Design
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Feel me up: The touch scroll |
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With both the top and bottom portions of the touch scroll devoted to speed browsing, it literally left little space for our thumb to maneuver, which inevitably led to some major frustrations when we could not achieve pin-point selection of the tracks we wanted. It would have been easier if the touch scroll was lengthened or better yet -- a circular version not unlike the iPod's click wheel.
Though we would be the first to admit that there is a steep learning curve involved in mastering the touch scroll, it does have its redeeming side for users willing to spend time to experiment. Included in the settings are three levels of sensitivity settings to cater for different fingers. For those who can't quite tap without getting a double-click in response, there is a thoughtful OK button placed at the top of the touch scroll which acts as the ENTER button.
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Press OK for okay |
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Even though opinion was divided on the usability of the touch scroll among the CNET team, it ultimately turned out to be more of a case of familiarity than anything else. After a week of living with the Zen Touch, we could maneuver our way pretty smoothly throughout the menu.
Overall, the Zen Touch has a very solid feel to it that speaks of excellent build quality. The array of buttons on both sides of the touch scroll good tactile feedback, though in an age of increasing better displays, Creative could have included an OLED screen instead of the passé blue backlit LCD display.
Features
Without turning over to the PC for help, the Zen Touch offers instant playlist creation on-the-fly, which we thought was an especially esteemed feature since with over 5,000 songs in our device, it was possible to set different lists for entirely different occasions.
Other than eight preset equaliser settings that range from acoustic to jazz, the Zen Touch also includes a four-band user-defined equaliser setting which tends be a neglected feature in many other MP3 players. However, for audio tweakers like us, four bands were a little stingy. A standard five-band one, comparable to those on home stereos would have served our purposes better.
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Optional FM tuner and microphone |
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The device confines support to only MP3, WMA and WAV files, which is a pity since the Zen Touch comes with a 97dB signal-to-noise ratio, which could had been better put to use in articulating the FLAC and OGG format tunes. Besides this insufficiency, it is disappointing that Creative expects us to fork out extra for added FM and recording functions via an optional wired remote control. For a sizable 203g worth of MP3 player that is only slightly larger than an iPod, surely the FM tuner could have at least been built into the device?
Searching for a particular track is not a major hassle with the Zen Touch. Classifying the songs by title, artist, albums and even genres, hunting for our favourite tracks is not a problem at all, though if Creative were to add in keyword search, we would be the first in line to grab a unit.
Software-wise, Creative has bundled in its excellent MediaSource program which did a decent job of ripping CDs, playlist creation as well as syncing with the Zen Touch. However, our gripe is the fact that though the Zen Touch has an external hard-drive function, we could not find the necessary drivers from the Creative Web site to allow other computers to recognise the Zen Touch as a hard drive. Unless users plan to carry along the software CD everywhere, this is a big point to quibble with.
Performance
With the manufacturer proclaiming a battery life of 24 hours, the Zen Touch impressed big time during our first time trials with its playback longevity. The mean timing? A grand total of 25 hours and 12 minutes which is definitely enough to keep the music going from dusk to dawn.
On sonic delivery, the Zen Touch has an audiophile slant that did justice to a variety of tracks from pounding rock to whimsical bluegrass. Bass and treble did not turn out either too rough or strained, and the 20mW output certainly had the oomph to power the included Creative earphones; though as usual, the more discerning might decide to ditch them and purchase their own.
From desktop to player, we hit a mean transfer speed of 4.59Mbps through the USB 2.0 connection. Be prepared to brew a couple of cups of java if you intend to fill up the entire player at one go.
Lauren
22/10/2008, 02:36 PM
rating
7/10
my computer doesn't play cd's at the momoment so i was wondering if there's away to get music on to my zen touch creative mp3 payer without the cd.
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MalachiConstant
06/10/2008, 12:38 AM
rating
3/10
I own the 40 GB Zen Touch. It it cheap, but badly designed, so on the whole I will not be buying anything from them again.
Pros: Long battery life, cheap, worked tolerably well for some years.
Cons: Crappy interface. I agree with all the criticism of the scroll bar, but even worse, having the case hold the thing by compression on raised touch-sensitive buttons has to be one of the dumbest design features I have ever seen. Couple this to the random button, which takes all of your music (Beethoven symphonies, Beatles albums, long rambling Grateful Dead jams, old blues tunes, opera arias, etc.), mixes them into one great indigestible mass, and then plays them all garbled together. There is nothing quite like having "Truckin'" segue into the 2nd movement of Mahler's 5th to teach you that not all great music sounds great together. Once it gets into this mode (which it infuriatingly defaults to if you press back when it is confused about where it is) it takes forever to get out of it, as it has to queue your whole 40 GB of music just to allow you to delete the queue. The person who designed this couldn't have actually used one, as if so they would have been reduced to screaming profanity at it every time it happens (which is about once per day) and then fixed it. On top of that mine has now become catatonic (stuck in the recovery mode), which appears a common fault as they age. All in all the cons far outweigh the pros, so I will give Creative a pass from now on.
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JMQ
24/07/2007, 09:33 AM
rating
3/10
Stopped working when I updated the software and Creative do not seem too interested in supplying answers for older models. Was happy with it until now but wont be buying Creative again.
Pros: Reliable hardware.
Cons: Extremely poor support.
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mbutts
16/06/2007, 09:52 AM
rating
3/10
I have loved this player for 3 years until today. I updated the firmware and it ceased to function. There are many others like me if you read the forums. I was told by creative customer service that my player was over a year old and that it was unsupported. Get with the program. If you want repeat business then you offer customer support regardless especially if a firmware upgrade kills the unit and makes it a high priced paperweight.
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anonymous
20/02/2007, 12:38 AM
rating
7/10
I disagree with the learning curve on the touch pad. this was my first ever mp3 player and i had the hang of it in a snap. The Zen Touch Is VERY Fragile though, i had to send mine back several times. The technology is also old. No colors, no videos, no pics, no radio. BUT IT STILL HAS FLIPPIN AWESOME SOUND!!! I would Recommend this to a beginner in the mp3 world. TAKE CARE OF IT THOUGH!!!
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allen
09/09/2006, 01:49 AM
rating
8/10
i need help downloading music
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evon
29/03/2006, 07:39 AM
head phone jack
I have had my zen touch for less then 3 months and my head phone jack has already failed. I have to move it around and hold it in a certain position to get any sound. I have tried this with various diffenent sets of head phones so i know that there isn't a short in the cord.
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casino
28/03/2006, 05:03 PM
GREAT
I've had my Zen Touch for over a year now and it still runs great. The battery life is still excellent and the best in the business in my opinion. The only problem I have had is sometimes when skipping to the next in shuffle mode, it pauses instead. That is no big deal though, just press play again. The Zen Touch is better than the Ipod for the simple fact that the battery lasts forever. I charge mine probably one a week and I use it all day at work, skipping, shuffling, navigating and using every function and the battery continues to roll. Get this product.
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emily
24/03/2006, 10:10 PM
AFTER ONLY 3MONTHS!
After only 3 months of using my pink zen micro, there was a problem, the headfones would not work unless i moved them into a certain posistion, and now it's stuck in recovery mode, yet when you choose any of the options ( tried them all) none of them work, even after 5 hours!!! now its stuck in the opening screen which displays ' CREATIVE'. Cannot return to amazon... they wont accept returns!! :@ and creative failed to assist me by sending an automatic email telling me to download software....you think i havent already tried EVERYTHING??! - from pi**ed off 16 yr old. emily.
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Landerro50
19/02/2006, 09:20 PM
Hard disk crashes
Hard disk crashes very soon
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