Creative ZEN X-Fi 32GB MP3 and Video Player with Wireless LAN Compatibility

 

 

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Ive never written a review on amazon although always shopping here, I actually got the player from another shop which was about 50 quid cheaper, but I am still loyal enough to amazon to come back and add a comment.

So first off, Ive only had the player a day or so, the weight of the thing is incredibly light, it feels a bit lighter than a matchbox.

The earphones are pretty good, I brought some similar earphones not too long ago, sennheiser's which were about £40 and top quality, well im now using the actual earphones that came with this player, they are really good! We all know earphones that come with players are normally just rubbish, so this is good!

There isn't a screen defender included, you know the kind that protects the actual screen, I remember having one on my old 32gig Zen.

So lets get to the good stuff, the software is good, it scans your whole machine and locates any mp3's it can find and updates its own database of your music, I think its quite clever.
Which means that when its scanned your pc, you click on albums and it lists every album it could find on your system, you just then add it to your player, same goes for artists and I think Genres, so it does all the hardwork for you.

Ok so heres THE best part, people are wondering about he ability to transfer your music wireless, because at first Creative just mentioned you can access and play it wireless.

Well here you have it, they already have a new firmware out and it lets you transfer your music wireless, now im not just talking about "connect device..." wireless, I was able to walk around the home, browse all my music from my pc and press download, which is awesome when you just want to chill out and watch TV and don't really wanna be sitting at the desk, I was so impressed with this, and to think no other player has this functionality, they seem so confident with this wireless function that the usb cable they provide you is about 4 cm long lol.

As people have mentioned before, the battery life does drain when you use the wireless ability, so I cannot give a good opinion of the battery life compared by the old Zen, because I have been using wireless alot.

The buttons on the actual player does take a bit of time to get used to, but this thing is so small they really did have to bring down the buttons in size and compact.

I for one think this is better than any ipod, I used an ipod before and sent it back, I didn't like its software , its functionality and I have stuck with Creative's Zen series ever since. So I just hope that someone that has used an ipod and this zen can give a much better comparison than what I actually can provide.

Finaly thoughts, its smart, compact, very light, easy to setup, battery charges in quick time, also has a speaker built in if you want to blast your music, cant say its a great speaker, but it does the job

Thanks for reading

My Zen X-Fi was an impulse purchase. I have a Stone which I use for portability and a Vision which I use for video. Would the X-Fi be a compromise or an improvement on both those products? Here's my opinion on a scale:

+4: Considering the capabilities of the Zen X-Fi, it is very light and portable. It's the size of a credit card, though quite a bit thicker, and hardly weighs anything at all. I have pocket calculators which are heavier. Despite this it feels reasonably robust and has a nice finish to it. The only things I can fault with the build are the buttons (see below).

+3: In terms of clarity, the sound quality is superb, with a variety of EQ and X-Fi settings to choose from. I can clearly hear detail in mp3 files which just isn't there with other players, even Creative ones. In that regard this is the best sounding mp3 player I have ever heard; though once again see below for another comment.

+2: The earbuds which come with it are very, very good. They beat anything from Sennheiser and Shure that I've tried below £50.

+1: The Zen X-Fi is very drag and drop friendly, meaning it is not necessary to use the clunky Creative software to manage it. The Zen shows up as a connected device and can be browsed as if it were a portable drive. The only time I've had to use the Creative Centrale is when trying to use the wi-fi feature.

0: It has some unusual bonus features which may or may not appeal. I've left this as a neutral comment as many of the features I think are superfluous. I'm not interested in sending instant messages over wi-fi or streaming music.

-1: The Creative Centrale software is a step backward from Mediasource, and is even worse than the old Playcenter software. It needs some work. For example, it won't recognise ID tags when I rip CDs with another program, even when its `watch folders' feature has found a new mp3 folder. Yet when I drag and drop those files to the Zen, the Zen has no problems with the tags. I've also not been able to get the wi-fi to work with Centrale, even though my PC is an access point and the Zen can connect to it. Luckily I didn't buy it for this feature and also luckily it is not necessary to use Centrale for anything else, so I won't be using it.

-2: Special mention has to go to the horrible navigation buttons. They really are a horrible style gimmick. They feel very cheap and plasticky, and are a pain to use in the dark, as they don't light up: it's like trying to read Braille.

-3: I was disappointed with the screen resolution. I knew it was lower than the Vision, but didn't realise how this would adversely affect my viewing. It could really do with being a bit higher, so if you're thinking of buying one of these to watch long movies, I'm afraid I can't recommend it. I don't have a problem with the size of the screen though.

-4: Although I mentioned the sound clarity above, which is superb, there is a balancing negative for me in that the sound is a bit weedy and lacking in bass. It just doesn't have enough ooooommph for my liking, even with the supplied earbuds. My Zen Stone with the rock EQ setting enabled can put out more bass than this player. So I feel there's a bit of a missed opportunity with the sound.

-5: Although it has native video support, it is very picky about the resolution. Anything above 320x240 has to be converted (apparently to wmv) using the Creative Video Converter. This process takes an eternity (about the time it would take to watch the video). Compared to the Zen Vision, this was a shocker, although I appreciate the X-Fi is a flash based player whereas the Vision has a drive. Nevertheless, it is not very convenient. The solution is to leave the PC running with a conversion, but you end up with a lot of extra files just for use with the X-Fi. I've not had many problems with the converted files however and again the results can be dragged and dropped.

Overall I'm a bit disappointed with this player and probably won't be using it much, only when I need something portable with more memory than the Stone.

This is a good player, and has a combination of features that's unique. So if you want that combination, then buy it. It's small, light, high capacity, has a very good (if small) screen, and the sound quality is excellent.

However. The supplied PC software is very poor, and you can use windows media player, media monkey, or winamp (and maybe others) instead. Creative would be better off just not releasing something so shoddy.

The buttons on the device are a little fiddly. If you're using them in the dark, you have to feel for their relative position, which can be awkward, and there's nothing tactile to distinguish between positioning of the buttons.

Although you can make up to ten bookmarks, which not all mp3 players can do, if the bookmark is part of a playlist, it will forget about the playlist. You might be listening to the chapters of a book, the movements of a symphony, or the tracks in an album. If you want to use a bookmark to start from where you left off, you can, but you'll then have to go back to the playlist menu to play the next tracks. This just seems mind bogglingly stupid to me.

If you turn the player off, and resume sometime soon, it will remember its place in a track, but will forget overnight. It will also forget if you connect the player to a PC to charge it. Also, if you turn the player off, there's still power to headphone socket (presumably enabling it to remember its place in the track), so you still get some slight noise from the headphones, which must use battery power. And the screen doesn't go blank if you're playing a track, using more batttery.

If you want to check out the detail by reading the manual, it looks like you can't, as I can't find it online anywhere, which is rather strange these days.

In common with other players, the screen still has a 4x3 ratio, although most videos you get these days are widescreen.

Having now used this player for some months, all of the above points still hold, but the biggest issue is that it's buggy. I have to press the reset button several times a week, and by all accounts I'm not the only one. Try hard to find another player that will do what you want.

If you want a high capacity player that will remember its place in a playlist, and you're not worried about video, see if you can find a Trekstor Vibez.

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5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding MP3 player
This is an excellent player. Mostly I use it like a radio playing tracks at random through my HiFi and the sound quality is excellent and the controls easy to use whether... Read more

Published 8 months ago by Lorne

5.0 out of 5 stars Best gadgets yet!
I baught the ZEN X-FI back in December 2008,a 8gb,and it never gave any trouble yet,i let it drop by accident a few times! Read more

Published 12 months ago by Peter Reilly

4.0 out of 5 stars great player although less durable than its predecessors
I have owned one of these for about 6 months now. I was scared of getting it due to many bad reviews saying that the player had abruptly stopped working after a month, and other... Read more

Published 16 months ago by M. Mongioi

5.0 out of 5 stars Label junkies need not apply.
Having already been the happy owner of the previous 4gb Zen i thought it was time to upgrade to this monster; and with creatives track record, i'm so glad i did. Read more

Published 17 months ago by Augustus Shaglately

4.0 out of 5 stars Pro and contras Creative ZEN X-Fi 32GB MP3
Good audio and video quality. Logical layout of keys. Posibility to change into
music system through card device and external loud speakers. Small size. Read more

Published 20 months ago by Roberto Barranco Solier

4.0 out of 5 stars Good points and bad points
I want to keep this review quite simple, so let me start off by saying that on the whole I am pleased with this player. Read more

Published 22 months ago by Jennifer Malsingh

1.0 out of 5 stars No Mac support?
Why don't Creative Labs support Macs? This was given to me recently and I have a MacBook but Creative Labs do not support Macs for this product. Why? Read more

Published on 21 Jan 2010 by Amanda S Butterflies

3.0 out of 5 stars An OK MP3 player but not all it could've been
I was looking forward to this product having owned a Zen Sleek before and been pleased with it. Although the Zen X-Fi it by no means a bad product I have to say I'm pretty... Read more

Published on 12 Jan 2010 by Spoonman

4.0 out of 5 stars zen review
Quality is high and sound is good thru earphones.
However, the buttons are difficult to operate especially in the dark. Read more

Published on 15 Dec 2009 by Mr. T. Garcia

3.0 out of 5 stars Not much of an improvement over the regular Zen.
I have to say I'm disappointed in the Zen X-Fi. I'm comparing it to the Zen Vision:M and Zen, both of which I also have owned. Read more

Published on 1 Nov 2009 by Ruoska

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