Nothing But Creative: Hear It Everywhere, today.

Well, it was not the new PMP player after all. It is a X-Fi Notebook Sound Card with the capability to transmit sounds wireless to a speaker via a separately sold wireless receiver. I like the idea of controlling your home sound system wirelessly, and not by some wires that is very unsightly and not feasible. It will be very cool to have this function in the new Zen, and I really look forward to it.

That being said, is there something wrong with Creative? I quote a comment from nothingbutcreative.blogspot.com regarding the new X-Fi notebook soundcard.

Karil_zhenyu said...

Not really, given the fact that their flagship product Zen X-fi was released so recently, I knew it wouldn't be another player... Yet.

Nonetheless, I'm expecting stuff like Nano plus X-fi and Zen: Vision X-fi coming up. By implementing the X-fi tech to all their players.

The wireless X-fi looks good, but I think its kind of a overkill with the wireless receiver. Who would really need that? Its not a cheap toy anyway.

But really, what's bothering me is this. Creative is really catching up fast. And its a little scary to buy their product these days.

For the USB series, we have the 'Play!'. Than a month later, we have the 'Go!', which is clearly better than the 'Play!'.

We than compare the Audigy notebook which was release way long back. While the X-fi Xtremeaudio notebook came out quite long after the first, it only took a few months for this new toy to roll out.

Which makes me think... Will my Zen X-fi(After reading reviews everywhere including this and testing it myself at Marina Sq), which I'm going to purchase this coming week be obsolete the next month?

Beats me... :S

September 17, 2008 4:06 AM

This was exactly what I had in mind when I saw this product, as well as other Creative lineups such as the Zen. Zen Vision M and Zen Vision W? Zen and Zen X-Fi? Zen Stone and Zen Stone plus? What are all the difference between the products? Wider screen, X-Fi, and a screen, respectively. Ok, improvements is always good, but such 'improvment' in such a short time is really frustrating. I could only imagine owners of Zen stone swearing their days out when the Zen Stone Plus came out. Creative is like cheating us. Are they forcing people to buy the 'improved' products after we have brought the 'older' but similar product? The USB series 'Play!' and 'Go!' is really ridiculous. Why risk disappointing so many people by creating better products in the same lineup in such a short time?

So a good advice, wait before you buy.....

From the new teaser poster from Creative, I can only get two things for sure. First, the new product will be introduced on 17 September 2008. Secondly, it is an X-Fi product. Haha... I cannot really tell what on earth it is. A PMP player? Well, there is certainly some buzz about this picture of a design from the Creative's patent.

Hmm.... Possible... Given that it is shape like a rectangle. Although it is abit too slim for me, as the PMP from figure 1 looks thick. But there seems to be a screen in the reflection. If it was to be a PMP, it should be bigger than the Creative Zen and Zen X-Fi. Maybe an X-Fi update of the Creative Vision? Some people say that it is going to be touch-screen, or an internet tablet. Some even say there is a camera on it, judging from some rear view of the player also from the patent. But looking at the progress of Creative, I will say

What about the "Everywhere"? Does it suggest some wireless function? Grahh, in the end, I don't really know anything. But one thing is for sure, I am hear waiting......

1. Nothing But Creative

This amazing blog is a "must see" for anyone interested in Creative products. It has regular updates on up and coming Creative products and news, as well as in-depth product review. Check out the Creative Zen X-Fi review, which is detailed and full of pictures. Excellent stuff. There are also regular updates on upcoming Creative sales. Also, do look out for articles that describe the life of a die-hard creative fan. Very interesting indeed.

On a side note, also check out the Anything But iPod website. (Similar names,
but same objective! haha...)


2. TSGTS: The Singapore Gadget Talk Show

"We are Singaporeans that loves electronic gadgets and we enjoy talking about the local consumer market. Hence, with the creation of this space we can air our views and hopefully be able to provide some useful information to fellow Singaporean."

Well, what I like about this blog is how most of the content are in context with Singapore. It has many posts on some good deals in Singapore, especially during the tech seasons in Singapore such as the various PC shows or the Great Singapore Sale. Do check out the Singapore Notebook Promotions, where it is update regularly on good deals for notebooks. Excellent local content.



3. Kid Tech Guru
This is one blog that puts many people in shame. Haha.. Why? A 14-year old kid writing a tech blog and achieved 1000+ visitors in 2 weeks?!? Ouch. Wow. There are many comments in the blog, ranging from "Interesting stuff" to "Well written" etc. There is even a comment by a 60 year old guy that he find something written by the 14 year old blogger very useful. Just thinking about the age difference is scary enough.

No doubt, I find the articles very useful and interesting. There are useful Firefox add-ons discovered, blogger tips on making money or viewing traffic, and general good findings on the internet. His blog has became so successful that there is a US$50 contest to 1 lucky person who subscribe to the blog email update. Is that money from the profits of the blog, or is it a tactic to generate more traffic? Its anyone guess. But for a 14-year old to dish out such tricks is impressive. A "must see" blog definitely.

It was very frustrating looking at the new "Creative Zen X-Fi" mp3 player. Firstly, it looks almost exactly the same as the "Creative Zen", which was still ok since there seemed to be an improvement from the flimsy plastic of Zen to the more metallic solid Zen X-Fi. The most frustrating about the new Zen is that it has X-Fi technology (omg!) and is priced at S$399 for 32gb. I mean... I spent $500+ for the Creative Zen a few months ago, and they came out with a Creative Zen with X-Fi for S$399?!?

I am sure many of us do feel the pain... !@#$...

Before I keep ranting on about the world is unfair ( I wan trade in my Zen!!!), let's focus on the gem of the Creative Zen X-Fi. The main selling point is of course, the X-Fi technology. X-Fi is a technology by Creative which "restore portions of the sound which were lost during compression". I have never savour the quality of X-Fi technology, but based on reviews of some X-Fi products, the sound is breathtaking.




"The reasonably priced Creative Xmod does a remarkable job of making audio sound brighter, deeper, and more vibrant." by Cnet



You can try the X-Fi Crystalizer Demo to get a taste of X-Fi technology. Honesetly, the difference is unbeliveable. Based on review from nothingbutcreative, "X-Fi feature (in Creative Zen X-Fi) does provide a rather dramatic improvement to your music!"

(thanks to nothingbutcreative for the awesome and indepth review! Its a great site!)

Not to mention that Creative Zen X-Fi comes with an external speaker, SD card slot, and Wi-Fi capability. Sadly, no web browsing for you. It can only be used for transferring music or to chat via MSN or Yahoo Messenger. (that's what the 9 buttons are for!)

Will this Creative Zen X-Fi be an iPod killer? No. This is because Creative Zen X-Fi is more of a middle-end product as compared to the higher-end iTouch. It seriously loses out on extra applications and features such as a simple stop-watch or even a text reader.

However, Creative does have the potential to produce an iPod killer. Someone commented that Apple really have to buy X-Fi technology from Creative as it can be a real threat. I totally agree to that. X-Fi can be a true killer feature for Creative with its emphasis on sound quality more than anything. However, we have yet to see Creative developing technology such as touch screen or even trying to produce a high-end product. Just look at some of the upcoming mp3 players such as the Creative Mozaic or the Zen Krystal, and we know that they are pretty low-end. That is one frustrating thing about Creative, where they keep producing products that are very similar. Examples are the Zen Stone and Zen Stone plus, or Zen Vision and Zen Vision W. I would rather wait for a mp3 player with cooler feature than seeing a variety of mp3 players with almost the same function.

Of course, considering Creative difficulty in terms of profit, I don't really blame them. I will still support Creative for some time to come. Go Creative!!