• Welcome to Overclockers Forums! Join us to reply in threads, receive reduced ads, and to customize your site experience!

Creative Zen

Overclockers is supported by our readers. When you click a link to make a purchase, we may earn a commission. Learn More.

GunnerMan

Member
Joined
Nov 19, 2004
Location
Albuquerque, New Mexico
Well I am thinkin about buyin me a mp3 plaer for B-day. So I visit creatives site and we have Zen, Zen touch, Jukbox Zen NX, Jukebox Zen Xtra, and Jukebox Zen USB 2.0. Ok I am having a hard time figuring out wich one is better :eh?: Creative dosent make that real clear for me? So can someone help me out, also don't even think about comming in here sayin get an Ipod because I will not support Apple period.
 
what size are you looking for?

how much do you want to spend?

what features would you like? (e.g. FM, recording...)

the "zen"(20gb) isnt available yet. its a big version of the "zen micro" (4,5,6 gb). the "zen touch" (20, 40gb) is the most recently released, and got good reviews. the other models are older, and the only one thats still really available is the "zen xtra" (30, 40, 60gb). my roomate last year had a zen xtra, and i didnt care for it. it was as big as a brick, and the aluminum casing felt cheap and began to separate from the plastic frame after a month or 2.

if your spending limit is low, i would look at the rio karma. if you dont have a spending limit, and you want tons of features, i would look at iriver or iaudios newest player the x5.
 
Last edited:
Yeah guess I left out some useful details. 10 Gig would work but 20 or more preferably. Features well, I want my music to be organizable Genre>Artist.... I will spend up to around 250 give or take. Also I would like to be able to if possible have my music on player go into car sterio so I could play it in the car without headphones etc... Thanks
 
connecting to your car will have little to do with the player. for that you have a few options:

-fm transmitter - the worst connection. range from $20 to $40 and can be powered from the cigarette outlet or from a battery. need to find a station with little interference. signal quality depends on how well your car recieves the fm signal and the position of the transmitter. i had one and i hated it. always fuzzy, and once i thought it was working well, i would get a static hiss.

-fm modulator - requires installation. a step up from transmitter, this is powered from your car (splice in i think) and kinda "cuts off" the cars antenna. it plugs into your stereo where the antenna used to, and then the antenna plugs into it. i havent tried this, but it should be better than the transmitter for sure. $50 + installation

-tape deck - this should actually be the easiest way. its cheap, easy, and the sound quality should be better than either of the 2 previous methods. if you have a tape deck, this is the way to go.

-aux input adapter - later this week, im actually finishing up my project. on most factory car stereos there is an extra plug in the back for the optional cd changer. this adapter plugs in there and allows you an extra input (your mp3 player). this should be the best solution. $60 + installation(DIY?) talk to g0dM@n, he works for a company that makes these if you're interested.



back to the player itself, the zen touch might be a good one, but looking at the specs, its pretty big. if you're concerned about the size, i would look at the archos gmini xs200. its really tiny, and seems to get great reviews.
http://reviews.cnet.com/Archos_Gmini_XS200/4505-6490_7-31151949.html?tag=pdtl-list

another good option is the rio karma. it has some poor user reviews, but theres a ton of people who love it.
http://reviews.cnet.com/Rio_Karma__20GB_/4505-6490_7-30474134.html?tag=topprods
 
Last edited:
IRiver is a good brand... My brother and I have big pockets, so we don't really care bout size...


my brother has a Creative Zen Xtra 40GB... its sick... comes with a nice case too (just blocks the screen)...


my neighbor has a zen micro, its pretty sweet as well
 
iriver h320 is the most feature-filled out of all the current players. it is 20/40gb, color screen, plays video with korean firmware, fm radio, and it doesn't use any proprietory software for transferring music. my friend has a zen touch, it's really nice as well, very durable and amazing battery life.
 
I've been looking into one of these too, and all the reviews seem to think that the Zen Touch is a pretty big upgrade over the Zen Xtra. It's newer and they fixed a lot of the complaints that people had about the Xtra. A little more expensive, but the ease of use factor may make it worth it.
 
i think it might be a bit more than you want to spend, but right now i think the best thing out there (or will be out there very soon) is the iaudio x5

http://www.dapreview.net/content.php?review.201

IF it gets ID3 tag browsing (which is rediculous to leave out) i think it will be the king of multi-function harddrive players.
 
Back