When talking about MP3 players, the first thing to spring to mind is Apple’s legendary iPod. As a result, Apple currently dominates the market when it comes to MP3 players. The problem with that is a lot of people will instantly go and buy iPods when there could be a better option. Here is a review of one of the iPods’ competitors: the Creative Zen Touch.
Specification
Here are the specifications direct from the Creative website:
- Size WxHxD : 4.12″ x 2.7″ x 0.866″
- Weight : 7.05 oz with battery
- Capacity : 20GB(1), 40GB(1)
- Battery Life : Up to 24 hour(2) battery life at 128kbps MP3 or 32 hour(2) at 48kbps MP3 of continuous playtime
- Interface : USB 2.0 (backward compatible with USB 1.1)
- Playback Format : MPEG Audio Layer 3 (MP3), Windows Media™ Audio (WMA) and WAV
- Signal-to-Noise Ratio : up to 97dB
- Channel Separation : up to 74dB
- Frequency Response : 20Hz – 20kHz
- Harmonic Distortion Output : less than 0.1%
- Operating System/Firmware: Reprogrammable(3)
- Headphone out : 1 x 1/8″ stereo minijack
- Display : 160 x 104 pixel resolution, blue EL backlit LCD
Creative offers a one-year limited hardware warranty.
(1) 1GB is seen as 1,000,00,000 bytes. Available capacity will be less. Reported capacity will vary
(2) 24 hours battery life at 128kbps MP3 or 32 hours at 48kbps MP3
(3) OS/Firmware support & updates will be available via www.creative.com
As you can see, this player packs quite a punch. With a massive battery life, and supporting 3 different formats (it doesn’t mention that it also supports DRM-protected WMA files), it exceeds the iPod in functionality. But, the sacrifice is in weight and size. It is bigger and heavier than the iPod, but in my experience, the player is just fine. Also, you can update the firmware on this player, opening the door to enhanced functionality down the road.
Package
In the package you get:
- Creative Zen Touch
- Power adapter
- USB cable
- Leather carry case
- Driver disk with Creative Mediasource and NOMAD Explorer
- Pair of white Creative earphones
- Quick start guide
Everything is of high quality, but with one letdown: the earphones. In my opinion, they lack any form of bass at all, and don’t do the player justice. I replaced them with a pair of Sony MDR-ED21 earphones, which sound a lot better.
Next was the carry case. It was very thick, and padded well to ensure my player didn’t get scratched/damaged. It also had a plastic clip to allow you to attach it to your belt etc. Notice I am speaking in the past tense, there is a reason for that. The case was great, but it could be improved. Here is the Creative Zen Touch, and the leather case:
As you can see, there is a major flaw. If I have my player in this, how can I access any controls or see the screen? You can’t. And being the idiot I am, decided to try and change this. I decided that I never use the case anyway because of its flaw, so I tried cutting into it. Big mistake. As I said, it is padded very well. When I tried hacking into it with a knife, I just left a jagged hole in the case. Also, the padding was so thick even if it worked I would be struggling to press anything anyway. So, take my advice, don’t do it!
The quick start guide has everything you need to know to get you up and running with the Zen Touch. Make sure you read this, since it has some useful info you may need later! I spent hours trying to figure out how to get DRM-protected music working with my player, until the guide told me how it should be done.
