Browsing around the forums I see a few people purchasing screen protectors for their MP3 players that have glass screens. Some might say better safe than sorry but these screens are much more durable than one would think. Below I put a few of these glass screen players though some rather harsh scratch tests, well beyond what the vast majority of users might experience.

We've known for a while, but now the Zen X-Fi is "officially official". It will as we already know look like the Zen with more buttons and a less plasticy look and have the same SDHC expansion slot and screen size/resolution.

The big thing about the X-Fi is the Wifi capabilities (although the 8GB version is without Wi-Fi). it doesn't have a web browser (not that you'd need one with that resolution) but it does support chat clients like Yahoo and MSN. It has a built in speaker and according to the specs it supports xvid and divx video. If that means real support like the old Vision M had or if it's the same useless 320x240 support the Zen has is unsure, but I'll take a wild guess and say it's the latter. Capacities are 8, 16 and 32GB, battery life is rated at 36 hours for music and 5 hours for video and in Asia at least it ships with EP830 earbuds.

[Product Page | Cnet Asia via Engadget]

It has been quite a while since Creative has released anything substantial since the Zen, but here it is and what looks like their new flag ship. Details of the player have been confirmed via software found on the net (via). What is cool is included in the software is a user manual showing off all the new features and this Zen is pretty feature packed.

On the wireless side the X-Fi will be Wi-Fi 802.11 B/G allowing you to stream media from your computer and chat with friends over Gtalk, MSN Messenger, and Yahoo! Messenger. From reading the manual it doesn’t look like there is any wireless sync. Update: GenMP3 does mention that you can transfer content over Wi-Fi, perhaps something I missed going over the manual at 1 AM.

More info and pics of the interface below.

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)

As I discussed in the Creative CES 2007 post, Creative is really pushing the X-Fi line-up and will be moving more into the portable area. So far I have been impressed with the X-Fi product I got a chance to listen to. In the near future they will be launching headphones with built in X-Fi and noise cancelation.

This product could possibly go head to head with the Bose noise canceling headphones probably definitely at a much better price. However, the pricing and release date for the Creative X-Fi headphones have not been announced.

I was disappointed to see that there was no new player released by Creative this year at CES. Many of us were hoping for a follow-up to the Zen Vision:M. (They could be holding out until after Apple makes their announcement. It's a long shot, but possible and would make strategic sense.)

Despite the letdown, the X-Fi they showed off sounded really good. It would be safe to say that it is not just hype. It carried more depths and sounded brighter. The best way I can describe X-Fi is that it sounds like you're pulling back curtains that were in front of speakers.

More photos and info below.

Where did this come from? We don't know, but Creative's gorgeous new X-Fi Sound System Z600 speaker system/docking station for the Zen Vision:M will already be available (in Singapore, anyway) on Friday. Priced at $400, the Z600 is the first sound system to use the company's Xtreme Fidelity audio technology, which restores some of the quality lost during the compression process and therefore enhances and improves the sound of music.

The system comes with a compact subwoofer, two satellite speakers that can be mounted to a wall, and an infrared remote to control both the Vision:M and the speakers. The Z600 also includes AV-out jacks and supports any number of other gadgets via its auxiliary inputs.

[Press release]