Creative's new Zen Neeon 2

First Creative rolled out the hard drive-based Zen Neeon, then it brought the model up-to-date with a little flash memory, and now the company's added a full color screen and dubbed this new device Neeon 2. Available in 1GB, 2GB, and 4GB capacities, the newest Neeons clearly have their sights set on the nano, even allowing you to play back specially-formatted video on the admittedly-cramped 128 x 128, 1.5-inch display. As with most Creative DAPs, you're also getting an FM radio, voice recorder, and line-in audio capture, but the color screen definitely takes a toll on battery life, as this model offers a maximum 20 hours of listening. When these Neeons drop later this month -- perhaps in Asia only -- they'll go for $125, $170, or $190, depending on capacity -- not a bad deal, especially for those folks who like personalizing their players with Creative's swappable skins.

[Via Cnet Asia, thanks to everyone who sent this in]

[siPod @ Aug 2nd 2006 10:08AM]

Let the iPod-bashing begin!

[Dave @ Aug 2nd 2006 10:12AM]

$190 for 4 gigs with light video? That's really nicely priced... it's about time Creative got aggressive with their pricing. If Creative finally figured out that they can't charge the same premium as the iPod, they might actually sell units.

[Bryan @ Aug 2nd 2006 10:27AM]

eh, maybe this is SOP for DAPs, but that interface looks identical to the iPod. Weak.

[Googs @ Aug 2nd 2006 10:30AM]

I could be wrong, but wasn't it mac that swiped the interface from creative? All those lawsuits were about something...

[Jay @ Aug 2nd 2006 10:31AM]

Who cares who's copying who--if I can get a decent playing machine at a decent price...who died and me defender of the ipod faith? the only beef I have with these is trying to figure out if the Neon I ever made it to the States---I only saw a few models (HD based), not the Flash ones...anyone?

[KorruptioN @ Aug 2nd 2006 10:37AM]

The interface does technically belong to Creative...

[Shree @ Aug 2nd 2006 10:45AM]

Let the Creative bashing begin!

[dave95 @ Aug 2nd 2006 10:54AM]

On first glance, I swore that was an iPod with an ugly skin.

BTW: Creative patent was for their Nomad. Take a look at the UI on the Nomad and look at their players over the years. You will see it began to look more and more like the iPod UI while the iPod remain the same.
http://images.creative.com/iss/images/inline/products/jukebox_zen_xtra/zenxtra.jpg

They may have a patent on the hierarchical, but they stole iPod UI over the years, again look at the original Nomad. What will Creative do when Apple changes the iPod interface, and are force away from iPod shadows?

[Leo @ Aug 2nd 2006 11:03AM]

It rocks to live in singapore... WOOOTTTT 1st to sink my teeth in creative stuff

[Kai Cherry @ Aug 2nd 2006 11:15AM]

People...can it, a'ight?

I know its in vogue around these parts to hate the iPod, but this BS revisionist history has GOT to stop.

The UI and input method that Creative patentented did not look like, or work like anything REMOTELY like the iPod, OK?

As I posted awhile ago, the Creative UI was made to work like a WAP-enabled cellphone (even right down to the "Soft Keys"), the 'wave of the future' device at the time of its creation.

The iPod UI, as everyone with just a sliver of honesty and functioning eyesight left can see, is *clearly derived* from Apple's Browser/Column view UI.

These are the *faaaaaaaccccttttssss* of the matter.

The *reason* Apple is counter-suing Creative, and God bless'em, I hope they stomp "Creative" into oblivion behind this, is that when Creative won their little patent dance on *their* UI and nav concept, they decided this gave them grounds to lift Apple's IP lock/stock/barrel and claim it was derived from theirs.

Look, before the Gen 1 iPod, I was a Nomad owner, like practically everyone else that had a bit of money and wanted the most MP3 storage on the go that money could buy.

The UI and navigation was *nothing* like the iPod...that was one of the things that made the iPod stand out. The Unsuck of it all.

So please people...please. Drop the "well Apple took the UI from Creative" agitprop nonsense. Go to wayback and find one of them MANY, MANY reviews and screenshot sets.

Start here: http://www.firingsquad.com/hardware/nomadjukebox/
Note this isn't even the orginal one...but even back then, still used the orginal UI

Here is an anandtech review of the Gen 1 iPod
http://www.anandtech.com/printarticle.aspx?i=1575

Well, after the iPod arrived and caught Creative with their pants down, along comes the Zen "iPod killer". Notice some changes being made from the original UI (the one in the actual patent, mind you, not the horrible Apple-wannabe revisions they stated making *after the UI in the patent*...)

http://www.extrememhz.com/nomadzen-p3.shtml

I mean, there are lots of reasons to be sour on the iPod, but lets not be disingenuous about it, OK?

-K

[Patrick @ Aug 2nd 2006 11:28AM]

That scroll wheel looks comfy. Other than that...meh.

[diulei @ Aug 2nd 2006 11:35AM]

A nice try, but not good enough to stop Apple.

You need something BETTER than Apple, and MUCH CHEAPER.
Kind of better and kind of cheaper won't cut it.

I hope some company realizes this - competition is good - the end users win.

[helio9000 @ Aug 2nd 2006 11:37AM]

It is absurd that GUI's as basic as the ipod or creative's get protection at all. There isn't a thing innovative about either. The way you interact with the UI i.e. - the click wheel - is where there is innovation and that deserves protection. But the fact that a standard hierarchical metaphor (text based no less!) is something that there are lawsuits over is stupid.

[shirizaki @ Aug 2nd 2006 11:38AM]

I'm still waiting for a widescreen DAP, any brand. These companies think that if you slap some screen with a video playback feature you'll get sales. I don't feel like squinting for video; any video. 128x128 is fine for MP3 data, but video? Not even worth it. Even cellphones that have video playback have bigger screens.

[YourNameHere @ Aug 2nd 2006 11:41AM]

I'm still waiting for an update to the Zen Vision. Suits many more needs, has much more space, has a much better screen size.

[dave @ Aug 2nd 2006 11:42AM]

let me guess... once again no mp4/aac support (no, not fairplay drm... the free open source that is the default ipod format). therefore, no real competition to current ipod users whose catalogs would be rendered useless. it's open source guys. come on.

[Jim @ Aug 2nd 2006 11:48AM]

Looks like the scroll wheel/button navigation contravenes RIM's Blackberry patents. Hmm.... if only the money put into litigation lawyers instead went into truly inoovative product design.....

[pp @ Aug 2nd 2006 11:53AM]

No they don't need something better, or cheaper than Apple. It needs to be cooler and if possible easier. The allure of the iPod is that every little teeny bopper wants one because they think it's the cool thing to have, and the're so damn simple a retarted monkey could use one. Of course along with being super simple you lose alot of features.
Anyways, 20 hours is pretty standard for devices fo this type> It'd be nice if the nixed the color screen and video for better battery life, but that's just noit going to happen.

[Fred @ Aug 2nd 2006 2:07PM]

Worse control system = failure

Just give it up creative or come up with something better than that damn scroll wheel. Also why isn't this thing as thin as the nano? Can't creative even get that right. They have to be the most incompetant compnay known to man.

Maybe i'm just bitter because while their 'much much better than the ipod' zen xtra lasted 6 whole months from new my brother's 3G ipod second hand off ebay is still going strong.

[Baaaa you're all sheep @ Aug 2nd 2006 2:18PM]

Umm maybe do a little research instead of doubting everything that comes out as iPoop competition.

its thickness, 12.5mm compared to the nano's 12.7mm.

who gives a crap if it's thinner by .2mm, point is, ITS THINNER

[The Jeremy @ Aug 2nd 2006 2:30PM]

The Zens remind me of a Kenny Loggins album no one's ever gonna hear.

:)

[ronak @ Aug 2nd 2006 2:39PM]

hey i've got a question for everyone. I've got a huge music collection (>30 gigs) and i have it organized by genre/all the artists in that genre/all the albums by that artist/all the tracks on the album

for example... in the top directory there is a folder called rock, inside rock there is a folder called weezer, inside that folder are the the folders: blue album, pinkerton... etc, and then the album tracks in each folder there

now a few years ago I installed itunes and it completely messed the way i liked to keep my music, i've just recovered and now have everything the way i like it. Will any music player on the market allow me to view my music like this? I don't think the ipod can do this, but what about this creative player? any ideas? thanks in advance

[dave95 @ Aug 2nd 2006 2:44PM]

Why can't Creative have one control system for their players, (ala iPod clickwheel)? All their players have different buttons and controls.

http://www.creative.com/products/comparechart/select.asp?category=213&subcategory=214&product=15609

Lets say you love the Zen touch surface, you would have doubts on getting this Zen Neon because it's like taking a step backwards when it comes to controlling the device. With the iPod (except for the Shuffle), you know that click wheel you've gotten used to will be on the next variations of iPod.

[Joshi @ Aug 2nd 2006 2:48PM]

I thought the Zen V was their iPod nano competitor?

That's Creative's problem: To many models. Creative has the Zen Vision and the Vision:M and the V and the Micro and the MicroPhoto and the Nano and the Sleek and the Neeon and the Neeon 2 and the Touch and the "Zen" proper (which is different than the original Nomad Jukebox Zen), and those are just the ones I remember.

For declaring war on Apple, their line-up isn't very Apple-like.

As for the Zen Neeon 2 being thinner than the iPod nano, Baaaa, the iPod nano isn't 12.7 mm thick. It's 6.9 mm thick.

The Zen Neeon 2 is slightly thinner than the iPod mini, but not the iPod nano. Even the current 30 GB iPod is thinner than the Zen Neeon 2 (at 10.9 mm).

[Jason @ Aug 2nd 2006 3:00PM]

Man... you iPod lovers sure do jump out of the wood work to try to slam the products... why do iPod lovers get soooo MAD when other manufacturers put our MP3 players??

Oh and about the UI... please... there are only so many ways to do things... there isn't going to be much innovation in how ID3 tags are arranged and sorted...

If you want to use THE BEST interface ever invented use a Portable Media Center running the MS PMC interface! It is 1000x better than ANY interface on any of these DAPs.

I would image the Zunes coming in the fall will run the MS PMC application... probably an updated one based on Vista's MCE interface! The Zune could be THE BEST DAP EVER MADE!

[mynameisohyeah @ Aug 2nd 2006 4:16PM]

@Ronak

I'm pretty sure that once your music is on the iPod, there's a "genres" hierarchy you can go into like the one you described. Same for Creative. And although iTunes doesn't sort the folders in that way, the hiearchy is still on the iPod. I have >30GB of music, but I can listen to stuff that I don't listen to regularly when I'm home on the computer. So you really wouldn't need a >30GB player unless you listen to all songs at all times.

[jasenj1 @ Aug 2nd 2006 4:34PM]

It looks nice. More features than an iPod. Nice. Does it come with something as easy to use as iTunes to manage your music, recordings, etc.? Does it have a music store integrated into that same application?

If not, Apple doesn't have anything to worry about. It's not the features of the player, it's the ease of use of the WHOLE user experience.

- Jasen.

[Jack @ Aug 3rd 2006 3:40AM]

yeah, thats so true, its not only the player that does it, its the whole experience, i love my ipod because, once i spent the time making all my old music work well in itunes, everything is extrememly simple and it is extremely simple to keep everything organised and to update my ipod. So that adds to how attractive the ipod is, along with the intergrated itunes shop. then once you have loaded everything (videos, pictures, music and podcasts) with one click onto your ipod it is so simple to listen to/watch.
everything 'just works' most of the time, and, in my case, the apple support people at the apple store near me were extremely helpfull, and even before i bought my ipod and i would wander in their they were all great to deal with and knew what they were talking about.

[Maphis @ Aug 3rd 2006 8:46AM]

Have they fixed the headphone jack yet?

[Laura @ Aug 3rd 2006 1:51PM]

A little note for "The Jeremy" -- you're wrong on BOTH counts! Go back to kissing Apple's butt, . Oh yeah, you actually LIKE how Apple controls your music -- why do you think they call it an mp4 and not an mp3? You can't take it with you, that's why! IMO, Apple has become what they set out NOT to be, and now deserves IBM's fate. Even if you were only born 15 years ago, you can read about it in your history books!

Also, you would be wise NOT to slam Kenny Loggins. I hear he has friends who quiet those who would dis him and his music.

[Grace @ Aug 4th 2006 1:31PM]

is it out already in Singapore

[Could Care Less @ Aug 4th 2006 5:56PM]

ok. so there are ipod lovers (woohoo go you). so there are ipod haters (woohoo go you too). does it matter if they look the same? half the mp3's out there looks the same. i could care less about whose the first one to do what. however i have one thing to admit that even though thinner and smaller is more attractive, small doesn't mean anything. the smaller the damn thing is then the less battery power it has. mp3's should just be about the same size as a cellphone instead every year they get smaller and smaller. some people like it smaller but it's easier to drop when its smaller and easier to lose. i don't care which side is better but whichever side can provide me with something i need then it's a winner. people are always arguing about oh ipod sucks or creative needs to get creative. who cares just buy the damn thing you need. it doesnt matter as long as you get the product that you want at the right price. hmph. anyways i was venting well thanks for listening cause i'm so tired of seeing boooo this side sucks or that side sucks. just get on with it. hehe i'm gunna get negative comments after this like such a long comment or you suck because ipod rules. oh wells see you guys later.

[Ernesto Malave @ Aug 22nd 2006 2:11PM]

I rarely chime in to these but I'm forced to this time. I've spent nearly a month trying to figure out what my next personal media device will be. So far I narrowed it down to the Gigabeat S (60GB) or the Vision:M (60GB).

When I travel light I listen to mp3s on my Sony Ericsson P910 (w/ 1 GB card)-I sometimes watch video on it (converted movies or music videos) or play the ocassional game (Hold'Em Poker is the favorite). If I don't mind lugging something around or I want more options, my PSP comes to the rescue with a bigger screen and 4 GB duo-the movies are on the card so I can keep a UMD game in the PSP and not have to switch. On longer trips I carry my laptop (and external HD) so my entire music and video collection come with me.

My point is there is no such thing as a BEST device. Each device has it's merits and disadvantages. Each person wants/needs different things so each person should buy a device in tune with what he or she needs/wants. Usually, different situations also call for different devices. I don't carry my PSP when I'm in a suit-it looks silly.

Yes, the Ipod is nice but the lack of an FM tuner is an unforgivable omission-TO ME (I'm in NYC where some FM is actually worth listening to). Paying extra and carrying extras to listen to FM is ridiculous so I dismiss the Ipod outright-but, again, that's me. It also doesn't have voice recording but personally, the voice-recording function seems like a useless addition to most DAPs and should be removed across the board so prices can be reduced.

More importantly, the non-Ipod models need to do more thinking about marketing-not features. Yes, the GUI must be slightly better than bearable but for the companies like Creative, Samsung, iRiver, etc. to be successful in the DAP arena (i.e. the battle versus iPod) they need to create a culture around their devices or find a niche in a culture they can hang on to. Helios is doing it with My Space. TMobile/Sidekick has been successful with AIM/Y Messenger.

Jobs genius comes in his ability to see the device as an extension of your personal expression, not simply a way to play tunes. The other complanies fail to see this. The iPod is a slick, modern, shiny, device with an easy interface to learn and software that removes choices so you don't screw up-in other words, designed for the fashionably dressed young urban professional's trek on mass transit, the one that has no time to devote to learning software or about codecs. It is also the first thing you could buy when you got your first month's pay, straight out of college, that made you look successful-the cell phone is still a necessity so it can't give you the feeling of luxury the iPod gives you. If other companies create this feeling for their consumers they will be able to compete-otherwise, they should stay friends with Overstock.com

Here's some ideas: Windows Media Player Lite for DAPs. LESS(as in "not more") features/options so less to learn. Plays for Sure technology included of course. Dave95 has a point with consistency for the mechanics of the device but again, I think Creative designers are thinking about function rather than marketing. Each device's mechanical interface is designed for that device's size and function, probably also to use new technologies and possibly cheaper parts. Samsung has implemented a consistent interface and it looks good. Creative , take notes.

[Wondering @ Sep 10th 2006 4:37AM]

When does this model come out in Hong Kong?

I've read many websites that state that it had already come out in August. There doesn't seem to be any other place that indicates when this model will make it's debut (unless it already has) in Hong Kong. I've tried looking for it in the electronic stores but the clerks look at me like I'm crazy or something (they might also have given me that look because they don't know when it's out either).

It's got almost everything I want and if there's a DATE I can at least have a target instead of wondering whether it will ever come out in Hong Kong.

THANKS.

[G.Rojas @ Sep 11th 2006 4:51PM]

I would like someone to let me know when these Mp3 player comes out in the U.S. I mean come on everybody is talking about it but, nobody mentions when it will come out. So can someone Please post that info up.