Creative's Zen Mozaic, X-Fi players hands-on

We won't belabor these two: X-Fi has been spotted plenty of times before, and the Zen Mozaic "is a crap," as our friends at Engadget Spanish put it. There was no functioning WiFi to test out the X-Fi's networking features, but they looked pretty tedious on the surface, and the player is otherwise okay but unimpressive. Meanwhile, the Zen Mozaic is just another in a long line of shoddily built -- if interesting looking -- low-end DAPs from Creative. Next!

Gallery: Creative's Zen Mozaic, X-Fi players hands-on

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[My Ipod beats your computer @ Aug 30th 2008 2:10PM]

why?

[Flashpoint @ Aug 30th 2008 2:11PM]

Make the price below $100 and put them on Walmart/BBY and Circuit City shelves to sell them.
The rest of the people shall dream of owning iPod touch.

[rony @ Aug 30th 2008 2:11PM]

stupid................................MICROSOFT FOREVERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[bureX @ Aug 30th 2008 2:16PM]

Please consult your doctor before posting on Engadget any further.

[drumdbeat @ Aug 30th 2008 2:41PM]

Please don't post on Engadget any further.

Better.

[YOO. @ Aug 30th 2008 2:43PM]

This is not made by MicroSoft.

[Thi mam(kris120890) @ Aug 30th 2008 3:26PM]

You 12 Year olds make me laugh, Coming to an apple site and talking about microsoft. You crazy fool you.

[Kizorblade @ Aug 30th 2008 4:05PM]

@Thi mam(kris120890)

You make me laugh. I don't see any Apple logos being flaunted around this website proudly displaying that Engadget is under Apple's command. If anything, they've been more hostile towards Apple since Ryan left.

[Wormbolt @ Aug 30th 2008 5:18PM]

@Kizorblade

Then you haven't looked hard enough.

[bureX @ Aug 30th 2008 2:15PM]

Was that creepy mobile phone look really necessary?

[Zinger314 @ Aug 30th 2008 2:34PM]

Don't laugh, but the Zen Mosaic got me laid.

[Pumping_Iron @ Aug 30th 2008 2:36PM]

how ugly was she ?

[exthuse @ Aug 30th 2008 2:40PM]

go on...

[Kevin @ Aug 31st 2008 1:32AM]

don't worry.....i didn't

[Fernando G. @ Aug 30th 2008 3:15PM]

did it still work after you clubbed the girl with it?

[agroupofletters @ Aug 31st 2008 1:13AM]

@ fernando G

I keep clicking the plus button hoping that there is a rank above highest

[Metkis @ Aug 31st 2008 5:55AM]

@agroupofletters: We'll get there someday... someday.

[Decoy @ Aug 31st 2008 6:10PM]

Ah ahahahahaha whatEVER!!!

[JohnTitor @ Aug 30th 2008 2:41PM]

An article for the ipod fanboys to love, yes it's true the Mozaic is very plain and sit along with many other mp3 players, but at least the X-Fi is worth looking into, but in either case I would expect the article to be less biased then that, looks like Engadget is just catering to the likes of Flushpoint/Cluk

[My Ipod beats your computer @ Aug 30th 2008 2:45PM]

you heard the man, lets buy crappy products cuz it isnt apple!

oh wait.. my mom taught me NOT to listen to insane people. maybe next time

[Kizorblade @ Aug 30th 2008 2:46PM]

Do you have a problem writing the letter "a" in people's names? Just curious...

[drumdbeat @ Aug 30th 2008 2:49PM]

I was thinking that also

[Kamokazi @ Aug 30th 2008 2:55PM]

The X-fi looks pretty nice to me. Assuming it's an upgrade from my ZEN, it should be quit nice. I don't like the Mosaic's design much, but this is not appropriate:

"...is just another in a long line of shoddily built -- if interesting looking -- low-end DAPs from Creative."

Have you used many low end players from creative? The build qualtiy is not exceptional, but it is FAR from shoddy (with maybe one or two exceptions). Many of them feel far more solid than something like the say, the first-gen iPod Shuffle?

In my experience, Creative is usually regarded as one of the better DAP manufacturers. But this article treats them like a Chinese KIRF maker. Articles need vote buttons on them...this is pathetic.

[Metkis @ Aug 30th 2008 10:56PM]

I personally think they deserve this bashing, honestly. The creators of the revolutionary Zen Vision:M are sitting on their asses and making... this.

Creative should still be playing with the best of them instead of these crappy gimmicks.

[TMFAN @ Aug 30th 2008 2:41PM]

http://cnettv.cnet.com/9742-1_53-50003318.html?tag=api=true

Hey, she likes it.

[Thi mam(kris120890) @ Aug 30th 2008 3:03PM]

90% of Online reviews say the Zen X-FI is better than the ipods and and is in line with the Zunes. The only Ipod that out did the X-fi is the Ipod touch. However the WI-FI on the X-FI is useless and the most rediculous feature ever in an mp3 player. Thats Why im getting an X-FI but waiting to see what apple throw out in two weeks.

[JohnTitor @ Aug 30th 2008 3:28PM]

getting content from the web and creating a home media server isn't totally useless

[avester @ Aug 30th 2008 3:36PM]

I hate the crappy controls with all MP3 players (Looking at you iPod/iPhone), only Creative MuVo has surprised me with the good 3-way jog-wheel that is very easy to use even in pocket.

[rita hainsworth @ Aug 30th 2008 3:06PM]

whats with the bathroom tile look?

[Thi mam(kris120890) @ Aug 30th 2008 3:30PM]

Nice Pussy..........cats

[rita hainsworth @ Aug 30th 2008 3:51PM]

why thankyou...

[PH0ENIX @ Aug 30th 2008 5:24PM]

I agree, that Mosaic is a rather fugly DAP. I was thinking it would be cool if you could move the tiles around, but no.

[rafael @ Aug 30th 2008 4:00PM]

does Apple pay you to trash other mp3 players?
i think so

[Reader @ Aug 30th 2008 4:53PM]

When a capable company like Creative makes an MP3 player on level with the thousands of other Chinese MP3 players, then they fully deserve to be bashed. They could go through the trouble to make a good UI and a well functioning MP3 player to take the low-end, but instead they just make a run of the mill player with a somewhat unique keypad. Not going to cut it.

[jorvay @ Aug 30th 2008 9:22PM]

@Reader
True about the mosaic's build quality maybe, but the UI? Last time I checked creative's UI was good enough that had to cough up millions when they ripped it off for the iPod.

As for this article, it smacks of bias. I've had an ipod and three different creative players? any guesses on which had the worst battery life, sound quality, and fewest features? While you're at it, guess which one died first?

[jorvay @ Aug 30th 2008 9:25PM]

that should read that APPLE had to cough up millions (to creative).

Damn lack of edit controls

[Reader @ Aug 31st 2008 2:31AM]

You have a point there, but when I see this http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.engadget.com/media/2008/08/creative-4.jpg it just reminds me of the Chinese MP3 player I had back four years ago about and puts me off. I've owned neither iPod nor Creative, so I wouldn't have a say in audio quality for either. Every kid with an iPod swears by their ass OEM headphones and I've never bother to plug my Shures in theirs. I'm just content with my Zune 8GB.

[RAQ @ Aug 30th 2008 4:21PM]

Oh for fuck sake. Come on Creative get your act together and make a sucessor to the amazing Creative Zen Vision M. Stop with all these crappy little DAP's that need the videos to be transcoded in order to play them.

[LTM @ Oct 18th 2008 11:32AM]

Yup, what he said!!

[Wormbolt @ Aug 30th 2008 5:36PM]

I don't quite understand the trashing of the Mozaic. It's intended to be a basic, low cost DAP and that's what it is. Most likely it has better sound and greater functionality than an iPod Nano at a much lower price. If Creative actually marketed it well they would sell a ton.

[tekdroid @ Aug 30th 2008 5:54PM]

pehaps 'shoddily built' can be justsified with some sort of more detail by Mr Miller.

[JoeT @ Sep 4th 2008 12:09PM]

Especially since he said "in a long line of..."

My household has 17 Creative MP3 players, and the only failures they've had are broken tabs on two Muvo Micro N200 battery covers. No other problems. The Jukebox 3s were perhaps the best built MP3 players ever, with outstanding features, like line-in (and optical-in!) recording.

What's happening to Engadget? They now don't care if they hire writers that can't think well? Good thought, be it mathematics or journalism or philosophy, always has proof/justification for every claim. Writing it down gives you more time to check that your words are true.

[Nehemoth @ Aug 30th 2008 6:20PM]

Ugly as hell.

[hyAxis @ Aug 30th 2008 6:40PM]

Absolutely amazing article. "Zen Mosaic is the crap, period". If this was called the iMosaic, there would be dozens of Engadget articles with every single moronic detail of this PMP, and how amazing it is, as long as it has the tiny little bitten apple engraved on its back.

[Saul Thriller @ Aug 30th 2008 7:21PM]

Engadget's Paul Miller

We won't belabor this: Paul Miller has been spotted plenty of times before, and he "is a crap," as our friends at Babelfish put it. There was no worthwhile post to test out his blogging ability, but they looked pretty thrown together on the surface, and the blogger is otherwise bad and unimpressive. Also, the Paul Miller is in a line of one of shoddy writing -- and very uninteresting -- low-end Bloggers from Engadget. Next!

When you write an article that's worth less than a penny, you deserve to get bashed. Also, play around with the device rather than just go through the menus and take pictures of those. You will enjoy it more.

[Wormbolt @ Aug 30th 2008 7:59PM]

First!!!

[drummer @ Aug 30th 2008 10:22PM]

Thats awesome dude.

[PoisonEye @ Aug 30th 2008 9:25PM]

I don't know if the mosaic is or is not a crap, but the x-fi is sweet. I bought one to replace my 5G ipod video (epic hard drive fail). The sound quality is much better than the 5G ipod (using Bose triport earbuds on both), and the screen looks better to me. Putting files on it is much better than using itunes (even though it needs to convert them to QVGA resolution...whatever). All in all it's great. The only drawback to me is the 9 button grid. I don't like the iPod click wheel either, but that button grid is weird. They are too "clicky" and have no labels. It kind of reminds me of Demolition Man..."Hahah, he doesn't know how to use the 9 buttons". See what I did there with replacing 3 seashells with 9 buttons?

[Thi mam(kris120890) @ Aug 30th 2008 9:44PM]

How did the 3 seashells actually work.

[konshuss @ Aug 31st 2008 12:54AM]

my creative zen using iriverter to convert any video format makes it win for me. hooray for simpsons on the subway!