For Those Familiar with Creative Products - Briefly Comparing Creative Zen Xtra and Zen 2.0
Written: Jan 13 '05 (Updated Jan 13 '05)
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Pros: Great sound once you customize your settings; great value; easy menu navigation
Cons: Flimsy-feeling navigation dial that sometimes gets stuck when you're pushing the dial inward
The Bottom Line: Navigation dial takes getting used to. The sound is great once you adjust your settings. A lot cheaper than iPod for 40 GB. Perfect for large CD collections.
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| colmmoo's Full Review: Creative Technology Nomad Jukebox Zen Xtra (40 GB)... |
Just got a Zen Xtra (40 GB) and was expecting it to be just like the Zen 2.0 (20 GB). There were some things that were different, some of which takes some getting used to.
Size
The Zen Xtra is supposedly smaller than the Zen 2.0, but I don't see a whole lot of difference, and they weigh about the same to me. The Zen 2.0 is all matte silver - very generic - looks cool nonetheless. The Zen Xtra is matte silver from back to front and has white sides that look iPod-ish. The headphones that come with it are white too, but I've always opted to use my own headphones since Creative headphones haven't always sounded great and always felt flimsy to me.
Navigation Dial
The Zen 2.0 has a simple dial on the right side that you could scroll 360 degrees and allows for easily navigation - so easily that you can navigate through playlists and songs with one hand. The Zen Xtra has a dial too (it feels flimsy), BUT there's a little piece of it that juts out, perhaps put there to make it easier for your finger to grip on to. The dial only scrolls half way up or down, since the little piece only allows for 90 degree turns up or down. You need to keep your finger down on the little piece in order to scroll through a big list. The dial doesn't turn as smoothly as in the Zen 2.0 and the little piece sometimes gets in the way and sticks when you're trying to press the dial inward to enter parts of the menu. I'm still trying to get used to using this dial.
Navigation menu is pretty much the same as on the Zen 2.0, so if you're familiar with the usual Creative MP3 player menu, you'll be fine.
Music Loading
Loading the music from my Zen 2.0 was a snap. Just connect both players via USB then go into the Creative software, highlight all the songs in one and press the arrow pointing to the Zen Xtra. One thing that annoyed me was that I was able to get all 3,000 songs over but not the playlists - that's a separate step. I eventually realized that you have to go into the playlist view in the Zen 2.0 pane (when you're using the software), highlight the playlists then press the arrow point to the Zen Xtra pane.
Sound Quality
The Zen 2.0 sounds awesome from the moment you turn it on. I was taken aback with the Zen Xtra because although it sounded clear, it sounded kinda like radio - just generic with no oomph and very little bass. I tried choosing different settings in the EAX Audio section - it sounded a bit better, but still not as good as the Zen 2.0. I was about to complain to Creative when I saw on one of the discussion boards on their site about customizing the bass, treble, etc. settings. You need to set the EAX to Advanced EQ, then Custom EQ. From there you can adjust all of the settings.
Battery Life
At least 10 hours on the Zen 2.0 - I actually tested this on a flight to Asia and it really lasted a long time. I haven't had a chance to test the battery life of the Zen Xtra. It was weird seeing the detachable battery when I first opened the package - you have to flip open the front to get the battery in there. I've heard horror stories of the front having a tendency to flip off once in awhile. I haven't had that happen to me, but then again I've only had this for a few days.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 249
Recommended for: Music Lovers - High Capacity Storage for an Entire Album Collection
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Epinions.com ID:
colmmoo
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Reviews written: 8
Trusted by: 0 members
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