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The main difference between the iPod and the Creative Zen? iTunes.

There's no sign of either Apple or Creative Labs launching an MP3 player which is actually a mobile phone, and there's probably a thesis to write about how this hands the market to Sony Ericsson on a plate with the Walkman phone. But it still leaves Steve Jobs laughing all the way to the bank, because he owns the music, as well as the player.

Today's London launch at BAFTA featured Creative's founder, Sim Wong Hoo. Cue puzzled exchanges from pissed old hacks in the front row of the meeja luvvies haunt: "He's no Steve Jobs, is he?" said one. "Hoo?" said the next. "He is." And so on. And it's true; Hoo has built a great business out of audio, but he doesn't wow the audience the way Jobs can.

And he doesn't get the royalties Steve does. With the launch, Creative wasn't able to pull the trick Jobs pulls at every iPod launch - giving away downloads from iTunes; instead, he included a token for one month subscription to Napster, and "five tracks to burn."

A few commentators will say that Creative is going to win the fight, because it doesn't restrict the music formats you can use. It plays MPEG 1, 2 and 4, WMV 9, Motion JPEG, DivX 4 and 5 and XviD video files, and can also display photos saved in JPEG format.

Hoo told his audience that he was number two in MP3 players - "and we aren't satisfied with that," he said. "We're pushing hard," he added, announcing the Zen Vision:M video player.

He'll be popular with people who don't want to sell through iTunes, of course, with people like Rudy Tambala - head of Virgin Digital - lining up with Mark Bennett, head of digital at HMV, and Ben Drury of 7 Digital, to praise the "freedom of choice" which the player offers. All true; but Steve Jobs gets the revenue from iTunes; Creative doesn't get the revenue from Napster.

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