they've just bastardised the ipod nano. its laughable now. I know touchscreen is the rage nowadays but its on a smaller screen. there's unnecessary wait to change to other screens and you lose out on video and a bigger screen. I dont know how anyone can see that as an upgrade. the clickwheel was one of things that made the ipod navigation great. look it now :S its all about the ipod touch now. its practically saying. if you haven't got an ipad, iphone, they are pretty much saying their multimedia mp3 player is the touch and if you want it all go here and spend on our app store :S lame
Hmm. Cos in Jan/Feb this year, Creative replaced my Zen because of a headphone socket fault, and the new one has a really bad problem with the wsod. :/
I bought the Zen at launch and use it everyday till I recently replaced it with the Zen X-Fi Style cuz I wanted to play flac. I had one or two wsod problems but after a firmware upgrade, not a problem since. My old Zen still works great.
Publisher: Michael P., aka ssjmichael • Business Management • Website Design • System Administrator • Editor-in-Chief
RSS Feeds
Our news can be syndicated by using these rss feeds.
Welcome to epiZENter. You are seeing this message because you are either not registered or not logged in. If you're new to this site, I'll tell you what we're all about. This is a Creative fansite that focuses on their various players such as the very popular Creative ZEN. We make it our duty here to provide you with all the latest news and information to help you with your player, and to aid in your buying decision if you don't own a player yet. epiZENter is part of the DAPreview webring.
Our Forums are very friendly and include a number of different guides and resources to help you with your player. If you are attempting to see pictures but seeing a message saying image disabled, this means you aren't registered or logged in.
Once registered, you'll get full access to everything this great place has to offer. Compare our site to other Creative forums and you'll see it gets updated more, is more friendly, and is better organized.
Get a FREE 1GB Zen Stone from Napster/Facebook [Updated]
Update: Looks like it's dead now! They appear to give away free players every wednesday so make sure to check back next week.
Napster is giving away free Zen Stones today! All you have to do is go to their facebook page, click the "Like" button, and then leave a comment answering the following question: " Do you remember your first concert? Tell us about the experience! Who did you see, what year and where. " After you comment, make sure to send an email with your name and address to -email-, subject line: EWW 7/7.
Sadly for many of our members out there, the giveaway is for US addresses only. Thousands of people have already entered so we'll just have to wait and see if they send out the players. If I get one, I'll give it away to one lucky person here, that includes our international readers of course!
Zii Contest: Win a pair of Football shaped speakers
Most of the world calls it football, but us stubborn Americans call it soccer. No matter what you refer to this beautiful game as, the World Cup has everyone buzzing about it. Even Creative is getting into the craze. They have an ongoing contest that challenges your football knowledge. Each week, you'll be provided with a single trivia question. Choose the correct answer and you could be 1 of 10 people to win a pair of those cool football shaped speakers you see above.
The contest is in it's second week of four, and here's the question: " To many football fans, the game of football is also described as... " (and no they don't mean Soccer)
In order to enter the contest you have to sign up for a free ZiiLife account. They even leave you hints in your ZiiDisk folder every week. Good Luck everyone, and make sure to comment if you're a winner!
Hey guys, as you may have noticed, epiZENter was down for some time. This was because of a DDOS attack on the software we're using at the site (e107). This site, as well as DAPreview were compromised, but with a little help from my dedicated server company, everything appears to be back to normal. Updating to the latest e107 software version is said to help with the exploits, but it's still concerning. As all of you have seen, this site has gotten it's fair share of spam. It frustrates me daily, and I'm sure it annoys everyone here as well.
I'm currently looking into switching the software we use, but it might require us to lose a lot of the content we currently have. Wordpress is an option, but I'm not sure how customizable it is. I feel VBulletin is probably our best bet, but it is a bit costly at around $290 for a license. I'm open to any suggestions so make sure to leave them in our comment's section. On behalf of epiZENter, I want to apologize for any inconvenience we've caused, and thank you for your continued support of this site.
While we all wait for Creative to come out of their coma, we're going to cover some excellent work from our community. Member SumWon has been working magic with his Zii Egg for some time now. One of his latest projects is getting Duke Nukem 3D on the device. He didn't use the tools provided by ZiiLabs, but rather another software development kit called "Sourcery G++" The port isn't perfect yet, but it's nice to know we have people here who are capable of advancing the Zii Egg platform.
You can find this, and many other Zii Egg apps and games in our Forums
Still don't have a Vado HD? And you call yourself a Creative fan! Kidding of course, though I do consider it one of the best products that Creative has made. If you're in the market for an HD pocket cam, Dell has the 2nd gen Vado HD for $65. The 2nd generation doesn't differ too much from the original we reviewed. It replaces the matted exterior with a glossy one, and comes with 4GB's instead of 8.
Vado HD (2G) Features
4GB Capacity
Records video in high-definition with resolutions up to 1280 x 720
Records using H.264 Compression
Wide-angle glass Lens for wider and clearer shots
2.0" Anti-glare screen
2X Digital Zoom
Included Vado Central software (Mac Friendly) for editing movies and snapping photos
Easy uploads to Youtube and other sites
Connect to a HDTV with an HDMI connection
Removable Battery
In the box: HDMI cable, USB Extension cable, Silicone Skin
Creative fan, and fellow epiZENter editor, Kingone, has published his review of the Aurvana Air. Creative announced the premium pair of earphones around the same time last year. According to kingone, the Air has a classy look with its aluminum earhook design, and champagne-gold finish. The earphone' name is fitting too, since they're as light as a feather. Overall, kingone was quite pleased with the pair, but questions why Creative went with standard earbuds, rather than an in-ear style. He comments on the lack of noise isolation, and some sound leaking out.
Here's his conclusion:
Conclusion Creative took a leap of faith with the aesthetic design of the Aurvana Air. Ultimately, the company believed that comfort and style would win over the hearts of casual listeners. While I would have preferred the Air to have been of an in-ear design, the great level of comfort and very decent audio performance has made me a very happy user of the Aurvana Air. There are also the additional frills that Creative has included like the leather travel pouch which helps to sweeten the deal. If comfort and above average audio performance is what you are looking for, the Aurvana Air is definitely worth a look at. For the full range of Aurvana gears, visit the Aurvana site at [Linky]
Rating: 8/10
I've been working on my Aurvana Air review off and on for some time now (I procrastinate way too much), so you can look forward to that, as well as a small giveaway for the earphones later this year.
Could Creative's new line of Bluetooth speakers be a sign of things to come?
Last week, Creative announced a new line of Bluetooth speakers ranging from the high-end ZiiSound D5, to the colorful and more affordable D100. Some might find it strange for Creative to release this many Bluetooth speakers despite the lack of support in their own players. Could this be a sign that Creative will be releasing players with bluetooth support in the future? It's one of the few areas that Creative hasn't tackled yet so it's definitely a possibility. On the other hand, we know Creative has become more of an accessory company that caters to a wider range of consumers, rather than just us Zen fans.
In the video below, Creative provides their reasons for coming out with so many Bluetooth speakers now. The narrator states "we see the emergence of a brand new market...In 2010 we will see a flood of wireless-capable mobile devices of all types" Could one of those types be a Creative MP3 player?
The ZiiSound D5 is Creative's top of line model. It's geared towards iPod/iPhone/iPad owners but it works with other players and phones as well. It's a rather large system with a nice modern look to it. In fact, it has just received a red dot design award for its great design. The speaker uses apt-x, a nearly lossless codec, for playback. The ZiiSound D5 is available right now for S$399 Singapore dollars, or roughly $291US.
Creative D200
The D200 shares the same technology housed inside the ZiiSound D5, but in a smaller more affordable package. It'll be released in July for S$149 Singapore dollars, or about $109US.
Creative D100
Last but not least is the D100. It's my favorite of the trio, perhaps because it's the only one I could afford! They come in a range of colors that should look familar to any Vision:M owners out there. Creative calls it their "Wireless Boombox", and for good reason, as it has a pop-out handle for traveling, and can operate with 4-AA batteries. The D100 will retail for S$89 Singapore dollars, or $65US when it comes out this Summer.
Would you like Creative to make a bluetooth compatible Zen? Let us know in our comments section. Creative has been known to read our site from time to time so they might just listen to us!
Some may have forgotten, but the Creative ZEN was actually the first 32GB flash player released. I thought it was a bold move at the time, considering the financial woes of the Singapore company. Despite their continued struggles, Creative has announced a 64GB model for the ZEN X-Fi2. They’re not the first to reach that capacity this time around, but better late than never I say. The 64GB X-Fi2 is available for S$399 Singapore dollars, or about $287US.
Creative has announced a new line of players called the "ZEN Style" series. The new players, as the name would suggest, are quite stylish come in a variety of colors. They also share many of the same design elements as the 3rd gen Vado HD. Here's a quick run-down of the new series.
ZEN X-Fi Style
The name may throw you off, since it's closer to the original ZEN, than the ZEN X-fi, at least in terms of looks. The ZX-Fi Style has a 2.4" display, X-Fi sound enhancements, a built-in speaker, and 25 hours of battery life. Sadly, the device doesn't appear to have an expansion slot.
Specs:
Capacity: 8, 16, and 32GB
Display: 2.4" TFT (320 x 240 resolution, 262K colors)
Audio: MP3, WMA, AAC, FLAC, and WAV
Video: MPEG-4 SP, WMV, Xvid, Divx (up to 640 x 480 resolution)
The ZEN Style is a compact player, with roughly the same dimensions as the ZEN Mozaic. There are two models to choose from, the 100, and 300, with the latter having an FM tuner, and a built-in speaker.
Specs
Capacity: 4, 8, and 16GB
Display: 1.8" TFT (128 x 160 resolution, 65K colors)
The new Style series doesn't really bring anything we haven't seen before. Rather, these players are re-skinned versions of older players, with a few new tricks. The new designs are certainly more mainstream, compared to something like the Mozaic however, and the prices are pretty reasonable too. These aren't exactly the players we've been waiting for, but hopefully it'll provide Creative with some revenue so that they can make the players we've really been wishing for.
All Day Gold Box Deals on Creative products at Amazon
Creative doesn't get much publicity these days, but today Amazon is dedicating their "Gold Box Lightning Deals" section to all Creative products. They kicked things off at midnight with their Gold Box Deal of the Day featuring the 2nd gen Vado HD for $99.99 shipped. Here's a run-down of the deals, as well as the clues for upcoming ones.
Main Menu
