Actually, I would pay twice as much for a player with less to look cool. This is precisely Creative’s problem – packing in as many things in as possible at a low price.

On the face of it, the X-Fi looks a lot nicer than their previous products though. Yet, I still have my doubts. The interface looks cluttered (so many buttons!). Also, I’m not sure how easy this will sync with PCs and Macs (if at all). Creative’s software is not the easiest to use. My siblings both started with Creative mp3 products. Now, both have switched to iPods.

Finally, there is build quality. Nearly every person I know who has owned a Creative mp3 player has been driven to madness because those things will end up in the service centre sooner rather than later.

All these examples anecdotal, of course. =) Creative may well prove my observations wrong with this one. I’m very happy with my iPod nano.

It is exactly these gadgets are lifestyle products that companies should pay alot more in investing time and money creating that experience and branding. It is not how big you are but how remarkable you are.

And stop being a iPod killer, rather, be a Zen killer. You don’t have to create many mp3 models with all sorts of fill-ups. Create one remarkable model albeit with strong marketing blitz. I wouldn’t have known this model exist upfront if not for the rss feed. Lots of people do want to pay more to look cool and iPod does work remarkably and reliable too.

Hello Alfie

Ho say boh?
PC lah. I have the Neeon Zen and the Stone. I have no complaints with the audio quality of Creative MP3 products (I know the Stone sounds bad, but what do u expect for $99? yifenqianyifenhuo right?) but the problem with them is interface design. The Zen’s jog which requires u to turn, hold and press in minute measured amounts require some finger calisthenics. If like uncle your fingers tremble due to excitement…it’s very ‘cham’ and it may take a while before you can start playing “She blinded me with Science”. Maybe you have to “limber up” with some finger exercises before tuning.

Where’s the touchscreen Creative?

This is where I think the design team is not in touch with the latest trend…

And they also got to remember that Creative is now selling to a consumer market – people now buy things to project an image – never mind if there are less features…

Take for example – cars…

Yes, a Toyota is probably more practical than a Ferrari and probably better to drive and all…cost a hell a lot less as well

But seriously now, tell me how many people’s dream car is a Toyota?

Just wanted to point out that it isn’t a good idea to compare the iPod Classic, which uses a conventional hard drive, and the Zen X-Fi, which uses a solid-state drive (which Creative has completely transitioned to). A better benchmark would be the iPod Nano (Zen X-Fi has way more storage but same size) or iPod Touch (Zen X-Fi is less than half the price and a fraction of the weight, though no touchscreen).

Another thing to note is that firmware revisions make a huge deal to sound quality, and Creative has just released a firmware update for the X-Fi. I haven’t tried it yet, but with the old firmware, the X-Fi sound enhancements worked well with jazz and folk (Coltrane, Feist) but distorted with rock (Muse, Dream Theater). With X-Fi enhancements turned off, the sound was fine, but several iPods all sounded better – less closed, with sparkling upper-mids and highs.

Lastly, kudos to Creative for adding to different setting for the X-Fi crystallizer function, but if you want to upgrade your earphones, be careful not to choose a pair that’s naturally bright, such as many of the balanced-armature models (Shure, Creative Aurvana, Philips 9850) because that makes the X-Fi Crystallizer unusable.

I’ll try and give an update after checking out the latest X-Fi firmware.

If someone is actually willing to pay twice as much for a “sleek” looking Mp3 player with less features, they need to go and buy a Mac computer, a $150 pair of shoes and finish it off by doing a little shopping at WalMart. The fact that everyone will join the fad bandwagon just to have cool looking gadgets shows how little people think for themselves these days. Start thinking about the quality of your products rather than how your friends and that girl you like will think about it.

Creative makes sound cards for a living, ergo, their Mp3 players are more likely to have better sound. The purpose for Mp3 Players is, believe it or not, to listen to music and in this case, the X-Fi sound technology lives up to its name.

So if anyone from creative just happen to be reading this, nicely done and remember: Quality Player over “Sleek” Design