Not being one for the latest gadgets or trends, and preferring durability over looks, I purchased this little and affordable Creative Zen V Plus with 4GB at least 4 years ago, and it is still my one and only mp3 player.

Measuring about 6.5cm x 4cm and 1.5cm in thickness, it's perfect to hold whilst jogging, and small and thick enough for it to fit in pockets without it slipping out whilst running for the bus etc. I have found it to be very solid as it has withstood my clumsiness resulting in many drops and knocks! The screen now has some light scratches on it which are hardly noticeable - pretty darn good for at least four years of regular use I think! My constant misplacing things means that I have probably lost the USB cable that came with the device, but since it is just a standard one I can use any one that I find nearest to me! You charge the player up via USB also.

The front design is very simple - it has a small colour-screen display, a joy-stick-type navigator, a play/pause button and a back button. These buttons require some pressure to use, but personally I prefer that as if I forget to lock the device I haven't found that the track accidently changes.

On the left-hand side you can find a reset button (for which you would need a needle to press) and then also the on/off/lock slider. Along the top are the line-in and headphone jacks and the USB 2.0 port. On the right-hand side is the volume control and a small button which you can hold to make recordings. Again, all of these buttons require some pressure in order to be pressed and I have never experienced any accidental changes in volume or it suddenly jumping to record me etc.

This MP3 player does have some features that I have never used such as synchronising a contacts list or calendar and tasks list, and the ability to add videos, photos, Line-in recording as well as to portion off a section of the drive to use as portable storage.

Over the last four years my music choice has changed a lot, but I used to love the sound quality for underground hiphop and instrumentals, and now that I listen only to audio books and lectures the sound is still great! You are able to use the pre-set EQ or to custom your own, you can turn Bass Boost on, or restrict the volume also. I find the battery very long-lasting, and you play around with other settings in order to lengthen it, such as adjusting the display timer and the contrast. You can change the screen orientation, set a wallpaper or slide, and it has quite an impressive selection of languages for such a small thing, including Korean and Japanese (no Arabic).

You can add bookmarks to the track you are listening to so that when you turn the device on again you don't lose your spot - this is extremely useful if you are a lover of audio books and listen to a lot of recorded university lectures (like me!). A major plus is that it is Audible compatible!

Creative software for the device does come with it, but I don't find it that great, and it's hard to remove tracks also - so I prefer to just use the usual computer folder browsers to do this. Personally I don't like products that keep me tied to using their own software etc.

Lastly, I must mention that it takes about 8 seconds to turn on, so I'm sure this is pretty slow compared to today's standards, but maybe it has just become slower over time. Either way, it has served me well thus far, and I'm not about to throw out my little friend in search of another!