PMP Today

Curious about how the uniquely designed ZEN Mosaic fares in your hand? Here’s an unboxing video should give prospective buyers a  very good idea. Measurements of the ZEN Mosaic are: 79.5 x 40 x 12.8 mm, weighing 43g. It supports MP3, WMA, WAV, Audible, MJPEG, JPEG / BMP / GIF / PNG / TIFF. It will be available in August in 3 capacities (2GB, 4GB and 8GB) and black, gray or pink color. Prices at 69.99 euros, 89.99 euros and 109.99. A 16GB version will come later.

It’s quite a desirable player if you want to be a little different, though I’m not sure the screen size and resolution 160 x 128 is sufficient for video playing. 

[via gmp3]

I’m not sure it’s a good time for PMPs with interesting buttons. Creative decides on a Mondrian theme and a 1.8-inch screen. The ZEN Mosaic encodes videos and plays it in Creative’s proprietary format and supports MP3, WMA, WMA-DRM 10 as well. The ZEN Mosaic also has built-in FM radio with 32 stations, mic and voice-recording function. No one can deny the ZEN Mosaic is different from what’s already out there in the market and I know a few people would buy this player if only because it is from Creative and a few more will buy it because it’s unique. But iPod killer? Maybe another couple more tries, Creative. Besides, they have the ZEN X-fi to improve first.

S$99 for the 2GB and S$129 for the 4GB. USD value nearly double the Singaporean value. Hands-on photo below.

[via engadget, nothingbutcreative] Read the rest »

The Zen Krystal will enter the Nike + iPod market very soon. It is an MP3 player with built-in pedometer. The Krystal MP3 player also supports Hurdle Race, Catch & Dodge and Dice Roll games, FM tuner and voice recorder. Drag and drop interface, 4GB of storage and an OLED screen are the other features. No price yet but the small rectangular form factor with the scroll pad that resembles a woofer is just looking awesome.

[creative via engadget, anythingbutipod]

Nothingbutcreative, a cool new site we’ve heard about just now has a review of the newly announced Zen X-Fi. They have a test unit and they took their time unboxing the PMP and taking very, very good impressionistic photos of the X-Fi player from Creative and a video, which we embedded below this post. We are happy to note that X-Fi can be turned on and off… Read the rest »

Creative has started selling the Zen X-Fi Wi-Fi enabled PMP on the U.S. through Buy.com. The picing is slightly higher than the conversion from the Singaporean. All three versions, including the 8GB, which does not have WiFi, are sold on the online store. They’re also on the top seller list.

Prices are as follows:

8GB - $149.99
16GB with WiFi and Voice Recorder - $199.99
32GB with WiFi and Voice Recorder - $279.99

All units ship for free.

[product]

The new Zen X-Fi PMP is now official on Creative’s Singapore site. It has a 2.5-inch QVGA screen with 16.7 million-color support and bundled with EP-830 ear plugs so you won’t have to pay extra for decent earplugs. It came as a little shock on the Creative site that Wi-Fi is absent on the 8GB model though it is indeed on board for the 16GB and 32GB versions with support for instant messaging as one of its features. All versions seem to be aggressively priced  with the 8GB going for S$299, 16GB (S$329) and 32GB (S$399) priced. The 16GB and 32GB versions are available now.

Specs of the Zen X-Fi

2.5 inch screen
X-Fi audio technology with Crystalizer and Expand modes demoed on site
Video: 5 hours (MJPEG, WMV9, MPEG4-SP4, DivX4 4/5 and XviD4)
Audio: 36 hours (MP3, WMA, AAC5 (.m4a), WAV (ADPCM), Audible 4)
WLAN: only for the 16GB and 32GB versions
FM with 32 preset stations
Price 16GB for S$329 (US$209) and 32GB for S$399 (US$254) and S$299 ($146)

Remember, the 16GB and 32GB with Wi-Fi are now available on the Creative site. Do listen to the demo of X-Fi audio. The samples Creative provide for the Crystalizer mode can be quite “ear-opening.”

Update: You can win a Zen X-Fi buy taking the Perfect Note challenge. First price is a 32GB X-Fi with WiFi and 2nd price is an 8GB version. Thanks Equinox.

[via creative, cnet]

O.K. this is two in a row for the Creative Zen X-Fi leak but it’s worth it. This is the most promising Apple alternative this year in my opinion. The PMPs announced by iRiver earlier are worth the second look, but feature-wise they come short and  honestly the only thing they have to offer is a unique UI and form factor - unique from iPod, that is.

Zen X-Fi offers multiple features that go beyond even what iPod Touch has to offer. Frst and foremost, for video lovers, no more waiting to decode your videos in iPod’s native file but instead, you’ll have the following files supported: WMV MPEG4-SP, Divx 4/5, Xvid, and MJPEG (audio: MP3, WMA, AAC (unprotected), WAV, and Audible). Secondly, almost just as significant is the WiFi that allows instant messaging and content streaming. We still have very little info on Creative’s new Centrale, which enables you to create your own wireless home server for music sharing. Of course, you may have doubts about the X-Fi technology Creative is boasting on this PMP, but you cannot deny that the bundled premium quality ep-830 earphones is significantly better than what Apple bundles with your iPods.

No official price yet. Officially, the Zen X-Fi battery lets you play music for 36 hours though video playback is only 5 hours. So far, this is a most desirable PMP.

[via epizenter]

Creative unveils their newest PMP, the Zen X-Fi, featuring what else but X-Fi, which is the best MP3-playing you could possibly get in the market. It’s no touch-screen but it’s WiFi-enabled. Most interesting is the numeric keypad, which can be used for “Tchatter” over Yahoo Messenger, GTalk or MSN. So what can users expect from X-Fi? Basically, there are two settings: X-Fi Crystalizer and X-Fi Expand. Crystalizer restores details that may have been lost during the compression while Expand moves sound from the ear to somewhere in front of you simulating the real experience in listening to music. Crystalizer makes for richer sound quality (which I prefer, actually) while Expand is more of a concert-like experience.

With this player, Creative also launches its new software “Centrale.” With Centrale, everything from video, audio and photos are supported. It will also allow users to rip DVDs and creative a server for file sharing. Electronista thinks this is Creative’s move againts Apple’ iTunes. Let’s see Apple copy that. Also, from what EpiZENter found out, there might be Zen X-Fis without WiFi because the user guide specifically mentions that “This section applies to ZEN X-Fi players with wireless LAN features.”

Other features include 2.5-inch screen, FM tuner, speakers, microSD slot. Unfortunately no price yet or date of availability, though speculation from other sources say official launch could be days away.

[source] Read the rest »

If you’re in the market for a little clip-on or not so clip-on MP3 player, our friends at Generation MP3 has prepared a comparison chart for us. The lightest is Samsung’s YP-S2, which is shaped like a pebble, and also ties the Zen Stone for cheapest at $39 for the 1GB. The priciest is the Mickey-inspired MPlayer fro a partnership between iRiver and Disney. The MPlayer costs $59 for the 1GB but not nearly as pricey as the original price of the iPhod Shuffle.

Comparison table after the break.

[via gmp3] Read the rest »

Earlier this month, Creative Zen reduced the price of the 32GB Zen to $299. The 4GB Zen goes for only $99 and now you can get the 8GB Zen for just $149 - same price as the 4GB iPod Nano for twice the memory. This is definitely becoming one of those deals that are difficult to resist. You know you don’t really need another mp3 player, but how can anyone turn down a really cheap offer for such a solid mp3 player?

I’d wait a couple of weeks before buying any Zens though. Rumor has it that Creative’s coming up with a WiFi device called the Zen Share, which will allow users to do peer-to-peer sharing over a wireless network. No news on pricing yet, but a sneak peak of this gadget will be shown at the CeBit in Germany and it will be released to the market sometime May or June. It’s a little too late for Creative to be cashing in on the wireless sharing market, but we’ll see how well the Zen Share does.

[via engadget and electronista]