they're not JPEGs, files need to be converted. Audio codec support is a bit more generous and includes MP3, WMA, WAV, and Audible 4 files.