Creative Labs Zen Touch 20 GB MP3 Player

Rating:
Summary: Creative Zen > Apple iPod
Review: First, this thing is amazing, and it is so much easier to use than the apple ipod. Truthfully told, the zen is bigger, and a lil heavier but for 200% the battery life of the iPod, this is definetly worth carrying a few extra GRAMS of weight. I think people who see you with this instead of an iPod would think, wow look at how smart he is, he got something better and didn't pay and extra $50 for the name. 2nd, people who already have music and such, you HAVE to use iTunes for the music you want. And the uploading is kinda slow. With the creative zen, you can get a program is just for uploading onto your zen not a upload/download app.

Rating:
Summary: Somewhat disappointing...
Review: I bought this because most of the reviews said that it was a worthy opponant to the ipod, with twice the battery life, twice the capacity, and far less expence. At first I was quite pleased with it, but over time I have begun to notice its faults. When it erased all my music tonight, I felt it was finally time to write a review explaining the downsides. I will not list the plusses because it has been done in numerous other reviews.

Here are the problems I have noticed:

- Even after several months, the scroll bar, when set on the least sensitive setting, is still too sensitive. While it is not debilitating, it is frustrating to the point that it is somewhat of a hinderane.

- When on random, hitting the back button does not always return you to the previous song listened to. Sometimes it does, but often it brings up another random song. I understand that "random" is the setting, but when navigating through a large playlist it would still be nice to be able to go to the previous song listened to at the push of a button.

- When I transfered all my files from my computer onto the Zen Touch, somehow it reset all the ID tags on my computer to what they were when they were first ripped. As I have about 7,000 songs on my computer and had spent months changing the titles to exactly what I wanted, this was a big setback for me. I think this was caused by an option I selected when the I did the file transfer, but it should have been more clear.

- Frequently when jogging, the Zen freezes, and I need to stick a paper clip into the reset hole in the side. The actual reset button is about right in the center of the player, so it is necessary to stick the paper clip in almost an inch and a half. Last time this happened, I was unable to get it to reset - it decided that there was need to erase all my files.

I do not want to spend the time and effort to replace my entire music collection, since the Zen is unstable enough that I can almost guarentee that this will happen again.

I am not using this to say that the Ipod is better, because I have not tried it, and it is my opinion that it costs far too much. Nor am I saying not to buy the Zen Touch. Just be warned of the negative side of it, and weigh whether you think they make the Zen worth purchasing. For me they are not.

Rating:
Summary: a decent I-pod substitute
Review: I bought this little guy for my daughter so that she could compete with my son's i-pod. I'm not too familiar with these things, but I had no problem setting it up and working it. Touch pad is great. Very sensitive and smooth.

The sound is just awesome, that is, before it got burned in an apt fire. If you're looking for a serious replacement for the sometimes hard to get hold of i-pod, look no further. Creative is probably the only decent contender of i-pods

Rating:
Summary: Concur with other reviews
Review: I found that the gist of what has been said by other reviewers is true. the Creative Zen Touch is easy to use, it has much better battery life than the equivalent size i-pod and is more durable. On the downside, the scroll bar is too sensitive and the earphones are not ergonomically designed for most ears.

You can't jog with this machine, but then you are warned about this in the manual.

I have had mine for two months now and am very pleased with it. The only advantage the i-pod has over this machine is that it looks more stylish. If this is important to you, you will probably buy the i-pod anyway.

Rating:
Summary: Review of Zen Touch
Review: I spent months looking at different Mp3 Players and finally decided on this one not only because it was cheaper than the ipod, but becuase everyone has an ipod and I wanted something different. This has a 24 hour battery life which is great, the touch pad is fine, but I recommend putting it on the lowest sensitivity level. Sound is great, holds all my songs. It is very easy to use, and I have had no problems with it freezing or anything like that. The carrying case that comes with it is nice too, and has a clip on it. The only thing I don't like are the headphones, they hurt when you put them in your ears, so I'm buying some new ones. Overall, I am very satisfied with this Mp3 player.

Rating:
Summary: Dont buy it
Review: I thought my Zen was a nifty little player until I watched a friend sync music and download new tunes on her Ipod. The Zen's software is clunky and slow and its "playcenter'' computer interface freezes all the time - not good when you are transferring songs. Often, when I plug the player into the computer the playcenter announces that it isn't connected. Go ahead and pay a couple of hundred bucks for this thing and tell yourself you got a bargain by not buying the Apple. When it doesn't work, you'll have a shiny new doorstop.

Rating:
Summary: So Great!
Review: I've had mine 2 months now, and I love it to death, maybe more than some of my friends...
Incredibly great, fast cd ripping time with easy to use software.
Its scrolling bar is great, much easier than the ipod.
Sound quality, depending on the headphones you have is great.
The ear buds that come with it are of poor quality, and didnt fit in my ears...maybe I just have small ears. I'd recomend getting a decent pair of your own anyways.
This is a must for anyone who likes music and doesnt want to conform with the cliche ipod...

Rating:
Summary: Great Player!
Review: I've had my Zen Touch (the 20 GB model) for about a month now, and I have to say... This is a really great player!

Pros:
1. The 24 hour battery life really does last 24 hours.... I havn't had it die on me yet!
2. It's easy to hold, and scrolling is not too hard... You do have to get used to it though.
3. The sound is crisp, clear, and makes it where one can hear every last sound in a song!
4. Comes with Creative Mediasource, which is very easy to use, and will encode songs into MP3 format quickly! Also makes it easy to burn songs directly onto a CD from the player itself.
5. It also doubles as an external hard drive to transfer various files to wherever you would like to put them
6. Tech support is great, informative, and easy to reach!
7. Comes with earphones and a carrying case
8. The player itself looks good!
Cons:
1. Earphones it's supplied with arn't the best.
2. Touchpad needs some "wearing in", or at least mine did when I got it... Not too hard though.
3. No Mac support.

Even though it's 250 usually (I got mine for 230...) its a great buy and in my opinion better than the iPod! (which usually costs about 300 bucks, depending where you get it)

Rating:
Summary: Conflicts Conflicts Conflicts
Review: It's hard to say who is to blame, Microsoft or Creative. There is some problem where Windows Media Player 10 conflicts with the Zen driver for Windows XP. Otherwise this is a 5-star piece of hardware. I like the interface better than what I have seen on iPods. But now I kind of wish I'd have bought one of the iRiver 5GB players with the color screen. Those look awesome and probably work better with Media Player 10.

Rating:
Summary: I returned it for an iPod BUT it has many positive features
Review: Unfortunately, the Creative Labs Zen Touch player I received had a hard disk error, and I had to return it. When I first purchased it, it froze and I ended up updating the firmware. The instructions on the web site weren't very detailed so I searched forum sites (Apple doesn't do much better). Once I completed that step, the Player worked for a few weeks. The positives:

1) It comes with a leather case. The iPod I received doesn't and several sites want $20+ for this accessory.
2) The Zen Touch integrated very well with my Windows PC and transfers were lightning fast on USB2.
3) 24 hour battery says it all-most iPods last 14. Plus the battery is designed to be removable and replaceable unlike with the iPod.
4) The sound quality was great and the EQ are more easily customized than with the iPod.
5) The price is great considering the amount of storage.

Here are the negatives which led me to get an iPod:
1) The scroll bar was difficult to use at first. I thought the Zen was broken until I figured out how to customize the touch settings. I didn't have this problem with the scroll wheel on the iPod. The settings on the Zen, as others have observed, are way too sensitive and I could never find a happy medium.
2) The software that comes with the Zen requires a lot of CPU and I hated having to do control/alt/delete when it ceased functioning. I ended up keeping Musicmatch as my default MP3 player because it runs much smoother. But for transferring files, I was stuck using the Creative Labs software because Musicmatch and Windows Media Player did not link easily to the player. iTunes is so much easier to use than Mediasource.
3) The headphones are a bit pointed and not pleasant on my ears compared to the oval headphones that come with the iPod.
4) The Zen Player is bigger and takes more pocket space than the iPod. Its like having a PDA in your palm.
5) I had to move tracks to their correct spots frequently. If there is a program that organizes better than Mediasource, I'd recommend downloading it.
6) I got tired of resetting the player and the hard disk error really motivated me to find another company.