Comments on: Creative ZEN X-Fi review Part 1

By: Prim

Prim — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 11:14:21 +0000

Thanks, good review. I almost converted to Apple, as the new Creative series did not catch my attention anymore. I had a first gen Zen but thank God I saw the X Fi 10 days ago, and bought it immediatly. I am very pleased with the sound my X fi card delivers in my pc. It really makes a diffirence. Cant wait to receive it!!!

By: Brad in FL

Brad in FL — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 04:18:17 +0000

If Creative could get their marketing people together, maybe they could actually close the gap with Apple. They won a ton of money in a lawsuit from Apple.. they should have gone onto one of the popular Home Shopping Networks, cut the price by $50 (or at least undercut comparable iPod) and sold the crap out of them. Word of mouth is a far more better advertiser than print, web ads, tv, etc. If they could get a ton of these out there, maybe, just maybe, Creative will be taking seriously by the rest of the world. iPods are great.. I have hesitated simply because of copatibility issues with video and other things. My 30GB Vision:M is still kicking and enjoy dumping a view Xvid/Divx movies for when I travel. Add the vid output and I have a portable movie collection.. drag and drop.. no convert. Anyway, get in the game, Creative.

By: Jhon

Jhon — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 09:18:26 +0000

Well thats really wrong because the method to input text on this player is not like that all, the method is nothing like a standard cell phone which you are suggesting. If you don’t believe me hit “Creative Zen X-Fi wireless Features Part 2″ into youtube, then you will really see how frustrating the texting method is.
I find the Messenger Live! and Yahoo! IM chat feature the most useless feature and is only there as an attractive yet still very useless feature. Although I must say everything else on the ZEN X-FI is perfect. maybe all that plastic could have been metal though… but I suppose that makes the player lighter.
Very good Review.
4/5

By: Jhon

Jhon — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 09:13:46 +0000

Yup, after watching that youtube video, he’s very right.

By: Lokey

Lokey — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 09:11:32 +0000

“One new feature of the ZEN X-Fi is the Wireless Lan. It enables you to chat on MSN and Yahoo! Messenger and also stream content over your home server. In replacement of the five-way tactile pad is 9 small round buttons. It works the way you text on your hand phone (Number 2 button represents “a”, “b” and “c”) for the instant messaging function while during normal player usage, the buttons 2, 4, 6 & 8 represents your up, left, right and down respectively. It’s rather idiot proof and you will get a hand of it instantly”

Well thats really wrong because the system/method to text on this player is not like that all, the method is nothing like a standard cell phone which you are suggesting. If you don’t believe me hit “Creative Zen X-Fi wireless Features Part 2″ into youtube, then you will really see how frustrating the teexting system is. I find it the most useless feature and is only there to get people buying it.

By: Abhinav Mishra

Abhinav Mishra — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 11:02:31 +0000

ok seems the mod of this blog isn’t replying to the questions…anyway i’ll try myluck too ;D
important question (some r repeated)

1. How do you convert the videos? does it have a converter in the installation disk? If centrale is the way to go, i couldn’t find the convert button anywhere

2. Is the screen scratch proof?

3. Overall, what would you rate higher and why? (b\w zen and x-fi)

4. How much of disk space would a movie (originally in divX format [torrents !;) ] which is about 700 mb, ) be in the format the player requires???
If you could answer these questions, I (we) ‘d be glad .
Thankyou.

By: Azkaban

Azkaban — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 10:31:44 +0000

Waiting for the sound quality review, and the Wifi, i wonder why creative add wifi to this mp3 but u still can’t surf web =))

By: MichaelJugar

MichaelJugar — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 12:18:25 +0000

I like Creative…Actually, I have a ZEN.. I love how it sounds but Creative really has to put value on customer’s demands..Long ago, people wanted to have SD card integration but Creative ignored it…since they are releasing 16GB versions, a 16GB SDHC upgrade isn’t much a big deal to them,people would still be buying their products. The case with ZEN is different when they have lower capacity version, say 2GB and if they have the SD card integ, then they are on the losing end. Just imaging people buying just a 2GB ZEN + 16GB SDHC….The case with ZEN X-Fi is different, and so Creative must have that SD card integration in their next firmware release…I really love Creative, much like I want to help them or something..I dont want them to suddenly disappear from this type of market..They must know the commoner’s demands, and not just focus on the High tech features….

By: Singapore

Singapore — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 16:01:01 +0000

Yessss… !!! I got one.

I have no doubt that it is the sound of perfection, the greatest sounding MP3 player ever. I own the original Zen and find that the quality is great but as I got Soundblaster extremegamer x-fi, I know there is room for improvement. I hope to see the Zen with built-in speaker and here it is! I hope to see X-fi integrated to Zen and here it is! I hope to get longer battery life and here it is! I hope to get 32GB at greatest value prices (bundle with high quality earbuds EP-830) and here it is! When I bought this (from Creative in Singapore at S$399 the day it was released) and load my songs in, with X-fi crystalizer ON, X-fi expand ON (some people don’t like surround, so you can off it), paired with EP-830, the music is even better, louder, ups and downs better, better bass without distortion, the best that you can get so far. The wireless streaming feature and instant messaging (wifi) is a plus but I have yet to seriously use them. There is no internet browser. The 9 button is comfortable to press and improves navigation over the original Zen. It is slightly thicker than Zen, but it looks and feels more high class due to the sliver backing and chrome edge and the slightly heavier mass. Overall, it is a great improvement over the original Zen and offers better value and full package for sound of perfection (EP-830 with X-fi and Zen quality). You can also buy a docking station with built-in rechargeable battery (not yet available) that also charges Zen X-fi. Will update once I got more results on wireless features.

You can also buy fromamazon. I recommend you to buy with the skin protector , you can get discount.
zen x-fi

By: DaGnome

DaGnome — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 20:15:06 +0000

According to ALL other review’s I’ve read, the section where you wrote the following is untrue:
“It enables you to chat on MSN and Yahoo! …[sic]…9 small round buttons. It works the way you text on your hand phone (Number 2 button represents “a”, “b” and “c”) for the instant messaging function…”

Perhaps your source information was wrong, or there is a firmware pending, but the UI 9 Buttons do not function in this manner as of 7/19. In fact it’s one of the biggest complaints I’ve heard of the new features. I WISH it functioned like you described.. but Creative decided to get Creative with the UI