Good Technology, not very user friendly.
Written: Jun 05 '05 (Updated Dec 20 '05)
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Pros: Battery life, durable, lots of storage, sound quality, many EQ options
Cons: Bad interface, no support for audible files, no rewind or fast forward function
The Bottom Line: If you like music and audio books don't buy this product. If you must have something just for music you may consider this as it is cheaper than an IPOD.
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| srmaczka's Full Review: Creative Labs Zen Touch (40 GB) MP3 Player |
First of all, I do feel that we are blessed to live in an age where we have all of this great technology to make our lives easier. I am one that loves to listen to audio books and I bought the Creative Zen Touch (CZT) to bring with me on long trips so that I could listen to both good music and audio books without having to drag along many tapes or CD's. Unfortunately, the CZT did not live up to my expectations to make this a must-buy product. In this Epinion, I will guide you through what you will go through step-by-step if you are to buy this product.
(Grading scale A through F)
LOADING AND USING SOFTWARE: C-
The software is loaded through a single CD which loads two separate programs onto your computer - Creative MediaSource Organizer (CMO) and Creative MediaSource Converter (CMC). The space you will need available on your hard drive to hold these programs is about 45MB, which is a pretty large amount of space.
The CMO is a useful program that will allow you to organize all of your audio by artist, album and genre. What I do is load all of my music and other audio files onto my C: drive and then access them through the CMO. I could at this point click and drag items from my C: drive right onto my CZT when it is docked. This could only be done if the files are MP3 or WAV format. When I try to load WMA files this way, my CZT player gives me an error message when I try to play it.
This brings us to the CMC software. Many of the audio files that I load are in WMA format when I put them onto my C: drive. What I then have to do is use the CMC to convert the file format from WMA to WAV. Once this is done, I could then follow the steps listed above using the click and drag method. Once you get used to this method, it becomes quite simple to use, however, I think that Creative could have been more innovative in making this process more user friendly.
One other function offered by the CZT via the CMO is that you can record your own files onto the CZT and then burn CD's with that recording. I have not used this option, but it seems to be a cool function for people in a garage band wanting to create demos.
NASTY DRAWBACKS - This device does not support Audible files, which to me is a huge negative. Almost all audio book downloads are in "Audible" format via Audible.com. IPOD and the Zen XTRA do support Audible files but this was not communicated to me from the Creative sales person who sold me my device. As a matter a fact, he told me that I could easily download all audio books from the internet and listen to them on my CZT because the CZT is the newest and most up-to-date product from Creative. I'm very disappointed in this to say the least.
USING THE PRODUCT: C
If you decide to purchase the CZT, make sure you also purchase quality headphones. The earplugs that come with the product are useless.
The design of the CZT is admittedly nice with an up and down touch pad that allows you to scroll through your menus. The menus consist of searching by artist, album, genre or song to help you more easily find your song or audio file. If you feel that the touch pad is too sensitive, you can go to the "Setting" menu and change the sensitivity to your liking. In my opinion, even the lowest sensitivity setting is too sensitive. At the top left is the arrow button that will take you back to your last-viewed page. Directly below the arrow button is the "menu" button that will automatically take you to the main menu where you can search by artist, album, genre, etc. The next button below the "menu" button is the "random" button which simply selects your audio files at random. The three buttons down the right side are from top to bottom "back", "play/pause" and "next".
Big Negative: When this device was made, there should have been at least two more buttons that allow you to search within the audio file. For example, some of my audio files are full chapters that may be 10-20 minutes long. If I have listened to half of one of these chapters and lose my spot, I have to then re-listen to the first half of the chapter before hearing the half that I have not yet listened to. This is very annoying. In addition, if you are listening to a selection and the player is not in "lock mode" it is very easy to hit the skip button and you'll completely lose your place. This is reason enough to find a different audio player.
UPDATE: I apologize, but thanks to an informed reader that rated this review, the buttons that skip to the next track and go to the previous track also act as fast-forward and rewind buttons if you hold them down. Thank you for the correction.
DURABILITY/SOUND QUALITY: B
The case that comes with the CZT is durable, but not very nice. You are not able to charge your CZT while it is in the case. Unlike the IPOD, the digital screen is very durable and doesn't scratch after owning it for only a week or so. This product was well made for its durability. It also has a very good battery life, although the claim of lasting 24 hours is quite inaccurate. It is definitely a better battery than what comes with the IPOD or its other competitors. The sound quality is superb, especially with good headphones (I recommend Plane Quiet headphones as they are much cheaper than the BOSE but still give you great sound). The device has 8 pre-loaded equalizers to choose from - Acoustic, Classical, Disco, Jazz, New Age, Pop, Rock and Vocal. The CZT also offers a custom equalizer function to shape the sound as you choose. This is the best feature on the CZT.
CUSTOMER SERVICE: C
I'm sure that others have had better customer service that me. The reason for my harsh grade is the lack of knowledge the CSR's had about the Creative products. My thought is that he should have known what audio files are supported by each of the devices. In my case, the CSR had no clue. The one positive is that he was polite when making the sale.
OVERALL: C
In the decision making process of purchasing an MP3 player, it is really all about the purpose for which you are using the device. In my situation, it was not a very good purchase due to the incompatibility with audible files. If you are using the MP3 player only for music files, this may be the path you want to take as it is fairly easy to transfer music from your audio CD's to your hard drive and then to your CZT. At this stage of the evolution of MP3 players, it seems as though every player on the market has issues to some extent and I believe it is a way for the manufacturers to get people to buy all the new upgrades that become available. Therefore, if you have the patience, wait it out until one of the companies gets it right and then buy in.
Recommended:
No
Amount Paid (US$): 285.00
Recommended for: Music Lovers - High Capacity Storage for an Entire Album Collection
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Epinions.com ID:
srmaczka
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Member: Scott Maczka
Location: Chicago, IL
Reviews written: 14
Trusted by: 0 members
About Me:
Certified Public Accoutant who likes fine dining and miscellaneous sporting activities
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