The Creative Zen comes up to 16 gigabytes of storage and while that may seem like a small amount to some, the situation is easily rectified by the SD card expansion slot. SD cards come in a variety of sizes, so don’t feel compelled to get an iPod based on storage size.

Since the release of the iPod, everyone and their mother’s have thought about getting one, and why not? Despite their diminutive size, they are jam packed with features, and just ooze trendiness. If an expensive car is the status symbol of the adult world, then a feature-loaded iPod is the status symbol of the teenage and college kid world.

That’s well and fine, but all the buzz around the iPod is kind of a buzz killer to other MP3 players. Anyone who gets an iPod may not even know what other cool MP3 players are out there.

Clueless parents don’t want to do the research on the other competitors, so they go with what they know: a pink iPod for the daughter, a blue iPod for the son; Christmas is solved.

But there are so called “iPod Killers” out there that you may not be aware of. Any reasonable person does their research before making any major purchase, and dropping up to $400 for the “latest and greatest” iPod may not be the wisest decision.

Take for example the iriver Clix, a compact and very capable MP3 player busting at the seams with ingenuity. It’s priced slightly high given its capacity, but it makes up for this in its ingenuity.

The Clix does everything the iPod can do, but is unique in how you navigate your files. Instead of using a wheel or square keypad to get around, you actually press the sides of the screen. There’s a satisfying little “click” sound that lets you know you’ve pressed hard enough.

You can go back and forward around the menus by pressing left or right, and navigate songs by pressing up or down. It’s different, unique and something the iPods don’t do. Kudos to iriver for breathing fresh air into a stale feature; the click-wheel was soooo 2004.

Keep in mind the iriver Clix came out a year or so before the iPod Touch, and while the Clix isn’t exactly “touch screen,” it comes darn close for under half the price of its Apple competitor.

Another very viable option is the new Creative Zen. Full of vibrant colors and able to match the iPod in everything but capacity, the Creative Zen is all about style.

It’s about the size of a credit card, sleek and looks downright bad-ass. It is not as innovative as the iPod Touch or the iriver Clix, but it still competes well by having lower prices than the other two and having a small trump card the others do not: secure digital card expansion slots.

The Creative Zen comes with up to 16 gigabytes of storage, and while that may seem like a small amount to some, the situation is easily rectified by the SD card expansion slot. SD cards come in a variety of sizes, so don’t feel compelled to get an iPod based on storage size.

Both of these options have their respectable learning curves, to which the iPod has a very large one-up. With Apple’s players, just plug and play with iTunes, and you’re all set to go with your shiny new status symbol.

The thing that irks me, however, is how you HAVE to use iTunes with your iPod. Creative and iriver (among other competitors) let you use a number of different programs, from Winamp to Windows Media player.

So, you have your options, and these “iPod Killers” are pretty legit, in my opinion. They look as good, if not better than the iPod, are capable of just as much if not more, cost less for just as much space, and give you more freedom in your media player-to-MP3 player choices. Sorry, but the iPod isn’t trendy anymore. If anything, it’s become annoying. Any other capable MP3 player with the same features as an iPod wins.

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