If you can snatch the market from Apple's hand, you have reached enlightenment. Logan Booker reaches out.
Creative's Zen Touch adds to the company's growing range of microdrive players, slotting in with its Jukebox and MuVo² series. In addition to providing the aforementioned mobile storage benefits, of which there is 20GB worth, the Touch comes with a dandy set of earphones and pouch, as well as the required USB cable and recharge gear. Like Apple's iPod, the Touch uses a Lithium-Ion rechargeable battery that supposedly provides 24 hours of continuous usage - in reality, loud volumes and constant manipulation of the player brings this down to around 10-15 hours, but this is still very respectable.
The device's main feature is its touch-sensitive control pad, positioned in the centre of the fascia. The default sensitivity of the pad however is quite high, and even on its lowest setting it can be a pain to use, especially as the manual incorrectly describes how it works. The 'doubletap to select' option is also easy to inadvertently trigger, and is best kept disabled.
Audio quality is amazing and the supplied earphones are more than capable. The player supports WMA and WAV audio formats along with MP3, and had no problems playing tunes at a variety of sampling and bit rates.
The Zen Touch isn't without its niggles. Towards the end of its charge, the device's interface will often seize, and the supplied NOMAD Explorer software suffers at the hands of the Zen's inflexible 'Album/Genre' storage structure. Otherwise, the Touch Zen is a very capable player that offers superb audio quality at a price similar to Apple's iPod.
Issue: 137 | June, 2012