Cambridge Soundworks, which is a subsidiary of Creative Technology, announced their latest and greatest set of speakers. The $200 PlayDock Zen and PlayDock i run off of either onboard batteries or a power cord. The speakers use "wide spacial imaging" technology, and have a built-in subwoofer for bass response. Every set of speakers comes with a remote, is magnetically shielded so it can be placed near a television, has TV out ports, and an antenna to boost FM reception on the Zen. The PlayDock Zen works with the Zen Vision:M, V and V Plus players, and The PlayDock i works with the 4 GB and 5GB iPod, iPod Mini and iPod Nano.

One of the major advantages of the original iPod Shuffle that Apple chose to remove when it was redesigned was the ability to link directly to a USB port, allowing owners to utilise it as a memory stick. Until now, the new version has required the Shuffle to use the dock that is shipped with it to store songs and data. To bypass this problem and restore a little more functionality to the Shuffle, Incipio has developed an adaptor that lets you plug it straight into your PC without the need for a dock, retailing for under $6.

It can be purchased for $5.99 (plus P+P) here.

Interest in the Zune appears to be "diminishing", according to Amazon.com sales charts. While at launch the Zune was very strong, second only to the iPod in sales, it is now hanging around 60th place on a top 100 list of music players, updated hourly. The Zune accounts for nine percent of sales and 13 percent of MP3 player revenue. While Jason Reindorp, marketing director of Zune, is "very happy with consumer reception to Zune and its sales over the past two weeks", the Zune is certainly nowhere near sales of the iPod. Various iPod models hold the top 6 places on the MP3 player chart, hold 63% of all sales, and take 72.5% of revenue. The Zune also makes most of it's sales through upgrades. In a survey conducted by Reuters, only seven percent of people would buy a brand new Zune, and 33% would buy one as an upgrade. For comparison, 80% of the same group would buy an iPod, but only 18% as an upgrade. This shows that the Zune is much more competitive against basic MP3 players using Microsoft Plays For Sure technology then the iconic iPod.