Creative drops Zen pricing -- 8GB Zen now $149

Creative keeps slashing Zen prices -- just a couple weeks after cutting the 32GB model to $299, it's back with price cuts to the midrange. The 4GB Zen is now just $99, while the 8GB model falls to $149 -- the same price as the 4GB iPod nano, for those of you keeping score at home. Not bad, not bad at all -- but we'll wait to see what comes of this Zen Share rumor first.

[Eric M. @ Feb 26th 2008 12:36PM]

I've been a creative fan since I bought my Creative Zen Vision: M. And I might buy the 4GB one so that I can record class lectures - since my Zune 80 doesn't have it :|.

Not to sound greedy or anything, but how about you slash the 32GB price again =)

[Cal @ Feb 26th 2008 12:58PM]

Also a CV:M owner (great PMP), as well as a Zen Stone, the only reason I haven't picked up a Zen is that it supposedly has firmware problems and crashes too frequently. I'm just going to wait for either the next large screen PMP from creative, or for the lastest Archos 60*/70* to drop in price

[wootman @ Feb 26th 2008 1:05PM]

cal, the 605 with a dock sells for 299$ (-50) at sams club.

[Kevin @ Feb 26th 2008 2:46PM]

Ok first of all the price drops have been in affect for almost 3 months now. This is NOT new news. I have been shopping around different company websites for the greater part of the year. The drops occured sometime ago on the company website it just took a while the retail to catch up. matter of fact prior to my purchase of the 8G Zen from frys zipzoomfly and newegg still wanted $199. Retail/Web took way too long to adjust their prices trying to rake in more money then they should have.

Second, my first option was the 605 wi-fi. Don't by it. saw one in person at staples. it has a soft screen like an lcd and the touch technology is like the DS light...crap. furthermore if you want the wi-fi you have to buy a $30 software bundle from opera in addition to the cost. all of archos' equipment is like that. I almost bought the purple 405 for my wife ($154 on a website) but we would have had to spend an extra $65 for software to have compatibility with all those formats it claims it supports.

Crashes..ok when you buy it, it will have a more current firmware update. Yes it has a boot failure the first time. You simply tell it to clear the format then re-install the firmware. works like a charm and hasn't crashed since. I have both the 4G and 8G. I am pretty sure it does not support realplayer then again it depends on how it is encoded. it does come with video and audio conversion software if that helps.

Ok drag and drop. again it has its own software which has a lot of flexibility. it is called zen media browser. it does drag and drop but only when the software is open that i know of, I haven't experiment since I have been podding like mad. you use the "add media" wizard then drag from your desktop into the appropriate folder or use the "add" button. it is in browser format so you will see your pc tree (folder/drive) structure on the left and what you are adding on the right. I am very satisfied with my player.

[Jeremy @ Feb 26th 2008 12:53PM]

I just bought a Zune 8 at Best Buy last night and I love it. I already Had a Zune 30 but that thing was to big to carry around all the time. I had a Zen once but it kept freezing on me so I wont be buying another.

[Only morons take this seriously. @ Feb 26th 2008 12:56PM]

I thought is has been $149 for a while?

[soviet_vexxer @ Feb 26th 2008 1:53PM]

it has been. and the 4gb was 99 at amazon and circuit city for weeks now. my sister got one and took the crappy thing back on the 2nd. this is hardly news.

[Otis Whitaker @ Feb 26th 2008 1:15PM]

I have a 4GB Zen, and I absolutely love it. I've had it since a few weeks before christmas. It's become my pal! I take it everywhere. It was a godsend when I was helping my buddy study for the LSAT. Waiting for someone to finish a practice LSAT = dull.
The firmware crashing problems have yet to happen to me, and I use the holy living hell out of the thing.. knock on wood.

Anyways, I'd highly, HIGHLY recommend it to someone who wants something cheap, tiny, and with an incredibly awesome screen!
Plus, it can playback Divx and Xvid natively.. (As long as it's 320x240, and has mp3 audio), which is god damned useful.

[sinai @ Feb 26th 2008 1:33PM]

i had this player. sent it back.

random freezes and lockups that required hard reset happened almost daily for me. the divx "support" is laughable considering everything had to be re-encoded.

i must say they did a good job coming out with a small player with a big screen, but now everyone's already doing that. creative, try coming out with something people won't do better a month after your product release. ie - more originality!

[Aaron @ Feb 26th 2008 1:53PM]

I've had the 16 gig version a few months now and don't have a single complaint. Not sure what everyone's talking about with crashes. Perhaps this was an issue with an older firmware?

I updated mine with the latest when I got it and it's been rock solid. It plays nice with Amarok too, so I'm happy.

[Mr. Gremlin @ Feb 26th 2008 1:55PM]

I don't know, the 8GB for $149 doesn't seem nearly as appealing as the 4GB for $99 or the 16GB for $199...

Even still, the 2GB for $79 is very nice price when you keep in mind that 16GB SDHC cards can be had for about $80.

[Eddie @ Feb 26th 2008 1:59PM]

Ive been looking at these, guess it might be time to pick one up.
Can anyone tell me are they drag n drop (I've never had a creative myself XD)? I really don't think I can handle using proprietary software again (stupid ipod).

[Eric M. @ Feb 26th 2008 2:10PM]

Yes, you can drag and drop which is great besides the fact that dragging and dropping doesn't convert files if need be - but neither does the Zune software but I still love that too.

[Eddie @ Feb 26th 2008 2:44PM]

Wonderful.
Thanks.

[Nabil @ Feb 26th 2008 2:00PM]

does any one know of an MP3 player that can play real audio files?

[phanbouy @ Feb 26th 2008 2:21PM]

windows 95 laptop

[Nabil @ Feb 26th 2008 2:28PM]

Before I get any more smart-ass remarks, I need one because I listen to Arabic songs, which are only available online in this side of the world, and mostly in real format.

I've tried all the rm-->mp3 converters and they are kinda crappy. The only solution right now is to burn real songs to CD, then rip the CD to mp3.

[Eric M. @ Feb 26th 2008 5:20PM]

Well you can use Nero or a similar program to make the real files into an ISO image file and then use Nero or DemonTools to mount that image file so it seems as if they are on a CD. Then just rip it, that way you wont have to burn an actual CD.

[disciple83 @ Feb 26th 2008 2:33PM]

it's sad to see fun things like this when you've already made a decision on a device. My ZV:M 30GB lasted a good 1.5 years before it got to the point where I would have to charge it twice daily, (I used it as my primary music device at the office, storage space on the workstation is limited), so it came time to find a new toy. The 3 candidates were the Zen 32GB, the Zune 80GB, and the iPod Touch 32GB. I immediately ruled out the iPod because, well, it's an iPod, I don't need to pay $200 for eyecandy, gimmicky controls, and a browser that is mostly talk and no tactile. I sold my Wii for the same reasons. So in a pretty much dead heat toss up between the Zune's speedy interface and storage versus the Zen's flash goodness, I ended up picking the Zune because of the storage for the price... Sadly, I ended up dropping another $60 on a decent pair of headphones to counter it's lack of EQ. I miss Creative's heavenly sound quality. Bet your bottom dollar I'll be picking one up when the price is right.

[Eric M. @ Feb 26th 2008 5:25PM]

I have the Zune 80 and I think the sound is great on it, especially with the bundled headphones. I also had a ZV:M and it lasted around the same time and although its beat up it still works great - besides the fact that it can't connect to a PC any longer, HA. But I don't know if it was because when I first bought it I set all the EQs to high to get a Max sound affect or something, but I feel the Zune is a better sounding device.

I think it maybe my EQ, but nevertheless I loved that player and was thinking about this one also but the storage wasn't up to par for me.

[fractal @ Feb 26th 2008 3:18PM]

What I want to know is if they've finally fixed the SD card integration on these things. What I mean is that instead of navigating to the "SD Card" option on the Zen, you can just access the music/video on it by the music/video menu options. From what I've read about it, the lack of integration is somewhat of a dealbreaker for me (considering how cheap the 2 or 4gb is, and how cheap SDHC cards are).

[Mark @ Feb 26th 2008 3:43PM]

I think they will never integrate the SD card. As another poster commented above, 16GB SDHC's are $80 while the 16GB ZEN is $200. Why would they cut into their own sales?

[chrise524 @ Feb 26th 2008 3:48PM]

i am most definitely a fan of competitive prices to apple (as apposed to the same price). Makes them look a lot more attractive.

[eric @ Feb 26th 2008 4:09PM]

Nice price drop, too bad:
1 - I already bought 3 of these stupid things
2 - They are junk

All three died without abuse. Creative will not replace them, Walmart did replace the 1st one, but when the second one puked, they told me I was SOL.

[JohnTitor @ Feb 26th 2008 5:48PM]

the Xvid support at QVGA was with the Vision M
the new Zen doesn't support it at all

[Jamus @ Feb 26th 2008 9:22PM]

Come on Apple... time to step up to the plate and pitch us some 16GB and 32GB nano love. Either that or drop the price on the existing 4 and 8 models.

[Stijn @ Feb 27th 2008 1:52PM]

Well, about half a year ago my Micro Photo crashed while trying to upgrade the firmware. Went back to the store with still a year warranty on the player. They made no problem there and told me to pick a new one. Luckily, the Zen 8gb just came out and I went for that. I only had to pay 1euro for it. :p

And I totally love the thing. The Voice Recorder works great (good for doing interviews), the sd slot is a great extra (I always carry my camera with me, so a backup storage media), the screen is wonderful and has a nice feel. The encoding for video files is a joke though, but I don't use that very often so screw that.

Just an overall very good player, no freezes (yet, knock knock), but I think I wont be upgrading the firmware very soon. ;)