New Creative Player Within 2 Months, but it Won't be Called Share
Remember the rumored Zen Share WiFi player? It's not coming. In a recent press conference Creative Nordic Product Manager Jan Hvidberg confirmed that there was a device called Share in development at one stage, but this device has apparently been dropped due to technical difficulties. He did however say that Creative is to present a new player within the next two months and design is apparently the key word. There has been a lot of rumors surrounding the Share/X-Fi but this is as close to facts we've been in ages.
According to Hvidberg there will also be no more hard drive based players from Creative. Ever. This means that whatever player will be presented in the future will be flash, no matter what type of player it is. Whether or not this information is true or not only time will tell, but one would think that it's pretty accurate coming from someone that high up. No official word has come from Creative America however so there's always a 0,1% chance he spoke too soon. Either way, this doesn't in any way exclude the rumors of an X-Fi based player - possibly with WiFi, Bluetooth or touch screen for all we know - it just means the player won't be called Share and it will be flash based.
[Amobil.no] (Norwegian)
Comments
JQuilty on May 27, 2008 7:56 AM
Ahh...I'm so tempted to buy a Zune 80 right now, but a Zen X-Fi may be worth the wait. My Zen Vision: M is starting to show it's age, and the Zen is held back by its lousy firmware (although that will be a moot point once Rockbox gets running on it).
nywytboy68 on May 27, 2008 8:02 AM
It would be nice to see a new player from Creative but the way they go about it is ridiculous. Flash based is a plus and they'll prob have it (hopefully) in 8, 16, and 32gb capacities - maybe even 64gb!!1 I just hope it's not plagued by the annoying hardware probs that the Zen had (has? WSOD & sd card integration anyone!!!) and they continue to support their current lineup a little better (a few firmware updates ala' Zen would be nice). Maybe, just maybe, they'll start to actually listen to their customers for a change.
Ben on May 27, 2008 6:14 PM
Ugh...Creative had better do a fantastic job with the new player. They're falling pretty far behind.
Jud on May 27, 2008 6:26 PM
The problem with going flash-only is the lack of movie capacity (for now...). I already have more than 32GB of movies ripped to my computer, and it's only getting to be more.
I guess for people like me, there's always Archos. Still, hope this player's awesome.
Lawrence on May 27, 2008 6:55 PM
well, its about time they actually announce this thing. too bad it won't have great drive capacity.. i love watching videos and movies, damnit creative!
Foundation on May 27, 2008 7:49 PM
Well Creative can take this player and shove it where the sun never shines. I will not ever buy another Creative product. What's more, I've stopped two people I know from purchasing Creative in the last month alone. Why? Because I bought the Zen. Liked (not loved) it until I got the WSOD. They have released a player that is faulty and unfixable. All Creative Zens should be recalled or buyers offered refunds.
If you have one and it is still working, give it time. They all fail in the end.
jason on May 27, 2008 11:38 PM
foundation,
i'm in the process of my 2nd RMA from creative for the Zen. needless to say, the WSOD is a real turnoff for creative customers. I hope that creative goes bankrupt for cheating their customers out of their money.
Vuhuy Pham on May 27, 2008 11:42 PM
Creative hardware and firmware can be spotty at times but I'm a fan of their products still. I loved my Creative Zen Vision: M but it got stolen. I was deciding between the ZEN and the Samsung P2 for the replacement; settle for the P2, the ZEN didn't offer enough for me. While the ZEN is a great value, it's features feel a bit dated compared to the big players like the Touch, Zune, and P2. Hopefully Creative's next player will be their "1-upped" flagship model from the ZEN. I want at least a 3" screen, Bluetooth, and X-Fi built in. I really doubt Creative will implement a touchscreen, and if they did, it would porbably be your run of the mill "tap this, tap that." Nowadays you gotta have multi-touch to make things more interesting and interactive like the Touch. The P2 doesn't have multi-touch but at least it has gesture controls, which I actually wished that Apple would use more than just scrolling through lists.
Anyway, I'm excited to see what Creative has to roll out.
Scott on May 29, 2008 9:53 PM
I notice that this mock-up has a features called "Potatos". Now that is a player I would buy (if only it were spelled correctly).
Zaw on June 6, 2008 10:07 PM
Need bluetooth with xfi BT receiver. Even thought BT don't work far enough but it sure goes farther any dock and more portable and A2DP aftermarket stereo's and starting to come out.
Plus apple dominate the dock connectors that only work with ipoops BT will open all sort of options for "Every Body!"