Creative Zen X-Fi 16 GB Video MP3 Player with Wireless LAN and Built-In Speaker (Black/Silver) | List Price: $199.99
Discount Price: $164.99
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Brand: Creative Labs
Binding: Electronics
Features: - A firmware bug could result in the player locking when playing the FM radio; to fix the problem, upgrade the latest firmware (1.04.08) posted on support.creative.com
- Capacity: 16 GB (4,000 songs or 60 hours of video); up to 30 hours of continuous audio playback or 5 hours of continuous video playback on one charge
- 2.5-inch TFT LCD with 320 x 240 pixel resolution: 16.7 million colors
- Supports MP3, WMA, AAC5, WAV (ADPCM), Audible 2,3,4 audio formats; MJPEG, WMV, MPEG-4 video (including DivX and XviD); and JPEG photo formats
- 1-year limited hardware / 90 days service warranty
Great Product, Horrible Software Problems [Posted on 2008-11-20]
Pros:
Sound quality is superb
Included headphones is high quality
Easy to use interface
Many different features
Great looking screen (which is great for video)
Cons:
- Extremely disappointing and frustrating software compatibility issues
- Extra, useless buttons
- Most video files require transcoding
- Some features are more gimmick than practical
- Interface is not as smooth as it could be
Summary:
The player itself is great. It has great sound quality, the interface is very sleek and very customizable, and the included ear buds retail for around $30-$40, much better than the included earbuds of say an iPod. The screen is great for video viewing also.
The main problem is the compatibility of Windows Media Player. Although many people will say that Windows Media Player will support the Creative Zen X-Fi just fine, I have a very frustrating experience with it. I'm the kind of guy who likes to maintain all his album information and likes control of what stays and what goes on my music, and I prefer to sync my music rather than go through the major trouble of manually keeping track of my music. I have a pretty large selection, so manually syncing the Zen to my computer is almost impossible. The problem is whenever I try to sync, 50of the time my Zen would crash. Now, this problem is prevalent not only in the X-Fi, but also prevalent in the older cousin Creative Zen. I absolutely believe that Creative just dropped the ball here, now that not one but TWO products have the same issues. I looked all over the Creative support website, and there are absolutely no mention of this problem at all. I'd have to constantly reset my player after syncing them.
Conclusion:
The product itself is great, but the software issues (as well as the useless bundled software) creates a major headache for me. Syncing my music has become the most frustrating experience for me, and it seems like Windows Media Player CHOOSES when to sync and when to crash my player. I honestly blame Creative for not making the effort to fix this issue. My recommendation? If you want a great MP3 player and you're old school who doesn't care about automatic syncing, then definitely give this player equal consideration with other MP3 players. However, if you want great control of your music library without the tediousness of managing it manually, then stay away. Had I known there were these issues with Windows Media Player, I'd definitely take that into major consideration.
Just OK [Posted on 2008-11-20]
When I first got my 32 gb X-fi, I was very satisfied with it. I was pleased that I got it to work with my Mac through xnjb and loved the external speaker. I liked the assignable short cut button and managing my library (such as deleting songs and editing playlists) through the player was convenient. However, I found that the bass sounded very distorted, whether it was the included earbuds or the player itself, I'm not sure. I tried many genres of music and various audio settings including the crystalizer, but no change. When the battery started running low, it would crash many times and I would have to reset it. Button navigation was mediocre, especially scrolling through artists, though using the alphabet on the side did help a little. I didn't think the wi-fi capabilities were all they were cracked up to be. Plus the instant messaging was pointless. In the end, I decided to return it after about 2 months and got a refurbished iPod Touch which was only about $30 more.
Horrible Software and couldn't play MP4 video!!! [Posted on 2008-11-21]
My main reason for buying this was because of all the positive review about the sound quality and yes it's OK but that what i expected. It sound just a TINY bit better than my 30 GB video ipod when playing mp3. The processed i had to do through to open it and set it all up was over 30 minutes, which is just annoying and frustrating.
The sound is not all that great as they made it to be. My ipod sound just as good... by the way i do use the seinheinsser CX500 earbud.
The earbud that they put with this isn't that great either, wouldn't fit my ear and stay in. Sound was ok from it.
Im returning it but before i do im just going to give it one more chance and convert my mp4 files to avi and see how it sound compare to ipod.
Disappointing audio quality [Posted on 2008-11-23]
Very disappointing unit. Neither the Bass Boost nor equalizer settings worked at all. Regardless of whether those functions were switched on or off the audio flowing through the headphones sounded very similar in range to that of the the external speaker on the back of the unit. Not recommended.
Counterintuitive [Posted on 2008-11-23]
I have never in my life had to read the instructions to figure out how to adjust volume..until now, and that was one of the easier features to figure out. I'll admit that I am not a computer buff, but my bf is, and not even he could figure this thing out.
The software is another thing I had probs with. It loaded half the time, but I was never able to transfer lists I made on the computer to the player. I was also unable to make lists on the player manually, so the music was disorganized. I'd have to sift through the list alphabetically to get to another tune I wanted to hear at the time..very irritating
Oh ya, and the volume. One thing is for sure...and that is that you wont go deaf by listening to music with this. ALL of my other players had higher volume than this even old CD players
Very complicated and not fully functional
Big disappointment
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