Doesn’t Creative release new Zens, like, every day? It sure seems that way. (Though that could be the over-the-counter medicine cocktail I’m on right now—being sick ain’t fun.) This particular Zen—in 4GB, 8GB and 16GB sizes—distinguishes itself from the rest of Creative’s lineup by being compatible with [non-DRM] AAC files. Yes, that includes iTunes Plus files, like this one I bought a few weeks ago.

The Zen is around the size of a credit card, save its depth, and plays back files the iPod only dreams it could, like WMV and Divx. Feature-for-feature, it more than matches the iPod nano, if not outright betters it. For now, at least.

The new Zen’s screen also gives the iPod’s a run for its money: 2.5 inches, 320×240-pixel resolution and it’s capable of showing 16.7 million colors. (The iPod can only do 65,000 colors.)

Right now, this looks to be a good deal. We’ll have to see what Apple has up its sleeves next week before making any meaningful conclusions.

Creative Zen PMP: 16GB multi-format video player [Crave/CNET UK]