Customer Reviews

Creative Zen Touch 20 GB MP3 Player

5 star:		(154)
4 star:		(83)
3 star:		(24)
2 star:		(29)
1 star:		(40)

 

 

After using the Zen Touch for a few weeks, here are my observations:
1. Most reviewers fail to mention that this is truly an international machine. I have many songs whose ID3 tag uses Russian, Japanese, Korean, Chinese (BIG5, GB) language codes, and the player has no problem recognizing and displaying them--a huge plus for those who carry multilingual music.
2. The player feels very solid on your palm and is smaller (but a bit thicker) than almost all PDA's; it's just a bit wider than a deck of cards.
3. The buttons are neatly placed and faciliates navigation/browsing for music. The menu system is very intuitive and incredibly easy to learn.
4. On the downside, a 3-bar battery indicator can at times be frustrating. When there's 1 bar left, you're not sure whether there's an hour left or 8 hours left (1/3 of the full battery life).
5. Also no drive-letter support and no support, so far, for Windows Explorer.
6. Limited ID3 tag display info for the songs in your player. For instance, an MP3 file's ID3 tag was supposed to tell me the album year; but there's no way to tell once the music is in your player.

If I were to judge:

Design: A- (great form, size, just a bit heavier than ipod)

Performance: A (superb sound for a portable; amazing battery; convenient+fast music transfer)

Features: B (no recording, no line-in, no radio, but again those are not the reasons to get an MP3 player... also no remote)

Service/support: A (responded to my question within couple of hours, friendly support staff, plus 1 year warranty)

Value: A- (there are cheaper players--ie the older Nomads; but for the features/quality this device offers, it's worth it)

First off let me say that I'm tired of every MP3 player review always comparing the product in question to the Ipod. The Ipod is NOT the best MP3 Player on the market, and the only reason I would ever recommend the Ipod to someone is if they were using Apple's propietary Itunes and AAC files, in which case you have no choice for what to get, your stuck with the Ipod.

Now back to the Zen Touch. First the size and weight of the player is perfect for just about anyone who uses the MP3 for travel or in thier car. The sound quality is supurb, after you get some new headphones of course. Even though the headphones supplied are kinda junkie, and sound like garbage, that's no reason to judge the Zen badly because if you really love music in the first place your going to get new headphones anyways. The only thing that botherd me for a while was the touch pad, but after messing with the sensitivity settings, I found it to be a great innovation for the unit, as well as making the unit more enjoyable to use. The buttons are placed convienetly enough to make this an easy one handed unit.I also really liked how Creative decided to put a "Random" button instead of having to go though the units settings and choose "Random/Play All" like most of their previous models. The battery life is great, I really don't know about the 24 hour playback since I've only had this unit for 2 days, but I know for a fact that I have played it for almost 18 hours now and the battery still has 2 cells left. Loading your music is a breeze, as well as being able to just hit the "Auto Sync" button to add all your new MP3's/WAV's later on.

All in all I say the Zen Touch is a great unit for just about everyone looking to dump their music collection into an easy to use and navigate MP3 player for a very reasonable price.

I bought this item about 2 weeks ago. Here's my Q/A guide. If you have already read other reviews then some of this stuff will not be new. Here it is:

Q: How much did you pay for this item?
A: 200$ for zen touch + 10$ for sennheiser headphones

Q: Is it bigger than Ipod?
A: Yes

Q: Is it big?
A: No, it is small, can easily fit your pocket

Q: Does it look good?
A: Yes, indeed. It does kind of look like an Ipod though.

Q: Is the screen big?
A: Yes, big enough for anybody.

Q: Some people say contrast is too low, is that true?
A: No, you can read the screen without any problem during the day or night.

Q: Are the earphones really `that` bad?
A: Yes, they are really bad.

Q: So should I really buy new ones?(because i'm feeling lazy)
A: Yes, you should. If you pay 220$ for Creative Zen Touch, you really need to pay 10 more bucks for the earphones to get the most out of your player.

Q: One of the biggest problems seems to be the Touchpad - is it hard to use?
A: It's not as easy to get used to as the Ipod. But, you will not go crazy because you cannot stop on one song or menu item. The most that can happen is that you will have to try twice to reach something - which really shouldn't drive you mad. You can get used to it in 1 week after which you will have no problem navigating. You can also try 'high/medium/low' sensitivity settings to see which is best for you.

Q: Does the software really suck?
A: I only use it for moving files from my computer to zen touch and that is basically dragging and dropping. If that is what you are planning to do then I must say it doesn't. I play my music in Windows Media Player so I don't know anything else about Creative Software. Again, if you only use it to transfer music, it will not cause you any trouble.


Q: How is the sound quality?
A: Incredible. and I mean that. just make sure you pay extra 10 bucks for those good earphones.

Q: Can you make playlists, shuffle music, etc?
A: Yes, you can make all those in the player, just add songs to `Now playing` and then select `save as playlist` and you're done. You can choose to shuffle the songs in a playlist, repeat, play normally etc. The random button on the outside shuffles all the songs in your player. If you want to shuffle a playlist, then you just go through a few menus and select. Some people say random button is useless (i was one of these people) but then I started using it a lot. so no, it is not useless.

Q: Do I have to make playlist for every album
A: No, if two songs are in an album, the player automatically puts them together. You can select them by choosing the album. The same applies for artists - if you only want to listen to `coldplay` just select the artist and all of their songs will be in your `now playing` list.

Q: Is there a clock?
A: Yes, but you will need to go through a few menus.

Q: How about the battery, does it go for 24 hours?
A: You need to understand this: the battery goes for 24 hours if you start playing music and don't touch your player for 24 hours. But you will probably use `next` `play/stop` `back` etc. These bring it down to 20 hours if you're an average user. But believe me, 20 hours is still a lot. This player will go on for hours and days.

Q: How long does it take to charge?
A: Around 3 hours.

Q: I own a MAC computer, should I go with Zen touch or Ipod?
A: Ipod.

Q: I own a PC, should I go with Zen touch or Ipod?
A: First, check to see how many .WMA files you have. If you have a lot of these you should go with Zen touch because Ipod does not support .WMA. If you have .mp3 files - both support this common format - then it comes down to other things...

Q: ...which are?
A: Money: Zen touch costs less. You will save a minimum amount of 50$ if you choose zen touch. If you are a student, money is important.
If you DO NOT care about the money, I have to say that you should consider Ipod as an important option. The Zen touch has a higher potential to cause problems which you have to deal with. For example my touch pad sometimes stops working and i have to either use my thumb or put fabric(my tshirt) between the touchpad and my finger. Once, the software took five minutes to recognize the player after I connected it. Also I had to restart the Zen touch once - you don't lose any music and nothing happens but I lost a minute restarting it. As you can guess, these are not big issues, they will make you lose couple of minutes though. I'm not saying Ipod is perfect - probably has little problems like these from time to time BUT I think zen touch seems to have a little more potential to cause problems like these. The warranty is 1 year, not 90 days as some claim, so you can feel comfortable about that. Small problems can sometimes make you angry - for example the touchpad - but just remember that you payed 70 dolars less for 12 more hours of music (i can't even think of charging for 3 hours and then using it for 8-9 hours in return) and a higher sound quality. You do not get any games with your player, but I did not feel their absence yet.

So it will all come down to your decision. If money is an important factor, then don't even consider Ipod, go for the Zen Touch. It is also more suitable to a PC and has great sound quality and incredible battery. Now, you might face a few problems - the player might stop a few times and you'll have to restart it. The touchpad may take a while to get used to or as in my case it might not always work properly. But similar problems could always occur with an ipod, and if you don't like it or there's a problem, you have a 1 year warranty.

You make the last choice. I chose Zen touch and I am happy with it. This player is not perfect, but the fact is there is no perfect player out there yet. so overall, i would recommend this player.

I've had my player for about a year now, and I love it. I was very very picky when I considered buying an MP3 player too. I was going to go with an iPod just because they get such good reviews, but I'd used one before and I wasn't a fan of the controls, plus they were expensive, and they have that ridiculous headphone jack that is designed only to fit "apple compatible" headphones. What I initially liked about this one is it's price, but I was skeptical because this 20gig player is the same price as a 5gig iPod.

After messing with one at a computer store I easily preffered the buttons and controls of this player over all of the other players in it's price range. I even preffered this one over the creative micro, which I actually hated. Now that I've owned this one for a year I love the random button on this thing, and the volume controls on the side. It's a lot easier to judge your volume by hitting a button than by toggeling on a touch pad in my opinion because you have more control. The random button is just conveniant. You don't have to go into any menu's, or even take the thing out of your pocket. You just hit it and you instantly have your own radio station. I'll admit the buttons feel kind of cheap, but they hold up fine. I use this thing every single day and I haven't had a single problem.

Another thing I liked was the indented, and small touch pad on this player. I broke my brothers iPod touch pad just by carrying it in my pocket without it's case. Because this players touch pad is indented and smaller it doesn't come in as much contact with any surface which makes it safer to carry (even without a case). It is true that the touch pad is a bit touchy at first, but you can adjust the sensitivity, and it gets easier with use. Within the first month I could use it without a problem. Plus you can swith between whether you use the touch pad as just a slider or you can change it so that you can tap it to play songs or select songs instead of hitting the "ok" button (which is another easy/dummy proof function of this player).

The menu functions in this thing are a bit weird at first, but because the buttons are so simple it doesn't take a genious to figure it out. It's basically like a fold out menu. You can choose to listen by artist, album, genre or playlist. Say you want a particular song...you click on artist, it takes you to a list of all your artists (which also includes a "find" feature which works similiar to a cell phone address books alphabetical listings) then you click on the artist and a smaller menu pops up with a list of things like "find track" "find album" and other options. Then you hit "OK" on "find track" and you find your track. It may sound complicated, but I can do it while I'm driving with ease, and I'm not that good of a driver.

The one thing that is complicated is organizing your music in the creative music program. If your music is not organized in your player by genre, artist, or however you want it....this thing would be hard to use (as would any MP3 player). I'll admit it took me a few hours to correctly label the first thousand songs I put in this thing properly. The program does label them for you, but it has a very broad range of categories and sometimes there's no rhyme or reason for why certain artisits end up in certain categories. So it's best if you do it manually. Which is easy. You just click on the genre, album title, song title, or artist name and type in what you want. It works very similiar to any word processing spreadsheet. One thing that I didn't like is that everything has to be spelled the same or it will show it as an entirely seperate heading in your player (EX: if you spell Aerosmith two different ways half your Aerosmith songs will end up under 'Aerosmith', and half will end up under 'Aerrosmith')

The battery life on this player is also something to brag about. The sad thing is that it doesn't even come close to living up to it's advertised "24 hours." I'd say the most I've gotten out of it was 16-18, which is hard to even complain about. The upload speed is pretty fast too. The first day I got it I loaded close to 2,000 songs into it in about a half hour (after I spent 2 hours labeling all my songs correctly of course, but I'm pretty picky).

If there is one thin I don't like it's that when you are uploading songs it drains the battery at a much faster rate than normal. But that's just an annoyance. The headphones on this weren't all that bad either. I used them for the first 6 months before I eventually upgraded, but I still use the old ones if I'm listening to it while I'm trying to sleep because they are incredibley small and flat (I can lay on my side and I can't even feel them in my ears)

Overall I'm glad I was picky about choosing this player. I feel like I deffinately got the best player for the price, and even if this one broke tomorrow I'd buy the exact same player. I haven't had one problem in the year I've had this (no headphone jack problems, no freeze ups, no memory malfunctions. I haven't even had to use the reset button) and I literally use it everyday for at least an hour. I've even dropped it a few times, and all it did was reset itself from the album I had selected to the random mode after the initial start up. But it's been fine since.

Deffinately the best buy for the price, if not better than some of the players more expensive. Its even better than the Creative Micros. If you're thinking about buying anything under $200 I'd recommend looking at this one first, and if you've got the money to buy something more expensive at least check this one out. You may be able to use that extra money to buy gas or something.

After weeks of researching which 20GB player to buy, I finally bought the Creative Zen Touch. It was the best purchase I have ever made. The Zen has it all: superior audio quality, amazing battery life, an intuitive menu layout, and all at an incredible price. If you are considering buying this item, I am sure you have also considered the 20GB Apple iPod. Having used both the iPod and Zen extensively, there is no doubt in my mind that the Zen is superior. First, the music quality of the Zen is superior. I had long known this, but it wasn't until I compared them side-by-side that I found that the Zen had NOTICEABLY better sound. Second, the Zen's 24-hour battery life is great. I use my Zen every day for several hours and still only need to charge it once a week. Also, it only takes about four hours to charge! The iPod only offers a mediocre 8-hour battery life. I have found the Zen's menu layout to be very similar to an iPod, and very easy to use. Songs are organized, like the iPod, by genre, artist, album, etc. The blue backlit display is very sharp, and displays all of the names clearly. The software that the Zen uses, Creative MediaSource, is decent, if not perfect software. It is extremely easy to sync the player with your computer and transfer your files. The Zen is a touch larger and heavier than the iPod (owing to its much larger battery life), but its sleek design makes it almost unnoticeable in your pocket or in the belt clip and case included with the player. The headphones, are, as all headphones that come with players are, not very good, and will need replacing. I do not hold this against the Zen, because there are currently no players on the market that supply headphones that can be described as anything better than mediocre. The scroll pad that you use to navigate the Zen takes a little while to get used to, but in the long run it is actually much easier to use than the scroll wheel of the iPod. You can also enable it so that tapping the pad will select whatever you are scrolled on. All in all, the Creative Zen Touch is a far superior player to its competition. And priced at $225, it won't leave too big a dent in your wallet either. The arguement over iPod vs. Zen Touch is simple: Style vs. Substance. If you want a trendy, smaller player, go with the iPod. If you want superior audio quality, much better battery life, and an overall better player, go with the Zen. In conclusion, I can truly say, the Creative Zen Touch 20GB is the best MP3 player in its class on the market.

This is by far one of the best mp3 players on the market. I've had my player for a little over 5 months, and it works great.

The battery life is tremendous. After months of abuse, I still get about 20-21 hours of life with 1 charge. Amazing. Friends who have had their iPods for about a year (Christmas presents) are already experiencing battery life reduction, from 12 hours to 7 at the MOST. So in about a year's time, they've seen the battery life shrink by almost 50%. And this isn't only 1 or 2 incidents, I can name about 10-12 people who wish there battery life lasted half as long as a Zen Touch's.

What stopped this from getting 5 stars are two little quirks I have with the machine.

First, the random button is an extremely stupid button. It should not be a button at all. If you hit it accidentally, it will immediately switch to a random song. To undo this is a 4 step process in order to return to what you were already listening to.

Secondly, the method of transfering songs to the player is extremrely confusing at first. The included software gives no instructions on how to get songs to your player. After a lot of trial and error, I found that Windows Media Player 10 is the best method to do so. But the time of my life I spent trying to figure out Creative's (uneccessary) software takes this player down 1 star.

Overall, I'm extremely satisfied. Unlike other reviews, I didn't find the Touch-Pad too sensitive at all. Like any product, it took some time getting used to.

If you want an easy to use device to strictly plays your music and not break the bank paying for it, I highly recommend investing in the Zen Touch. It's definitely worth it.

PROS
This is it! Finally some competition for the Ipod and its monopoly on the portable audio market. Apple beware, there is a new kid on the street, and he's ready to play!!! I was lucky enough to place an order for the Zen Touch the day they were available for shipping from creative.com, Friday, July 23, 20004. And let me tell you this, it is fantastic!!! It is the greatest portable audio player in its class, and quite possibly the greatest portable audio player to date. First off the touch-pad is ingenious. It allows for quick song selection, breezing through the simple menus, sensitivity can be adjusted, and it is just plain fun and easy to use. The 20gb hard drive offers more than enough space for all your favorite music, with some left over. The Zen touch even has a "Find" feature that lets you search for that certain song by entering the first letter. What a great feature, if you odn't feel like scrolling through 20gb of songs!!! The next/previous/play-pause/menu/and volume buttons are neatly and conveniently placed for easy access. AND YESSSS the battery does indeed last an ASTONISHING 24 HOURS!!!! IT IS NO LIE!!! I used mine an entire day to test the self-proclaimed battery life and it lived up to its claim, I will not lie, I was amazed. I used it on a college visit, a two hour drive, a daily routine of excercise, and fell asleep to it and the son-of-a-gun was still playing in the morning!!! That was 24hours to the minute, all on one 4 hour charge. You have to see it to believe it!!! The software to transfer music to the zen touch could not be any easier to use. A mere "drag-and-drop" method gets all of your mp3s or wmas to your zen touch effortlessly. You can also convert cds easily too. It can even be automatically updated with whatever songs you most recently downloaded with "audiosync." Just select whatever folder you download your music to, and the software will automatically transfer the new songs to your zen touch when its connected to your pc. Another great feature is the ability to edit and SAVE PLAYLISTS ON THE GO. YES THAT'S RIGHT YOU CAN EDIT AND SAVE PLAYSLISTS DIRECTLY ON THE PLAYER! APPLE take your IPOD and EAT YOUR HEART OUT because we all know the ipod can NOT save playlists. I also put the zen touch through a physical test of me jogging and sitting in my hot sun filled car by accident for 10 hours, and rest assured the music played smoothly and didn't miss a beat!!! And perhaps the greatest feature of all is the price, do some on-line shopping, and you can find the zen touch for a mere $239 (hint, hint, pcmall.com) Thats around $60 cheaper than the Ipod. With a 96dB signal-to-noise ratio, the sound through average headphones is as good as hi-fi stereo systems. Its amazing!!! And the aesthetically pleasing white and silver colors, along with the palm sized perportions, it fits easily anywhere (pockets, purses, hands, and glove compartments). The Zen Touch also comes with a holder with a belt clip, great for walks, jogs, or runs!!! So if you are looking for an Ipod alternative, look no further. With better sound, features, battery life, cheaper price, touchpad, and eye-catching look, the Zen Touch puts the Ipod in its place. Not only does it outperform the Ipod on all the aforementioned aspects, but it outperforms all other portable audio player to date too. In my opinion this is indeed the greatest portable audio player on the market right now considering price and functions. If you are undecided or unsure of which audio player to buy, with the Zen Touch you can not go wrong!!!! It's what I like to call my Zen Touch of heaven!!!!

CONS
The only cons I can think of are that in a pocket the Zen Touch can be felt, but so can my pens and pencils, the size and weight of the Zen Touch is no different than that of the Ipod!!! The few ounces of weight are unnoticed. The only other con is that once in your pocket the controls can't be reached. But that is the case on any player that you choose. Creative has solved this problem with a wired remote control accessory if your interested. The Zen Touch is in my opinion "con-less."

I've had my Zen touch for almost a week and I am totally satisfied with it. The size of the player is nice, it fits perfectly into my hand. The zen touch is a very classy looking player, very smooth and it's not as boxy as it appears in pictures.
The sound quality is amazing, even with the crappy earbuds that are supplied, you can still hear the players potential. Loading my music was a breeze, I was up and ready in under 10 minutes.
Navigating the zen touch is very easy, although it took a few minutes to get use to the scrolling. The random button is fun, kinda like having a dj that plays all of you favorite songs.
The battery life is great. People have complained about the carrying case but I love it. It protects the player very well and I dont want any scratches on it's pretty face. I almost didn't buy this product because people had stated that it froze on them. Well it froze on me once after I took it off of the charger. It rebooted just fine after hitting the reset button.

All in all this is the best product on the market when you consider the price, storage, the look and the amazing sound quality. Nothing else really comes close to it's value.

A few weeks ago I was in the market for an MP3 player that would replace my aging Archos Jukebox 10. Naturally, I looked at the fourth-generation iPod as my school (Duke) was giving them out to all freshmen and I thought that I would also need one should the pilot program work. I liked the iPod for its functionality and its small size; however, after viewing it in-person at an Apple Store in Hollywood, I immediately became disgusted. I am not one who looks for simplicity and while the earbuds were great for sound, the touch-wheel looked out-of-place and cheap. I was also not a fan for the metal backing which would be a magnet for fingerprints and other blemishes. The device was simply not aesthetically pleasing and harbored useless features (Solitaire being the most notable). What's more, the Apple employees could not answer the question that I posed: "Why should I buy the iPod over the Dell DJ or the Creative Zen Touch?" A staff which cannot even promote its own product is not worth my time or my money. I immediately left the store, thanking my stars for not buying this device online before seeing it in-person.

While I do respect Apple, I cannot fathom how their device is so popular when it only sports a 12 hour battery life and mediocre sound quality. The Zen Touch has 24 hours PLUS one of the highest sound standards out of all mp3 players out there. In addition, it comes with a carrying case, unlike the iPod (another $30 expense for an already overpriced device). Perhaps I by nature am not a conformist and as such, do not partake in crazes such as today's iPod craze, but after two weeks of research, I scratched the iPod off my list and took the nicer Zen Touch. It is slightly larger but for a college student, this does not matter. I can still jog with it, work with it, and walk with it. If Duke does require the use of iPods for educational purposes for ALL students, then I may need to buy one but for now, I couldn't be happier with my Zen.

I ordered it on a Monday and by Thursday, I had it on my doorstep ready to be used. The Creative MediaSource is such an intuitive program for transferring files from your computer to the Zen. It worked flawlessly and while the Zen did freeze once, a simple restart solved the trick. Transfer rates are excellent and sound is great. I liked the touch strip more than the wheel and the placement of buttons seemed much more logical to me than integrating everything into a wheel. What's more, I found the Zen to be more aesthetically pleasing than the iPod.

For all future users, I should warn you that whenever you do want to place the player into its case, you should lock the keys, as the device has a tendency to click the buttons once in the restrictive case which squeezes on the player. Battery life is truly 24 hours and volume control is great. I couldn't ask for another MP3 player, especially for a college student. It's cheaper than the iPod and includes the case. While the Zen does not have much extra features such as Solitaire or a day planner, it does have a clock and a calendar. If one is truly in search of these extra features, go get a pocket pc like mine. An MP3 player to me is for playing music, not organizing one's life or playing games. The iPod does have more use in a University because of its expandibility and its myriad of features not related to music, so I do see why Duke chose the player, but for normal music listeners, the Zen will do just fine.

And for anyone who wants to know whether the Touch can act like an external hard drive, it can. Thus, you can store extra data files so you can transfer them to another computer. The Dell DJ is a nice cheap alternative as well, but I wasn't impressed by its scrolling capabilities and its sound. It was also slightly heavier than the Zen. However, the Zen is the best of three worlds, as it does copy some features of the Dell (dimensions, power/volume buttons, screen) and the iPod (white look, blue backlight), but it has its own features such as the touch strip which make it, at least in my eyes, the best of the three.

The difference between the iPod and Zen is a matter of preference and you couldn't go wrong with either. I just hope you see that Apple does overprice its products and adds extra, useless features without the components that truly count (battery life, sound). Go with the Zen; you won't regret it!

Before purchasing the zen touch i pretty much read every review on the ipod and the zen touch, my room-mate has an ipod-photo, while one of my friends recently purchased a creative zen. I did a lot of comparisons between the two and my conclusion is that there IS no best player out there, they all have their pros and cons, you just have to figure out what u're looking for in a player, and of course how much you're planning to shell out. For me, i was looking to spend less than 300 on a device, plus i'm wary of the ipod craze, so i wanted to go with something different. I've had the zen touch for about 3 weeks now, and so far its been great. I've become a sort of expert at defending it b/c the first thing people ask when they see it is... IS that an IPOD?? and i'm like NO!!! its a creative zen touch!!

The positives of the zen have been mentioned time and time again, basically the sound is great (with good headphones, company supplied one nearly split my ear-hole in two.. its way too clunky), the battery life is a dream. With usb 2.0 ripping cds, and transferring files to your zen touch is very fast. I also love the random function, it like having my own personal radio station, never know whats coming next.

Negatives are that you have to rename songs for the most part, because it only recognizes the original tags encoded in your mp3s (took me hrs to do this, but its worth it to have everything properly organized). Thats about it, i havent had any problems with having to reboot, but i've only had it for a couple of weeks, my fingers are crossed.

In summary if you want something with extra features like a calendar and games, and u have the money to spend, go ahead and get an ipod. But if u're tired of the craze, and just need a device to play ur music, get a zen touch, i think its the best alternative to the ipod out there. By the way all the whiners about the touch pad need to relax, it really isnt that bad, in fact once you get used to it, its a lot of fun to use!!