Creative Zen Touch 20 GB MP3 Player Review

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(More customer reviews)I have had a Zen for the past few months, heres my review.
Q - Why a Zen?
A - I just wanted a Jukebox, that I could store all my CDs on and play them at work. Zen was Cheapest of the 3 majors and did everything I wanted it to do.
Q - Research?
A - I read every review and Mag on MP3 Players for about a month. Mostly all said the same thing. Each one of the Majors (Ipod, Iriver and Zen) all have same various problems, ( Set up issues, Poor Tech. Support, Bad Software etc..) and a majority of the reviewers seemed to be people whom had just got a Dud model, so I really didn't get that much out of it. ( Ck's Amazon review excepted, which is a wonderfully helpfully piece.)
Q - Why not Ipod?
A - I have friends whom have Ipods, but they all have apples and seem more attached to the styling and fashion statement, rather than the players features. Yes, Ipods look great and the Wheel navi. is great. But I have a PC and bad copy of XP, and the last thing I wanted to do was buy a new computer because of an MP3 player ? Add in the Battery issue (design Feature or Fault?) and Propriety software issues, On top of the Apple / PC compatibility issues and this just isn't a good choice for PC users.
Q - Why Not Iriver?
A - It came down to a choice between Iriver and Zen. Most other brands seemed to be new too the market, I was unwilling too take the chance. (although the new Sony seemed interesting.)Iriver does have more features, but I was never going to use them. So I couldn't justify the higher price.
Q - Hardware Issues?
A - The headphone suck, really suck. (new pair required) the touch pad is just way too sensitive (adjustment in Set Up required). I found it a bit hard to use at the start, but that's well over now. Other than that, nope. The player is small, compact and not too heavy.
Q - Software Issues?
A - Not great, but usable. All I use the software for is ripping, transferring and burning CDs. I am sure it does other stuff, but I have little use and less interest. The Burning has been excellent without fault.The ripping has been good. Out of 3000+ songs ripped, only about 20 have been duds. Transferring has been fine, but I have had problems. It seems to crash if I want to transfer over 1500 songs. (But this could also be my PC / XP. ) The AutoSynic function, (the automatic transfer function) comes up with errors every other time I use it. So now I repeat the update, which seems to solve the problem. The player has the odd habit of replicating some songs and not picking up certain tracks from transfer? I am still not to sure how or why. But this is only for 30 odd tracks, so no biggie.
Q - Music?
A - Its mostly MP3's, but a wide variety of length. It has 3400 tracks loaded with 7Gig left. The Quality is good and there are no problems with the working speed of the player. I use the playlist function which works well, but create/alter them on my PC. The song replay is alphabetical. so if I have an Album that I want to play in song order, I just rename each one, 01..., 02...., 03.... And that seems to do the trick.
Q - Battery Life?
A - No problems. I have had a lot of problems with rechargeable batteries before, so I made a point of fully recharging it overnight and then draining it completely before recharging. I get over 12 hours continual use out of it. This includes menu surfing etc..
Q - Other Features?
A - Apart from the Radio function, I don't really use them. Its got a clock, contact list etc.. But its not what I what I use it for. The Radio reception works fine. But I live in a Central City area, so there would be a major problem if it didn't work.
Q - Result?
A - For what it is, I am very happy with it. The player isn't perfect and the software can be a pain, but these are only minor complaints. After what I have experienced and the problems friends have had with Ipods, I would make the same decision again. In short, I would recommend the Zen to any PC user.

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Product Description:
Creative Zen Touch - style, size, capacity and an extra long battery life make it the ideal digital audio player for music fans. Its innovative Touch Pad supports easy, fingertip navigation through the songs, while the hard disk can also store other file types for convenient data sharing and transfer. Super-Fast USB 2.0 connectivity ensures high speed downloads, while Creative MediaSource software makes ripping simple. The rechargeable lithium-ion battery offers up to 24 hours playtime per charge and the large backlit display with multilingual interface completes the experience.