Creative Zen X-Fi 16GB
Posted on 9 Dec 2008 at 12:32
Recommended
Manufacturer: Creative
www.creative.co.uk
Supplier: Creative
www.creative.co.uk
Price: £119 (£140 inc VAT)
Rating: 6/6
The X-Fi is the Mozaic's big brother in more ways than just capacity. It's thicker, heavier, has a bigger screen and many more features.
Top of the list is Wi-Fi capability. Connect to a wireless network and the X-Fi will not only allow you to browse music shares and stream audio directly to the player from your PC, but also copy tracks and log onto Creative's servers to listen to podcasts and music downloads. You can also use the X-Fi to keep in touch with your Instant Messaging mates, but this feature is more fluff than substance - entering text on the X-Fi is a truly excruciating process.
Like the Mozaic, the X-Fi's control system is a nine-button panel. But the lack of labels means it isn't as easy to use at first - you have to learn which button does what. Once you do, however, the X-Fi is a joy to use. Creative's excellent user interface makes browsing your music collection swift and easy and adds several useful features, such as the ability to search by keyword, add bookmarks, use the player as an alarm clock (it has a built-in speaker), and create playlists on the device.
Battery life is excellent at 25 hours for audio, and the sound quality is just as impressive. This Creative boasts the richest, fullest, smoothest sound of any player here. Better still, the X-Fi includes a decent set of £30 EP-830 headphones to take full advantage, with memory expandability via SD card and an FM tuner rounding off the specification.
It's considerably more expensive than the L-Player or Fuze at £140 inc VAT, but when you consider what you're getting for your money - a decent set of headphones, superior screen and Wi-Fi, plus double the capacity to start with - we reckon it's the best MP3 player currently on the market.
Creative Zen Mosaic 2GB
Sandisk Sansa Fuze 8GB
iRiver L-Player 8GB
Apple iPod Nano 16GB
Apple iPod Touch 32GB
Author: Darien Graham-Smith, Mike Jennings & Matthew Spark
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For more details about purchasing this feature and/or images for editorial usage, please contact Jasmine Samra on pictures@dennis.co.uk
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