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... more
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with top quality cells using the most up-to-date technology to give a long lasting charge with no memory effect.All our Batteries conform to ISO9001, RoHS and CE certification. All our prices include VAT and you will receive a VAT invoice.CodeCS-RE02SLTypeLithium-PolymerVoltage3.7 Capacity1700mAhWarranty12 MonthsEquivalent Battery Codes :DAA-BA0004
A review by Christian921 on Creative Zen Touch 40 GB October 17th, 2005
Author's product rating:
Sound Quality
Excellent
Ease of Use
Very Easy
Look & Design
Excellent
Range of Features
Average
Value for Money
Good
Advantages:
Durable, easy to use, great sound and time between battery charges .
Disadvantages:
Mediocre earphones, oddly designed case, no lossless format support .
Recommend to potential buyers:
yes
Full review
I am a huge fan of burning disks on my computer to give me the ability to take my music where I want to go. When you are mowing the lawn, running, or doing one of a million other activities that are lonesome and monotonous and you want to listen to your tunes you have a problem. What are you going to do if you are missing a CD player? I need a go anywhere gizmo for my favorite tunes. I started looking into MP3 players and I came across the Zen Touch 40GB by Creative Labs.
The Basics
Creative Labs brings the Zen Touch to the market with two obvious goals. The first being they want you to be able to store a ton of files. The second is that they want you to be able to find those files quickly. These are both big reasons for me to pick up the Zen Touch.
The Zen Touch has 40GB (gigabytes) of storage. That will give you about 16,000 WAV/WMA (64 bps) songs and 10,000 MP3 songs. That is a lot and I have yet to get anywhere close to capping the limit yet. Currently I only have 493 MP3's on the Zen Touch. To have a hard drive be this big the Zen Touch has to be large enough to fit it. This brings the Zen to a slightly larger than average 4x3x1 inch frame. Add the large 24 hour battery and the unit weighs in at 7.76 ounces. There has to be some sort of payback for having a unit that is able to handle this many files and having a slightly larger and heavier than average player is the price.
On the face of the Zen Touch you will find a nice sized information screen. Measuring 160 by 104 pixels it takes up about a third of the total surface on the front of the unit. There are about seven lines of text depending on what screen you are in at a time. This gives you the ability to see a lot of information on the screen. The display is backlit in an indigo color that is very easy to read in all but the brightest of conditions. You may need to shade the screen in direct sunlight. You can adjust the contast brightness as well as how long the light stays on.
The controls of the Zen Touch are extremely easy to use. There are a total of eight buttons on the face of the unit. Five of the buttons are the same controls that you would see on a standard CD player (play, stop, fast forward, etc). There is also a menu button that brings up the different options available (uploading and downloading, removing files, etc) and an "OK" button to verify choices. The single feature that makes the Zen Touch one of the more unique players on the market is the touch pad located directly below the "OK" button centered on the face of the player. From this touch pad you will be able to page through your music selections. You can either select one line at a time by tapping up or down on the pad. You can also speed up the process by keeping your finger on the pad and the Zen Touch puts the search into high gear. The pad is also sensitive to were you touch. By touching the pad at the very top or the very bottom you will move the cursor faster.
Along the side of the Zen Touch you will find the volume control buttons. You can scroll up as high as 25 on the volume control which is louder than most people can take wearing earphones. Creative Labs advertises the fact that they have a 97db signal to noise ratio with the Zen Touch. I really am not 100% sure what that means but the Zen Touch sounds very good. Creative Labs includes a pair of in-ear (ear buds) headphones. The earphones work but are uncomfortable to me. The ear buds feel loose inside my ear as well.
The Zen Touch uses the new USB 2.0 to interface with your PC. This is the way you will download music files to your player. Creative Labs includes the needed software with your purchase. The software itself is straightforward and easy to install and use. You need only to select the files you want to download and then hook the PC to your player via the USB cable. Downloading is quick, usually under two minutes per file depending on your beats per second (bps). Downloading files does eat the batteries up though. The unit has to work harder and therefore sucks down the juice. I recommend hooking up the power cable to avoid totally depleting the battery with large file exchanges.
Creative Labs makes add on products that will allow you to tune in radio stations as well as record from the radio and record voice memos. This is not standard with the Zen Touch and needs to be purchased separately. A lot of people like this feature and that is why I mention it.
The battery that comes with the Touch Zen is a lithium-ion rechargeable. You will need condition the battery when you first get by fully charging and then fully discharging the battery before recharging. This will assure that you get the longest life from the battery. Once conditioned and fully charge you can expect to get a full 24 hours of use from a charge.
Personal Impressions
Like every other music geek I was looking to get an iPod to listen to tunes while doing my miscellaneous chores and duties that are otherwise silent. I did some checking and the more I read the more I liked the Zen Touch. When I first held the iPod I thought it felt cheap. The wheel used on the iPod was easy enough to use and that was the biggest point for me. I wanted something easy to use but I also something that felt sturdier. Nothing against the iPod, it just felt easy to break.
The Zen Touch gives me that ease of use I was looking for while feeling like it is a little tougher. I can not bring myself to drop it in the spirit of testing but it has stood up to my not so gentle use very well. I have been extremely happy with the Zen Touch less a few minor points.
The carrying case that comes with the Zen Touch is a great idea. It has a clip so you can just hook and go. The problem is when you want to make some sort of adjustments. You will have to remove the unit from the pouch to do anything with the unit because all of the buttons are completely covered by the case. This is not a huge issue but it is a grip for me.
The software that comes with the Zen Touch is supposed to make it easy to drop and drag titles that are to be downloaded. I had two problems with this. First because all of my music files did not have all the information filled out in all the fields they got a little lost. The software grabs all of this information to file it on your Zen Touch for reference later. So if you want to look up an artist, album or whatever you will need this information inputted before you download. If you choose to skip this step your files will get buried and looking for them takes a while. I also had a problem on the first install of the software. My Gateway 9310X locked up during what should have been the first download. I had to uninstall and reinstall. I have not had an issue since.
I have been very happy with the Zen Touch. Even though there are no previsions for lossless music files yet. Creative Labs made the Zen Touch as a reprogrammable unit. That means that if sometime down the road they decide to change things up they can. I am crossing my fingers that they decide to add a lossless format.
If you are looking for a durable MP3/WAV/WMP player that has a ton of storage and is long on batteries I would highly recommend the Zen Touch by Creative Labs. The touch pad is sensitive but once you get the hang of it you will find it to be the easiest control out there today. Add that to the great sound quality and you have yourself one heck of a good deal! The only reason I am only giving it 4 out of 5 is because the FM Tuner is an add-on. I would rather have had it built in. It is still a steal without the FM Tuner!
Vital Stats on the Zen Touch 40GB by Creative Labs (From information contained with unit and company site)
Supported Formats: MP3, WMA and WAV Signal-to-Noise Ratio: up to 97dB Frequency Response: 20Hz - 20kHz Battery Life: Up to 24 hours of continuous playtime Interface: USB 2.0 (backward compatible with USB 1.1)
Included with the Zen Touch:
3' USB cable One pair of earphones (in ear style) Installation CD for PC interface Carry case with clip AC cord Manual
Warranty:
The Zen Touch carries a one year parts, ninety days labor limited hardware warranty.
...quality of this product. Usually, Creative build reliable, high quality products which last forever. The quality on this player, is.. okay. I mean, it doesnt feel cheap really, the brushed aluminium or whatever the metal on the back is feels okay, and the plastic at the front, despite its gloss finish feels good too. The back scratches a hell of a lot, very easily. But to this day the front seems relatively new(except the peeling screen cover). I ... ...of better quality. Though the creative earphones are by no means bad. ----------Software----------
Creative mediasource, is a breeze to use, none of that fiddling around like with itunes when you set it up. Its all easily laid out. Virtually, drag and drop the files onto the player and away they go, each track tacking around a second to transfer. Which isnt at all bad. When i was using this software, it didnt have an online store built in like Itunes ...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Advantages: Battery life, sound quality, durability, compatibilty Disadvantages: Size, menu system
...you to look at what creative has to offer.
I bought the creative zen touch 20gb originally, but i was so impressed that i upgraded to the 40gb later. There are one or tow flaws or improvements which i would mention later, but all in all I have been incredibly impressed with this mp3 player.
Firstly, the sound quality. I've used this with both cheap headphones, expensive headphones, hi-fi speakers and car stereos, and I cannot fault the sound quality. ... ...transferring music is made by creative and is quite simple to use, however, it is not as user friendly as itunes or windows media player and at times can make making playlists a chore. Hopefully creative with address this with their next incarnation of the software. Saying this though, it has to be said, the zen is compatible with alot of files, and can be used as a database for backing up data. This makes it very useful as more than simply an mp3 ...
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...QUALITY----------
I've always believed that Creative have had the best sound quality. Even compared to todays iPods i still think this is better. Not only is it clear and vibrant, each acoustic note sounds bright and each bass note defined. It's unbelievably loud too at 97DB, even newer Zens dont put that out. The best part is, it doesnt even distort with it. Which means you can listen at full volume and still have the clarity you'd get from lower ... ...they're on the player. The creative software is much easier to use than iTunes in my personal opinion, and i have had tried both. ----------CAPACITY----------
The big one. This is the main reason i bought this mp3 player. 40GB of space for a measly £90 I'd of been stupid not too. Especially when you pay around £160 for a 20GB Ipod. It claims 15,000 songs, but i've only managed about 8000 so far. I suppose its all down to quality though. But if you're ...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Advantages: WMA and MP3 compatable, Masses of space, Stylish enough to show off, Easy to use Disadvantages: Touch pad can be a little too sensitive
Creative were one of the first companies to bring out affordable decent spec MP3 players into the modern market and even now a good half a decade down the road they are still THE most reliable brand or at least one of the most reliable brands on the market. I have worked with the latest musical technologies for almost six years now and would wholeheartedly recommend the Creative Zen above iPod, the Sony Walkman or any other MP3 player currently on ... ...is undeniably clear that the Creative Zen is smoother, clearer and CHEAPER! It is possible to put songs onto the player three ways, the first and most effective by far is drag and drop - the exact same way you would any file or folder on your computer (and if you have already stored a heap load of albums onto your PC then why not just copy and paste them onto the Zen? Quick and easy backs all your songs up and lets you take them with you on the go). ...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Advantages: Price, reliability, easy to use Disadvantages: larger than an ipod
I have owned this mp3 player for around 18 months now and I bought it primarily because of the large storage size. I can fit all of my CD collection on to it with ease, which is several hundred albums.
The good points are many and include very quick and easy ripping of CDs and burning to the mp3 player, incredible sound quality, very good reliability (nothing has ever gone wrong while I have friends who have got through 5 ipods in the same amount ... ...more). You can vary the quality of the ripped mp3 with the software and you can equalise the volume of the tracks on the mp3 player itself. The random function is good and the menus are easy to operate.
On the down side; the earbuds are not that good, I invested in a good pair of sony headphones and they're much more comfortable and small. If you need to update the software on the mp3 player, it has to be blank, so it pays to back up your carefully ...
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Playback Modes: Playlist, Repeat shuffle, repeat all, playlist, random play / shuffle, one track repeat
Response Bandwidth: 20 - 20000 Hz
Signal-To-Noise Ratio: 97 dB
Total Harmonic Distortion: 0.1%
External Hard Drive Function: Built-in
Sample Rate: 8 - 48 kHz
Headphones
Connectivity Technology: Wired
Headphones Type: Headphones - binaural
Sound Output Mode: Stereo
Impedance: 32 Ohm
Manufacturer's 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.
Connections
Connector Type:
1 x USB
1 x headphones / remote control
System requirements
OS Required: Microsoft Windows 98SE/2000/ME/XP
Peripheral / Interface Devices: CD-ROM, USB port
System Requirements Details: Windows 98SE/2000/ME/XP - Pentium II - 266 MHz - RAM 64 MB - HD 30 MB
