•• Hardware ••
Without giving a laundry list of features, I'll touch on the basics. The Creative Labs Zen Sleek 20 GB MP3 Player is a hard-drive based MP3 player that sports a large 20GB drive. This is a large amount of space especially if you use the more compressed WMA format. Depending on many factors, you can expect to fit about 10,000 songs in 64kbs WMA format or half that in 128 kbs MP3 format. Additionally, the player has an FM tuner with 32 presets. This is particularly useful for when I want to switch from my music to the latest installment of All My Children while at the gym.

The voice recorder is a fringe feature and I don't anticipate using it much. The microphone is tiny and doesn't record sound very well, so don't expect to use it for more than voice memos.

The headphones that ship with the unit are your basic cheap ear buds. They are satisfactory in terms of sound and comfort, but not great. My ears got a little sore from using them after a few hours, but this is often the case with ear buds that are less than ergonomic. As well, the sound was mostly mid tones with no bass and the highs when present were tinny. You're better off buying a good pair of headphones or ear buds. Note that this lack of quality was from the ear buds, not the unit itself. More details on the quality of the unit with good headphones are below.

For those who care about the aesthetics, the Creative Labs Zen Sleek 20 GB MP3 Player is an attractive player about the size of a smartphone or PDA. It is solid in hand, but not really heavy. The brushed metal case is very nice and the buttons layout borrows from the iPods minimalist approach. At first blush, some users might balk at the black and white screen. But the trade off is a whopping 20 hour battery. I don't need the color screen and if that gives me an extra 6 hours of battery, I'm all for it. Plus the bright blue backlight gives me just enough of a splash of color.

The controls on the front are simple including play, pause, etc. But most noticeably is the strip down the center. This scroll pad is used to navigate up and down in the menus similar to the iPod's scroll wheel. It works very well and the sensitivity is adjustable in the UI. This feature can take some getting used to, but once you do, it is a very effective navigation tool.

The Creative Labs Zen Sleek 20 GB MP3 Player is the next in the line of Zen players. The previous players had a detachable battery. Curiously, the Zen Sleek departs from this and has an internal Lithium-ion rechargeable battery. This could be a bad thing if the battery gives out. You'll need to have the whole unit serviced. Luckily, Lithium-ion batteries as a whole are rather reliable.

•• Sound quality ••
As noted above, the included ear buds are not very good. That said, I plugged in a pair of Sony studio monitors and the sound was amazing. the Creative Labs Zen Sleek 20 GB MP3 Player boasts a 97dB signal-to-noise ratio. For non-audiophiles, this is the relationship between desirable sound (music) and noise (electric hum, static) and the bigger the number, the cleaner the sound. To test this out, I tried the player using headphones, a Denon home theater receiver and even a tape adapter for my car (I'm a huge audiobook fan). All of them sounded as good as my regular CD player, even at the "inferior" 64 kbs WMA bitrate. And with 192kbs MP3s, the sound is truly amazing.

The Creative Labs Zen Sleek 20 GB MP3 Player supports all flavors of MP3 and WMA including protected DRM protected WMAs (useful for those of us who download audiobooks from the library). I tested the unt with various bitrate and they all sounded as expected.

Additonally, the Creative Labs Zen Sleek 20 GB MP3 Player boasts multiple EQ presets so you can tailor your music sound the way you like it. I tend to leave mine on custom, and your settings will vary depending ,mostly on your headphones. But they're there if you need them.

•• Software ••
The Creative Labs Zen Sleek 20 GB MP3 Player comes with the Creative Mediasource software. I installed and used the software for the purposes of this review, but I tend to use Windows media Player since I already have my music catalogued in it. The shipped software works well for ripping and burning. It doesn't have the same pretty interface as iTunes, but seems just as functional. But if you're a windows user, this is a certified Plays For Sure device which means that is should work flawlessly with Windows Media Player.

The internal software of the unit is easy to navigate and understand. I've seen the UI for the iPod and the Rio Carbon and the iriver IMP-350 and so far I like the Zen's better. The playlists work flawlessly and it has little features such as being able to find a song by typing in the first letter. It also has a sleep function that shuts off the player after a user-defined interval. Especially helpful when I fall asleep during a particularly boring audiobook. In theory I won't be driving at the time, but I digress....

The Creative Labs Zen Sleek 20 GB MP3 Player has a fast USB 2.0 connection used for syncing and charging (with the help of an AC Adapter) and transferring files was speedy using both the Creative software and Windows Media Player.

Another fringe feature is the ability to sync up tasks and notes from Outlook. This is a little difficult to get setup, band many won't find it worth the time. I use it simply for my calendar items so I know if I should be at a work meeting or on the treadmill. Most won't use the feature and if you have any other email program than Outlook, you're out of luck. I wouldn't cry over the inability to use this feature.

Finally, the Creative Labs Zen Sleek 20 GB MP3 Player ca be used as a storage device. A 20 GB removable dive. With the latest firmware update, it is drag and drop capable with no extra drivers needed. This is a very handy feature and I've used it many times to transfer files to and from work.

If there was anything to improve on, I would add a better case instead of the silly little bag that comes with the unit. Along those lines, there are practically no accessories available except a docking station. I'm sure that will change. Also, the case does not come in any custom colors. As silly as my wife's pink iPod is, it was a factor in her wanting it.

•• Conclusion ••
I love my Creative Labs Zen Sleek 20 GB MP3 Player. With specs that can't be beat and sound quality on par with high end systems, this could be the iPod killer many have been waiting for. Of course, to beat Apple, they would need to actually advertise and perhaps set up mall stores, but that's a different story.

Recommended:
Yes

Amount Paid (US$): 249
Recommended for: Music Lovers - High Capacity Storage for an Entire Album Collection