Creative Zen X-Fi 16 GB Video MP3 Player with Wireless LAN and Built-In Speaker (Black/Silver)
by Creative
|
List Price: Category: Network Media Player See more product details |
|---|
(Click here)
Customers in the UK,
Buy this product at amazon.co.uk
for British Pounds
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Creative Zen X-Fi 16 GB Video MP3 Player with Wireless LAN and Built-In Speaker (Black/Silver)
Customer Review: Very happy to have upgraded to Zen X-Fi
Summary: 5 Stars
The purchase of this Creative Zen x-Fi 16 gb was mainly for the external speaker so my toddler grandchildren can watch their favorite Dora videos when I need them busy! I am a long time fan of Creative products and am one of the fortunate ones in that I have never had an issue I couldn't easily find an answer to with the multiple players I have purchased from them. This one is no exception!
I have loaded this new one up with Unbox videos and personal videos I have converted using Sound Taxi. It has several audible.com books on it along with audio books I have converted to MP3 files. I've also put several Zencasts on it and of course music! All of this using drag and drop or the transfer method.
I am learning the new Creative Centrale but I sure wish the would have stuck with good easy to use Media Source 3!! But by using drag and drop you can avoid Centrale altogether if you want to.
Overall I am very happy with my new player!
My only quibble is with Amazon itself! And I won't grade the player down because of Amazon's deplorable "free shipping" tactics. I am a long time Amazon customer, over 10 years. You used to get good free shipping time with Amazon but now that they are trying to force you to upgrade to their Amazon Prime shipping it is a joke. I ordered this player on Sept 30 and it did not arrive until Oct 15th! And all that time it said it was "in transit" so no canceling the order. Taking this into consideration I paid the basic shipping price of $5.98 when ordering a Creative Vado as a gift for my grandson. It promised 3 to 5 day shipping with payment for shipping. I ordered it Oct 5th and it did not arrive until the 14th! Nine days of "in transit" from CO to ID, I don't think so!!
I've done the math and even though I regularly order from Amazon (say, once a month as a rule) it still does not add up to paying $79.99 a year just to get get good service with Amazon Prime when other companies happily give you good service just for your business!!
As a test, and because I needed some gifts etc, since the first of Oct I have placed about a dozen more orders through Amazon but using their "Partners" instead of Amazon!! These products range from a new vacuum cleaner, another Creative Zen X-Fi to knitting books and DVD's. I have chosen to go with Amazon "Partners" each time, for the same price or only a very few dollars more and I have gotten 3 to 4 day delivery times on every one of these items!!! I see no reason to be forced into paying $79.99 a year just to get good shipping service from Amazon! It really makes me sad to see Amazon sink to this tactic. Every other company I have dealt with (and they are third party with Amazon having to contact them about my purchase!) swiftly ships your items for free or for basic / reasonable shipping prices because they are happy to have your business!! Especially in these pinched economic times. So my rant about Amazon's purposefully slow shipping times is over ..... now lets see if Amazon publishes my review!
Customer Review: Attn Dancers, Steppers and Choreographers--This Is For You
Summary: 5 Stars
Creative Zen X-Fi 16 GB Video MP3 Player with Wireless LAN and Built-In Speaker (Black/Silver). Also applies to 32 GB Creative Zen X-Fi MP3 Player. Does NOT apply to 4 or 8GB Creative Zen MP3 Player.
This excellent MP3 player allows dancers, steppers and choreographers to record the audio of class sessions and listen to it anytime, such as sessions to practice or improve the choreography. For example, if a class uses building blocks of combinations, or concludes with a 32-count combination summary, a 30-minute recording of the build up can be split off easily during the class from the concluding 10 minute 32-count combination summary of the same class, allowing you to review, practice or perform the concluding 10 minute 32-count summary without replaying the first 30 minutes of the same class.
You also can develop lists of your favorite music by type of class taught, or taken, so you can pretest the choreography with the tempo and meter of the music before burning a CD with your computer.
At the present time, this MP3 Player does NOT allow the user to channel the music on the MP3 Player OUT through a studio's audio system via a USB connection.
You may have to buy your accessories directly from Creative Labs in order to assure an EXACT match with the MP3 Player you buy. You will need a screen protector as well as a matching protective skin, and a quick charger called a Power Adaptor. If a skin doesn't match EXACTLY, it will cover up the recorder's microphone and the ON/OFF power switch.
NOTE1: When you receive your MP3 Player from Amazon, don't panic. The tiny Zen X-Fi software CD and quickguide are inside the plastic container the MP3 Player is shipped in. You just can't see them until you totally open the plastic container and remove a separator.
NOTE2: Each time a session is recorded, check the volume first. I like listening to music at Volume level 5 but have to reduce the Volume to level 2 before recording a live session. Distortion may occur if a session is recorded at higher Volume. This MP3 Player has an bar indicator to help set the recording session Volume.
NOTE3: Your session recordings will be filed on your MP3 Player AND in the CREATIVE CENTRALE media manager which Creative Labs provides in a software download. Look for a microphone image. YOU WILL NOT (I REPEAT NOT) BE ABLE TO MANAGE YOUR RECORDINGS OR RECORDING PLAYLISTS WITH MICROSOFT MEDIA PLAYER, so it's really better to start using the full-featured CREATIVE CENTRALE as soon as possible. It manages music and video files as well as the recordings you make. You won't be giving up anything important (that I'm aware of).
Customer Review: Zen X Fi 16G
Summary: 5 Stars
I am not the type to throw my money around recklessly and after much deliberation decided on the Creative Zen X-Fi 16 Gb MP3. I had no idea what the hell X-Fi was, never heard of it and thought it was a marketing gimmick. I was fully prepared to send it back immediately if it didn't live up to the hype that preceded it.
What I wasn't prepared for was to be blown out of my socks. They are not lying, the clarity, the crispness and adjustability of the Zen Xfi unit is ....amazing. In full on mode with both the Crystalizer on "Max" and the Expand set to "On" the sounds that pour out of the headphones are unreal. I was able to determine on a particular song I had been hearing and loving for years that it was actually two women singing a great deal of it at the same time, so clear was the sound reproduction. Minute details that would be missed on a lesser player (and they are all lesser as far as I'm concerned) are loud n clear on the Zen X-Fi.
I went as far as swapping headphones to a 65 dollar Sony I had bought prior and the sound reproduction range was not as high or as low and the mid sounded muddy compared to the EP830 headphones. I tried listening to the Sony headphones on my prior MP3 player and it sounded better (but nowhere as good as the Zen X-Fi). When using the EP830 phone on the other MP3 again it sounded even better but still worlds away from the EP830/Zen XFi combo.
Don't waste your time on overpriced but pretty looking screens. If the music is your priority and not fooling around with gadgets and widgets on an MP3 player then the Zen X-Fi is the tool for you. While with 16Gb of space is certainly enough to handle lots of pictures, videos etc. The wallpaper is changable and the WiFi feature sets it apart. While you cannot surf the internet, you can reach podcasts and other such broadcast if you wish. There is also an FM radio with 24 pre-sets. The Zen screen is very clear and color rich, images pop off the screen and sunlight does little to dim it. All in all, this is my new favorite toy.
My only niggle is that after charging the unit fully, it needs re-booting...every time. That was annoying at first but it is a small price to pay for the quality of sounds it produces. One other [...] and it isnt with the product, it is with the company, there is no included car or ac adaptor, Creative want 35 bucks for a car adapter. >:(
All companies lie about performance, they claim battery life of 35 hours, I'd like to know what planet that happens on but it aint Earth. I get an honest 10 hours out of it. I start at 7AM and am home by 5PM, most days I can get home with it warning me it's about to die. On rare days it cuts off on me on the way home. A car adapter would really help, also an ac adapter would prevent me from having to run a PC in order to charge her up.
Customer Review: Beware if you want to use it for Audio-Books
Summary: 3 Stars
Only if you dig deep enough will you find the deficiencies regarding using this player for Audio-Books.
1. Setting a "Bookmark". You set a manual "Bookmark" before you stop listening to a book so that you can return to where you left off. The player can hold up to 10 bookmarks at a time. However, when you select that bookmark to return to where you left off there is a problem. The Zen correctly resumes playing where you left off, but it stops playing at the end of the current chapter of the book. It does not continue playing the other chapters of the book in succession. You must return to the Main Menu, browse to the book, and then browse to the desired chapter and begin play there. Many MP3 audio books are broken up into 40-60 chapters. A major PITA. If you listen while driving it is unsafe to do this.
Initially, the player would crash if I selected a bookmark and then hit rewind so that I could be reminded of what was happening in the story at the point where I saved the bookmark. I was able to fix this by using the Zens "Recovery Mode" and running "Clean Up". After doing this there were no more crashes.
2. The auto-bookmarking feature. If you stop listening to your audio-book for a short time, and you don't play anything else, when you turn the Zen back on it will automatically resume where you left off. It will continue from where you stopped listening and it will continue to play all the remaining chapters of the book in succession. Perfect. However there is another problem. If you leave the Zen off for longer (an hour or more?), when you turn it back on it resumes at the BEGINNING of your current chapter, not where you left off in that chapter. Now you must hunt through the chapter until you find the spot where you left off, which can be quite time consuming. Also, unsafe to do while driving.
3. Using an SD Memory Card in the player. When playing a book from a memory card you lose all the bookmarking features built into the player and it becomes totally impractical for books. Additionally, the player does not join the content stored on the card with the content stored in the Zens built in memory and so it does not show up in "Albums", "Genres", etc. It works like this: From the Zen's Main Menu, you browse the cards folder structure and select content to play by file name. Not very convenient or practical.
4. The Zen is compatible with MP3 books, Audible books, and Overdrive Library Books.
It is a shame that the players bookmarking features are so poorly implemented. One can only wonder at the reasons for this. I imagine that the hardware must necesitate the restrictions because only an idiot would choose to implement them in such a crippled manner.
Other than the above, I like the player.
Customer Review: Excellent features, very good sound, good battery life, button interface could have been better
Summary: 5 Stars
I am a software engineer and therefore my review is biased accordingly:
Functionality: The player has some of the best functions that you could expect
- internet connectivity lets you do a lot more than other players (chat, stream songs/videos etc.)
- The Xi-Fi does make a difference when listening to good quality mp3s
- Preset equalizers and custom equalizer gives you enough options for different genre of music
- the video format conversion software works great an seamlessly converts videos behind the scene when transferring videos
- The sound quality (specially with the EP-830 earphones) is very good
- The video is crisp and I did not notice any fading or dark area around edges for the videos that I transferred (although some users mentioned that in their review)
- The external speaker does a good job unless you are in a noisy environment. Quality of sound is decent.
- The built in radio is quick in scanning for channels and the sound quality is comparable to good quality mp3s
- The battery life is impressive. I 've had to charge my unit once a week with 2 to 3 hours of playback per day.
Form factor:
- Very light and slender
- The screen is clear and the colors come out vivid
- The audio jack is located at the right place so as to keep the earphone cable straight (a lot of players don't care for that and as a result your earphone cable dies soon due to frequent bending at the connector)
- BAD: The button interface, in my opinion, is not very friendly. You have to be cautious of what you press and many times look at the buttons to make sure your finger is on the right one. Compare this to a jog dial (from my previous player), once I had my finger on the jog key I could just toggle it left, right, up, down, diagonal etc. Specially useful when the player is in your pocket or on your armband and all you wanna do is increase/decrease the volume.
CRITIQUE: The player sounds great, video quality is very nice, lots of features to play with (so you want get bored soon!!) and internet connectivity is plus if you are the kinda person who would put it use.
COMPARISON WITH iRIVER Clix 2:
If you are and audiophile and care less about features then Clix 2 might be the choice for you. This player is feature packed and "in my opinion" comes as close as 80% to the quality of sound of clix 2 (I know this 'cause my wife bought the clix 2 when I bought this player).
SUMMARY: X-Fi is lots of features and good quality sound and video but Clix 2 is a notch above in sound quality (at the cost of features). Make your pick!!