Upside
There's nothing like a touch-sensitive controller for navigating long lists of files. We're eager to give the Zen Touch's navigation strip a try, but the player's crystalline sound quality (97dB signal-to-noise ratio) and search function have us champing at the bit as well.
Downside
We're wondering whether Creative's claim of 24-hour battery life will hold up during our lab tests. Either way, the longer battery life comes from a bigger battery, making the player larger and heavier than the iPod.
Outlook
It's true that the proof is in the pudding, but this pudding looks pretty darn tasty from here. Depending on how easy the Zen Touch is to use, the iPod could have yet more serious competition, especially as Creative prices its player in line with Apple's 20GB player.
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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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