Creative Zen X-Fi2 - Memory Card Still Not Integrated

[Olley]

I think it's an apology for bringing out the Zii but not in a finished retail form.

[CrowdAds]

[triarii117]

Well, this is the worst apology ever.

[zerodefect]

This bad-boy is now available on Amazon.

[sumx4182]

Originally Posted by zerodefect

This bad-boy is now available on Amazon.

this may be one of the first times that even when used in this context, "bad" just meant "bad" and not cool, or sweet, or bad ass...

[alcalde]

First of all, there is no indication that Creative intends to market the Zii as a DAP themselves. What they released was a developer version and all of their videos and web promotional material has been orientated to attract OEMs to a device that can be quickly customized into their own products. Creative has never said one word about selling a Zii to the public, so they have nothing to apologize for.

Secondly, there's also nothing to fix regarding SD card integration. I think it fair to say that it was designed this way. Otherwise, a user can purchase the lowest memory model then upgrade with an SD card, depriving Creative of revenue. Most manufacturers refuse to put a memory card slot on their DAPs at all for just this reason. You should be happy Creative has one at all. They half-solved the problem through the ability to copy materials from the card to internal memory. On the Zen you can't use bookmarks or playlists with memory card material. With this setup, provided you only use half the capacity of the memory card, you can copy off material in order to copy on the desired material from the card and then use the bookmark/playlist features. That is, as you can see, better than what Zen users have now.

The X-Fi 2 is also reasonably priced, given the Zen 4GB was close to $100 in December. The Xi-Fi2 is a nice, capable, moderately-priced midlevel DAP suitable for the mainstream consumer's use. There are certainly things you can complain about with Creative's newest player, but calling a device that upgrades its predecessor's screen size, codec support, doubles the size of videos it can play without conversion, and adds a touchscreen a "fail" is completely unwarranted.

[sumx4182]

Originally Posted by alcalde

but calling a device that upgrades its predecessor's screen size, codec support, doubles the size of videos it can play without conversion, and adds a touchscreen a "fail" is completely unwarranted.

it's a fail!

[alcalde]

What, pray tell, would you require they add at this price point to the player, Sumx4182? This reminds me of another person who claimed to me that the Nokia N900 is a "downgrade" of the N97 because the software is wildly improved over the N97 but the hardware is essentially the same (i.e. still top-of-the-line).

The original Zen X-Fi was a fail because they added wifi that you couldn't really use; it was intended primarily for text messaging and only on their service that no one bothered to use and added at least nine buttons to the device.

Stripping that junk out and improving the device is not a fail. I'd trade my Creative Zen I got in December for a Zen X-Fi 2 without a moment's hesitation. Like I said - bigger screen, touch screen, codec improvements, the very nice fact that it can play videos up to 640x480 (Zen and I believe original X-Fi limited to 320x240) so less need to transcode, has a speaker unlike my Zen, and I forgot that they also added TV-out. The memory card support is at least mildly improved, too. Plus the 8GB is pretty close to what I paid for a 4GB Zen nine months ago.

Lastly, no matter what happens with the Zii, this is a stop-gap product. It's been said by some that this was an attempt to get rid of a bunch of Zen X-Fi chips they otherwise had no use for. But it's still better than the Zen or Zen X-Fi, even if it's what the original Zen X-Fi should have been.

[Olley]

They advertise the memory slot as a way to expand the capacity of the device. If all you can do is copy media off a card to be played from the system's memory then it's false advertising.

"Choose from a player capacity of 8GB/16GB/32GB and if you need more memory, simply add a microSD memory card into the built-in slot"

[alcalde]

You can play files from the memory card. However, if it's like the Zen, you can't bookmark an audio or video file, browse by ID3 tag, or use a file on the memory card in a playlist. If you don't care about those things, then there's no real problem working directly from memory card. At least now, if, say, you're primarily listening to audio books and bookmarking is important, you can either delete or copy off a file from the system memory and import an audiobook from the memory card and gain access to the full feature set.

[Dreamnine]

It's got 'fail' written all over it.

[Scarpad]

"Epic Fail" has already replaced "My Bad" as my most loathed net speak.

Anyhow I had a zen F-fi and I liked the player, it had very good sound but was limited in the vids it could play, and how loud it would go. This model improves in all those areas except the screen, which was better on the MX. Still Lately I'm more interested in this player even of the new ipod and Zune HD.

[QCSports]

Creative is giving you a touch screen player that can play content from three places...

1. Subscription music services (Napster, Rhapsody)
2. Amazon On-Demand Video
3. Audible

There are not a lot of players that can do that. I've looked around and I usually only see two of the three. And those that have all three DO NOT have the bookmarking support Creative has where you can set 10 bookmarks! 10! Also the most underrated feature with all creative players is the fact you can create a permanent user named playlist on the player itself! I have no idea why this feature is never mentioned as it saves me boatloads of time and enhances my user experience tremendously. I know I'm coming off like a fanboy (and I am) but if anyone can name me a player with these same features all in one I'd switch from my Zen 16GB or decide not to buy this player or the Zii.

[shinybeast]

Aloha,

I wonder if someone might be kind enough to refresh my memory regarding memory (SD type, that is). Do any current mP3 players integrate an SD/SD micro?

Cheers,

[defaultluser]

Originally Posted by alcalde

You can play files from the memory card. However, if it's like the Zen, you can't bookmark an audio or video file, browse by ID3 tag, or use a file on the memory card in a playlist. If you don't care about those things, then there's no real problem working directly from memory card. At least now, if, say, you're primarily listening to audio books and bookmarking is important, you can either delete or copy off a file from the system memory and import an audiobook from the memory card and gain access to the full feature set.

Hey, if a player as tiny and simple as the Sansa Clip+ can have a MicroSDHC slot that integrates with the library, there's really no excuse for this monster to be missing something so crucial.

You can make all the arguments you want about how an expansion slot costs Creative money - great, they can just remove the slot and forgo upgrades altogether (hey, it works for Apple). The fact is, Sandisk has DOZENS of competitors in the MicroSDHC realm, so you probably won't be buying a card from them, but they include the full-featured slot anyway. Why include a slot at all if it doesn't do what most people want it to do?

This thing is a FAIL. Creative is a FAIL, and has been for years. How else do you explain them losing their #2 DAP spot to a company not previously known for anything audio?

[The DarkSide]

Originally Posted by shinybeast

Aloha,

I wonder if someone might be kind enough to refresh my memory regarding memory (SD type, that is). Do any current mP3 players integrate an SD/SD micro?

Cheers,

The Sansa Fuze, now the clip+, and the Cowon D2 all fully integrate the media into the players library. If there's others, which there probably is, someone will fill in the blanks for you.

[kennypu]

Originally Posted by shinybeast

Aloha,

I wonder if someone might be kind enough to refresh my memory regarding memory (SD type, that is). Do any current mP3 players integrate an SD/SD micro?

Cheers,

I know for a fact sandisk's e200 series can with micro SDs x].

[zerodefect]

Originally Posted by The DarkSide

The Sansa Fuze, now the clip+, and the Cowon D2 all fully integrate the media into the players library. If there's others, which there probably is, someone will fill in the blanks for you.

Named the big ones, there are the other less notables like Best Buy's Insignia. Personally, I refuse to use microSD (even if it is space-saving). That is partly because I find myself "misplacing" the cards

Back on topic...

[Dreamnine]

There's a shedload of iRiver players that take microSD E150, E200, B30 etc.

[mega999]

Yeah talk about revenue.. just made a quick summary of the current prices where i live..

Creative ZEN X-Fi2 8gb : 781
Creative ZEN X-Fi2 16gb : 1069
Creative ZEN X-Fi2 32gb : 1700

kingston microsd card 4gb : 69
kingston microsd card 8gb : 112
sandisk microsd card 16gb : 288

[halohalo]

I am little bit late in this thread.
Memory card is not integrated by design and I like it this way.
It is very obvious - why,however it is unmentionable.Let's say you go to Jakarta,China Town in KualaLumpur or any DigitalPlaza in China;in Jakarta for 1(one)buck I will get 3(three) pcs of CD/DVD with mp3 compilation,some places - just one for one buck.I buy quite a lot of CDs in HMV or PowerMusic but I never download.Why to waste time downloading if I can have tons of music on dvd compilations?These compilations are not perfect,it is a mess mostly(no tags,no titles etc.);so I keep them on sd cards -capito?
it is so simple...
If you integrate - you will have,say,368 "unknown" items or 129 "track 1"
items;I think,now you understand.
X-Fi helps to improve sound of not so perfect mp3 compilations.
In this way I try all kind of music,if I like something very much - I go to
PowerMusic/HMV or Amazon and I buy cd.
Go for next holiday to Bali - you will see all this yourself.
There are more then 200 million people in Indonesia,more then 1000 million in India,how many in China?
I was looking desparatly for US version of "Ponyo By The Cliff" japanese cartooon;
I have found it in upmarket shop in HyattHotel,price:50 bucks(imported DVD,not BD) so you see:30 cents on one side,50 dollars on the other
what would you take?They take 30 cents.And they need players like Zen.