Odds are that most people shopping for a MP3 player are going to end up opting for an iPod of one model or another. Some folks out there will look for alternatives to Apple’s offerings though for one reason or another. Microsoft’s line of Zune players may be just the ticket for music fans looking for Apple alternatives.

Microsoft’s latest update for all Zune players is now available. The update adds some nice new features including free Wi-Fi access to the Zune Marketplace from Wayport hotspots in more than 9800 McDonald’s restaurants around the country.

You’re bound to either love this one or hate it. Be sure to let us know where you stand. ZVUE’s 1GB pre-loaded Journey MP3 player is of course decked out like an ’80s Journey Album cover on the outside.

Inside, you get 22 Journey tracks pre-loaded. 11 new, 11 that you’ve been sick of for years. It’s like buying Journey’s greatest hits album and getting a DAP as well. At $39.88, that’s like a $1.80 per song. So, do you want one? Or will you touch and go your separate ways?

AnythingbutiPod found some interesting info about the new and very plain looking Creative Zen Krystal. The new DAP sports 4GB of storage capacity, FM Tuner, blue OLED display, a built-in pedometer and support for MP3 and WMA file formats.

It will give you 10 hours of battery life, stopwatch, radio, clock and voice recorder. It measures 57mm x 37mm x 10.8mm. Comes with a pouch and wristband as well as standard earbuds and USB cable so it’s ready to use. It’s available at Creative’s Hong Kong site for about €55.

When Creative first launched its X-Fi technology it was seen in sound cards for computers. The X-Fi sound cards were very good and offered excellent sound for PC gaming and movies. Since the launch of the X-Fi technology creative has rolled X-Fi out to other product types.

The latest product to get the X-Fi treatment is the ZEN line of digital audio players. Creative announced today that the ZEN X-Fi with Wireless LAN DAP is now available. The player features a 2.5-inch TFT screen with support for 16.7 million colors, SD card slot for memory expansion, a built-in FM tuner with 32 presets and a built-in mic for voice recording.

As far as solar devices go, Thanko’s DAP actually looks pretty nice. I’ve seen much worse. In the front it looks like any other device with a 1.8-inch 220 x 176 resolution display, 4GB of internal storage space and a miniSD expansion slot.

But in the back is where you’ll find the solar panel that doubles as a stand for the unit. Just stand the whole thing up as shown and let it soak up the sun. It can also be charged via USB. No word on a price or release date, so who knows if we’ll ever see it in the U.S.

Creative is rolling out a new MP3 player today which looks like an overgrown Zen Stone. The new MuVo T100 will initially be available in Singapore at the end of October.

The Creative MuVo T100 comes in a variety of colors and serves double duty as a USB thumb drive and music player. It’s available in 2GB and 4GB sizes, measuring 25 x 77 x 8.9mm and weighing a lightweight 17.8 grams. It has a built-in USB connector and can get upwards of ten hours of audio between charges.

Creative Labs rolls out the Zen Stone, their fancy way of saying “Look at our new MP3 player.” Weighing less than a pound and with a storage capacity of 1 GB (that’s about 250 songs at 4 minutes each), it comes in 6 different colors and looks a little like a compact digital camera.

Dimensions are 2.1” by 1.4” by 0.5” so it’s small enough to slip into your shirt or jeans pockets or even attached to your car keys (there is a keychain accessory that you can also buy.) The Zen …