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-------------------------------------------------------------- This story was printed from ZDNet Australia. --------------------------------------------------------------
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Battle of the pocket bulge: Zen vs iPod October 24, 2002 URL: http://www.zdnet.com.au/reviews/coolgear/audio/soa/Battle-of-the-pocket-bulge-Zen-vs-iPod/0,139023372,120269338,00.htm
Apple and Creative would both like your MP3 spending dollar, and both offer pocket-sized firewire-capable MP3 players. We put the Creative Zen head to head with the Apple iPod. MP3 players have come a long way from the first players that offered minute amounts of storage space; if you've got the money, you can pick up music storage that measures in the gigabytes. The storage concept has also evolved; today's MP3 players feature file moving capabilities, and in the case of Apple's Ipod, even simple PDA-style functionality. That extra storage space needn't crease your clothes too badly, either; both MP3 players reviewed here will fit into a shirt pocket, although you'd have no space for anything else.
Eliot Van Buskirk, John Lui and Alex Kidman contributed to this report. Creative Nomad Jukebox Zen (10GB)
Since the Nomad Jukebox first appeared in late 2000, its basic shape has not changed much, and now, in late 2002, it's long overdue for a revamp. Enter the Zen: A Jukebox put on a slimming program. Shedding the centimeters has given the Jukebox a modern new look that should appeal to those who also find the Apple iPod MP3-player attractive. The Zen is clad in sleek aluminum and about the size of a Palm V, though about twice as thick as the PDA. However, in features, it still loses out to the more expensive Jukebox 3, which is still the flagship of the line. For the price, the Zen should have been endowed with more. Costs Less Than The iPod However, it lacks some features found in the high-priced players. For example, there's no second battery bay, or line-in and line-out port; nor can it record without Creative's proprietary powered FM wired remote, which has a powered mike. All these features are native to the Jukebox 3. In the box, the Zen comes with a charger, USB and IEEE1394 (FireWire) cables, software, and a pouch. Compared with the iPod, the Zen is about a cm larger in length and width and half a cm thicker. It's also 100 gm heavier. It lacks the iPod's large LCD display and touch-sensitive scroll wheel; nor does it come with an on-cord remote, like the iPod. Neither can it recharge through its IEEE1394 interface while the iPod can. The Zen, however, can recharge through its USB 1.1 port, but most will find the included charger works faster. In short, the Zen has roughly the same cut-down features and storage capacity as its sibling, the Jukebox 2, but in a smaller and lighter body. What it does have is sound that does not lack for clarity and volume. But the included headphone are a disappointment; they don't sound very good and hug the ears too tightly. Button Bugbears The scroll wheel is another bugbear. Menu items need to be scrolled to and activated by pressing down the wheel; but it takes care and attention not to click the wheel by mistake when rolling it. The Zen uses the same software for ripping and file transfer as the earlier Jukeboxes: Creative PlayCenter and File Manager. PlayCenter is used to rip audio CDs into MP3s and to transfer music to the Zen. File Manager is used to transfer data files in and out of the Zen, so that it can be used as portable file storage. As many users have said before, the interface for both these utilities are needlessly complicated. Users may wish to consider NotMad Explorer instead, a third-party app that makes the Jukebox accessible through Windows Explorer for drag-and-drop access, the way it should have been in the first place. Overall, the Zen seems to be aimed at those who like the Jukebox line, but in a smaller, sleeker body. It doesn't compete well with the Windows iPod in terms of features, although the inclusion of USB1.1 and Firewire connectivity does raise the bar in terms of where you could take it to transfer music.
Creative Nomad Jukebox Zen (10GB)
Apple Ipod for Windows
The 10GB iPod for Windows adds most of the stuff that we missed in the original iPod, although some Windows users might want to look elsewhere. It's an understatement to say that we loved the original 5GB and 10GB iPods; at the time, they were the best-designed MP3 players that we'd ever seen in terms of size, interface, and software syncing. But they weren't compatible with Windows, except via occasionally sketchy, third-party software. Plus, the original iPods lacked a remote control, a carrying case, and full sound controls. The Windows iPod works just as well as the Mac version once you get the files on the player, but syncing is not quite as elegant as it is with a Mac. Design In true Apple fashion, the company has developed a remote that's worthy of the elegantly designed iPod. While it lacks a display, the flat, silver, in-line remote looks great and accesses playback functions easily. The only slight issue that we had with this remote was with its cleverly designed toggle clip, which can detach from your shirt or your bag strap when you press a button on the right side of the remote. A sleek, black carrying case with a sturdy belt clip and a square, folding power adapter also share the iPod's high-style design. Features/connectivity One other notable feature is the new PIM software, which integrates calendar and contacts with Microsoft Outlook, Palm Desktop, and Eudora. According to the short owner's manual, contacts can be imported via drag-and-drop vCards from Outlook into the Contacts menu, although this approach did not work for us. However, if you choose Save As while selecting a contact, you can save the file as a vCard directly into the Contacts file. The same process works for saving calendar items as vCalendar files, although the manual does not mention that capability. Unlike the Mac iPods, the Windows iPod does not play Audible files. Performance On a critical note, our first review unit had a faulty connector and wouldn't sync. The second unit that Apple sent had a broken headphone jack and played out of the left channel only. Hopefully your iPod won't have these problems, but if it does, Apple's warranty covers both issues. When we finally got the unit connected to a PC, songs blazed over the FireWire port at 5.31MB per second, which is faster than the Mac iPod transfers files. All compatible file types-- SBR and VBR MP3, WAV, and AIFF--transferred without a hitch. Sonic imaging was clear, and all frequencies were crisp through our Sony MDR-V600 test headphones. The included earbuds sound great, too, and the in-line remote worked fine when the player was stowed away in the included carrying case. Battery life remains the same as with the original iPod: 10 hours on a charge, either from your PC's FireWire connection or via the small, square wall adapter. Don't fool yourself--the 10GB Windows iPod doesn't come cheap at AU$845, and Apple resellers tend not to cut too far below the retail price. Configurations vary so much between Windows systems that the iPod worked perfectly on some machines and not as well on others. If you want to ensure that your iPod will work perfectly with your computer, you should pick up a Mac desktop or a notebook. Against the Creative Zen, though, the iPod still comes out on top.
Apple 10GB Ipod for Windows
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