The Creative CB2530 is powered with a total of three AAA batteries: one in the Bluetooth transmitter and two more in the headphone’s left ear cup. Creative quotes a 7-hour life expectancy when using alkaline batteries, and we found that claim to be fairly accurate. Just be aware that you’ll have to change batteries often; a rechargeable model would have been better in this case. The Bluetooth transmitter isn’t a whole lot bigger than its battery and comes with a 7-inch-long cable, terminating with a 3.5mm gold-plated miniplug; we were disappointed to find Creative doesn’t include a 6.3mm home adapter. The cable was too long for our tastes, plus it just dangles there, leaving us wondering where to put the transmitter after we plugged the cable into our iPod or MP3 player. The CB2530 uses Bluetooth 1.2 technology; its range is quoted as 32 feet, but our sample conked out around 20 feet.

To use the Creative CB2530, you must first pair the Bluetooth transmitter to the headphones. It’s a simple enough procedure: just hold down the transmitter’s power button until its blue LED indicator lights up, then flick on the headphones’ power switch. The headphones’ red LED illuminates, followed by the Bluetooth’s blue LED, then the sound comes on. Or at least it’s supposed to–there were times when we had to repeat the steps a few times before we got sound. When you’re finished listening, simply turn off the headphones, and the transmitter automatically shuts itself off.

The audio performance of the headphones themselves was also top notch, with quality bass and high tones that came through the 40mm driver unit strongly. According to creative, the frequency response for the headphones is 20Hz to 20KHz. It also offered higher volumes than many other wireless headphones, although the audio became decidedly muddy at high volume.

The headphones are not flawless, however. The design looks quite nice, in stylish black and with readily accessible volume dial, but the smallish cups will tend to sit on your ears rather than around them. The headphones aren’t heavy (203g with batteries), and the pressure on the ear isn’t great, but extended use might turn out to be uncomfortable for those with sensitive ears, especially given the relatively thin padding on the cups.

The Creative CB2530s are closed-back headphones that come complete with a Bluetooth 1.2 base station, powered by a single AAA battery. Plug the 3.5mm audio jack into your audio source, switch on the headphones (powered by a further two AAA cells), and then simply press the Connect button. The headphones themselves sound good rather than great, although there’s no apparent interference or distortion. The bass is controlled and there’s a reasonably clear high-end - they’re also fairly comfortable, if a little heavy at 203g. The range is enough to cover a room, or about 10m line of sight. You’ll be fine watching TV from the sofa, or on a trip from your desk to the photocopier, but sitting at the end of the garden will be a push. We can’t see many advantages to using the CB2530s routinely, but there is one major disadvantage: battery life. We matched Creative’s claim of eight hours, but it’s not long enough to stop even rechargeable batteries soon becoming tiresome. So while the CB2530s may come into their own occasionally, watching the clock rather spoils that new-found sense of freedom.

The Zen V and Zen V Plus come in 1GB, 2GB, and 4GB capacities. In both lines, each model includes a voice recorder, a line-in jack, and a 1.5-inch organic light-emitting diode (OLED) screen that displays photos with great clarity indoors but doesn’t offer the best outdoor visibility. The V Plus also plays video and has an FM tuner. Both the Zen V and the Zen V Plus work with Plays For Sure subscription content and handle the standard complement of MP3, WMA, and Audible files.

Like Creative’s other MP3 players, the Zen V Plus offers impressive sound quality. In PC World’s audio tests, it ranked slightly below but within range of Apple’s iPod Nano and Creative’s Zen Nano Plus. It posted the best score in our cross-talk test, which measures whether sound from one channel leaks into the other. With a five-band equalizer for tweaking audio, the Zen V Plus also sounded great in my listening tests playing a variety of high-bit-rate MP3 files.

We tested the audio playback and found it quite good with few problems to report, although the quality of the provided headphones was average. The cloth covered ear bud design doesn’t promote comfort and the sound quality was as we expected from outward appearances. The bass was below par and treble struggled to hit the high points in our music. The mid-tones were good, though there was a little loss of instrument separation in the track. When we switched to our own headphones, it became apparent that the poor sound quality was localised to the headphones and not indicative of the player itself. The Zen V Plus supports playback of MP3, WMA, IMA ADPCM and WMA DRM audio formats.

Video playback was good, for what it is. Naturally, we don’t expect a device with a 1.5in screen to compete with the larger screen devices on the market. However, we do have to question the validity of having a video feature in such a small device to begin with. The OLED screen showed a few minor pixilation problems and the overall picture quality, while good, could have been improved. In order to transfer video files to the device, software has been included with the retail package which allows users to transcode video (change formats) into the proprietary format of the player.

The Zen V Plus has a rechargeable Li-Ion Polymer battery which is charged via USB. Creative reports the battery life as 15 hours of continuous playback which we found to be fairly accurate.

The Creative WebCam Instant with Eyegames video software has a button for taking quick snapshots, along with a focus ring so you can get the sharpest possible picture. Its claw-like stand means it can either support itself on a desk or grip the top of a flat-screen monitor.

Its basic webcam software comes with stacks of options and, if you’re looking to get the most out of your camera, comes with everything you’ll need. It can capture video at 352 x 288 pixels and does clever things like using the camera as a movement sensor for monitoring the area around your desk (it’ll even email you if someone walks in front of it) or make time-lapse movies. It also comes with simple image-editing and multimedia email software to get you started.

The resolution of the CCD is only 352 x 288, but Creative claims that it can take still at 640 x 480, though to be fair it does state on the box that this is through software interpolation. The actual resolution is 320 x 240 for video, and indeed this can be forced to 640 x 480 as well. The CD provided includes both drivers and software. You only need to install the drivers to get the cam working in Windows XP - MacOS isn’t supported. In typical Creative fashion it puts a Creative Cam Detector in your system start tray in case your PC is starting too fast.

Like the WebCam Live! Pro, the unit has been designed to sit on both a flat surface and hang from a flat screen display. Focusing is done manually via a simple bezel on the lens and the top of the device sports a still capture facility giving you the option of catching the odd 640×480 VGA quality still image if need be.

The WebCam instant isn’t as tech spec heavy as the other models in the range. There is no USB2.0 support, no Mac support and the highest resolution achievable is only 352×288, but then the price isn’t top of the range either (it’s half that of the WebCam Live! Pro).

The webcam is shaped like a half-egg type object, with the lens sat in the centre of the oval surrounded by a focus ring. A small yellow light indicates when it is plugged in via USB and powered. There’s a button built discreetly into the top used for manually taking snapshots though this only works with the supplied Creative software. It sits on a stand that when opened up enables it to hang nicely from the back of an LCD desktop or notebook screen. The eyepiece can be titled forwards and backwards and left or right so you get it pointing exactly where you want it. What it doesn’t have in any kind of automatic face tracking technology, which is hardly surprising considering the price of the package.

When the stand is closed it can sit flat on the desk, but balancing it on top of a CRT could be tricky. It’s also light weight, which makes it easy to take with you if you want to pack it in your bag along with a laptop when you go away.

Creative’s WebCam Instant is a webcam with personality. It has a three-leg base that’s designed to fit thin-panel displays, laptops, and notebooks, although you can also rest it on a flat surface. With two legs hanging over the front of your monitor and its electric eye gazing benignly back at you, it looks like much more than a simple peripheral.

The WebCam Instant is easy to set up. Just plug the included USB 1.1 cable into an available USB port on your PC, and you’re ready to start beaming your shining face to far-flung friends and family. The WebCam Instant is compatible with all of the most popular instant messaging applications, including AIM, Yahoo! Messenger, MSN Messenger, and Windows Messenger, as well as other instant messaging software.