Creative's 32GB Zen now only $299

Digging the 32GB of NAND, but not so hot about the $499 pricetag on Apple's latest iPod touch? Creative would like to remind you that it got there first, for less, with the Zen, and has slashed the price to $299 from the original $349 to keep that margin healthy. Sure, the 2.5-inch screen is a bit smaller, and we've given Creative a bit of a hard time over the years for an occasional failure to innovate, but reviewers seemed to love on the Zen, and it's hard to argue with this deal.

[Via DailyTech]

[Joe_Templeman @ Feb 8th 2008 2:17PM]

This is definitely one of the things which could persuade me away from apple....

[Steffen Jobbs @ Feb 8th 2008 5:17PM]

Just as soon as it becomes available, if ever.

[Ruben @ Feb 8th 2008 2:20PM]

This is like getting a 32 gig flash card with an mp3/video player for free.

Their margins must be razor-thin.

[anervoustwitch @ Feb 8th 2008 2:20PM]

the only company ive had worse customer service from than creative is abit.

my nomad II and audigy both died within the mfr warranty and creative refused to repair either of them, without even taking a look. would not issue an rma. never again.

[Kiwi616 @ Feb 8th 2008 2:23PM]

Not that true...

I had a 4GB Zen Micro die outside the warranty and all they ask for was $30 for service and they sent me a 6GB version back fully fixed. You just have to be firm (much like every other company).

[Kiwi616 @ Feb 8th 2008 2:23PM]

Not that true...

I had a 4GB Zen Micro die outside the warranty and all they ask for was $30 for service and they sent me a 6GB version back fully fixed. You just have to be firm (much like every other company).

[Superprime @ Feb 8th 2008 2:25PM]

Creative always had great customer service. They've fixed stuff for me even outside warranty for free.

[Kamokazi @ Feb 8th 2008 2:20PM]

I held out of the 16GB, and wish I had waited a little longer for the 32...oh well, still a great unit. My only is complaint is the maximum volume is a bit low for noisy environments (Airplane w/ noise cancelling headphones are hard to hear sometimes-in all fairness the movies I ripped might have been able to be encoded a bit louder). Some complain about SD not integrating with library, but that is easily solved by just putting a few large movies on the SD cards instead of music or pictures.

[Reginald @ Feb 8th 2008 3:11PM]

I held out on the Zen because of the low volumes as well after trying it out at Circuit City. But, maybe it's more of a safety feature.

Anyway, 32GB for $299 seems very tempting now.

[Aru @ Feb 10th 2008 2:41AM]

I usually use it at a 10 for walking to class, and in noisy environments I bump it up to 15... have you tried changing your headphones? I'm using Shure e2c's.

[Kiwi616 @ Feb 8th 2008 2:21PM]

See that Apple, reduce your Flash Prices already

Upgrade to 64GB = $1K ????
32 iPod Touch = $500 ????

I want a $350 32GB iPod Touch already! Or else I will sit and wait.

[DT @ Feb 8th 2008 2:39PM]

SSD is NOT the same thing as flash memory!!

[Kiwi616 @ Feb 8th 2008 2:42PM]

@ DT

Similar technology regardless of speed, especially for the fact that Apple uses a PATA interface instead of SATA.

[Bender Bending Rodriguez @ Feb 8th 2008 3:01PM]

Besides the type of NANDs that are being used, there is also a major price differences with density. Apple isn't just slapping two 16GB sticks in the iPod Touch, it's the same size chips with double the density. Something that wasn't even available 6 months ago.

On that note, I look forward to what we'll have ina year from now.

[Reid @ Feb 8th 2008 5:11PM]

As long as everyone buying these things now lowers the price for the rest of us in a year or two or three...

[Mii @ Feb 8th 2008 5:15PM]

SSDs may be similar technology, but when you get 1/3 lower storage density than MLC, and more space used for ECC to keep your data safe, you get higher prices. And no, they didn't choose PATA to save money, PATA has a lower idle power consumption rate than SATA for all devices currently in the market. Sure, the average buyer doesn't take this into account but feel free to make public product statements out of ignorance.

[Organic_Shadow @ Feb 8th 2008 2:23PM]

Loving my 16gb and my ex likes her 8gb. Only thing I need now is some firmware updates or something so that the format compatibility is a little less deceptive.

[StreetStealth @ Feb 8th 2008 11:22PM]

I'm glad you can still talk about gadgets together even if everything else fell through.

[ericdano @ Feb 8th 2008 2:23PM]

Except no internet. No email. No mult-touch. No thanks Creative..........

[Ethan @ Feb 8th 2008 2:42PM]

That's why this is $200 less.

[Scott @ Feb 8th 2008 2:46PM]

Exactly! This is competition for the iPod *Classic* not the Touch. People are buying the Touch because it does everything the iPhone does without a cell phone.

[Scott @ Feb 8th 2008 2:48PM]

And the 80 GB iPod Classic is $249 with a 2.5" screen. Where's the deal here?

[Jorvay @ Feb 8th 2008 2:52PM]

True, but if you don't want/need those features, then you can save a good chunk of money (and get a significant improvement in sound quality) by going with the Zen.
At the end of the day, i want to really hear my music, not just have it playing. Unfortunately for Apple, Creative delivers better quality and more balanced sound...as do Sony, Cowan, iRiver, and probably a few others.

oh, and for the record, I'm not talking about the headphones, anyone who actually listens to their mp3 player for the music and not the status tosses the stock headphones pretty quickly.

[Jorvay @ Feb 8th 2008 2:55PM]

Scott:
the deal is that you're trading a mechanically active hard drive for flash memory. Anybody who has ever bricked a hard-drive player with a mild jolt can tell you where the advantage lies.

[WhoMe @ Feb 8th 2008 2:30PM]

I got one of the 16GB ones. It's a great device but, in true Creative style, the software and firmware are both lacking.

I have had to reset the device several times in the past (though I think the new firmware fixed that) but it always came back to life after locking up.

And then there's the software Creative delivers... It's just mind blowingly bad. Their Zencast or whatever the hell it's called program locks up for me when I add a feed (not every feed, but every time for one specific feed), rendering it effectively useless. Then there's the managing program for the device itself which, I guess, is sufficient. However, I have resorted to using iTunes to download all and manage all of my podcasts, which is what I use the device for mostly. In that respect, it is good that the manager includes a 'import iTunes music' option (though you could copy it over directly as well I guess). I also have to use a tag editor like Tagscan to edit the tags and set the category to 'podcast' so they are arranged nicely on the player itself. The only thing I miss is proper synchronization, like if I listened to it, it gets deleted, or keep only the last two podcasts.

Anyway, it takes a little work to get it to do what I want. Hardware wise this is a solid device, good price and good features (like FM radio). It's just the software that I find lacking, but you can work your way around it.

Would I buy it again? Yeah I would.

[WhoMe @ Feb 8th 2008 2:33PM]

Oh yeah, the video capabilities are nice as well. I use a program called 'SUPER' (GREAT program!), which is freeware to convert all my stuff. Takes a while, but I'll just batch it and let it run over night. The large capacity means you can get hours and hours of programming on there. I think I convert it down to like 30-40 megs for 20 minutes of video, good quality too!

[daniel @ Feb 8th 2008 2:38PM]

yeh mines locked up a few times, but it always comes back, i havent really used the software ive either just dragged and dropped or used wmp, minor annoyance the album art wont go over from wmp but all in all its a decent player

[WhoMe @ Feb 8th 2008 2:41PM]

Hrm my album art does go over, using WMP11. I love it.

Is there a way to get lyrics on there? Anyone know?

[Adam @ Feb 8th 2008 2:35PM]

Well! I was planning on buying a Rio Karma once my Carbon died....I think I might be getting a zen instead, considering the much lower price and increased capability. Nice move, Creative!

http://www.livingwithanerd.com

[anonymouspimp @ Feb 8th 2008 4:48PM]

wtf? did you just look up "mp3 players" in wikipedia and write down the first 2 mp3 players you saw just so you could spam your crappy site? Those haven't been around for years...

GO AWAY.

[George McFly @ Feb 8th 2008 2:38PM]

I really love Creative and their codec support. My only 2 wish list items of this model:

* Bigger than a 2.5" screen (3.0 at least please)
* Multi-touch

I've owned a Zen but ever since I got my Archos 605, I can never go back to "fast-forward/rewind". I love being able to just "touch" jump to any part of a video movie or audio song.

[Aron Trimble @ Feb 8th 2008 2:39PM]

Call me when they're Mac compatible..

[Jeff @ Feb 8th 2008 3:16PM]

word

[Ruben @ Feb 8th 2008 3:39PM]

It works through dragging and dropping your music onto it. You dont need software that is Mac specific. Its just a drive.

Hell, you can even get a software package (still in beta i believe) that allows it to sync with your iTunes library (assuming you dont have DRM music on it, and if you do, you can de-DRM them).

[willyboy @ Feb 9th 2008 12:03AM]

I find dragging and dropping to be a pain in the ass....Find the file? Ohh, here it is under HD/Music/.....Now which artist is it under? Shit, I can't remember if it is filed under untitled... Oh, wait, here it is in my documents/downloads/.... Wait, shit that is not it....PAIN IN THE ASS for someone who does not have the time to keep downloaded music organized....At least iTones makes it a little less of a hassle when syncing music and other content like podcasts. Which are kicking radios ass when it comes to user defined content downloads...The radio sucks! It is dead... Hell, even NPR is nicer to listen to when you can schedule which shows you want, when you want it them...This is why iTones and the iPud have been so successful. They know what a majority of users want and need ie. less responsibility....

[SteveMB @ Feb 9th 2008 2:20AM]

I like Drag-N-Drop the best.

[applefreak @ Feb 8th 2008 2:41PM]

cool

[Flashy @ Feb 8th 2008 2:52PM]

Awesome! I've been looking to replace my Zen Vision:M which, despite being rather bulky, is one of the single best tech purchases I've ever made. The only thing keeping me away from the 16gb Zen was the capacity, but it looks like this is just the ticket!

Thanks Creative.

[xtremesniper @ Feb 8th 2008 2:43PM]

No love for Canada, I guess. None of the major stores here seem to carry any capacity over 8GB.

[Pete @ Feb 8th 2008 2:46PM]

I would jump off the Apple bandwagon, but I've already bought so much in Itunes so I am stuck with Ipods now. I have found no easy way to remove the DRM from their files without re-ripping them which results in quality loss.

[Ruben @ Feb 8th 2008 3:32PM]

No your not. Theres software out there that can remove the DRM on your files, be it for Zune (not quite sure about this one), PlaysForSure, or iTunes.

[raulr @ Feb 8th 2008 3:38PM]

You can use software located here to strip the DRM of music purchased with iTunes up to 7.5.0.

http://hymn-project.org/download.php

[Pete @ Feb 8th 2008 3:42PM]

Ah, thanks!

[Joey Geraci @ Feb 8th 2008 3:51PM]

Uhm, myFairTunes?? It isn't yet compatible with the latest version of iTunes, but you can get older versions of iTunes from multiple sites, including http://www.oldapps.com/itunes.htm

myFairTunes works perfectly well with slightly older versions of iTunes that you can find on the above website, and will even import the new tracks right into your library beside the old protected tracks. iTunes doesn't see any difference between the new tracks and the old tracks (all tagging information is maintained), except the new tracks are in plain old aac format, and can be played on any number of computers and other devices like the Wii.

[Jorvay @ Feb 8th 2008 3:00PM]

Though technically illegal, would it be too wrong to download illegal copies of the same music you purchased and wipe out your drm stuff? You'd still have paid the artist to have one copy of the song, and you'd still have one copy of the song. Seems fair to me (except for how little the artist probably saw of that inital payment you made...hooray for record companies).

[Jorvay @ Feb 8th 2008 3:00PM]

This was supposed to be a reply to Pete, RE: DRM tying him into Apple products.

[Allan @ Feb 8th 2008 3:00PM]

Call me when they crack 45gb (likely the 64gb step?) so I can fit all of my music...

Not bad though.

[carl @ Feb 8th 2008 4:07PM]

If creative hadn't borked the SD expansion slot implementation, you'd easily have your wish. this zen + a 16GB SDHC slot = tiny 48GB flash player for ~360.

I'd be all over this player if they did SD right.

[Jeff @ Feb 8th 2008 3:15PM]

Purely aesthetically i'd take the iPod Touch over this any day.

really, other than flash storage, this competes more closely to the iPod classic. I could care less about hard drive versus flash, as i've never had any troubles with the iPod's hard drives... so with that out of the picture, this Zen is a lot less relevant (when it comes to price/features)

[xtremesniper @ Feb 8th 2008 3:33PM]

If you're comparing the Zen to an iPod Classic by features, the Zen takes it hands down. But if you're talking about the Touch, then you'd have to consider features vs price. Since the Touch IS more expensive. You'd have to weigh if you actually will use all the fancy features the Touch may have.