also dont forget that creative will be releasing its new player sometime in november-early december (creative just says "in time for christmas"). it'll be using Microsofts Media2Go which will allow the next zen to offer video playback, image viewing, music playback, etc etc. it'll have 12hr battery life with 8 rated for video playback and have at least 20gigs of storage. so i think this is kind of the hold over so they dont lose much market share to apple. if creative can have as successful of a launch as they did with the zen with this device then they'd be in a position to take the entire market
heres the Microsoft press release. creative had one somewhere and im tryin to locate that now
http://search.microsoft.com/gomsuri.asp?n=2&c=rp_R esults&siteid=us&target=http://www.microsoft.com/p resspass/press/2003/mar03/03-13CreativeLabsPR.asp
thats exactly what the zen does. it lised based on whats in the tag of the directory you put onto it. the zen plays music and thats it. its not like the ipod with its contact list, calendar, and games. i bought the zen because i wanted music over all the other crap.
i also forgot to note
creative will sell replacement batteries starting sometime this year. so those of you with any battery problems what so ever will be able to open up the zen and replace it.
from my personal exp between the new ipod and the zen (tried the new one out for the first time on saturday) the zen is still king of sound quality. i tested it using 3 different high end headphones (Beyerdynamic DT250-250s, Senn 480s and 280pros). bass impact on the zen is much better (that can be told esp on the beyerdynamics as they squeeze every ounce of bass out of what you plug them into, and thats true for any headphones they make), the overall clearness from the zen was much better then the ipods. its like that sound you get going from a SBLive! to an audigy 2. you suddenly hear more things that you didnt even notice were there on the Live.
the ui. i agree that the ipod ui is easier to learn but once you get into the zen its easier to find what your looking for then it is on the ipod in my opinion. that search function the zen has really comes in handy
zen has 100mW output and 98db. the ipod has a 60mW output and wont even list its db. so that means that you'll need an amp if you want some high end headphones like the DT250-250s or the senn 480s but the zen has a high enough output that you dont need that amp.
battery life. zen has a rated 14hrs (i pull the rated 12 and an extra 30mins on my firewire model fyi) and ipod has a rated 8. zen is the clear winner there
usb2.0, the zen has it now while it lost the firewire (appears to be discontinued). the ipod wont have it until june and wants you to pay another $20 for the cable.
yes playcenter sucks but you can also use windows media player to transfer music. creative file manager isnt that bad. i havent had it crash on me in the middle of a file transfer like playcenter did once. but all in all notmad is still better hands down.
durability. well i dropped my zen down the wooden stairs of my house while fidgeting with the belt clip on the case and it didnt even skip when i picked it up. i doubt the ipod would of been so lucky.
and finally AAC support....the only reason apple is even using that is because in their agreement with the labels thats what they finally agreed on. that'd be like if Creative suddenly came out and said they made AAC-Plus or something.
theres even downsides to the ipod. some people have been noticing an audible "click" between tracks on their new iPods. See thread linked below. I would wait to see whether Apple resolves this problem in a firmware update before I buy.
http://www4.head-fi.org/forums/showthread.php?s=&t hreadid=33481
something else i found in that thread on head-fi
"Also, one major drawback with current firmware is the queuing. If you're currently listening to the 'on the go' playlist, and then add a song to it, that newly added song wont be played on the curently listened playlist. You have to restart the playlist for the added song to be recognized on the list."
looks like they managed to screw up that feature too, haha. that significantly brings down the appeal of the new Ipod to me. although that's probably something they could fix with firmware upgrade maybe?
the only thing ipod has over the zen is its weight and size along with its little games and calendar.
Slashdot Mirror
it has a 20/60 gig harddrive. it has no need for a memory stick....
also dont forget that creative will be releasing its new player sometime in november-early december (creative just says "in time for christmas"). it'll be using Microsofts Media2Go which will allow the next zen to offer video playback, image viewing, music playback, etc etc. it'll have 12hr battery life with 8 rated for video playback and have at least 20gigs of storage. so i think this is kind of the hold over so they dont lose much market share to apple. if creative can have as successful of a launch as they did with the zen with this device then they'd be in a position to take the entire market heres the Microsoft press release. creative had one somewhere and im tryin to locate that now http://search.microsoft.com/gomsuri.asp?n=2&c=rp_R esults&siteid=us&target=http://www.microsoft.com/p resspass/press/2003/mar03/03-13CreativeLabsPR.asp
thats exactly what the zen does. it lised based on whats in the tag of the directory you put onto it. the zen plays music and thats it. its not like the ipod with its contact list, calendar, and games. i bought the zen because i wanted music over all the other crap.
i also forgot to note creative will sell replacement batteries starting sometime this year. so those of you with any battery problems what so ever will be able to open up the zen and replace it.
from my personal exp between the new ipod and the zen (tried the new one out for the first time on saturday) the zen is still king of sound quality. i tested it using 3 different high end headphones (Beyerdynamic DT250-250s, Senn 480s and 280pros). bass impact on the zen is much better (that can be told esp on the beyerdynamics as they squeeze every ounce of bass out of what you plug them into, and thats true for any headphones they make), the overall clearness from the zen was much better then the ipods. its like that sound you get going from a SBLive! to an audigy 2. you suddenly hear more things that you didnt even notice were there on the Live. the ui. i agree that the ipod ui is easier to learn but once you get into the zen its easier to find what your looking for then it is on the ipod in my opinion. that search function the zen has really comes in handy zen has 100mW output and 98db. the ipod has a 60mW output and wont even list its db. so that means that you'll need an amp if you want some high end headphones like the DT250-250s or the senn 480s but the zen has a high enough output that you dont need that amp. battery life. zen has a rated 14hrs (i pull the rated 12 and an extra 30mins on my firewire model fyi) and ipod has a rated 8. zen is the clear winner there usb2.0, the zen has it now while it lost the firewire (appears to be discontinued). the ipod wont have it until june and wants you to pay another $20 for the cable. yes playcenter sucks but you can also use windows media player to transfer music. creative file manager isnt that bad. i havent had it crash on me in the middle of a file transfer like playcenter did once. but all in all notmad is still better hands down. durability. well i dropped my zen down the wooden stairs of my house while fidgeting with the belt clip on the case and it didnt even skip when i picked it up. i doubt the ipod would of been so lucky. and finally AAC support....the only reason apple is even using that is because in their agreement with the labels thats what they finally agreed on. that'd be like if Creative suddenly came out and said they made AAC-Plus or something. theres even downsides to the ipod. some people have been noticing an audible "click" between tracks on their new iPods. See thread linked below. I would wait to see whether Apple resolves this problem in a firmware update before I buy. http://www4.head-fi.org/forums/showthread.php?s=&t hreadid=33481
something else i found in that thread on head-fi
"Also, one major drawback with current firmware is the queuing. If you're currently listening to the 'on the go' playlist, and then add a song to it, that newly added song wont be played on the curently listened playlist. You have to restart the playlist for the added song to be recognized on the list."
looks like they managed to screw up that feature too, haha. that significantly brings down the appeal of the new Ipod to me. although that's probably something they could fix with firmware upgrade maybe?
the only thing ipod has over the zen is its weight and size along with its little games and calendar.