The Zing Thing – Zen!. Review on Creative Nomad Jukebox Zen 2.0

They Misunderestimated me!

-- The Great Dubyaman, George W. Bush

I have decided from now, I am going to begin each of my reviews with a quote from the world’s most dubious man, the president of the united states. After all, everyone knows that he is probably the dumbest president to have ever existed. Anyhow, lets not get into that. A few weeks ago I started looking for a MP3 Player when my CD Walkman started breaking down. It would play a song, and if I did be walking, the CD would start skipping and I would spend half the time trying to fix it. I decided then and there that my next player had to be MP3 Player, and that it had to be hard drive based, so that I didn’t have to care about the nonsense of skipping CDs.

I went hopping shopping to almost all internet sites, and almost all brick and mortar companies too. I have always believed in creative products, and it was not very surprising that my first inclination was to go for it. One look at Apple’s IPOD, and I was bowled over. I bowled over and fell with a bang too when I heard that the damned thing cost 400 $ bucks! I had discovered then of one big problem –I wanted something like Apple IPOD only, yet something which didn’t have my pockets tore off. Enter the Zing Thing – Creative Nomad Juke box Zen 2.0

One look at this thing and you can make out that Creative is clearly aiming to compete against the much hyped Apple IPOD. With a sleek design and size that can be envy of many, Creative seems to have won the first battle. Though not as sleek as IPOD, you can carry this MP3 Player in your pocket!!! Yeah its that small. A few more details about the MP3 Player are as follows:

1. Size which suits your pocket

   
   




2. 20 Gb Hard Drive – Can store up to a mammoth 4000 songs at 128 kbps

   
   




3. Re-chargeable battery – Fully stored battery can run up to 12 hours.

   
   




4. Comes with Creative EAX technology for sound, plus good bundled software.

   
   




5. Excellent Syncing options.

   
   




6. Costs lesser than IPOD. About 250 $

   
   




7. Has USB 2.0 (hence the version) for a fast transfer of data between PC and Device. By fast I really mean fast as in 420 Mbs/Sec!

   
   




8. The device can recharge through USB as well in addition to normal adapter.

   
   

With this kind of stuff, who wouldn’t go for it? I did too, and I am not that disappointed. Here is what I think is cool about this amazing device.

1. I could finally get my whole CD collection in one hard drive! That gives me more options to play.

   
   




2. I get to stop bothering about skipping of songs.

   
   




3. Its so small, Its almost invisible when I carry it with me.

   
   




4. The headphones are good too, and produce pure music. At 98 S/N ratio, I couldn’t have asked for more. (For the non-techie guys, a 98 S/N is Signal to Noise Ratio. 98 is just the number telling you that the device blocks 98 percent of noise completely, so that you can hear more enriched sounds.)

   
   




5. The EAX (A patented technology by Creative) allows me to create and listen to songs in the environments I want them to. Be it late night, or bathroom effect, or concert, or plain simple rock setting.

   
   




6. Using a good file manager, I can use the device as a hard drive storage device.

   
   




7. I can record externally too from a microphone directly. I can also record through the PC and transfer it straight as MP3, WMA format.

   
   




8. And the most important one - I can FLAUNT it!

   
   

However, this player doesn’t come without its shares of troubles. Sadly, I came to know of it later. Not that the pros out do cons, but I would have still preferred some features.

1. The device has horrible BASS options. As a pure music buff, I need to get everything right to enjoy a song. For example, if I don’t get to hear bass in lucky ali’s songs, then its pretty bad! One thing I learnt to do with the player is to try and keep the setting on Rock. However its still bad.

   
   




2. Headphones are good, but if you are audiophile, then you need to get better ones definitely. One would have thought that with 250$, at least a better headphone would have been supplied.

   
   




3. The CD-Ripper software just sucks. In trying to rip all my CDs in 5 minutes flat, it forgets to correct errors while encoding. The result – Quite a few times, I have had to hear jarring noises coming out of nowhere in a song! However, a better CD-ripper solves the problem.

   
   




4. You cannot create a shuffled play-list within device. You have to make in on your PC and then transfer it.

   
   




5. And lastly the most important thing which I really didn’t take much notice off. The device loses its battery in 3 years. At this moment there are mixed views that the battery cannot be replaced. So in effect you ‘throw’ and buy a new one. However, Creative seems to have come out with solution saying that customers can send the player back to creative to have their batteries replaced. Lets see how it goes.

   
   




6. No, you cannot jog with it. No hard drive based player can sustain that force. (by the way, I dont jog...I just decided to warn others!)

   
   

However given its cons, its not such a bad deal really. I mean, the sounds are excellent (minus Bass), The controls are super cool and simple to learn, and more importantly – It is more durable in built than IPOD. I for one have forgiven those small cons in the device, for what I have got in return is simply an amazing piece of electronic device which has changed my style of listening to music! A little on the costlier side, but believe me, this is the BEST Creative has brought out!! As for Apple’s IPOD, well, Don’t Australians rule cricket? For now, let me enjoy my zing thing – ZEN!

I cannot help but end with another comment from the great man himself –

I have opinions, I have strong opinions, However I do not always agree with them!