[Ikarus]

Quote:

Originally Posted by dffman2001 Last of all, my unit had a intermittant problem; every so often one channel would start distorting and clip the music - the unit had to be switched off for 2 minutes or reset to fix it. And my headphone jack broke - my fault but shouldn't have broken so easily.

Mine does that too. But other that that I like my Xtra. I should get a new case for it (the one shipped with it is rather cheap and the belt clip on mine is about to break)

(I may like it only because its my first DAP...)

 

[Wilson]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bundee1 Wait there is a headphone jack problem? What kind of problem?

There seems to be a headphone jack quality problem, two fellow workers here bought the zen and both had problems with it keep on breaking. The
sound quality seems to be very good when I listened to it. The headphone jack problem kept me from buying one.

W

 

[Head Creep]

Quote:

Originally Posted by nleahcim My MP3s were perfectly tagged. I remember one serious problem I had with it was with foreign artists. The included software often simply could not transfer MP3s that had non English characters in them (ie Björk). That's just pitiful. Untrained monkeys write better software.

Maybe it's because of firmware/software updates, but on my player, Motörhead copies over fine. However, I'd probably factor in the cost of Notmad Explorer so that you don't have to deal with the pretty crappy software that comes bundled with Creative's players.

As for the headphone jack issue, it has been resolved, and new models don't have the problem. And it now comes with a decent case, though I wouldn't trust the belt clip.

 

[ILikeMusic]

Zen Xtra:

+ Very good audio quality, among the best if not the best.
+ Relatively low price.
+ Custom equalizer setting.
+ Hard drive is a standard 2.5" notebook drive which can be easily replaced or upgraded by the user.
+ Full feature set (on the fly playlists, etc.).
+ Supports .wma
+ Decent battery life, plus user-swappable battery for long trips.

- Packaging and user interface not as slick as an iPod.
- Slightly larger than an iPod (because it uses a standard 2.5'' notebook drive, see above).
- Included software not so great, you can live with it ('cause it's not really that terrible) or get Notmad.
- Doesn't support .ogg, .aac, or lossless (for those who really believe that they can tell a difference between lossless and LAME alt-preset standard or extreme

).
- Can't use iTunes (assuming that you actually want to deal with all that DRM crap anyway).

 

[nleahcim]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wilson There seems to be a headphone jack quality problem, two fellow workers here bought the zen and both had problems with it keep on breaking. The sound quality seems to be very good when I listened to it. The headphone jack problem kept me from buying one. W

the headphone jack on mine broke. It was an easy fix - took me all of about 5 minutes once I found a screwdriver small enough to open the damned thing up.

 

[rogerlee]

I own two hard drive MP3 players: a 4G iPod (20GB) and a 40GB Zen Xtra. Guess which one's sitting in the corner gathering dust?

First of all, my initial reaction to the 40GB Xtra wasn't too bad. I mean, it was a little clunky, but I bought it for $250 more than six months ago, which was a GREAT deal at the time. I gradually grew to hate it more and more..

Several problems:

1) THE HISSING! A bunch of Zen Xtras, mine included, had the infamous hissing bug on the Zen Xtras, where a very, very noticeable static noise would come up whenever the backlight was not on. It was even noticeable when the song was playing. When there was no song playing, it drove me completely nuts. Keep in mind, I was using MDR-EX71SL's while experiencing this hissing--not exactly the most sensitive phones ever.

2) To try to find a solution to the hissing, I first searched on the website. The hissing was allegedly fixed in an upgraded firmware; I tried multiple versions of these upgraded firmwares, none of which worked. Note, their website is a pain to navigate.

3) The forums basically revealed that the hissing problem was EXTREMELY widespread (to various extents), yet Creative more or less denied the issue existed.

4) The warranty is terrible. I'm not sure what it was, but it wasn't very long. And trust me, this is going to piss you off, because...

5) Oh my god, the construction is as flimsy as cardboard. My front metallic shell will pop off if I so much as drop the player from 1/4" from the table or, really, have it contact anything with a small amount of force.

6) It's big, bulky, and ugly. Although this may be more of a personal opinion, I'm sure everyone will pretty much agree that the iPod is much slicker.

In conclusion, if I could do it all over again, I would've jumped straight to the iPod and paid a little more. Note, I'm not an Apple zealot whatsoever; in fact, I hate pretty much every other Apple product I've ever used except for this neat little iPod.

I'll never buy a Creative MP3 player again. Save yourself the hassle and go iPod

.

Edit: Oh yeah, I forgot to add.

7) The software is a pain to use like pretty much all Creative software. In comparison, iTunes is super-user friendly and works extremely well for transferring songs and even editing ID3 tags.

8) When you read the specs on websites, you can't really grasp how big of a difference size and weight are in MP3 players. You mentally think, "Oh, I'm not an iPod sellout, I don't care about a little more weight and a little more size and a little less attractiveness..." but in reality, the iPod just has a very distinctive feel that's irreplacable.

If all this didn't deter you from buying the Zen Xtra, then just a few words of warning. First of all, get the extended warranty; there's a good chance you'll need it. Second of all, if you're going to buy it, buy it from a place where it won't be a huge pain to return it should anything go wrong.

Also note, I have no experience with the Zen Touch or anything like that. This is just about my (relatively short) brush with the Zen Xtra.

 

[John Reeves]

Hi,

I've had a Zen Xtra for 8 months and it has never given a problem. I just think that some people are unlucky and that can apply to all DAP's. What about the infamous static noise on an IPod, even IPod lounge are critical of this.

With regard to hissing noise, I've never experienced this on a variety of cans and using a Porta Corda.

I've also got a Rio Karma and prefer the sound of this unit using OGG files, max quality.

Accordingly my 13 year old son has been using the Zen for the past couple of months and he can be a little clumsy. Even so the Zen is still going strong.

There can be problems with the Karma regarding the disk drive, but I bought this unit for the form factor, navigation, ogg/flac, sound quality etc. I went into this eyes wide open so I got an extended warranty. However, 3 months later, no problems and I use it every day.

Hope this helps a little but it's down to personal preferences and I would reccomend that whatever DAP you get, you consider an extended warranty. Incidentaly, there is now a 12 month warranty on the Zen Xtra.

Cheers

John

 

[TMC]

I've also had my Zen Xtra for 8 months and it's worked just fine for me. No hiss or broken headphone jacks etc even though I have the old version that doesn't have a reinforced jack. I don't know what you others expect to do with the software, but I only use it when I copy and paste tracks to the Xtra which is easily handled with the explorer in Windows. And when I want to fix id3-tags there are plenty of good freeware to handle that. That's all I need software-wise anyway. Sonically I find the headphone output to be so good so I don't even bother with amps at all. The Xtra sure isn't the smallest player but that's why it's cheaper in the first place. I find it to be great value for my needs since I don't bother with lossless as I don't see the point when going portable and you're not listening critically anyway. It sounds really good without eq, it's cheap and it's small enough for a jacket pocket. That's all I need until there are 20GB microdrive players for a reasonable price you can stick in your trouser-pockets without it being obtrusive. Although the iPod is smaller than Xtra by a fair margin I still find it too big anyway for that kind of usage.

 

[bundee1]

I got my 40gb Zen Xtra yesterday for $240 plus tax at CC. They had a 10% off sale online and they matched their website price.

First Impressions:

1) No remote

and I cant even buy an optional one. Oh well.

2) Crappy case. Does anyone make a nice protective 3rd party case?

3)Creative Media Source software isnt that bad actually. It isnt very intuitive but I figured it out in about an hour. I have about 100 .wav files ripped and transferred already and Im about to go to work on the rest.

4)Paper quick setup guide sucks. My old laptop refused to autoplay the setup disc and their were no instructions on what file to install in the quick setup guide. A 5min call to Creative solved this. Decent customer support, nothing to complain about.

5)With my PX-100s the sound is very warm. A little too much bass but the sound is clear.

6) The GUI on the unit is pretty simple to figure out and I like the way it works. Is there any way to stop a track from playing without shutting it off?

BTW:
My brothers 4g 15gb Ipod is crapping out on him after about 6mos and he's in Iraq, so I dont know when he'll be back to be able to exchange it

.

Thanks for all the contributions to this thread, you guys REALLY helped me out!

 

[Head Creep]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bundee1 1) No remote and I cant even buy an optional one. Oh well.

They didn't make one for the Xtra because of the infamous remote for the NJB3, which everyone considered overpriced and under-featured.

Quote:

2) Crappy case. Does anyone make a nice protective 3rd party case?

Vaja makes a very nice-looking case for the Xtra, but it costs quite a bit. $60, if I remember right.

Quote:

I have about 100 .wav files ripped and transferred already and Im about to go to work on the rest.

Did you have to manually tag the WAV's once they were on the Xtra, or did the program do it for you? I never figured out if it could (and if it could, hot to) auto-tag the files, so I haven't had the patience for anything but MP3s.

Quote:

Is there any way to stop a track from playing without shutting it off?

There's no actual stop button. The closest you can get is to pause a track and press the Next Track button, which oddly enough stops the track and resets the time to 0.

Quote:

Originally Posted by TMC I don't know what you others expect to do with the software, but I only use it when I copy and paste tracks to the Xtra which is easily handled with the explorer in Windows.

That's using Nomad Explorer, which is pretty hit-and-miss. The software doesn't show any of the files already on my Xtra, but allows me to copy over files freely. It's very odd, and I can't seem to fix it, even with the latest software and firmware reinstalled twice. I wouldn't really count Nomad Explorer as part of the software package when buying it, since there's a good chance it won't work for you.

 

[ILikeMusic]

which everyone considered overpriced and under-featured.

No, everyone didn't, although some did I guess. I have one of the Zen remotes and you can control just about every function you need, plus it added FM reception and mic recording... not sure what else you want it to do..?

There's no actual stop button. The closest you can get is to pause a track and press the Next Track button, which oddly enough stops the track and resets the time to 0.

There's no 'stop' button because there is absolutely no reason for one. With an MP3 player stop and pause are essentially the same thing... there's no cassette inside, remember? I would fully expect the procedure you outlined to restart the track from zero and it doesn't seem 'odd' to me at all... if you want to pause the track and restart in the same place, follow this complex procedure: press 'pause'.

To be balanced I will also say this about the 'Xtra' though, they sure did cheapen it up vs. the original model (the USB 2.0 and Firewire models). The original Zen was built very solidly (screws holding everything together, not plastic snaps), had a scroll wheel instead of the jog wheel, accepted a remote control which added good FM radio functionality, etc. The original Zen compared quite favorably to the iPod in terms of construction quality but the subsequent models are clearly much more cheaply built. I think the best deal around is to go on Ebay and grab an original Zen 20gb for $100 or so... that's an incredible deal. If you want more capacity at some point just throw a 60 or 80 gig drive in here for another $100, which almost anyone can do in 15 minutes.

 

[MuzlL0dr]

Eesh, there are lot of people screaming about how bad they are. Well, I have a new model that I got just over a month ago, and let me tell you what I think about it.

True, I don't care too much for the software. The newer software is apparently leaps and bounds better than the old stuff, though. If your music IS tagged properly, it does work fine.

(These are kinda random order, as I recall things people said were bad.)

The warranty on the new models is a year. This seems like a good deal to me, as I hear about most players dying in about 8 months. I feel well covered.

I have never had the front panel come off without me wanting it off. The switch on mine is actually VERY tight, and I don't see any way that I could have it accidentally pop open as it's not horribly easy to open in the first place.

The sound quality is second to none. No hissing, no electrical noise, no nothing but pure sound. This is the reason that I decided to hang onto mine despite my dislike for album based (tagged) song browsing.

Headphone jack issue has been fixed in newer models, it's a moot point.

In short, I really love this player. Sound is paramount to me, as well as stability. The player works like it's supposed to, sounds great, and the warranty is good, so I don't have to worry about it. To me, it makes perfect sense as an mp3 player. Granted, it's not as shiny and beautiful as the iPod, but form follows function in my book.

 

[Head Creep]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ILikeMusic No, everyone didn't, although some did I guess. I have one of the Zen remotes and you can control just about every function you need, plus it added FM reception and mic recording... not sure what else you want it to do..?

I've never actually used one, but outside of a few people such as yourself, everything I've read about the remote is that it was underpriced. I was simply stating that, not my own opinion. Perhaps I should've noted that when I posted...

Quote:

There's no 'stop' button because there is absolutely no reason for one. With an MP3 player stop and pause are essentially the same thing... there's no cassette inside, remember? I would fully expect the procedure you outlined to restart the track from zero and it doesn't seem 'odd' to me at all...

By odd, I meant that (at least to me) it seems counter-intuitive that pressing the next button would reset the track time. I personally find it irritating when I want to stop playback and browse through songs, since the player is delayed a bit by reseting the time. It would have been simpler to have the back button do this function instead of forward.

 

[ILikeMusic]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Head Creep By odd, I meant that (at least to me) it seems counter-intuitive that pressing the next button would reset the track time. I personally find it irritating when I want to stop playback and browse through songs, since the player is delayed a bit by reseting the time. It would have been simpler to have the back button do this function instead of forward.

I guess maybe I'm still not fully understanding your comment. Pressing the 'next' button advances to the next track, just as one would expect. If you want to browse through other tracks without losing your place, all you need to do is press pause and then find whatever other track you want to hear and play it with the 'Preview' feature (which is accessible anytime you are browsing through tracks). When you are done finding other songs you can either add them to the playlist or just press and hold the menu button and you will return right to wherever you left off... and you can pick up whatever track you were originally listening to from wherever you paused it. This is a powerful feature of the Zen firmware, although admittedly poorly documented by Creative.

 

[Head Creep]

This is completely side-tracking the thread, so I'll just leave it as a minor disliking of mine, similar to a person complaining of having to wash their hair; it's something you dislike only if you really think about it.

You did bring up a good point though, which is the little features you don't hear about much. The button shortcuts and Preview feature are very handy, making the device easier to use after you get used to them. I actually discovered the button shortcuts on accident, but now I use them all the time.