ZDNet recently met with Creative Labs for a briefing on their portable music strategy for the next six months. Creative is already one of the premier names in the business -- for both hard disk and flash memory-based digital music players. But in the months ahead, Creative is clearly emphasising the hard disk player market.

The 6GB Nomad Jukebox currently accounts for more than 50 percent of Creative's music player sales. Our primary gripe is that the Jukebox is about the same size as the portable CD player that digital audio should be making redundant--not to mention, heavier. But the US arm of the company has plans to address that; by September, it will have two new Jukebox products on the US market.

The first, which Creative is currently referring to as the ever-catchy Prototype 1 (which sadly, is a better name than that of many products on the market), is the snazzier-looking of the two. This totally new design, which is about the same shape and size as a mini-voice recorder (about 15 centimetres high and 6 centimetres wide), will offer about 6 to 10GB of storage and should cost around US$299. That's about the same price as the Intel Pocket Concert Audio Player, which offers 128MB of flash based-memory. While it's a huge size reduction from the Nomad Jukebox, it's still larger -- and likely to be heavier -- than many other players on the market.

The second, yep, you guessed it, Prototype 2, looks like the current Nomad Jukebox, though shrunk down by 30-percent. But, while the smaller size is certainly a welcome improvement, the bigger story is what's going inside the player. First off, Jukebox "junior" will hold between 10GB and 20G of music. Creative is also considering equipping the new device with a IEEE 1394 (FireWire) connection, which would significantly speed up music transfer--assuming your PC supports it. Company spokespersons are guessing that "junior" will cost somewhere between US$399 and US$449.

Creative's Australian subsiduary operation, which markets and distributes under direction from Asia-pacific branch of the company, still hasn't decided whether Prototype 1 and Prototype 2 would be suitable for the local market. A spokesperson for Creative Australia told ZDNet that neither product has been ruled out, but that the local market's smaller size doesn't give them the luxury of experimentation that US distributors have. It's fair to assume that they'll be watching the products' success in the US to inform their decision.

Creative also seems likely to move away from standard battery types, opting instead for proprietary designs. The good news for consumers is that these batteries should provide better battery life. The bad news is you'll likely a premium for the privilege -- don't be surprised if Creative offers extended battery life as an optional upgrade for standard player packages.

Creative also announced significant price cuts across their music player product line. US consumers should now be able to find the Nomad Jukebox, which had retailed for nearly US$450, for closer to US$299. The Jukebox has will also be a little more affordable for Australian consumers falling from AU$999 to AU$799 in May. Prices for Creative's flash memory-based products have also been slashed, with the Nomad IIG dropping to US$249, while the Nomad II dropped to US$219.

It's clear that Creative are devoting most of their energy to ensuring the saleability of their products, as the consumers start to shy away from luxury technology products in the impending recession. Their strategy involves stripping superfluous and popular features from existing products and judiciously choosing avenues to deliver them to the market.

In the US, Creative will be offering 'bare-bones' versions of the Jukebox and the Nomad II to online shoppers: the Jukebox C and the Nomad IIC. The Jukebox C (US$269) will exclude the carrying case, headphones, and spare set of batteries that ship with the full product. And like the standard Nomad II, the Nomad II MG (US$129), includes a SmartMedia expansion slot, but instead of a 64MB card, the IIC ships with 32M of onboard memory, and like the Jukebox C, no accessories. Creative Australia is being slightly more generous; the Nomad IIC package to be distributed locally will be identical to the Nomad II sans 32M of memory and the FM tuner that has puzzles and irritates Nomad II owners. Available in May, the IIC is expected to retail for AU$399.

The last piece of news from Creative--and no, it wasn't the announcement of an AM tuner for any of their product (a reviewer's pet peeve)--was the introduction of the PlayDock, a speaker with a built-in docking station. The US$199 PlayDock will work with both current and future Jukeboxes, but we must admit, the idea that someone would pay money for a speaker strapped to a motorcycle battery makes us sceptical. The PlayDock will be available in Australia in April.

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