Creative shadows iPod shuffle with new Muvo

Creative today expanded its screenless player offerings and launched the Muvo T100. Unlike the shorter ZEN Stone made just for music, the T100 shares a strong resemblance with Apple's first-generation iPod shuffle and is built as much for data storage as for songs. As with the Apple player, the T100 has a removable cap that exposes a USB port for directly plugging the ZEN into a PC as an impromptu jumpdrive. Users can load music or files without software just by dragging and dropping, Creative says.

The updated Muvo has a single-button Bass Boost feature to help augment dance and urban tracks, and runs for up to 10 hours on a charge of its lithium-ion battery. Capacity is the primary selling point as the player sells in 2GB and 4GB versions today for the equivalent of $60 and $100 in Creative's home territory of Singapore, only slightly higher than the typical prices for some data-only drives. No plans have been announced to bring the player to North America, though the company regularly brings its players to the region shortly after their Singapore launches.