Apple Zen Touch (20 GB) MP3 Player

I own this player and can highly recommend - 9.6 out of 10

Has Major Pros and Very Few Cons

** Pros **

Excellent Superior Sound ( signal-to-noise ratio of less than 97dB )Yeah Baby !

40 GB of storage so not a problem to hold all your music library

24 hour battery life !!!

Touch Strip for easy navigation - some have complained that it is too sensitive but that can be adjusted.

8 Pre-Set and adjustable EQ

Cheaper and better than an IPOD

Easy to use softwear for updated tags and creating playlists

OK factory headphones but even better if you upgrade

Easy navigation and simple to use

USB 2.0 which means quick transfers and can also re-charge the battery

Can hold other data for storage

Durable / Sleek Design

Plays MP3's / WMA / / WAV - DRM ok

All the buttons are in the right places including side volume controls and random

** Cons **

Not the brightest backlight display but still nice layout

Can't remove battery but you do get 24 hours out of it

Can't easily access controls while in case ( would recommend getting remote )

No remote ( but can be purchased seperately with a FM Tuner / Display and Voice Record )

Need to install softwear for transfer to and from pc but the softwear is intuitive

A little hefty and not super lite

Summary - You will be ultra satisfied with this player

This MP3 player really is great for serious music lovers who like great portability for hundreds of songs. Yes, it is heftier than an iPod, but it also carries so many more tunes! The touchpad scroll feature takes a little getting used to, but once you get used to its sensitivity, it'll be second nature; it is also a much more natural movement, as it corresponds with what the selector is actually doing. The quality of sound is excellent, playlists are easy to create and download from your computer, and if you have a large music collection of various formats (as I do!), you'll love how this player works with various formats and loads dozens upon dozens of songs. All in all, there are no minuses in my experience, and tons and tons of pluses! You won't be disappointed!

I have been using my Creative Zen Touch 40GB for well over a year now. It has outlasted and outperformed 2 iPod players that were no match for the durability of this player.

My Zen has accompanied me on countless business trips, and has visited just about every major commercial airport in the US. I have run the batteries down to 0 on hundreds of occasions, and it just keeps on playing.

Software is far better than iTunes, and the hardware is also superior.

A completely worthwhile product.

I have had my Creative Zen Touch 40 GB for about a year now. It is great. I have already accumulated over 9,300 songs and numerous play lists. The battery life is great! The included software is awesome if you elect not to use the windows media compatability. The only bad thing I can say is two fold. One, never lose the initial creative media soft ware disk. Future firm ware updates depend on it. Second I can not wait till the 1.8 inch on this device is made and sold for 100gb so that I can replace. For now just have to be patient. All and all this MP3 is top notch!

This is the first MP3 player I've owned and I LOVE it. Holds a LOT of music and the battery life is excellent. I received mine 1 1/2 years ago and everything (including battery) is still performing like new. Unfortunately, I have dropped mine a couple of times while running on a treadmill - FORTUNATELY, it still works perfectly. Playlists, etc. are very easy to manage and Creative has lots of downloads, updates, etc. for their product line. I would definitely recommend this player and Creative overall. I have had no problems with the player and Windows Media Player. If anything, I think some of the updates to Media Player have simply (and intentionally) made the program more difficult to use for music downloads overall. This really has nothing to do with the Zen in particular.

It can only be used with Windows Media Player 10. It was listed as a "Plays for Sure" but it didn't. Of course, my computer automatically updated my Windows Media Player to #11. So, basically I wasted money. I'm sure it would have worked fine if my computer system was older.

This is the second creative mp3 player i've purchased, i loved the 20 GB one i had and decided i needed a little more room so the 40 sounded good to me. Incredibly easy to use with the computer (Windows Media Player or Creative Media Source) and the battery lasts longer than any other on the market. i strongly recommend this to anyone that's looking for a top-notch mp3 player, who doesn't want to spend several hundred dollars more on an ipod.

I was pleasantly surprised to be able to get an mp3 player of this size for $200. It plays excellently and it comes with a handy case. 40 gigs is alot of space, so i use it as a protable harddrive too (just drag and drop). This is really handy for transferring large files. The interface takes a little getting used to , and i prefer the ipod's "wheel" interface, but this bodes just fine. It also has a "random" function that will play through you songs randomly. It is highly advisable to upgrade the firmware on this player (Playsforsure works great). It doesnt have a color display, but then again, you dont really need one. The Zen Touch's size might get on your nerves if you like small players. Personally I was fine with it. All in all, its a great product, great value, but has a couple absent features for the picky types. 4/5

Overall, it's a great player. I have a Windows Media Center PC and had converted all my CDs into WMA files on my PC before ever realizing that an iPod would not place WMA files. So, this was my first reason for seeking out a WMA-friendly player. Secondly, I HAD purchased an iPod, but decided that duplicating all my music (18 gigs) would be a bit STUPID for me to maintain y iTunes and my WMP.

I love the VERY long battery life of this player. This is a no-frills MUSIC player. There are no game, no color screen, and not video compatible. HOWEVER, if you just want something to hold all your music and play all your music, this is perfect! AND cheap!

Problems I've had include: player locks up on occasion, which requires me to push the emergency reset switch (which does not seem to hurt anything! This sometimes happens when loading the player with music, kinda annoying), VERY difficul (though supposedly possible) to charge via USB (sometimes I get it, MOST of the time I can't), I strongly dislike the software (it's just as easy to move music to and fro with Windows Media Player "Plays for sure"! Though you need their proprietary software to store "other" files).

This is the only player we found that was approved by the government to bring inside a prison to be able to record or play back a digital recording during hearings. It does not come with radio and other options that would prevent it from being allowed in some government buildings during hearings. Great value.

it was great .. I have put 4,000 songs on it .. and still have room to put more ..


thanks alot ..

tonys toys ...

this is what i was looking for for additional storage for my books on tape. It is easy to use and im able to have my portability when i travel. I recommend this item for travlers that want to enjoy a book on tape and not have to worry about computer access.

If you are looking for a good mp3 player this is the one you need to buy.It is easy to operate and maneuver through the different screens to choose your music. I would highly recommend this mp3 player to everyone.

The Creative Zen Touch 40 GB is wonderful. The only thing I don't like is the factory headphones. I got some Sony Earbuds. One thing I did notice is after having the mp3 player turned up loud in your ears for so long it begin to make my ears ring a little. I has a nice clear and loud sound.

It is easy to use. The music source can come from just about anywhere. There are no limitatins like there are with i pods!! I liked it so much that I bought my husband a creative also!!

l decide to by Creative Labs Zen Touch (40 GB) MP3 Player because that company always makes good products, and l trust the cuality of their product

The item was in very poor condition, and it didn't seem to function properly. There was no installation disk, and when I tried to install it with the online version it wouldn't work. I sent it back and the seller gave me a refund for what I asked, but didn't offer to pay shipping. The item was usless to me though so I did not mind sending it back. I left the seller positive feedback because he did give me a refund. The item wasn't great, but the seller was cooperative.

Mp3 player. It plays mp3's very well - low-to-no hard drive lag between songs, though requires writing for on-the-go playlists. Early iPods couldn't compare in anything but looks. Perfect for anyone needing lots of music for long term listening, and with WMA compatibility, it almost doubles the 'capacity' of any Apple mp3 player with the same hard drive space. - - Charges via USB or 5v AC adapter. 20+ hour battery life when playing songs, but that's on a used battery - New ones are cheap and last 24-27 hours or more. Sound quality is what you'd expect out of Creative, just get earphones or earbuds worthy of the music you're playing. It's worth the extra dollar.

Its been about 2 weeks and I'm still trying to figure out how to get this thing compatible with Windows Media Player. AGH!!!

Verry durrable, Easy to use, Simple controls, Links up with most of my storage programs. I decided to buy this one because I have had one before and liked its easy of use and real buttons. I would recommend this unit to anyone who is tired of IPODs junk. Only draw back is you get the same error message for about ten different problems. If you want more space for less than $200 these units are ideal.

I liked the ability to hold 40 GB.
I dislike the way you label the music and delete songs.
Other than that, it is a nice unit. I wish the screen was in color, but it's black and white.

I own 4 portable media players, a few computers and 2 laptops.

My first MP3 player was the late original Nomad with 6gb capacity. It got stolen. A few years and several dollars in savings later I bought the Nomad Zen Xtra, that too was stolen. I recently bought on of the Zen touch players under the premise that I could fix it (It was sold as broken) seeing as how the Zen Xtra employs a Laptop Hard drive I thought this did the same.

I was wrong. I fixed the hard drive on the one I purchased with shock therapy (slapping the inert hard drive on your palm vertically a few times) and I have to admit I really enjoy using it. As for the Hard drive, it uses a variant of the classical laptop hard drive. Its a 1.8" hard drive with the same interface as a regular laptop hard drive (not Zif/Lif as they didn't exist when this player was manufactured).

The Vertical Scroll function is a very intuitive design I prefer it over an ipod (I hate ipods, I've always disliked them and preferred creative products).

There are some design flaws:

Unlike the Zen Xtra it won't play a single song even if you navigate to the song and play just that song. It will play the entire album starting with the song.

The FM radio and voice recorder only work with a specialized wired remote control that is no longer available as this product is no longer manufactured.

Its not upgradeable since the hard drive it comes with cannot be found beyond a capacity of 80gb which goes for about $400-$500 with only a few sellers offering it.

Replacing the battery is a bitch as you have to open up the player, unlike the Zen Xtra wherein all you have to do is pop the front cover.

Now the plus points:

Its shaped sleeker than a Zen Xtra, the outer finish is more robust and better looking and scratch resistant (even the screen).

Its smaller than the Zen Xtra.

Its a little louder than the Zen Xtra.

I might be biased but it felt on a few occasions that the sound quality may be a tad better than the Zen xtra.

It is less power hungry than the Zen Xtra (Un-upgraded to a newer, lower power consumption hard drive).

I guess that's my review. I hope it helps.

i live for my music so when my mp3 went down i needed a new one fast. found it here at a great price and i love it ,thanks