Live shots of the Creative Zen Neeon
posted May 25th 2005 8:32PM
Hardware Zone hit the press event for the launch of the
Zen
Neeon and walked away with a few live shots of the new 5GB MP3 player Creative officially rolled out last week. The
Neeon is lighter and smaller than it's main competition, the iPod mini (75 g and 3.1 x 1.8 x 0.6-inches vs. 103 g and
3.6 x 2.0 x 0.5-inches), but then again its display is also smaller than the one found on Apple's player. The Neeon
also has a built-in FM tuner and line-in recording, but Creative is big pimping the "Stik-On" skins that let you
customize the player (Hardware Zone snapped the pic above of the first batch of Stik-On skins that are available).
Stickers aren't exactly what we'd call an innovation (HP
figured this one out last year, and there are loads of third-party skins out there for all sorts of MP3 players,
cellphones, portable game consoles, etc.), but we'll let that slide.
[Thanks, Rubylized]
I like this and might buy one - though Id like to see it posing next to some other well known players.
that has to be the tackiest mp3 player i've ever seen.
wow. that's pretty wretched. i think it's fair to say sony has influenced the most in industrial design in the past three decades. too bad none of those people helped outon these.
It seems like they are trying to copy tiger w/ the tiger stickier... jk
it does look good, in the stickerless version, but i cant see anyone buying one of these. if i were looking for a DAP with no removable battery, 5 gigs of storage, a monochrome screen, and wma support, i would buy a rio carbon, just because it is $130 cheaper. that is the competition for this product, and it needs to be priced accordingly.
When is Creative ever going to get it? So long as they keep pumping out crap like this Apple has little to worry about...
Having a built in FM radio is stupid. If they were to build in a FM modulator, that'd be much more useful.
It seems that Creative's response to ANY problem is to release a brand new player. I guess they think its silly to take the time to improve on their existing players instead... you know, with firmware updates and hardware modifications to fix the plague of problems.
They don't believe in customer satisfaction... just shove a new shiny product (THIS ONE HAS STICKERS KIDS!) down our throats if we peep to their techs.
Ridiculous.
i love how every company is trying to compete with the iPod. its smaller than its competition. wow, its still not better just because it has mroe features, they all need to stop this mp3 war and just either work with apple to create the ultimate device or create some new revolutionary product before apple does....even though apple has a head start on that.
just so you dont complain im a windows user.
Revolutionary device? You pretend that the iPod was a new idea.
Those things will sell like hot cakes in places like Japan where tacky is teh kewlest thing.
when i say revolutionary i mean something thats going to be better than the ipod. now i know im gonna get some grief for saying that but you cant argue, its the best mp3 player and the sales show it, i know there are many worthy competitors and they all have nice devices, and i know the ipod is overpriced, but why is apple selling so many? its easy to use, it just works the way you want it to and its nice looking. companys need to focus on simplicity and design more and they will hold more of the market share. we dont need players that can hold 1tb of music (would be sweet) we dont need players that support fm radio, its on it way out and podcasts are exploding, we dont need all these hundreds of extra features, its an mp3 player not a laptop, its meant to play music.
10 backplates, 7 LEDs, and hundreds of Stickers.
How can it not appeal to the chav in you.
I predict it will be the Chav's dream device come true.
Kyle, that $329 price is in Singapore dollars. Divide the price by the exchange rate (1.66 to the dollar) and you get $198USD.
I actually had to look up "Chav". This website does a mighty fine job of giving a good definition:
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=chav&r=f
The Creative players would be great if they'd just improve the UI and work out the bugs. Hardware isnt the problem Creative its your software that sucks.
The ipod isnt an original idea there were several HDD based mp3 players before the ipod. It was however the first to combine a great peice of hardware with great software that just worked.
Also see http://www.chavscum.co.uk
Going smaller is progress. However, the specs suggest that they took a step backwards with the audio quality (SN -90dB versus -98dB for the Zen Micro) -- this should never be the case. The primary purpose of DAPs is listening, thus the primary specification should be audio quality (signal/noise ratio at full output level, THD, and mW power output capability -- granted, it seems those last 2 specs are never published) and new products should sport the same if not better numbers.
Going smaller is progress. However, the specs suggest that they took a step backwards with the audio quality (SN -90dB versus -98dB for the Zen Micro) -- this should never be the case. The primary purpose of DAPs is listening, thus the primary specification should be audio quality (signal/noise ratio at full output level, THD, and mW power output capability -- granted, it seems those last 2 specs are never published) and new products should sport the same if not better numbers.
The reason the iPod does so well is in the millions that Apple spends on ADVERTISING.
Their player is middle of the road, but they're constantly in your face in print, billboards, and comemrcials. That's why it sells so well over superior products.
As for their players being "overpriced", true...but they need to pay for all that in your face time.
The Creative players would be great if they'd just improve the UI and work out the bugs. Hardware isnt the problem Creative its your software that sucks.
The ipod isnt an original idea there were several HDD based mp3 players before the ipod. It was however the first to combine a great peice of hardware with great software that just worked.
---
*shakes head.. you just listed all the advantages the iPod has over Creative.. UI, iTunes interface/syncing software and then go on to say that iPod was nothing original.
Before iPod, people were draggin and dropping their songs into folders in windows explorer..
iTunes was created for the iPod. 2001. Regarding the interface, Apple has the rights to the clickwheel.. and you can see all the other company's trying to work around that exclusivity with wonky designs...
Typical Windows attitude. It can play MP3's...check.. It syncs with my PC... check.. it has playlists.. check.. It's a lot more qualitative than that.. it's a CE device not a freakin dishwasher..
"Those things will sell like hot cakes in places like Japan where tacky is teh kewlest thing."
You have apparently never been to Japan.
what, no colour screen??? *yawn*
#19 Yea sure.... And after the Ipod people had to install that bloatware iTunes crap and drivers just to copy a song to their iPod from their friend's computers!
Revolutionary, I say!
Well, I am not interested in debating with anyone. I just want to know when I can get it in store!
Personally, I'm a little smitten with that winking bear cover. I mean, really, what says "zen" more than a happy, winking bear?
2 questions :
does it do DRM ? The Japanese website says it does WMA DRM but not the American one.
when is it going to be available (for sale that is) in the US ?
"The reason the iPod does so well is in the millions that Apple spends on ADVERTISING."
Interesting because even in places where iPod advertising is almost nonexistent and ads for other brands are everywhere it's still the most popular. I was just in Hong Kong and I saw maybe 5 iPod ads and about a million ads for other audio players. The iPod was still by far the most popular.
Basically if that was true how did Apple manage to dominate the HD player market before they started the "Silhouette" campaign?
Neeon is unlikely on par with ipod or Zen Micro. It seems to me that it is just a value player, but with small, simple & graceful outlook.
If they price it right, it may still a good buy... giving the line-in encoding feature .
It's affordable. It's adorable. I don't *need* an mp3 player, but this makes me want one. Definately appeals to the girl in me. I emailed Creative to see when it would be available. This is what I got:
The Creative Zen Neeon listed on our international website(http://www.creative.com) is not available in our North American region at this time. We have received no indications as to if or when this product will be made available in our North American region. If it is made available, it will be displayed on our North American website, so please continue to watch our regional website (http://us.creative.com) for updates or contact us periodically to see if we have received any word on this product, via email or by calling 1-800-998-1000. We apologize for any inconvenience, please let us know if we can be of any further assistance.
It is coming to the U.S., isn't it?