Would this be a wise choice as a mp3 player for myself?

BloodMoney

Junior Member
Jun 22, 2005
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http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16855102128

Creative Zen Xtra 40 gb and if I buy it I can go ahead and send in the mail in rebate..

I realize it's a little big but I dont ever workout with my mp3 player or anything like that. Really all I am looking for is a large capacity size mp3 player thatll store my mp3 collection. It's also not the newest model by any means..

All I am looking to do is play my music in the car without the clutter of cds (of course Ill buy a FM Transmitter or one of those Cassette Deck Things) and listen to my music in bed before I go to sleep.


So would this player suit my needs or should I look into a newer model? If anyone has any reccomendations Id love to hear them.

And if anyone has this player Id like to hear your opinions on it as well.

Thanks
 

jlbenedict

Banned
Jul 10, 2005
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I have this exact player. I've had it since Christmas last year..
I have had absolutely no issues with it.

The Creative Mediasource software isn't too hot.. but there are other third party options for that.. (Nomad Explorer)

I use mine in my home gym.. I hook it up to a little pair of 2.0 Logitech speakers..
So far, there haven't been any disk issues or any errors that have resulted in me rebuilding the drive, etc.. Its been a great buy so far... Battery life is good at mid volumes and lower.. once you kick up the volume and/or enable some of the EAX stuff, it will use some juice..
I love the size of it.. It fills my hand nicely, and gives me that piece of mind that it is a solid product and not some little mini player that I can't tell if it is slipping out of my hands or not...

 

Maluno

Senior member
Mar 28, 2005
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I have had this almost exact player (I had 30Gb). I've had it since Christmas two years ago..
I have had nothing but problems with it. ;)

Seriously, it has been a huge pain in the butt, my player's headphone jack crapped out first, then I rma'd and got a new one. HDD failed, I fixed it but it keeps failing. Then to make it all worse, the headphone jack failed _again_! A lot of my friends have had similar experiences with this company, and none of us are going to be buying from Creative again. Their track record for player reliability is sub-par for sure. :)

As to what other player you should get, I am not exactly sure, as I am debating a replacement myself, because I have been stuck with this non-functional zen for about a year. I would recommend an ipod, except they are expensive, and then you have to deal with the fact that you are and "ipod dork." :p jk
 

jlbenedict

Banned
Jul 10, 2005
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Maluno, when you RMA'd it.. what was the packaging like? Was it clear, see-through? Supposedly, the see-through clear packaging contained a newer revision of the player with a more stable headphone jack..

you are not the only one that had their phone jack crap out or come loose....
 

BloodMoney

Junior Member
Jun 22, 2005
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Originally posted by: thekillerjks
get the new 30GB Ipod video for only $90 more!

Yeah ONLY $90, Im poor ****** . Im doing good if I am able to buy this one lol.... I dont need the new ipod since I wont use the video feature..
 

Maluno

Senior member
Mar 28, 2005
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From a previous thread:
Originally posted by: Maluno
Originally posted by: Spike
Originally posted by: Maluno
Originally posted by: Spike
Originally posted by: Grouchyoldguy
I have one... Go to Creatives website, click on support and then forums to read about the problems from owners.

Thats like saying go to the AMD, ATI, Intel or whoever elses forums to read about the problems. Every product has issues and thats why the makers setup forums, for those problems to be discussed. I have a Creative Zen Touch and it works wonderfully yet going to the forums show lots of people with problems.

If someone were to just go to the support forums to read about a product before making their decisions they would never get anything.

-spike

Yes, that is true, but Creative has had QUITE a bit of problems in the past, many of them which are simply unacceptable. For instance, their problems with the headphone jacks on their mp3 players are ridiculous. Although they claimed to have fixed the problem with an improved design, someone took apart their zen micro and found that the design was unchanged from the faulty units. And the number of failures did not decrease, either.

Another example was their false advertising of 24bit recording on their audio cards.

I have been screwed over twice by Creative, as have 4 of my friends, and none of us are ever going to buy Creative products again. If you get lucky, and your Creative product does not fail on you, then congratulations, but the important part to remember is that you are LUCKY. This is not the norm in my experience.

This is all just my opinion, of course, but I believe that people deserve to be forewarned about this brand's shortcomings. I don't want to start an argument, so please don't be offended that I disagree with your statement. I instead encourage the potential buyers to visit the forums to see what types of problems they are having with their products.

The bad part is not that there are a lot of failures, as it is a technical support forum, instead, it is that all of the problems are so similar that suggest there are some major flaws in the design. Also, the number of people recieving multiple defective units is frightening.
</rant>

:D

Thats a bummer what has been happening with your and your friends units. From what I have read (and I am a frequent reader and poster in the creative forums) the largest headphone issues was with the Zen Micro. There are virtually no issues for my unit, the Zen touch, except for a lack of new firmware. They are finally releasing a new one this month after alomst a year since the last firmware!!

Anyway, for the few products I have had from Creative they have all worked very well, except for my old SB live and that anoying bug it had with that SiS chipset on the ECS K7S5A mobo. My zen touch is a freaking awesome player and I love it to death even though it is a bit on the heavy side. I have had almost no exposure to the micro or this video version so I cannot attest to there quality though the headphone jack problem with the mirco is well documented.

-spike

One of my friends that had the failed unit had a zen touch, and the headphone jack was what broke on it. :D