Any opinions on the Creative Zen Touch?

[Bull Moose]

Hey thanks to those who gave me some help with the micro. After giving it some pretty good research on sound quality, size, battery life and features I started to look at the Zen Touch. Reason being I like to have my music running at 160kbps and not 128. And the point of me getting a player like the zen would be based on my going to college and needing something on which I could put most of, if not all of my music on one device, have it last more than a day, and have a decent price tag. Right now I'd say thats easier said then done, but the Touch seems to have all the features I'm looking at. Right now i have a Panasonic SL-CT790 cd player, a Samsung Yepp YP-T5, and a Sony MD player...but none of these can hold more than a few hrs of music. I just want it to be all there at my fingertips and I want it to sound good. What I'm wondering is if I should just stick it out for a year or two until Creative fixes any bugs/ probs with the player. Any advice would be appreciated

-Moose-

 

[UserNotFound]

quick review, i dont have time to be careful about spelling, caps, etc.


i've had the Zen Touch 20gb since christmas, and i put on a playlist just to see how long the battery would last. It played for 18 hours, 13 minute, and around 30 seconds, and an average bitrate of 203kbps in mp3 format. That's at volume level 20 (of 25) powering my 64ohm Sennheiser hd280's (yay for burn-ins).

only minor complaints. hard to save a playlist on the fly. it's easy to add things to now playing, but to save that list, i havn't bothered to figure out. no choice of accessories (there's one after market case, handmade, leather, in venezuela or something, for $70 and a month wait).

the EQ....if you turn up the bass band even by 1 notch, it seems like all the others are lowered. i think it sounds great on my headphones wihtout tweaking it. The sound i like a lot better than the iPod mini's i've heard. Much more even sounding (mini sounded very "punchy" to me).

Interface is nice, open by playlist/artist/albulm/genre/all. touch pad is a little more ... friendly, that the ipod. you can push your finger to the top or bottom of the pad, and hold it, and it will continually scroll. so your thumb doesn't get tired trying to get to the bottom of your 400 albulm list.

you can't store your files in folders on the player. if you have pink floyd - the wall, in the albulm version, and a live version, the files cannot be named the same, regardless of the tagging. i did, however, add 18 gigs of files (270 complete albulms from mp3's) in one day, while ensuring every single file had the corrent genre, artist, and albulm....all using the creative software, so no problems keeping it organized.

i did one day have the touchpad go crazy on me, it would move 4 selections down whenever i lifted my finger. i just gave the reset button a poke with a mechanical pencil, and it was fine.

you can store data files on it, but you have to use the creative software to do so, it's not windows integrated, nor could you plug a camera directly to it.

that's my opinion, any questions? i'm willing to investigate for you. oh, i got it for $217 shipped from mwave.com they've been reliabe for the past 3 years and $3000+ purchases for me.

 

[thrawn86]

I love mine. great SQ. it helps to have your mp3s tagged correctly though. battery life is what I love the most.

 

[Bull Moose]

"Usernotfound", thanks for the review. I dont need you to go into any trouble for me right now. I'm not going to purchase one quite yet, but I liked the look of the player and especially the long battery life. I'm glad to hear the sound quality is good bc i just recently got a pair of Shure E2C buds. I'm glad you like the player and if I've got any more questions for ya, I'll let you know. Thanks again!
-Moose-

 

[fr4c]

i was able to give the Touch some extensive testing at my local Brookstone store lately. what i found out what that it sounded really good out of the box. you didnt need a amp or a pair of good headphones to make them sound good. i listened to them with the stock earbuds, and they really werent that bad. the design of the unit was really thought out, but the interface takes a little time to get used to (being the lazy iPod owner that i am), but all in all, a great player. i like the metal casing of the unit, cool to the touch and feels very secure in your hands.

 

[The Smokester]

I agree with the positive statements on the Zen Touch. I have the 20 GB model since Thanksgiving 2004 and use it mainly on the plane with Ety ER-4P's. The battery will last over 20 hours with MP3/192 kbps. Sound quality is very good.

It also sounds surprisingly good driving Senn HD-650's through a Total Airhead.

 

[UserNotFound]

Quote:

Originally Posted by fr4c i was able to give the Touch some extensive testing at my local Brookstone store lately. what i found out what that it sounded really good out of the box. you didnt need a amp or a pair of good headphones to make them sound good. i listened to them with the stock earbuds, and they really werent that bad. the design of the unit was really thought out, but the interface takes a little time to get used to (being the lazy iPod owner that i am), but all in all, a great player. i like the metal casing of the unit, cool to the touch and feels very secure in your hands.

The sound only improves with nicer headphones, i use an old Sony pair of earbuds instead of the stock ones when I go out with a winter hat on, as i can't fit anything else in there.

As for the interface, i think it's the same as the iPod logic wise, or atleast i can pick up my girlfriends iPod Mini now and use it without any troubles other then my finger doesn't want to go in circles.

 

[DoomForce]

I also agree that the Zen Touch is a great player, it's got better battery life, better sound and better price than the ipod! I think it only lose in looks and size (only a tiny bit), but the glossy back of the ipod gets sooo many finger marks that it looks kinda ugly (dirty) too..and the touch feels studier imo.

If you want looks and stuff like "look guys what i have - oh its an ipod, it looks sexy" etc. consider buying the ipod. If you want a player to play your music with great sound and last almost double the time with a single battery charge and dont want it for showing off, get the Touch imo. You won't be dissapointed (and it doesnt look ugly, it just doesnt look as good as an ipod).

The earbuds that come with the Touch are better than most bundled earbuds out there..but of course, getting better phones will improve sound quality.
And i don't believe you will have any problems with the software.

 

[Bull Moose]

Thanks for the help guys, I only wish I could afford one right now! Maybe if i'm good, i can get one as a graduation present....

-Moose-

 

[PinchyCM]

I think it's kinda big for the size capacitiy...

get an iPod.

 

[yyoo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DoomForce If you want looks and stuff like "look guys what i have - oh its an ipod, it looks sexy" etc. consider buying the ipod. If you want a player to play your music with great sound and last almost double the time with a single battery charge and dont want it for showing off, get the Touch imo.

If you ever plan to get an amp and better headphones, go iPod. You'll ultimately get better sound out of an iPod.

By the way, you can pick up a 3rd gen 20 gig iPod for $230 or 15 gig ipod for $199 on ipods4less.com. They come with no accessories though. No cables and no earphones.

 

[Fizzmix]

Quote:

Originally Posted by yyoo You'll ultimately get better sound out of an iPod.

Unsubstantiated claim much?

 

[yyoo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fizzmix Unsubstantiated claim much?

I trust Chumley's professional opinion, and Stereophile's technical analysis.

 

[hawkfire]

hello,

Not to sound rude, but the best advice in this situation is to trust your own ears and no one elses opinion in determining what player is best suited to your tastes.

Your best bet is to audition the various devices you might be interested in after researching the hardware attributes and quirks and come to your own conclusion on the sound as no one else but yourself can tell you what sounds good to you.

 

[UserNotFound]

Quote:

Originally Posted by PinchyCM I think it's kinda big for the size capacitiy... get an iPod.

I say you should buy a pistol and shoot anyone who tells you what to do with your own money. Wait...crap...nono...