Creative's cheap Zen MX even bores paid product models
By Thomas Ricker 
posted Apr 28th 2009 3:15AM
posted Apr 28th 2009 3:15AM
Well what do you know... Creative's still in business and pumping out yet another variation of its Zen media player. The Zen MX features the same played design that Creative's been pushing since 2007 including a 2.5-inch, 320 x 240 pixel display, and SDHC expansion. However, as Creative's new low-end Zen, the MX is stripped of all but its most basic codecs -- MP3, DRM'd WMA, JPG pics, Audible 4, and Creative's own CMV video format are all that remain. The result is 8GB and 16GB Zen MX players hitting Japan (and presumably elsewhere) on May 5th for ¥9,800 (about $102) and ¥13,800 (about $144), respectively. Oh, and Creative also cut the price of its 32GB/16GB/8GB Zen X-Fi players. A move that would usually indicate an attempt to clear out inventory as the company prepares for a new flag-ship product. However, given the global economic situation and Creative's own internal meltdown, let's just say we're not too hopeful.
A 2009 player that doesn't even support AAC? A new low. Bleh.
Show less of the Zen and more of the paid model. Creative products are OK, but I wonder how they even stay in business in this economy. Who the heck buys those products?
someone did their currency conversion wrong...
Ugh. Fixed. Was looking at Euros. -- Thomas
The title is just plain mean, was the other molested by a model? Or by a Creative personnel? Is there some internal anger build-up?
.... She's a model... that's what they do, they stand there and they look indifferent - that's their job!
I am using Zen Vision: M since years and it works perfect.
dunno why engadget always goes with apple.. maybe they like the fruits a lot hehe
Me too ... I started with the 30 gig, and I've loved the Vision:M 60 gig for a couple of years now. I carry movies, music, output it to TV, treat it as a USB drive, listen to radio, etc. Looks like there's a lot of love for Creative's products in this board. I love how open the system is to multiple formats & management.
But I wish Creative would get organized lately. The internal cuts aren't good - and the 8 & 16 gig "new" Zen's just aren't as sexy as the originals were, given the time they came out. I figured I might buy one when they upped it to at least 30 gig -- but it's never happened. It's a shame ... it doesn't feel like Creative is innovating the way they did in the past.
creative did do good job once upon a time (the ZEN era! and anyone remember apple was the loser of copyright issue against creative!)
but we have to admit that creative is dead......
R.I.P, i'll miss u (my teen ages...)
I agree that Creative has done some great things. My Zen Micro, Zen Micro Photo, and Zen have all been great, but they are from an era when Creative was getting Editor's Choice awards from multiple review sources. Haven't seen any of those in a while. Unless they really step it up this year, my next player will likely be from someone else (maybe a Cowon).
engadget probably hating on creative because it was fail product.. now they are making a low end new product! creative was at it's top when they had released zen vision m..
Snarky anti-Creative headline bores even the less jaded Engadget readers
Creative products have always been boring.
"DRM'd MWA" is new, though
when'll creative make gadgets with the zii chip?
I remember when Creative used to make really good MP3 players, i've had a few of theirs over the years. Its a shame things have become so stale from them recently.
Ah well, Zune HD plz.
I love my creative zen. Great sound quality and very good bettery life and a well made product too. However I still think if creative had enabled the sdhc card to integrate with the main library it would have been a killer MP3 player but unfortunately it is crippled by having to manage to seperate libraries on the player. It is also hampered by the fact that you have to convert audio podcasts into video podcasts for them to appear in the podcast directory and when you do this they often cut off before the end. Creative techincal support was not particularly helpful and told me that I should just put them on as audio files and have to search for them among all my other music. They acknowledge that it is a bug but have said that it will not be fixed. With tech support like that it is no wonder they are struggling.
What a negative post.
I still have (and use) a Creative Zen Xtra, it still works perfectly, and has far better sound quality than most mp3 players have today (though I plan to replace it with a Cowon S9 when I can get the 32gb model).
Hey Fruitgadget, wake me up when you find an evilPod that sounds better than that creative of a few years vintage, mmmkay?
girl is thinking:
* SDHC is nice, but no FLAC support? http://flac.sourceforge.net Is this 1999?
* no removable battery?
* can't wait for this shoot to be over...
What PMP have removable batteries? Not all devices support FLAC.
kevincahoon @ Apr 28th 2009 4:48PM
What PMP have removable batteries? Not all devices support FLAC.
---------
1) that's the point, they all SHOULD have removable batteries. There are only a few that do. Do you want to throw away your PMP after you charge it up a few hundred times? That's what most people will be doing with embedded-battery devices (most will not bother replacing the battery and/or fixing embedded flash media that's gone bad). They aren't gonna do surgery on them to replace the battery. PSP is still one of the best non-PMP PMPs out, simply 'cause everything is removable (it also allows you to carry a spare).
2) not all support FLAC 'cause they are still in 1999 when flash memory actually cost some money. I never claimed all devices do support flac, merely that they should. It's 2009 and the format is royalty-free and brilliant. Even Sandisk even has the sense to realise this.
Agreed on the Creative awesomeness. I carry my Vision M with me everywhere. Always good to amuse the kids with a movie when I have errands to run or for a wait at a restaurant.
shes not bored, she just misses her skyblaze
dont worry, boo im on my way :(
You listen to the Mikey Show, Awesome.
She's just sad because she could have had a Dingoo A320 in black.
As someone who owns a Zen: Vision M and had a normal Zen (the model before this), and as a massive Creative lover and hater of Engadget's general dumbassery when it comes to non-Apple stuff, I don't really see any bias from the article here. Making fun of the design being from 2007 is -really- odd all things considered, but this thing is a total hack job.
I don't really see any reason to get this player at all, considering it nerfs almost all of the codecs (to the people being mad about FLAC, it's fairly obvious that this player isn't for people who would know what that format is), and is honestly -more- expensive than the normal model, but with no design changes whatsoever. I don't get it, Creative.
i have creative zen micro, and still like it.
Count me as another Vision: M lover. It's been an amazing player since I got it at launch. Although I've had the itch to 'upgrade' it for awhile now, I just can't find a suitable replacement. I was very excited with the Zen X-Fi's when they were announced, but was let down by them in the end. I've borrowed my sisters Zune and was pretty impressed with it, so now I'm keeping an eye on the Zune HD. Maybe I'll finally get to upgrade?
Oh where to start with this tantalizing tidbit:
I'm an unhappy Zen 8GB owner - why am I unhappy?
1) No regular firmware updates from Creative to iron out the many bugs they just don't seem to care about fixing (or can't).
2) Clock on PMP does not keep accurate time. Off and on it will end up several hours out of spec. Did you know this player has an alarm? Ya well don't get your hopes up because it will go off at 3 am instead of wake you up at 7 am as hoped.
3) The battery rattles around inside the player. Good if you're part of a band and need some percussion but seriously? The double sided tape they use to secure the battery inside the case loses it's adhesiveness.
4) Converting and transferring video to this beast is a total pain in the ass to put it mildly. You'll waste so much time doing it that it becomes a feature you'll seldom use.
5) Integrated SDHC slot for exapndable memory? Ya, bullshit...enough said.
6) Codec support? Yes, apparently these are the 1990's still...
7) Theming: this would be a very nice enhancement. I tell you, you can't see the white screen fonts at all sometimes when you change your wallpaper. If only I could change the color of the font...I wouldn't have a white out on my screen.
8) Go peruse the Creative forum for the endless list of complaints about their EXISTING products...you'll quickly find they don't care one little bit about you now that they stole your money. Especially look for tte white screen of death issue.
Listen, I personally am not an apple fan and purposefully bought a generic MP3 player in spite of it all...but I made a clear mistake purchasing a Creative player. Please, do yourself a favor and do NOT buy Creative. Let them die off because they really do deserve to go the way of Chrysler and Pontiac (GM). Looking back, I think my problems would be less had I bought an iPod...at least with their "closed system" I could customize the hell out of it and if I ponied up for one of those superfantastic models (the Touch) I could play some games on it.
Bah, Creative - Go to hell...you will not be missed.
I own both a creative zen xtra (30gb) and an iPhone and I still prefer to use the creative. One reason is that I can click around the menus and select music without having to look at the screen. This is especially useful when I am driving. Also, the battery life is a bit better. I love my iPhone, but cannot give up the great creative player and media monkey music management software.
surprised the title wasn't "MP3 Player thats not an iPod, who cares"
...creatie is doing this because they arent in good financial shape at the moment...
...and this will grab them a little extra cash...
...and help to clear out the inventory for an upcoming product...
...hopefully a sweet zii player...
...engadgets "dumbassery" [great word use bronson lee] towards creative...
...seems largely unfounded, as always...
...and probably based on their fear that apples reign of terror will end...
...when the general public realises there are so many better options than fruit branded crapola...
"Hey, whatcha listenin' to?"
"Music. See? It says so right here."
I have had a standard zen for about 2 years now and I still love it. Makes a great, basic and affordable mp3 player. I don't understand all the hate for creative.
As amazing as the Zen X-Fi looks, 32gb is a wee bit too small - I've run out of space on my reliable, excellent Zen Vision: M 30gb. Hopefully the next generation of players will go to at least 80, which iPod and Zune have had for at least a year.
The 80GB iPod and Zune are hard drive-based players. The Zen X-Fi is a flash memory-based player. None of the big PMP manufacturers are currently making a flash-based player that is more than 32GB. So your comparison of these products is not valid. Apple's iPod Touch is their 'high capacity' flash-based product and it is twice the physical size of the Zen X-Fi but still only has 32GB of storage. The iPod Touch costs $400. The Zen X-Fi costs $280. A standard 32GB Zen only costs $200. Vote with your dollars but understand what you are buying otherwise you are just another sucker like so many others out there who are enslaved by the Apple mirage.
I wonder if anyone from Engadget has ever used a Zen. I have had three iPods, all of which constantly had problems and they all died just after the one year warranty expired. After the last one died I was so frustrated with Apple that instead of buying another one I decided to buy a Creative Zen 16GB and have now been using it for almost two years. It is so far superior to iPods in almost every way that it bewilders me that I don't see more of them around. The only thing that the iPod has that's better is the click-wheel, but even so the navigation buttons on the Zen work great so I don't really miss the wheel. I also have an iPhone but I never use it for music. My Zen's battery will last for anywhere from 10-20 hours, depending on if I'm using it for music or video. This is far superior to the iPod. Also, my Zen is flash-based and I've dropped it several times with no problems at all. It is far cheaper than an iPod. It is far smaller than any flash-based iPod with this much memory. It supports about 3 times the codecs that an iPod supports. It has an SDHC card slot, unlike the iPod. It has an FM radio. So tell me how the iPod is better again? It's just not. Anyone who says it is just hasn't done their homework.
The hate is because engadget are a bunch of unabashed Mac fanboys. An iPod in the literal shape of a turd can come from Cupertino and they'll still find something to praise about it. I love my Zen, coming from a crappy iPod nano the sound quality is much better. Too bad the UI is pretty bad.
The internal cuts aren't good - and the 8 & 16 gig "new" Zen's just aren't as sexy as the originals were, given the time they came out. http://www.avi-converter.net
How is engadget being biased? This is truly a boring, incapable music player. I would much rather get a Zune 8 or 16 gb for $20 more.
I think it's really more a matter of Creative dropping the ball on THIS MP3 player (for once). I've been using Creative products for years, and they're still one of the best. I've got a Zen from years ago, still holds more than most iPods, still plays better than most iPods (and iPhones), lasts longer battery-length, DOESN'T REQUIRE iTunes!!!!!!!! and it's one of the older Hard-drive models.. I can't tell you how many times it's been knocked around.. and still works beautifully.
Apple isn't worth the overprice they put on everything. It's just the 'hey we're different' that people (and the sheep of that group) buy into.