We present you the latest, rejuvenated media player from Creative, the ZEN X-Fi Style which features our renowned X-Fi technology, providing you a pure music listening experience every time. The technology restores rich detail and retains high level of clarity for audio tracks, be it from your stored content or audio over the airwaves from your FM radio. Get wowed by the crisp cymbal clashes and distinct guitar strumming that you will not get to experience anywhere else. The player sports a brilliant 2.4″ TFT LCD screen and a modern yet simple and easy to use patented ZEN user interface. The interface allows access to all the features in the player seamlessly. The ZEN X-Fi Style is also able to support multiple audio formats like FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Codec) and unprotected AAC format from iTunes Plus, resulting in high quality sound without compromising on originality and more efficient audio data compressing. Pure, immaculate audio is what you will hear every single time.The ZEN X-Fi Style supports reading RSS feeds offline so you are able to connect to your computer and download the latest happenings with ease. Also, enjoy superior video-out capabilities where sharing your media content on the big screen is so easy.With capacity options of 8GB/16GB/32GB, there is definitely a ZEN X-Fi Style to suit your needs. Enjoy music, images and videos in a true stylish way!

Features

• 16GB storage capacity
• Support for iTunes plus and lossless music
• Built-in speaker for superior listening experience
• 2.4 inch viewing screen for superior movie and picture viewing
• Slim and sleek design

User Reviews

For the past year I've been using 2 different mp3 players; the 8GB Apple iPod (4th generation), and an older 2GB "Creative Zen Nano Plus". But I wanted something new with a customizable EQ, so this newly released MP3 player by Creative Labs seemed to be the perfect choice (official release date: April/2010).

ABOUT THE EQ:
This Zen Style has 8 preset EQ settings, and 1 all-important customizable 5-band EQ. However, the custom EQs 5-band adjustable frequency range is 80 Hz -13,000 Hz, which is okay on the 80 Hz bass end (the separate "bass boost" option helped, but it also had the potential to make some songs sound a bit muddy), but it is too low on the 13,000 Hz treble end (IMO). Why so low?? The custom 5-band EQ on my 4-YEAR OLD "Creative Zen Nano Plus" goes up to 16,000 Hz, the 22 presets on my iPod's EQ all go up to 16,000 Hz, and even the EQ in my Creative Labs sound card in my computer goes up to 16,000 Hz. These higher frequencies make music sound "crisp & bright" (good for bringing-out the drum cymbals for example). But by limiting the high frequency range on a customizable EQ, it really defeats the whole purpose of even having one in the first place. Nearly all headphones go up to at least 20,000 Hz, so why flatten-out the brightness of the music played through them by limiting an EQ to 13,000 Hz?

With that said however, setting the X-Fi enhancement feature to around 80% does help to regain much of this lost brightness. However, this will also make some of the other songs sound too "unnatural" or "over-processed". The unfortunate part here is, that since the X-Fi enhancement's algorithm will process each individual song VERY differently, there really is no perfect sweet spot for the X-Fi feature when you have a wide mixture of songs.

ABOUT DRAG-N-DROP:
What also attracted me to the this ZEN player was it's simple "Drag-N-Drop" options to add pre-edited playlist folders (vs. using the mandatory iTunes software to do this on the iPod). But as another reviewer correctly pointed out about Creative's poor software, drag-n-drop did not work for me either on my 5 playlist folders, (even WITH the optional computer software called "Creative Centrale"). Even after reboots, it only showed the combined songs (in alphabetical order) in the "All Tracks" folder. Therefore, the only way for me to add my 5 playlist folders is by highlighting EACH INDIVIDUAL song in the player, then directing it into a newly created playlist folder. For someone who might have 1000+ songs, this will be a LONG tedious task. However, one helpful reviewer said a 3rd party program called "Media Monkey" will fix this, which I have not tried yet.

THE GOOD:
* The unit's graphic interface (the settings & navigation screens) look great! They are customizable, simple, & colorful. Ascetically, it completely blows away my iPod's boring black & white screens.

* The pushbutton interface makes navigation easier & quicker (vs. the iPod's often "jumpy" touch-wheel). However, the 9-buttons do present a slight learning curve (yes, those 3 big buttons on the front are actually 9 smaller buttons).

* The adjustable X-Fi enhancement option can really give those old "flat" sounding mp3s new life again by adding a "much fuller dynamic" to them (especially on mp3s @ 128 kbps and below). But if set too high, it can also make already good sounding mp3s sound a bit over-processed.

* You can delete songs on-the-go, (which I can't do on my iPod). This is a great feature to have for editing playlists when your away from your computer.

* The idea of making the bottom, left-side button a "custom button" is brilliant! This button can be programmed to be a shortcut to any one of 8 different functions/screens, including the often elusive volume screen.


THE BAD:
* As mentioned earlier, a lack-luster EQ on the treble end, and limited drag-n-drop capabilities (even with the optional software) are 2 huge downsides for me. They compromise both sound quality & user friendliness. (A big 2-star deduction here.)

* The 9 tiny front buttons might be too small & flush for users with big thumbs. One reviewer pointed-out that he has to use his thumbnails to press the buttons.

* FM reception was below average (as compared to previous mp3 players using the same exact headphones as the FM antenna). The majority of locked-in stations it found here in Denver, CO only came through in Mono.

SO WHICH MP3 PLAYER TO BUY?
Even in 2010, choosing an mp3 player can be a Love/Hate relationship. For example, on my IPOD-4, I Love the hundreds of free iTunes "audio podcasts" it offers (which I find to be INCREDIBLY entertaining & addicting), and its thin/sleek design...but I Hate the jumpy "touch wheel", its overwhelming (and often indiscernible) option of 22 different preset EQ settings, and the manditory installation of the iTunes software. On my 4-year old ZEN NANO PLUS, I Love the excellent sound quality (due to its wide-range custom EQ: 62 Hz - 16,000 Hz), its "full" drag-n-drop editing capabilities, and the 2 dedicated volume buttons...but I Hate the super-tiny dot matrix screen that can only display a single line of text at a time. On this new ZEN STYLE, I Love its user-friendly pushbutton interface, the X-Fi enhancement option, and its colorful & customizable navigation screens... but I Hate the lack-luster EQ, its drag-n-drop playlist issues, and the forgotten convenience of 2 dedicated volume buttons.

In a perfect world, Apple and Creative Labs would join forces and manufacture the "Ultimate 5-star MP3 player". But I'm pretty confident that before this can happen, robots will have to take over the world. *insert prayer for robot domination here* So until that awesome day comes, the tough decision in purchasing an MP3 player will simply have to rely on what features are most important to YOU. I only say that because MY "pickiness" about electronics and sound quality is likely much higher than most. So with that said, if you really don't mind a "nothing to brag about" EQ (as compared to the iPod-4 & Zen Nano Plus), or creating your playlists from scratch (though future firmware or installing "media monkey" may fix this), then this new Zen would actually be a highly recommended choice over the iPod-4. But if your an audiophile like me and ONLY care about one thing, which is having the absolute best sound quality within the known universe, then I would suggest you look elsewhere. It really all just depends on what your priorities are and what you are willing to compromise on. As for myself, I will probably put this new Zen player on Craigslist, and patiently wait for robot domination.

SIDE NOTE: If you are still debating on whether or not to upgrade your current mp3 player, but still wish to improve your current sound quality, perhaps try a pair of "Koss Portapro" headphones (15 Hz-25,000 Hz). It may be a nice cheap fix. (Ya, I know, Koss over Sennheiser...go figure.) -- This "Zen Style" vs. "iPod-4" & "Zen Nano Plus"

Hi Friends,

This is a Worthless Product. The earphones they supply with this ZEN XI-FI is just same quality of an ordinary 99 cents earphones. They give you quality less sound. So the rating for the earphones is 0/10.
Coming to the player, its of worth far less than its price.

Better one choose some other brands like sony, etc which will come for less price than this comparitively, with uncomparable quality that you can really enjoy.

....Raj -- WORTHLESS PRODUCT ... ready for trash

There are some great things about this mp3 player. The price, the built in speaker, the small size, clear screen, easy to press buttons, the built in recorder, several options for playback, stable built-in software...it hasn't locked up on me yet.

There are some quirks about this mp3 player. Every time you plug it in to charge it, if your headphones aren't in it, it starts blaring from the speaker and you have to turn it off. If you press the power button for less than three seconds, it "locks" the player, and you have to press it two more times. If you use the DJ feature and make it think about the 20 most popular songs, it ends up freezing the screen for a minute or so while it "thinks" but then it snaps out of it and you can use it. Dont load in the software that comes with it. I use Media Monkey, and that works like a charm...fast, automatic, easily organizable. But it also means that all the "extras" on the mp3 player are unusable. I can't use the videos, RSS feed, podcast feature; i can't delete or change songs or playlists from within the player because it just goes back to how it was when I re-sync it...

The screen scratches EASILY. You must get a screen protector. The battery life has been averaging about 15 hours for me, and I have the brightness set to medium and mostly just let it play on random and leave it alone.

All in all it's not as good of a player as it's advertisted to be, but all in all, I'm used to the quirks now and I DO still recommend it. I think the Ipod has some pretty nice features like Genius and intuitive menus....but keep in mind that an Ipod puts you out a hundred dollrs more and has reliability issues. So considering what you get for the price with this little guy, I can't complain too much. -- Good value, but not the perfect mp3 player

I've been using Creative MP3 players for years, going back to the 30gb Jukebox. I've owned at least three different models of Creative players as well as some other non-Apple brands. I keep coming back to Creative because I'm not willing to pay a premium for the "IPOD" name and Creative generally matches them feature for feature.

Overall, I am happy with the Style. I purchased a 32gb player and love having plenty of storage. I now have all of my music and most of my audio books and it is very convenient.

I listen to spoken word (radio shows, audio books) the majority of the time. For this application, the player does well. The built-in speaker works great in non-noisy environments and I often use it when working in the kitchen with satisfactory results. I live in a rural area and thought that the performance of the FM radio was better than I expected.

The player does not require any special software, you simply use Windows Explorer to cut and paste your music on to the player. Very simple and very easy.

My gripes are minor but annoying. First, on older players, the charging icon alternated between a "plug" and the current battery level. This allowed you to know that the player was charging and how close it was to being done. The Style does not do this and simply shows a plug followed by the battery meter increasing. There is no way to know the charging status of the player.

Second, a feature found on earlier Creative products was time scaling. This allowed you to listen to your file at speeds faster or slower than originally recorded without affecting the audio quality. The Style does not have this option and it is sorely missed.

Finally, the players ability to continue at the same point when powered off sucks. If you don't set a bookmark and the player powers down, you will lose your place. On older players, the track would generally resume from the point you had left it without a bookmark.

While these annoyance are there, I really do like the player and would buy another without hesitation. -- A great low-cost, high-performance player with minor annoyances

I'm a long time creative owner and bought this player to replace my vision m and have been very disappointed. The first problem is the slow transfer speeds. It usually maxed out around 2mb/s and when you have over 25gb of music it can take a really long time to transfer data (it took over 4hours to transfer everything to the device). The second problem is the buggy software, it randomly shuts down if you fast forward more than 3x in a row and it'll randomly shut down after 15 mins of so. The software is also slow which i attribute to the size of my library.

The hardware is also annoying to say the least. I bought this player because it had a non-touch screen interface which i thought was great because i have fat fingers and don't like the ipod touch. One problem is that the buttons are to flush and its hard to press down on the buttons without using the your finger nails and it's impossible to feel your way around when it's in your pocket. Also, the player is lacking in features compared to the last generation such as an sd card slot.

pros
supported under linux (ubuntu user here)
decent price

cons
buttons are hard to use
software is buggy to say the least
fm radio is subpar
slow transfer speeds
it randomly shuts down

i really wanted to like this mp3 player and am extremely angry and annoyed that it is so buggy and defected. i want to return it but i threw away all the packaging before the problems became apparent.

DO NOT BUY THIS MP3 PLAYER YOU WILL BE DISAPPOINTED -- buggy software + bad hardware= worst mp3 player ever