Creative sells 25 million MP3 players

It's been a long and winding road, but Creative announced today that it's sold 25 million MP3 players since it first shipped the parallel port-only Nomad in 1999. While that's not quite as many players as a certain fruit company, it's still a pretty astonishing number, and it speaks to the giant shift that's taken place in how we all consume media here in the future. Although the competition has gotten stiffer lately, Creative's various Zen and MuVo players seem like they're still in the fight -- here's to another 25 million.

[KevinFreitas @ Nov 14th 2007 1:32PM]

My wife loves her 8gb Zen and I've made some seriously good use of my 30gb Vision. Congrats to them for continuing to push out some great DAPs. Competition is good.

[Lin @ Nov 14th 2007 1:50PM]

"Kudos, Creative! We love oranges too!"

Congrats to Creative! Keep up the good work.

[applefreak @ Nov 14th 2007 3:17PM]

and 'The Best is yet to come" !

[Cupajo @ Nov 14th 2007 1:32PM]

"While that's not quite as many players as a certain fruit company"


*sigh*. Oh, Engadget....

[Bob @ Nov 14th 2007 1:39PM]

Engadgetnet should rename itself -----Applegadgetnet

B

[KR @ Nov 14th 2007 1:42PM]

I'd actually cut them a break on this one. Apple has sold more than 4 times as many players, and they've been selling them for 2 years less than Creative.

Yes, 25 million is a lot. But I wouldn't blame anyone, Engadget or not, for making the comparison.

[Derbeste @ Nov 14th 2007 1:41PM]

Eh....I don't fault Engadget for this.

EVERY mp3 player is going to get compared to them.

All pain relievers get compared to Tylenol.

All basketball players get compared to Michael Jordan.

All OSs get compared to Windows.

Any player is going to get compared to the biggest name in the field.

It's HOW they compare that is important. I think Creative has done very well for themselves and have really put out some good products.

I, myself, have a Zen Vision W and my hip would feel naked without it.

Kudos, Creative! We love oranges too!

[JosephMohmed @ Nov 14th 2007 1:44PM]

I know. They like, totally kind of made a relevant reference to Apple, fucking fanboys.

[Enrico @ Nov 14th 2007 1:53PM]

The BIG problem is that all the major gadget review sites are Apple fans: Engadget, Gizmodo, CNET (to the irritating point).

I'm still suffering from the coverage on the iPhone started in February!! After generations of Palm handhelds and Trios, GPS navigators, LG Pradas, even ATMs ... there you go, Apple "invents" a phone with a touch screen! And by the way, talking about great design, anyone noticed how feminine it is?

Ciao

[Jon @ Nov 14th 2007 1:47PM]

Still no where near Sony's 340 million Walkmans sold (as of 2004).

[McGinley @ Nov 14th 2007 2:01PM]

Im sure that sales of oranges are far higher than sales of apples!

[Derbeste @ Nov 14th 2007 1:53PM]

"Still no where near Sony's 340 million Walkmans sold (as of 2004)."

Going back to what.....1984???

Yeah....that's relevent. How many have they sold SINCE 2004 I wonder?

[Argot @ Nov 14th 2007 1:57PM]

But it's kind of strange. When reporting car sales they don't go: "Ferrari sold X number of cars. While that's not quite as many cars as a certain South Korean car company."

[ToonPac @ Nov 14th 2007 2:25PM]

Oh well, at least you get a cheaper, better looking and functioning player compared to any iPod... Creative for life =P

[Jon @ Nov 14th 2007 2:37PM]

"Yeah....that's relevent. How many have they sold SINCE 2004 I wonder?"

As for Walkman phones since late 2005 they have moved 26.5 million. And that is just for S-E Walkman phones.

[LiQuiD_FuSioN @ Nov 14th 2007 3:41PM]

Damn, some of you Engadget readers are relentless! lol.

When I saw that Creative passed the 25 mil. mark, I immediately tried to recall how many iPods Apple had sold. Thanks to the quick and subtle reference in the news item, I now know.

What's so bad about that? Sheesh.

[Constable Odo @ Nov 14th 2007 3:52PM]

It's APPLE in case you can't figure it out. You know, the #1 media player seller in the United States. What it is, is what it is. No need to hide the fact.

Creative is doing well just holding on. More power to them. They make decent products, but just don't have the marketing skills. Maybe they should change the name of their company to some sort of fruit, like fig, kumquat or dingleberry. Yeh, dingleberry would be a fine name.

[Constable Odo @ Nov 14th 2007 3:52PM]

It's APPLE in case you can't figure it out. You know, the #1 media player seller in the United States. What it is, is what it is. No need to hide the fact.

Creative is doing well just holding on. More power to them. They make decent products, but just don't have the marketing skills. Maybe they should change the name of their company to some sort of fruit, like fig, kumquat or dingleberry. Yeh, dingleberry would be a fine name.

[Derbeste @ Nov 14th 2007 5:48PM]

@Jon

"As for Walkman phones since late 2005 they have moved 26.5 million. And that is just for S-E Walkman phones."

By Jove....I think he got me. /bow

[crescentdavid @ Nov 15th 2007 12:38AM]

I think I'm kinda hypersensitive to what I'd call an apple bias, but this was a humorously sly allusion.

[Jon @ Nov 14th 2007 1:39PM]

Can't wait to see Engadget's quoting Mossberg to back up their "review" on a Creative DAP...

[JosephMohmed @ Nov 14th 2007 1:46PM]

I know. They like, totally mentioned that a review was similar to theirs, they need to fucking stop constantly quoting that guy to back up their reviews.

[Bob @ Nov 14th 2007 1:58PM]

re: JosephMohmed

I know you're trying to be funny, but it's like, totally getting annoying really fast. Please just stop. Making stupid comments like that doesn't make you any less of an Apple Fanboy.

[JosephMohmed @ Nov 14th 2007 2:52PM]

My bad.

[PenaltyKillah @ Nov 16th 2007 1:27AM]

Well yeah. Damn right. But still, 25 million for all ZEN, MuVo, NOMAD, and that freaky Rhomba... and not a single TV commercial! (Though Orville Redenbacher, in his digital self, "endorsed" it) That's great for a non-Apple manufacturer! It took M$ over a year to sell one million Zunes... one model!

And enough with the name-calling. Comparing players to the iPod isn't being fanboy-ish, unless the comparison is biased or if the criteria greatly compliments the iPod. Accept it, the iPod is the standard. Why? Sales, design, and marketing, that's why.

[Bob @ Nov 14th 2007 1:42PM]

Curious ........what are the Fruit Company's numbers ??

[enzo @ Nov 14th 2007 1:50PM]

100 million according to the link on the word "quite". But the most doesn't always mean the best, as proven by Microsoft Windows!

[Leopard Nimrod @ Nov 14th 2007 2:32PM]

As of Sept 5th Apple stated they sold 110M units. Taking in consideration the average rate of expansion (based on previous years sales) they will be over 150M units in within the next two quarters, with the Q1 2009 (last 3 months of 2008) or Q2 2009 putting them over 200M units. It will only be a couple years until Apple beats out Sony Walkman's 340M units over abut 20 years.

Anyway, good for Creative. I prefer my iPod but like the competition Creative brings.

[Brian @ Nov 14th 2007 1:47PM]

sadly my Zen Stone recently found it's way into the wash. Now I'm debating on getting the Creative Zen, or the Zune...

[nate @ Nov 14th 2007 5:57PM]

Ha! My zen muvo (w/ screen+radio) went through the wash and remains unscathed. I

[GunForHire @ Nov 14th 2007 1:49PM]

I got a 16GB Zen from Amazon a couple of weeks ago and it's awesome. Great sound quality, great battery life, awesome screen, wide range of codec support. Best player Creative have ever made.

[quomen @ Nov 14th 2007 1:53PM]

I'm still waiting for them to add X-fi to their DAPs..

[Jagannath A @ Nov 14th 2007 1:53PM]

I never knew fruit companies started selling mp3 players ;)
and that too a lot more than a sound company

something is wrong on so many levels :P

[Clinton @ Nov 14th 2007 1:57PM]

I hear that. I got the 8GB Zen recently. Working and looking great!

[EvanG @ Nov 14th 2007 2:00PM]

I had a parallel port Nomad. It was awesome.

[longhairbilly @ Nov 14th 2007 1:57PM]

Still have and use my Zen Micro.. Good MP3 player.

[Speedmonkay @ Nov 14th 2007 2:02PM]

I have used Creative for years and years. I got a Creative Nomad 6GB and that thing still works. It is massive, disk based, and gobbles up batteries like my 2 year old kid eats cheerios. I replaced it with a little Zen Stone Plus. I love its battery life, features, small size and sweet OLED screen.
Congrats Creative and as long as you keep making great quality products, you'll have no problem reaching another 25million.

[nikster @ Nov 14th 2007 9:59PM]

I had a Nomad 1st Gen (USB 1.1) and even though it did not have competition in form of the iPod yet it sucked so bad that I swore to never buy a Creative product again.
1 - 2 hours battery life. Looking like a big, ugly CD player even though there was no reason for that, hard disks being square. Buttons strewn over the surface randomly. Functions / menus randomly arranged.
In terms of usability, it was pretty much the exact opposite of the 1st gen iPod. I've owned a fair share of gadgets but the Creative Nomad is the worst gadget that I have ever owned. No exaggeration.
Not blasting Creative - it's good to have some competition. But I shudder to think how mp3 players would look these days if Creative were the only company to make them.

[danny @ Nov 14th 2007 9:29PM]

considering theyve been selling for over 8 years now, and they had a 2 year head start, 25 mil isnt too impressive. creative really should have done better. apple's success isnt hard to explain - great marketing (have you ever seen a commercial for a creative DAP?), simple device lineup (zen stone, zen, zen vision W, zen vision M, zen V plus, zen nano, zen nano plus... etc - choice is good, but way too many devices that just confuses the public i'd say)

[nikster @ Nov 14th 2007 10:06PM]

I'll be labeled a fanboy for saying this but the iPod exploded not because of marketing or Apple fanboys but because it was, at the time, a far superior product.

IMHO it still is but today at least you could argue about it. Back when the iPod came out it was 1/3rd the size of other DAPS, it lasted longer on battery, it was cheaper, and it was a bazillion times easier to use.

The only reason that it took as long as it took to catch on was that HD based DAPs were pretty rare at the time, and it was Mac-only.

[danny @ Nov 15th 2007 7:07AM]

what you say is mostly true (i wouldnt say you sound like a fanboy). what i feel though (regardless of apple) is that creative should have done a hell of a lot better. a 2 year lead they had. and when apple entered it should have given them reason to try even harder to compete. over the past few years creative has easily had comparable and better DAPs than apple, but with a confusing lineup of 25 different types of players, random selection at big consumer stores, and really no marketing behind them, its easy to see why theyre "failing" compared to apple.

[Mike @ Nov 14th 2007 2:15PM]

I'd be happy if every Engadget comment list wasn't primarily comprised of Apple-based comments, it really doesn't have anything to do with the post, merely a sentence for comparison by Nilay. Give it a break.

P.S. I forgot to ask what games are coming out for Mac this year.. Oh, just last year's games? Damn. (I had to, for good measure.)

[Kurt MacD @ Nov 14th 2007 3:01PM]

Mac's have a lot of games believe it or not, obviously you wouldn't know as you've never had the privileged (or cash..poor bugger, deprived of a mac like so many of us have) to caress a Macintosh computer. Check out versiontracker.com and check out their games section for mac, then come back and tell everyone you're sorry for being a lier.

-Punkguyta

[Justin @ Nov 15th 2007 9:08AM]

DirectX 10.

'Nuff said.

[tekdroid @ Nov 14th 2007 2:17PM]

http://sg.creative.com/products/welcome.asp?category=213

Hey Creative, how 'bout some better codec support, like the royalty-free FLAC and Ogg Vorbis support to go with the USB Mass Storage modes? And easily replaceable batts? Removable flash on some models?


With that said, congrats :)
http://flac.sourceforge.net

[John P @ Nov 14th 2007 2:44PM]

Most players dont have removable flash. Most players dont have removable batteries. And FLAC is simply silly to put on an DAP. They are generally huge files and the zens seem to come in sizes 4, 8, 16. If you can only put the equivalent of 32 CDs on a player, what is the use? Might as well carry around CDs with you again.

[carl @ Nov 14th 2007 3:22PM]

The Zen supports SDHC cards. However, they did not implement it correctly at all. If they had, I'd own one by now.

[tekdroid @ Nov 14th 2007 8:17PM]

John P @ Nov 14th 2007 2:44PM:
Most players dont have removable flash. Most players dont have removable batteries. And FLAC is simply silly to put on an DAP.
--------

I don't care about "most players".

I disagree with FLAC being silly; it's a great way to get CD-quality audio on a portable, which, I know, isn't trendy these days - but obviously someone is listening since FLAC is getting unprecedented support in content-creation applications from Sony (Sound Forge, Vegas) and music-creation apps and others - and the portables that support is is slowly growing. You gotta ask before you get, right? That's how companies move.

I don't care about getting less on a DAP, I care about higher quality in the best lossless format on earth. If you don't, there's Ogg Vorbis for better space-savings than mp3.

I think embedded batteries and flash are extremely silly, considering flash and/or the batteries is the first thing that dies (and flash is dropping in price radically and getting cheaper while we're at it)- necessitating a replacement unit when it fails.

Most players don't come with these features, yep. That's why most of them don't interest me at all, and which is why I'm asking for a little sanity from Creative (Cowon and Meizu and many other progressive companies get the hint about Vorbis and FLAC).

I don't see why quality or something as basic as removable batteries and flash can't be a priority for portables (which I often hook up to full-sized headphones when at home, making better use of the losslessness in any room I'm in).

I don't see 4GB or 16GB portable with FLACs on it as unusual or useless either. I don't care for my whole collection on a portable. I simply wanna hear what I want to listen to with less compromise.

[organic_shadow @ Nov 14th 2007 2:33PM]

I could complain about the fact that Creative has that all spread across a large number of different products and confusion and revisions, but nah... I'll just say "Hooray Creative!" and keep enjoying my Zen I have plugged into my ears.

Seriously though, I still no see why the Zen (the newest one)has pretty much disappeared off the radar lately. New ipods....ehh, whatever.

[tcc3 @ Nov 14th 2007 2:52PM]

You know what we need? A PMP feature round up. Zune, iPod, Archos, Creative - all the large capacity PMPs and a table of competing features / specs. Sort of like the Vista /Leopard post.