Creative Jukebox Zen Xtra 30 GB

The Creative jukebox Zen Xtra is a portable Mp3 player that can hold up to approximately 16,000 songs. Of course, this all depends upon the size that you purchase. This particular Mp3 player starts from 30GB, then up to 40GB, and finally 60GB. However, before you jump in too quickly, don't be fooled that although the 30GB is half the size of their largest mp3 player, that the 30GB is going to be too small. I bought the 40GB, and never in a million years do I expect to fill it. Think about the size if your hard drive on your computer, and how full it is, and inparticular, how much space you have used with songs. In my experience, with my 40GB computer, it's nowhere near half full, and I have many songs, and many other documents and games. So just think about it before going for the 'bigger is better' approach.

Anyway, back to the Mp3 player. It uses high speed usb 2.0 which means that you can put a song onto the mp3 player within a second. It also used a sleep timer and alarm clock, so you can wake up to your favourite songs. It has extra-large blue backlit user display with icon interface and intuitive scroller control, and let's not forget a battery that you can actually remove and recharge!

The battery gives up to 14 hours playback. But be sure to follow the instructions; be patient and don't start playing with the Mp3 player until the battery is fully charged. (Me being the impatient person I am, now only can enjoy 4 hours of battery life).

The Creative Zen Xtra mp3 player doesn't just hold music files, you can store other documents (such as word documents) which can make transfers of such files easy.

This Mp3 player was hailed as one of the best when it first came out (over a year ago), and was said to be much better than the iPod. Creative don't do things by halves, and judging by this mp3 player, they build to satisfy their customers, and they certainly aren't expected to break. It's very easy to use, very user friendly, and does everyting you expect it to. However, it's not all so great, there are a few disadvantages to it.

Although Creative boast that this Mp3 player is 'pocket size', it's not exactly the small and sleek product you might think. It's much bigger than most other mp3 players (approximately 6 inches tall, 3 inches wide and 1 inch in depth), and also surprisingly heavy. Compared to the iPod this definitely is not an advantage.

Creative also like to remind you that it takes 1 second per song to put music onto the player, What they fail to remind you is that putting the songs onto you computer before you get to do this can take quite a long time. The software disk that they give you to enable you to put songs onto the mp3 player isn't as user friendly as the hardware, and can lead to a very frustrating time until you get the hang of it.

Having said all of this, and you are now probably getting the impression that I don't like the Creative Zen Xtra, this is not the case at all. All in all, this mp3 player does it's job, and it does it well, it does have a few glitches, but generally, what doesn't? It has been said that if it wasn't for 'iPod mania' then Creative would lead in the world of mp3 players. Creative have a range of different EAX audio settings, meaning that sound quality is excellent.

Knowing what I do now, and having experience the Creative Zen Xtra mp3 player for over a year, I would still purchase the product again, which I guess means that I am one satisfied customer.