Creative shuffles out tiny Zen Stone
By Evan Blass 
posted May 3rd 2007 8:55AM
posted May 3rd 2007 8:55AM
posted May 3rd 2007 8:55AM
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You say that Creative must be cutting corners by selling so cheap, but then mention Apple's fat margins on iPods. You've just given a great reason why this player may not in fact be skimping.
Apple have not only convinced the public it's ok to pay that much for a device, but also that something that costs less *must* be inferior. My Creative player has totally solid construction, a removable battery, and superior sound quality to any iPod I've ever heard (given the same headphones).
I have no reason to believe that a $40 player would be of the same quality, but the price ratio between mine and its competitor (Mini/Nano) is the same as that of the Stone to the Shuffle, so I have no reason *not* to believe that it'll be quality either.
MSC works for me. I can move my files at will and unencumbered. On my work machine where they have it locked down so that I wouldn't even be able to install iTunes if I wanted to, I can still listen to the music that I want to.
First, Creative ripped off the i-pod.
Now Creative, ripps off the ipod shuffle.
Maybe the company should be called:
"NON-Creative"
Hey GioNYC, If i remember correctly, Creative had a MuVo 64MB Shuffle player in 1999. Also, in 2000 Creative launched the NOMAD Jukebox 6GB 13 months before the first gen iPod. Do me a favor, research before you speak.
Sure you can "neatly" organize your music in folders in Explorer (never-mind that iTunes can organize music into folders, playlists and smart playlists too).
But what happens when you play your neatly organized music on the Zen Stone? It plays them sequentially only in ALPHANUMERIC ORDER!!.
http://au.creative.com/GetStarted/ZENStone/faqs.asp#faq_0_9
The only way to play music in the order you want on the Zen Stone is to add numbers to the beginning of filenames! With iTunes and the iPod shuffle, you can reorder the music the way you want, either automatically by album, artist etc. or manually in any arbitrary order you want.
So having to add numbers to filenames is less clunky than using iTunes? Even if you use the Creative software, the Zen Stone will still play music only in alphanumeric order...
And if you really want to move music off the iPod shuffle into any computer, just keep a copy of YamiPod or other similar utilities on the disk part of the iPod and just run it from there, no need to install anything on the host computer.
Lastly, this player doesn't support AAC nor PlayforSure tunes!
Where's the clip?
I was just about to ask the same thing.
MSC is a no-go because it doesn't keep track of playcount, among other things. Proper metadata, smart playlists and so forth are far more important to me than my MP3 player's being just another mass-storage device.
I think the majority of regular users prefer something like iTunes. And people with massive music libraries do, too. MPC support may be nice for some but it's hardly a deal-breaker.
There is an tv advert as well: http://www.youtube.com/findyourzen
they need to focus on pmps more like zvm and zvw
People use Apple products to enjoy what they do, either work or play. Most people like iPod because it lets them enjoy their music without too much thinking and hassle, unlike most other players and their bundled softwares. For most people, the more effortless and simple this process can be, the better. There are more important things in our lives to use our brain power on, but not when we try to relax with our music. This is the reason why a music player with more features does not translate into a better product when PEOPLE start using it.
People do not use Apple to enjoy what they do, or because there is no thinking required. Most use the IPod because they do not know what else is out there. Apple snatched Creative's interface, threw it in a different shell, and spewed out advertisements. Advertising is the only thing that beat out Creative or any other company. The IPod is not as good as most players, it is just what people know. Most people think that "IPod" means the samething as MP3 player, and do not realize it is just a brand.
oooooh, i want to put one of these right next to my Sony Bean!
remember that song:
Beans and stones, beans and stones
all i want in my pocket are some beans and stones!
Cheaper and better than iPod?!
Haaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhaaaaaaaaaaaahaaahaaaaahaaaaaa!
iPod shuffle (including dock) $79
Zen Stone $40 + dock $40....... hmm my math says that's $80...
Highly machined aluminum vs. cheap-azz plastic.. =
Fanboi morons.
Oh... no!!! Creative's now the new iPod clone-maker! I feared that their ZEN Stone would be somewhat un-'creative'... Argh! Just a year ago, everyone was cheering on this company as their had the "Best" product of "CES", the ZEN Vision:M. Where the f*** are they now? Oh...god... they're doomed. Better be a domestic product; oris it because (no offence) most Singaporeans are related to the Chinese, who are known for making lookalikes, or should I call them "iPod-wannabes"?
I don't understand why a simple cheap mp3 player can get so much attention from all these Apple fans... If Apple products are so good why must we be reminded every time a competitor brings out a product? Leave the promotion to Apple, enjoy your Ipods and leave the comments threads of Creative products relevent to Creative products! I've used both... They're both very good.
As for the Stone... Its a good cheap player... Ideal for the kids in its funky colours... But I personally couldn't live without a screen.
Awesome little player! Nice and simple.
All I need now is an excuse to buy one..
The thing that kills me is the CEO of Creative said more than 2 years ago that the Shuffle is cheap cheap cheap and it can't even compete with the chinese mp3 players.
I'm including the link again here:
http://www.engadget.com/2005/01/12/creatives-ceo-disses-the-ipod-shuffle-thems-fightin-words/
Now they (creative) come out with a player they dissed 2 years ago? A player w/o a screen, no FM?
I hate IPods for ITunes. Sure I can run rockbox on it but out the box I like to organize songs the way I want to. I want to see folders/directories with songs named the way I named them.
Wife bought me 60GB IPod video and $30?? more for the FM hardware remote thingy. She's using it now and I'm using Sansa E series.
My beef is Creative came out with a product 7 years after Muvo w/ no display after dissing Apple for Shuffle 2 years ago.
Well, 7 years ago markets were NOT ready for any kind of player. Now they are.
I see.. 7 years ago amidst all the crappy chinese, decent korean and ok Singaporean players, where almost all of them have at least a screen, you are telling me they prefer one w/o a screen to display the song name??
I hope you were being sarcastic in your remark Mitsui.
Fact remains, Creative CEO disses Shuffle saying his company already have a product like that and it's called the Muvo which came out 2 years before Shuffle. So, now after 7 years, Creative sees the light and figures the market can handle a player w/o a screen now, like the Shuffle.
"Creatives" main problem is that their products are _not_ better than the iPods, and many of them aren't even cheaper. It's been like this ever since the iPod 1.0.
Anyway, I'll never forgive them for the Nomad which I bought in 2001 before the iPod came out. I have never seen a product more impossible to use than that.
Exact same functionality for half the price? Not bad, if sound quality is OK (which it likely is, if my Zen:M is any indication).
Hahahaha... From a company named Creative... This thing still is trumped by the 2G Shuffle. People may hate them, but it's looking like Apple is taking over the digital music world. Maybe they encode some subliminal encoded message into iTMS-purchased music?
People may hate them, but it's looking like Apple is taking over the digital music world
--
Dude, have you been living under a rock? First of all, Apple IS digital music. Secondly, it's not called the iTMS anymore... They're doing TV shows and movies now and have become the 4th largest retailer of music content. They're taking all this content and hocking Media hubs that you attach to the TV called AppleTV. And they got this phone..
Actually, ... that's probably enough for one day.. forget about the phone... You'll hear about it in a couple weeks..
This disgusts me. This is supposed to be a thread about the Creative Stone, and all that happened was immature iPod fanboys (and Creative fanboys alike) came in and started ranting about which is better. Discuss the product, give a real pro or con, and then back it up with real evidence! Don't just diss one or the other because you've got the other thing.
By the way, I have a Creative Zen Micro, works awesome, I've never had any problems with it and it's faster to charge the battery and to drag and drop music files than it is for charge the battery or transfer music on my dad's iPod Nano. My music files are kept neater in the folders I designate them to be in than when Apple moves them around, and for the person who said mp3's don't keep track of play counts, that's not true. WMP10 tracks how many times I've listened to each song. The only good thing I have to say about iPod is that it has Solitare on it so I can keep myself entertained in Math class.
Creative CEO Sim Wong Hoo on the iPod Shuffle, back in January 2005:
So I think the whole industry will just laugh at it, because the flash people – it’s worse than the cheapest Chinese player. Even the cheap, cheap Chinese brand today has display and has FM.
I wonder if the iPod Shuffle will get a price drop anytime soon
I've got Stone, and I'm glad. I don't need display, 'cause I know what's inside my player. I like the design, quite good sound quality, 1 GB of memory and li-ion battery. Drag'n'drop is cool. Need some software? Download it for free. I don't use it, drag'n'drop saves my time.
K, maybe its a copy of the Shuffle, but a good one, and twice cheaper. Creative is good, I've got some other things of it - Headphones, 7.1 sound system, and they work just great.
P.S. got nothing against Apple - its cool, stylish, works great, but the cost is also a very important thing.
Peace.