Another Zen? Sure why not. Creative’s shotgun approach to product lines has spawned a new, yet very familiar, Zen. The Zen Mozaic is a blend of Zen V Plus and the Zen WAV. It takes all the features of the Zen V Plus and mashed it up with the external speaker of the Zen WAV or – basically - the Zen WAV with the styling influence of the Zen V. However, you would like to mix that up.

The Mozaic is aimed at the budget MP3 player market with retail prices dipping to $60 for the 2GB model, but is there anything more than price to lure buyers to the Zen? Or is it just more of the Creative status quo?

Not too long ago I was chatting with a product manager from one of the MP3 player manufacturers about sound quality. He asked me, “Do you know what the biggest factor in improving a player’s sound quality is?” My ears perked up. This is the kind of stuff I love to learn straight from the source, the nitty gritty tech behind the products. Was he going to discuss the audio chip or some kind of amplification technique? No, his answer, “The headphones.” Ugh… everyone knows that, what disappointing answer.

Many users do know that the included headphones are the first thing to get upgraded, but many also stick with the stock earbuds manufactured in China for literally pennies. Perhaps manufactures are realizing that the stock buds are becoming less acceptable and are an easy way to add value to the overall out of the box user experience. Manufacturers like Microsoft, Sony, and Creative have recently ponnied up a few pennies to include “premium” earbuds.

Granted, they are no substitute for headphones north of a Benjamin, but they do perform very well and add great value to the purchase price. Hopefully this trend will continue, but for now I offer my three picks for the best sounding out of the box MP3 players.

Creative has been updating a lot of it's lines of MP3 players lately with the Zen X-Fi and the Zen Krystal. This time it's the Zen V line that's getting an update with the new cheap medium sized Zen Mozaic.

While the Krystal and X-Fi both look very stylish, I must say I'm a bit puzzled about the looks of the Mozaic. The player is available in three basic colors; black, silver and pink, but the front of the player has a rather peculiar pattern which in my opinion just looks weird. The player has gotten a 1.8" TFT screen versus the 1.5" OLED screen of the Zen V and combined with the button area with the 9 tactile buttons on it does make it noticeable bigger than the Zen V. The specs are pretty standard with video support on the 128x160 screen along with a radio and voice recorder. It also has a tiny speaker on the back, something that Creative seem to be putting into more and more players. Battery life is rated at 32 hours for audio. Only the 2GB ($99) and 4GB ($129) versions will launch now, but 8GB ($169) and 16GB ($249) version will be available later in August. Update: hit the jump for a video

[Press Release|Product Page via Nothing But Creative]

For those who were wondering what’s inside the new Creative Zen X-Fi, here is your chance for a peek. The Zen X-Fi opened up similarly as the Zen did with clips around the edges holding the face to the back. However, this time the face separates from the backing with the circuit boards and such attached to the back plastic plate. Also this time around there is a little bit of glue applied to each clip holding it together; this likely the reason the Zen X-Fi feels a little sturdier than the Zen.

I would only recommend opening your Zen X-Fi for repair and not just for fun since you may not get it back together with the same tight feel it had before. If you are planning on surgery I would recommend checking out the Zen teardown video for some pointers on getting the case cracked. Otherwise below are lots of pics of the wireless player splayed for your viewing pleasure.

Also be sure to check out the Zen X-Fi review.

Zen fans have been looking forward to the next big thing from Creative. These fans clamored for a Zen Vision:M replacement which is, in my opinion, the best blend of MP3 players and PMPs to date. Creative’s last biggest release, the Zen, didn’t seem to hush this cry for something new, because it couldn’t yet natively play high resolution XviD/DivX files, failed at integrating the SD slot, and had cost-prohibitive 30GB+ capacities.

The brand new Zen X-Fi is basically a refreshed version of the Zen, but with added wireless features and X-Fi sound enhancement. Will this be enough, though, to satisfy the Zen fans who have been patiently waiting for Creative’s latest addition to the family?

One of our forum members found something interesting over at Creative's Hong Kong site; a new player called the Zen krystal. It look smore or less like a Stone Plus on its side, featuring what seems to be the same kind of display that the Stone Plus uses. The player looks pretty ordinary, but it does have some tricks up it's sleeve.

The 4GB player (no other capacities available) is a sports player that brings the sports features of the Stone Plus (read: stopwatch) some steps further and integrates a pedometer that tracks your running speed, distance and calories burnt. It's also listed to include several games, which is rather peculiar seeing it has a 0.7" 64x64 monochrome screen. Other than that it has the same basic features as the Stone Plus (hopefully with a better file browser); 10 hours of battery life, stopwatch, radio, clock and voice recorder. Accessory wise it comes with a pouch and wristband on top of the standard earbuds and USB cable, so it should be ready to use for anyone looking for a workout player. Pricing and release date will be known once Creative does an official press release of the thing, which should be soon.

[Creative HK via ABi>> Forums]

Just yesterday Creative officially announced the release of the Zen X-Fi. Today the 8GB, 16GB and 32GB models popped up on Buy.com each selling for $149.99, 199.99, and 279.99. This is a bit of a surprise since that is nearly identical to the plain old Zen. So could this mean they are getting rid of the vanilla Zen player? My guess would be no, since it’s typical to Creative to confuse the consumer with a product line with way to many derivatives.

It appears to be in the wild in Singapore, but the release date is yet to be known for the US. With the Zen X-Fi popping its head out at Buy.com is an indication is should be but a few weeks away.

Below is a video of the player being unboxed.

We've known for a while, but now the Zen X-Fi is "officially official". It will as we already know look like the Zen with more buttons and a less plasticy look and have the same SDHC expansion slot and screen size/resolution.

The big thing about the X-Fi is the Wifi capabilities (although the 8GB version is without Wi-Fi). it doesn't have a web browser (not that you'd need one with that resolution) but it does support chat clients like Yahoo and MSN. It has a built in speaker and according to the specs it supports xvid and divx video. If that means real support like the old Vision M had or if it's the same useless 320x240 support the Zen has is unsure, but I'll take a wild guess and say it's the latter. Capacities are 8, 16 and 32GB, battery life is rated at 36 hours for music and 5 hours for video and in Asia at least it ships with EP830 earbuds.

[Product Page | Cnet Asia via Engadget]

It has been quite a while since Creative has released anything substantial since the Zen, but here it is and what looks like their new flag ship. Details of the player have been confirmed via software found on the net (via). What is cool is included in the software is a user manual showing off all the new features and this Zen is pretty feature packed.

On the wireless side the X-Fi will be Wi-Fi 802.11 B/G allowing you to stream media from your computer and chat with friends over Gtalk, MSN Messenger, and Yahoo! Messenger. From reading the manual it doesn’t look like there is any wireless sync. Update: GenMP3 does mention that you can transfer content over Wi-Fi, perhaps something I missed going over the manual at 1 AM.

More info and pics of the interface below.

Remember the rumored Zen Share WiFi player? It's not coming. In a recent press conference Creative Nordic Product Manager Jan Hvidberg confirmed that there was a device called Share in development at one stage, but this device has apparently been dropped due to technical difficulties. He did however say that Creative is to present a new player within the next two months and design is apparently the key word. There has been a lot of rumors surrounding the Share/X-Fi but this is as close to facts we've been in ages.

According to Hvidberg there will also be no more hard drive based players from Creative. Ever. This means that whatever player will be presented in the future will be flash, no matter what type of player it is. Whether or not this information is true or not only time will tell, but one would think that it's pretty accurate coming from someone that high up. No official word has come from Creative America however so there's always a 0,1% chance he spoke too soon. Either way, this doesn't in any way exclude the rumors of an X-Fi based player - possibly with WiFi, Bluetooth or touch screen for all we know - it just means the player won't be called Share and it will be flash based.

[Amobil.no] (Norwegian)

Most people who have ever had a MP3 player have come across the 1000 vs 1024 problem. Basically, manufacturers of MP3 players, hard drives etc tend to use 1000 byte as the standard for 1 KB, 1000 KB per MB etc. The computer uses 1024, and so you get less capacity than you actually thought because 1000x1000x1000/1024/1024/1024 = 0.93. That means 1 GB on a MP3 player using the 1000 system is really only 0.93 GB. It's the use of the 1000 system to "fool" consumers that is now coming back to haunt Creative.

If the settlement becomes reality, anyone who bought a Creative mp3 player after May 5 2001 may be entitled to a payback bonus from Creative. Update: For some reason this only applies to HDD players while as far as I know the same thing applies for flash memory. Anyone who apply for the payback will get either a 50% discount on a 1GB MP3 player or 20% discount on any Creative product from their online store - if court rule against Creative. Not too bad and most people have owned a Creative player at least once, so the potential economic consequences for Creative aren't small. It can still go both ways, but personally I hope Creative do lose so there will be better info about what they mean by a gigabyte in the future. With capacities getting as high as they are you will definitely notice that you're getting 7% less storage capacity than you bargained for. On a 32GB Zen, 7% is more than 2GB.

[Creative HDD settlement via Engadget]

The Zen Stone and Stone Plus was successful when first released in terms of price and features- giving them an edge over the iPod Shuffle. Since then the Sansa Clip and the price cut of the Shuffle have given the Stones more noticeable competition, so it was a pretty good move by Creative when they recently upgraded both Stones to new versions with better battery and an integrated speaker.

The upgrade is noticeable, but not all of the previous model's flaws have been fixed. The menus are still slow, and the music browsing hasn't been improved. Read on to see if the new features make up for the bad.

If your Zen is in need of repair or you just feel like looking at its guts, take a look at this simple guide. The method of opening the Zen is non destructive and can be opened with a few simple tools. You will need a #0 Phillips head screw driver, a slim pocket knife and/or a set of plastic pry tools. A credit card or driver’s license will work in place of the plastic tools.

The difficulty of this disassembly is moderate with nothing overly difficult, but it’s more getting the guts to dig into your fully functional Zen.

Back in Q4 or 2007 Creative players diminished from Best Buy’s store shelves and finally disappeared. It was left to mere speculations of low profit margins, the need to push their in-house brand, and Creative’s own lack of enthusiasm. None are the case.

Best Buy launched its digital music store powered by Rhapsody not too long ago. They asked manufactures to be Rhapsody certified, similar to being PlaysForSure certified, so that all players will fall into one of three music services: Best Buy Music Store (Rhapsody), Zune Marketplace, or iTunes. Creative failed to comply with the request and was thus dropped from Best Buy retailers.

So who is to blame? Do you point the finger at Creative for non compliance or do you point the finger at Best Buy for forcing this compliance. That is up to you do decide by voting accordingly with your purchasing power.

The Sansa Clip recently proved that it's a better player than the iPod Shuffle in a faceoff here on abi>>. We won't let it rest however, as it's time for it to take on a stronger opponent, feature wise - the Creative Zen Stone Plus.

With both players being available up to 4GB (once the silver clip is released), and both of them featuring pretty much the same features from a technical point of view, this is set to be a much closer competition. Read on to see the face-off.