Creative's 4GB, 16GB Zen players see price drops

Shortly after hitting Amazon (and getting really official), Creative has seemingly dropped the price of its 4GB and 16GB Zens -- in America, at least. Of course, you can make of all this what you will, but the facts are that the 4GB iteration has sunk from $149 to $129.99 on both Amazon and the firm's own webstore, while the 16GB version has dropped from $299 to $249.99. Interestingly, the 8GB version remains stuck (at least momentarily) at $199.99. So, if you've been eying a Zen for yourself but couldn't quite cough up the required dough, here's your chance to save some green.

[Thanks, John A.]
Read - Amazon's Zen listings
Read - Creative's webstore

[bob e @ Sep 24th 2007 1:36PM]

I'm holding out for the Zune 2.0

[Zach @ Sep 24th 2007 3:16PM]

I sure hope it comes in brown.

[3rdsun @ Sep 24th 2007 1:39PM]

Even more reason to get a Zen. ipod sucks ass

[wade_reese @ Sep 24th 2007 2:31PM]

You go right ahead and compare the new Zen to the iPod Touch and or the new Nano and conclude that the iPod sucks. It is a free country. Someone has to buy these things. Good to keep Creative in business. Good to keep some (however small) pressure on Apple so that they will continue to push the envelope on development.

I will stick with my iPods. They just work and work well. Lots of demand on eBay when I sell and upgrade.

[John @ Sep 24th 2007 4:08PM]

If you're still spouting the "just work" line, I invite you to look at any news about iPods from the last few weeks.

[anonymouspimp @ Sep 24th 2007 5:14PM]

LOL @ "They just work" and "Lots of demand on ebay when I upgrade"

I don't want to over pay for a device that "just works." If consumers are going to be paying that much more for their product, Apple's products should "work great." I went through 2 iPods that decided to "just stop working" before I moved on.

As far as demand on ebay goes... I am not surprised that people would rather pay less for a last gen ipod... they barely change the thing from generation to generation. Every 6 months they just tweak it here and there and give it a new "generation number" so they don't have to lower the ridiculous price tag while the iSheep "upgrade" ... its a fact jack.

[jbm0592 @ Sep 24th 2007 5:28PM]

and why would i want an ipod touch? it smuges like hell, and those new nano's those are disgusting, took then long enough to finally come out with a nano with video support, creative's has had theres for a while now. but this is a MUCH better buy then the nano, the price for the 4gb is the same as the nano and same with the 8gb, but for an extra 50$ you can get 8 MORE gb, and plus they have all those features that ipod has NEVER had

[gunforhire @ Sep 24th 2007 1:41PM]

Price still hasn't been dropped on Amazon UK. Here's hoping.

[Montusama @ Sep 24th 2007 1:41PM]

Can anyone tell me why of now things? with the Samsung P2 coming out shortly, the whole "Zune 2" and that....how am i suppose to be able to decide....
price drop wise....not bad creative

[Rob @ Sep 24th 2007 1:42PM]

Call it competition. Even Apple is not immune to price pressure for competitors.

[1234321 @ Sep 24th 2007 7:43PM]

well this could also be a response to the low price of the competing Sansa View

[Nick Bee @ Sep 24th 2007 1:43PM]

I'm on ur amazons, killing ur ipods.

[Chris @ Sep 25th 2007 4:21PM]

An actual lol, Bravo!

[Syliss @ Sep 24th 2007 1:43PM]

I like the design and idea of the sd slot, way more space then the touch. The only thing i dont like is no tv out, kinda makes me sad... Oh well, ill wait a while to get one.

[Natedog @ Sep 24th 2007 4:31PM]

Check out the Cowon D2, I believe Newegg carries it (or at least they used to). It only comes up to 4GB internal, but it has an SDHC slot, 2.5" touchscreen, and TV-out. I love mine.

[LoganT @ Sep 24th 2007 1:46PM]

You really can't compare this to the iPod Touch, iPod Nano maybe. The Touch has a 3.5 inch screen this has a 2.5 inch screen.

[jtc970 @ Sep 24th 2007 1:50PM]

Well I can, the prices are very different even before this new price drop.

[dj-kenpo @ Sep 24th 2007 2:11PM]

that and the whole safari web browser thing the touch has...

it's like back in the day when mp3 players didn't play video, then a few did, then it sort of just became expected.

now I sort of just expect that I should have more than a play button for $300. I want video/photos/music/and internet.
call me lazy, I just can't downgrade after having pocketpc's/palms. etc.

[bruckwine @ Oct 12th 2007 9:11AM]

Good thing the Zen is actually $248 rather than $300 eh? And that gives you twice the memory of the $299 Touch and even less of the feature crippling.

[Xavier Gill @ Sep 24th 2007 2:34PM]

^ You're assuming that everything else is equal. Some people just want a high quality audio and video player with a wide support of codecs, basic features like recording and an FM radio and dont care about a browser.

[Shawn-dude @ Sep 24th 2007 3:32PM]

don't forget the iTunes lock-in that comes with the iPod Touch. Apple has started using some sort of hash to make sure only songs loaded via their software can be played. Software like gtkpod is locked out.

The walled garden gets a bigger wall.

[staniel @ Sep 24th 2007 1:50PM]

if this was widscreen i would've bought this last thursday when this price cut first happened. come on creative, please make more widscreen, non-behemouth (Vision W), DivX supporting players.

[Alex M @ Sep 26th 2007 7:13PM]

yea i have the vision w but the vids do look good but i bring my zen v with me which i might replace with the 4gb zen cuz the battery on the zen sucks

[Mable @ Sep 24th 2007 1:55PM]

i am waiting for the Sandisk Sansa view ... which shud really kick ass..of ipod and this one ...at least by looks of it

plus sansa View 16 Gb is only 199/- :) and micro sdhc compatiable ...

[SteveMB @ Sep 24th 2007 7:53PM]

This accepts SDHC as well.

[Ilia @ Sep 24th 2007 1:57PM]

Even though the 16gb model used to cost the same as an 8gb iPod Touch (and has come down in price now!), it's still missing WiFi! Come on, creative.

So, yeah, sadly it's not in the Touch'c class.

[bruckwine @ Oct 12th 2007 9:09AM]

You're absolutely right - for an MP3 player it has more functions (FM w/32 presets, SDHC-compatible expansion) and is $100 less for the same amount of memory the ZEN is not in the Touch class - it's better!

When I want something to surf internet (that you can't have flash or download with), watch youtube/movies (in one limted codec)I'll use my laptop or get a 4' screen Archos 605.

When I want flashy gimmicks that don't actually translate into superior function and wear off in about a week, nto to mention at cut-my-throat prices, i'll get an iTouch. When Apple stops crippling their devices they just may be the best, until then it's simply glam w/o much substance.

[SteveMB @ Sep 24th 2007 7:54PM]

Do iPods even have a built in FM tuner? I mean come on, even my phone has it.

[Lauren the Ghoti @ Sep 24th 2007 2:22PM]

I'm sold...anything else better than the iTurd and the drm'd crippled Zune.

For any torrent lover...the zen is a must.

[ilh @ Sep 24th 2007 2:35PM]

Welcome to a week ago.

[Julian Bond @ Sep 24th 2007 2:48PM]

So where's the 160Gb Zen Classic?

[Stephen Lang @ Sep 24th 2007 3:02PM]

IF this thing could play VGA video files, then you could play your Xvid rips without transcoding. But alas it's limited to QVGA.

[freakmarket @ Sep 24th 2007 5:16PM]

My old Creative Vison M had the same screen and it play XVID rips fine on it's 320x240 screen ... it scaled the video to the screen.

[sbrown @ Sep 24th 2007 3:10PM]

Just 50USD for the extra 8gb of space is a good deal (8gb Zen 200USD to 16gb Zen 250USD).

[Trent @ Sep 24th 2007 3:47PM]

I am holding out for the Sirius Stiletto 2. I am not into video and dunno how or even why any would wanna watch a 2 hour movie on a 2 plus inch screen. Are you freakin kidding me?

I love music and love new music. I get tired of hearing the same shit all the time. I have to be fed if you know what I mean. I prefer subscription type means of getting music. I honestly do not care if I "own" the music as long as it is on the player to listen to. Unfortunately Apple does not offer such, hence I most likely will not get an iPod.

But this new Creative Zen is NICE!!!

Trent

[John @ Sep 24th 2007 4:13PM]

You don't need to sign your posts.

-Trent

[TC @ Sep 24th 2007 4:10PM]

I really hope they will release the tv out adapter as well. I recall seeing a picture of them using the new Zen plus a tv out adapter of some sort... one can only hope! Can't wait! What's the official release date?

[freakmarket @ Sep 24th 2007 5:20PM]

Mine shipped Friday and will be here Tuesday 9/25/07 from Creative.

[EB8806 @ Sep 24th 2007 5:11PM]

Much better alternative to the new nano.

[JeremyS @ Sep 24th 2007 5:27PM]

Quick Review:
-SD Cards: not seen as a part of the internal system memory. I have to select from the devices menu to access the SD card from the pc to add music or video.
-Codec Support: still have to convert Xvid and Divx video before the player will play them, otherwise it just sees it as stored data.
-Radio: no bad, could be better at picking up signals. I have a Best Buy Insigina Mp3 that does that better.
-Fingerprints: Yes, very much so.
-System Responce: very quick works well. The Menus are nice but I need to get used to it. The unit has locked up on me 2-3 times.

Overall Score: 3 out of 4

[big daddy kool @ Sep 24th 2007 5:29PM]

I was planning on getting Creative Vision M 60gb for xmas to replace the 30 gb. Hopefully I can find one!

[rex @ Sep 24th 2007 5:55PM]

I have the Creative Zen 4gb and it's an upgrade from my Zen Micro..

I'm loving it, except the fact that the screen is too glossy so therefore it's hard to see the screen when i'm out in the sun.. but overall, sound quality is spot on and i'm loving how thin and credit card sized it is.

Props to Creative on selling the 4gb & 16gb at a lower price point than that of Apple's stuff though.. Trying to steal some market off of them and hopefully, college students especially, will notice the price change and buy the Zen... College students ARE savvy, right?

[zoggy @ Sep 24th 2007 7:28PM]

i ordered mine back a week ago when they dropped the price to 129.99, comes today... actually it just got here :) gonna go play with it now!

[zoggy @ Sep 24th 2007 7:29PM]

just wish there was an external speaker so i didnt have to carry headphoens ALL the time.
you cant just plug it in and use it as a flash/usb drive :( gotta install software to transfer files or use windows media player

[Bob @ Sep 24th 2007 8:16PM]

Zoggy,

What about the codec support and having to transcode from xvid/divx to the Creative codec? How long does that take and what is involved? I have a bunch of xvid videos that I made specifically for when I get a Zen. Will I have to transcode them again, or do you just upload the files and hit Play?

Any more information about your experience with the Zen would be most helpful. I think I want to get a 16gb Zen for myself for Christmas.

[PenaltyKillah @ Sep 29th 2007 12:00AM]

But think of the demographics. Most Asians are not so crazy of WiFi in players, and most people (admit it!) still rely on BitTorrent/P2P to get music, especially in the DRM(-less... just have to wait for like, another few more years) world...

[zoggy @ Sep 24th 2007 11:07PM]

Hey Bob,
Well after spending a few hours now with the device I can honestly say that as a music and photo player it owns. Plays audio and images great, very quick and simple and works well.

Now for the not so great, you can't just connect the device and throw media on it... you have to install Creative's software. Once you do this, THEN you can just simply throw media on it. But beforwarned, putting your torrent downloads of tv shows just does not work. I tried to put the latest family guy on there and it gave an error about the resolution (havent tested more yet to see if it really is a codec issue or resolution size thing.. as in it needs 320x240 video or smaller). When you use creative's software to import the media it converts it to WMV 320x240 with whatever bitrate encoding you want.. i used 190kbit and it seemed to do it pretty fast... but honestly i was watching Hereoes :p. Okay, after all this.. let me just say how crappy Creative's ZenCast and SyncManager are.. they have crashed several several times. I made sure I used the auto update and am using the latest versions. I'm hoping that this is just pre-mature software that will get greatly improved as the weeks ahead. I used the seperate included Video Conversion tool outside any wizard type included program and WOW the display on the device is very clean. The device comes shipped at 50% brightness btw and its plently bright. I want to say that the display is VERY similar to the Sony PSP if you want something to go off of. I havent timed any conversions but I have a core 2 duo 3ghz box so I'm sure converting/transcoding wont take too long for tv shows but anyways going to mess with it some more and i'll report back.

[Bob @ Sep 25th 2007 8:45AM]

Thanks for the extra comments about the Zen... I really appreciate it.

As much as video is important, can you describe the audio aspects? Gapless playback? Sound quality? The menus portion of the Audio area?

If you could do that, that'd be awesome, as well as any other nuggets of goodness you can think of.

Thanks again for your thorough posts thus far - I appreciate it!

[zoggy @ Sep 24th 2007 11:22PM]

Went to go browse Creative's forums about the Zen to see if they have any word of what is supported.

I stumbled onto this for the zen when submitting a support request about supported media formats/codecs:

Audio files:

MP3 (Up to 320 kbps)
WMA (Up to 320 kbps)
WMA with PlaysForSure™ Digital Rights Management (DRM) 10 (applicable to files played from the player's memory only)
WAV (PCM and IMA ADPCM)
Audible
AAC (non-protected .M4A)

Pictures

JPEG (Baseline: Up to 16.6 MegaPixels)

Video Files

MJPEG
WMV9
MPEG4
XviD
DivX 4.x and DivX 5.x(*note)

Note: XviD encoded files are playable if they are encoded as standard MPEG-4 Simple (SP) or Advanced Simple Profile (ASP) without GMC and QPEL support. This product is not certified by DivX Inc. and may not play all DivX 4 and DivX 5 files. Other formats, for example MPEG-1 and MPEG-2, may be transcoded with the bundled software. Appropriate codecs must be preinstalled.)

[zoggy @ Sep 25th 2007 2:15AM]

okay one more update..

Dont use creative's video encoder for your tv rips.. it just takes too long and you run into sync issues.

I tried a few apps tonight to downsample tv rips and the best/simpliest one so far has been to use PocketDivx encoder. Use the latest beta 0.3.96 for dual core support - takes like 3-4 mins for half an hour show, 6mins for a 1hr show, 12mins for a movie..


Run PocketDivx ( http://www.pocketdivxencoder.net/exes92/PocketDivXEncoder_0.3.96.exe )
- load the tv xvid rip
- change video quality to 100 (i like to keep the video quality the same as i d/led)
- click on 'Change' to modify the output dimensions.
- Move the left slider (controls width) to 320. Most likely this is going to make the video 320x182 (which is going to produce a letter box effect)
- click 'Encode Now' and thats it..

obviously if its a funny resolution make sure it fits within the QVGA standards of 320x240, and if you use 'advanced options' there is a few more settings to squeeze out some more quality but you will be waiting 2x as long to convert.