20GB MP3 PLAYER

 

1 new or used available from $175.00
  Average customer review:
 (328 customer reviews)

 

Product Description

Creative ZEN Touch 20GB MP3 Player - Includes Creative Zen Touch Player / Pair of Stereo Earphones / Power Adapter / Travel Pouch / USB 2.0 Cable / Installation CD / Quick Start Guide. This palm-size unit can be used to store MP3 and WMA music files or you can download all sorts of data and use it as a portable hard-drive. It's easy to use and a pleasure to own. Simply use an Up-Down movement on the touch pad to navigate the files. The upper and lower portion of the touch pad will enable rapid scrolling of files. The middle portion can be used for normal scrolling speed. Simply press the OK button or tap on the touch pad to open the selected file. Uses USB 2.0 for faster transfer capabilities 4-band custom equalizer and advanced EQ presets let you customize your music playback AudioSync lets you seamlessly update your Creative Zen Touch with your latest music on your PC at the touch of a button FM radio, voice and FM recording via optional wired remote control (available separately) Transfer your CDs - Creative MediaSource (included) converts your CD collection to MP3s or WMAs with the simple touch of a button Store Data Files - Included software lets you drag-and-drop data and music files to and from your Creative Zen Touch inside Windows Explorer Creative's support for WMA and Windows Media Player 9 Series offers you access to the widest selection of music download services on the Internet Size WxHxD - 4.12 x 2.7 x 0.866 / Weight - 7.05 oz with battery Blue backlit LCD

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Customer Reviews

A few things less frequently mentioned
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)
Great unit for a Great Price
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.
"What you really want to know" guide
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.