Creative ZEN X FI 8GB - Expert Reviews

Review summary: The ZEN X-Fi is a portable media player that can not only store your music, photos and videos in its 16GB of memory, but also stream media directly from your PC via your home WiFi network, so you can hook it up to your hi-fi or TV and play what you ...

Verdict: The 'Fi' stands for 'Fiddly'. Well conceived and well made, but gets some of the basics wrong and isn't pleasant to use.

Review summary: Creative shows no signs of deviating from its plan to offer feature-packed players at impressively low price points -- their new MP3 player, the Zen X-Fi, is a compact multimedia machine that's the first portable device to integrate Creative's X-Fi ...

Pros: The Creative Zen X-Fi is an incredible value given its low price and laundry list of features, which include photo, video, Audible, and subscription music support ; an FM radio and voice recorder ; an SD card expansion slot ; WiFi capability ; ...

Cons: The Creative Zen X-Fi's plastic construction does not feel high-quality, and the SD card content does not get integrated into the general libraries. Videos often need to be transcoded through the included software, and the button pad can be confusing ...

Verdict: The Creative Zen X-Fi's plastic design leaves a little to be desired, but that doesn't detract from the fact that the player is an incredible value overall: for an extremely competitive price you get a boatload of features and great sound quality

Review summary: The amazing Zen X-Fi has great sound, features, headphones, and storage options--and for a nice price, too.

Verdict: The 16GB X-Fi sells for $200, and the 32GB model sells for $280, versus $300 for the 16GB iPod Touch and $400 for the 32GB version of Apple's touch-screen media player. And if that sounds like a bargain, consider that you can also expand the X-Fi ...

Review summary: The Creative Zen X-Fi is beyond question a better all-around digital music player than any of Apple's current iPods. The X-Fi has better sound, superb headphones, an amazing feature set, expandable storage via an SD card slot, an easy-to-use interface ...

Verdict: The 16GB X-Fi sells for around $370, and the 32GB model sells for $465, versus $599 for the 16GB iPod Touch and $749 for the 32GB version of Apple's touchscreen media player. And if that sounds like a bargain, consider that you can also expand the X ...

Review summary: Music, video and wireless networking in your hand