The Zen Stone of old will now be available in blue, pink, champagne and black colors, as well as in 1GB or 2GB flavors, and besides the novelty speaker, not much has changed. The Zen Stone Plus will also get the mono speaker treatment. The higher end models will be available, as before, with an integrated FM radio, voice recording capability, OLED screen and in either 2GB or 4GB varieties.

The new players will ship with a silicon skin; a sports armband and carry case keychain will be available separately. According to the CEO of Creative "It's hard to believe that such incredibly small players can have a speaker that sounds so good..." Beyond possible, we would have to say. The 1GB model will ship this February in Japan, retailing at 4,980 yen ($48.) Further pricing and shipping dates are not available at present. [Creative]

It's only been a month and a half since Creative introduced the Zen Stone, so we know either the first version wasn't selling well, or the second version wasn't ready in time to get out the door by May. Why they didn't just wait until now to do things right is anyone's guess. – Jason Chen

Product Page [Creative via EpiZENter]