Creative could pay class-action settlement over exaggerated MP3 capacities

Couldn't fit those last two Oingo Boingo albums on your Zen when you thought you had enough space? Get ready for payback, because if you own a Creative Labs MP3 player made between May 5, 2001 and April 30, 2008, you could be entitled to a class-action settlement over this very issue. The proposed settlement -- not the first of its kind -- will force Creative to "make certain disclosures regarding the storage capacity of its hard disc drive MP3 players" and give a 50% discount on a new 1GB player or 20% off any item purchased at Creative's online store, if it's approved by the court. For its part, Creative denies any wrongdoing, but it looks like it's offering up the settlement to smooth thing over with consumers -- but you know it's going to fight the $900,000 requested by plaintiffs' attorneys in fees. Applications are due by August 7, 2008, so start digging up those serial numbers.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

[Tony @ May 1st 2008 10:36AM]

Holy crap--a class action suit that actually applies to me.

[mike @ May 1st 2008 10:40AM]

Same thing I thought when I got the email last night!

[Eddie @ May 1st 2008 12:03PM]

Im kind of excited about this!
I GET TO BE INVOLVED :D

[Kamokazi @ May 1st 2008 1:52PM]

Keep in mind it says 'hard disc drive' MP3 players, not all. So the pictured ZEN, which is flash-based, would not apply (unless the summary is wrong, I didn't RTFA).

[happy_penguin @ May 1st 2008 10:37AM]

Well that was naughty.

[Rob @ May 1st 2008 10:39AM]

Once again, a victory for the lawyers. The regular customers don't win a thing. You actually get crumbs. The ones holding the jackpot are the suits. F-ck them. I've never participated in a class action nonsense, even when I could.

[Tony @ May 1st 2008 10:42AM]

Also, props for the worst url ever (http://www.creativehddmp3settlement.com), and drastic overuse of PDF's.

[rock99rock @ May 1st 2008 11:16AM]

I actually participated in a good-for-consumer settlement, and got a replacement 61" hdtv, after having the old one for 4 years, (albeit after 4 burned out bulbs). It also had an awesome url... (www.tvlampsettlement.com)

[derspiess42 @ May 1st 2008 12:53PM]

Yep, usually these settlements that result in mere "% discounts" for the plaintiffs are a joke. You have to buy from the company store, where prices are usually inflated to begin with, In many cases, you can get the same thing cheaper by shopping around.

Meanwhile, the lawyers rake in obscene amounts of cash based on the dollar value of the discounts.

Boo.

[Steffen Jobbs @ May 1st 2008 10:40AM]

Lying SOBs. That's what they get for trying to compete with iPods. No wonder my friend could only get 1GB of storage on his 2GB Creative PMP. I guess Creative is more than just a name. They're Creative when it comes to specifications, too. Haaaaaaha. Also ran. Maybe this class action suit will put them out of their misery.

[Tony @ May 1st 2008 10:44AM]

Their specs aren't *that* off. Their battery life estimates are accurate; for me, I got a grand total of 7.4 GB of space on my "8 GB" Zen. I wouldn't deride the company for that--but hopefully this will teach them a lesson.

[tcc3 @ May 1st 2008 11:08AM]

Yes heaven forbid anyone tries to compete with the mighty apple. What an affront to the ego of the great jobs.

I'm offended at their half assed competition with ipod after so much smacktalk, not the competition itself.

As with any 600 lb gorilla in a market, its good to keep Apple honest

[Pochi @ May 1st 2008 11:08AM]

"No wonder my friend could only get 1GB of storage on his 2GB Creative PMP."

LOL. Yeah, okay.

Sounds like you and your friend have trouble distinguishing between 1s and 2s. Wear your glasses the next time you purchase a PMP to make sure you're buying the right capacity.

[d_lca @ May 1st 2008 12:55PM]

Hey they were off by 1, Apple was off by how much? 262,144 vs "Millions of colors? geez

[LexicalConverter @ May 1st 2008 10:42AM]

Does this apply to those living in Europe, too? I'm assuming not.

[shapey @ May 1st 2008 11:01AM]

"the court hereby certifies a plaintiff class consisting of all persons in the united states who purchased from creative..." etc.

i guess not then...

[Tito @ May 1st 2008 11:19AM]

Nope, only US.
"You are a member of the plaintiff class if you purchased in the United States from a retail store in the United States (including Creative's and others' on-line retail stores)..."

[Rich @ May 1st 2008 10:55AM]

Great. Except I bought a case for my beloved vision:m and the dye on the inside material has corroded the ink on the serial number label so it is now completely blank.

[Jesse Dula @ May 1st 2008 10:56AM]

Is the comment section working at all?

[Neoprimal @ May 1st 2008 10:59AM]

I thought it was spam or some phishing email. At the bottom it says "don't contact creative or the court about this case"....guess I should look into it. I don't really care...but 50% off a stone plus or 20% off other stuff...yummy.

[fraz @ May 1st 2008 11:55AM]

yeah it sounds great, but when you think about it, that's a whole load of people who will now BUY something albeit at a cheaper price to MRRP. So.... I get sued for lying, and to compensate I get a whole bunch of my current kit shifted at half price, compared to those people who wouldn't have bought those items in the first place.

yeah some people may have been buying one and this will help them, but it ain't a refund or fix or replacement, you still have to give them money for lying. Sounds like a benefit to them wrapped in a warped law suit. maybe i'm cynical.

[Ethan @ May 1st 2008 11:00AM]

Isn't this because of formatting, and HDD manufacturers defining a GB as 1000MB, while everybody else defines it as 1024?

[Mike @ May 1st 2008 11:04AM]

Yes. This is just another example of the ridiculous US legal system at work.

[pball_inuyasha @ May 1st 2008 11:07AM]

Yeah i would assume most of the lost space is the old 1 gig = 1,000,000 bytes thing plus formating and what about the firmware or OS of the mp3 player.

I would think all HD based mp3 players are short on the capacity they claim. Can someone with an Ipod confirm this does your 60 gig Ipod have 60 gigs that you can use for music?

[Tony @ May 1st 2008 12:23PM]

That's part of it. The OS/firmware/etc also takes up space on the drive, giving you less space than advertised

[BB @ May 1st 2008 12:45PM]

Its a common complaint on iPod forums - iPods don't have the entire disk space that's advertised either. Mine is a 20GB with only ~18 usable.

Probably the difference is that other vendors put the actual disk space in the fine print somewhere...as if people read the fine print.

[clearThumbtack @ May 1st 2008 1:12PM]

Its to be expected that the drive capacity itself is cited, not usable space. If it is a regular hard drive, available space is determined by your file system.

Creative's marketing team does boast a lot about features, sometimes to the point of nonsense. Such as claiming how their soundcards make mp3s sound better than the actual CD.

[riggs @ May 1st 2008 11:00AM]

Am i wrong or arent all mp3 player or any kind of "hard drive storage based" anything does the same? (serious question btw)

[Dirtybacon @ May 1st 2008 11:15AM]

This is such a bunch of crap, I am really embarrassed for us as a country because of these class action lawsuits. I love - LOVE - my creative players, and the freedom they allow. Plus, I know what 1GB equals in bytes.

I will not take part in it, and irked because I feel like I am going to be inconvenienced in order to remove myself from the suit. Maybe I can counter-sue?

[Jesse Dula @ May 1st 2008 1:17PM]

Dirtybacon,

Can I have your seriel numbers then? :D

All kidding aside, I a a 30GB ZVM, and an 8 GB ZMP. I love Creative's players as well.

No back to those seriel numbers...:)

[Brad @ May 1st 2008 11:16AM]

Doesn't matter. The 1GB MP3 players will probably be the old monochrome LCD versions that cost twice what they should, and the 20% discount means nothing because that is off MSRP when you could go to Amazon or Buy.com and buy them for around 20% off any day of the year. Lawyers win and the public gets screwed.

[KLanD @ May 1st 2008 11:18AM]

OMG... this is ridiculous. It's the difference between GB and Gb. Well, I guess it should be labled properly anyway.

On another note.. Why aren't they going after all the other manufacturers? I mean creative isn't the only one to do this, they all do.

And what about Apple? If you buy an 8Gb Iphone you only get about 7.2- 7.4Gb that are usable.

[emagius @ May 1st 2008 11:38AM]

No, it's not. It's the difference between GiB and GB.

1 GB = 8 Gb
1 GB = ~0.93 GiB

[KLanD @ May 1st 2008 12:18PM]

SO I missed an "i", sue me.

Oh wait... You can't.. I don't live in the US.

[rabblerabble @ May 1st 2008 11:20AM]

Discount Player Benefit
To receive the Discount Player Benefit, your purchase must have occurred prior to January 1, 2004 AND you must provide Proof of Purchase (store receipt, credit card statement or bank statement) that shows ALL the “Purchase Information” below.
If you are deemed ineligible for the Discount Player Benefit due to a deficiency in your Proof of Purchase, check here if you wish to receive the Discount Certificate Benefit instead.

Discount Certificate Benefit
To receive the Discount Certificate Benefit, you must (1) enclose with this form a Proof of Purchase (store receipt, credit card statement or bank statement) that shows ALL the “Purchase Information” below OR (2) provide on this form all the “Purchase Information” below and the serial number of the Creative HDD MP3 Player you purchased.

[emagius @ May 1st 2008 11:37AM]

No, it's not. It's the difference between GiB and GB.

1 GB = 8 Gb
1 GB = ~0.93 GiB

[emagius @ May 1st 2008 11:39AM]

Sorry, that was meant for KlanD.

[Bevo4138 @ May 1st 2008 11:25AM]

So let me get this straight- if you "win" the suit, you have to buy more of Creative's products to benefit?

This looks like creative marketing from Creative's marketing dept.

Take that, Creative! I'm buying more of your products! I'm getting 50% off, so what if you'll still make a profit. That'll teach you!

[rock99rock @ May 1st 2008 11:26AM]

I wasn't aware of any HDD 2gb creative PMP's.....

[Jesse Dula @ May 1st 2008 11:35AM]

Well, I guess Ill get 2 (under) 1GB Zen Stones for $17.50 EA. That's not a bad deal. But by the time the settlement is approved, Creative will have probably raised the prices on all their 1GB players by 30%.


And misleading or not, the Vision:M is still my favorite player of all time. The MicroPhoto is a terrific sounding little player as well.

And it's not like I didnt know the 30GB ZVM was actually 28565MB in the first place.

[Stiv @ May 1st 2008 11:08AM]

Gotta agree. The Zen Vision is a great player. It has something that Apple apparently refuses to include - a user-adjustible equalizer.

[Tony @ May 5th 2008 5:19PM]

Yes the MP is awesome. It is also still working after two years.

[Jesse Dula @ May 1st 2008 11:42AM]

Dirtybacon,

Since you arent partaking, can I have those seriel numbers? :D

J/K, I agree, I love my 2 Creative players, the 30GB ZVM, and an 8GB ZMP.

No, back to those numbers!

[ingus @ May 1st 2008 11:42AM]

oddly, the pictured player used for the story (Creative Zen) itself isn't a part of this class action settlement? i looked through the drop down list the claim form provided, and it only includes HD based Creative players.

boo~!

[Matthew @ May 1st 2008 11:48AM]

exaggerated MP3 player capacities is nothing new. i just bought a Sony 8GB MP3 player and it only holds 7.5GB. The question is by how much did Creative exaderate.

They should just make a law that hard drive manufacturers have to state the actual memory storage anywhere they advertise. 8GB may sound better than 7.5GB but it sure is misleading to people who don't know any better.

[dwr50 @ May 1st 2008 12:02PM]

Notice that you have to BUY something to get something... What a Croc.

[Adz @ May 1st 2008 12:07PM]

Wow, this is the first time something like this has actually applied to me.

Except, you have to be in America.
This may be the only time I wis I had a defective MP3 player.

[pcgecko85 @ May 1st 2008 12:15PM]

stupid, pointless lawsuit. Just wastes taxpayers money

[Clete R. Blackwell II @ May 1st 2008 12:25PM]

It would apply to me, but I bought my Creative MP3 player off of eBay. No proof-of-purchase. :(

[Gordon Kane @ May 1st 2008 12:31PM]

I really hate this lawsuit -- I've bought 3 Creative MP3 players for myself in the past 10 years and I really wish everyone would just tell the plantiff and the lawyers to "Fuck off!".
But in this age when everyone is looking for something free (when they really haven't been damaged -- or over-value their perceived damages), I suspect everyone will think they need to be compensated even if they didn't realize they might have been mislead.
I suspect that this will spell the end of my Creative purchases because they will either be too expensive (to cover themselves in case another jackhole decides to sue them over stupid shit) or the units will only be availabe in Singapore.
Maybe if more people bought the 10, 20, and 30gig units (like I did) and not the 32, 64K models they wouldn't care if their unti wouldn't hold the "advertised capacity".
Now I get to go through all the hassle of submitting all the paperwork to tell the plantiff and the lawyers what asswipes they are.