Creative Zen Style M100 4GB review

Neat ultra-portable player that packs a punch Tested at £35

What Hi-Fi? Verdict

A neat ultra-portable player that packs plenty of punch

Pros

  • +

    Nicely put together

  • +

    easy enough to use

  • +

    good specs

  • +

    sounds weighty

Cons

  • -

    The touch controls aren’t perfect

  • -

    sound could be crisper

Why you can trust What Hi-Fi? Our expert team reviews products in dedicated test rooms, to help you make the best choice for your budget. Find out more about how we test.

Before Apple’s iPod upset the apple-cart, Creative bossed the MP3 player market. And the company is still ticking over very nicely, building portables, speakers and more.

The Zen Style M100 packs in 4GB of memory – you can double that for an extra £15 – and there’s a microSD for adding up to 32GB more.

Twenty hours of battery life on a full charge, support for the usual selection of formats and a voice recorder are the other vital statistics.

A 1.45in TFT screen looks the part, but is tricky to read from certain angles. Touch controls are fairly effective but it does collect smudgy fingerprints as if its life depends on it.

The earphones steer admirably away from brightness – to the extent that, in fact, they can sound a touch woolly.

The M100 itself could sound cleaner across the tonal spectrum but there’s admirable thud and weight, and decent insight. It’s worthy of a spot on your shortlist.

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What Hi-Fi?

What Hi-Fi?, founded in 1976, is the world's leading independent guide to buying and owning hi-fi and home entertainment products. Our comprehensive tests help you buy the very best for your money, with our advice sections giving you step-by-step information on how to get even more from your music and movies. Everything is tested by our dedicated team of in-house reviewers in our custom-built test rooms in London, Reading and Bath. Our coveted five-star rating and Awards are recognised all over the world as the ultimate seal of approval, so you can buy with absolute confidence.

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