Creative Zen Touch
A step up from the Nomad NX, but still several
steps below the iPodL
et’s see... hard drive-based MP3 player... sleek white fascia...
touch-sensitive controller. Well, there’s no sense in beating around
the bush—the Zen Touch is Creative’s answer to the iconic iPod.
And while it’s unlikely anyone is going to dump their iPod in favor of the
Zen Touch’s more awkward design, it does best Apple where it’s the most
vulnerable, battery life.
Even after a week of frequent use, the battery still hadn’t begun to wheeze
(a battery drain test at approximately 75 percent volume yielded more than 21
hours of continuous play). How did Creative do it? Once you pick up the Zen
Touch, the answer is obvious. The ZT is about three-eighths of an inch (roughly
the thickness of a CD jewel case) thicker and considerably heavier than the
fourth-generation iPod of the same 20GB capacity.
In the center of the unit is a narrow, indented touch-sensitive strip used for
scrolling and browsing tracks. We’ll just come right out and say it: The strip is
no match for the iPod’s wheel. It’s twitchy, and selecting the right track in a list
often meant we had to “scrub” the strip up and down until the right song was
highlighted. And sometimes just lifting our big fat thumb off the strip caused the
highlighting to jump up or down a few tracks. That’s annoying.
Creative serves up two ways to access its player from your PC. There’s
the classic Creative MediaSource —track manager, music ripper, and audio
player rolled into a single app. But for simple player management, Nomad
Explorer integrates itself into Windows Explorer for convenient access andplaylist fiddling. Unfortunately, Creative
still refuses to allow its MP3 players to
show up as removable hard drives in
Windows Explorer. This prevents the
Zen Touch from serving as a tote bag
for your data files, because you need
the Nomad Explorer software to access
the drive. This is fine if you only want
to transfer data files between your PCs at work and home, for example, but a
serious limitation if you need more freedom than that. And where the hell is
the support for OGG tracks?
The battery life is extraordi-
nary and the Zen Touch sounds
as good as any MP3 player,
including the iPod. But for a
mere 30 bucks more, you can
have the svelte, luscious iPod
and easier access to your data
files. Just make sure you keep
your charger handy.
—LOGAN DECKERFantastic battery life. Integration with Explorer
makes song management easy.ZENPHEN-FEN
Fumbly design. Doesn’t show up as a removable
hard drive.
$270, http://www.creative.comMA XIMUMPC VERDICT 7
The Zen Touch’s battery life
is impressive—we’re talking
20-plus hours of continuous
play!Reviews
MA XIMUMPC NOVEMBER 2004
Logitech Z-5500 Digital
These speakers are our new favorites—and for
good reasonBecause Logitech’s Z-680 5.1 speaker set has long been the love of
Labville, and is the only speaker system to receive a perfect 10 verdict
in the past two years or so, we wondered what Logitech could possibly
do to improve it. Now we know. In fact, by comparison, the Z-5500 rig is
so good, it reveals flaws in the Z-680 system we hadn’t previously
noticed.
Essentially, this setup delivers the exact same hair-raising, soul-
crushing power as the Z-680, but is much easier to live with thanks to a
dramatically redesigned control pod and a few other amenities. The
controls look more elegant and are now one thousand times easier to
read, thanks to added contrast in the display. Additionally, the wheel
lag that made dialing up the desired volume level in the Z-680 so frus-
trating has thankfully been 86’d in favor of a knob that offers a much
faster response time. The satellites have also been redesigned, and are
now less pod-like and more sleek, and feature a swiveling base (a la the
Z-5300) that allows for easy wall-mounting. The speaker wires are now
attached to the satellites, which is unfortunate because the Z-680 set let
you use any length and type of speaker wire you wanted. On the other
hand, the 25-foot Logitech wires should be more than sufficient for most
folks. If not, you’re up a creek.
Technologically, Logitech is sticking with its single-driver phase plug
design, and we’re not complaining. During testing the satellites delivered
the same killer treble and midrange we experienced with the Z-680, mak-
ing the two speaker systems virtually indistinguishable in that respect.
The subwoofer, however, has grown to such a gargantuan size that
Lab technicians were heard muttering a respectful “holy sh--” when it
was removed from the box, followed by awe-filled silence when its full
girth was fully revealed. We had zero complaints about the previousset’s 8-inch driver, but the new all-black 10-inch unit is downright incred-
ible. It’s not a night-and-day
difference from the older unit,
but it’s noticeably deeper at
higher volume levels.
Finally, some Z-680 sets
emitted an annoying hiss from
the satellites, but thankfully
the Z-5500 Digital offers no
hiss, only sonic bliss.
—JOSH NOREMEasy-to-read controls, even more powerful sub, all-
around awesome.
.PRINGLESLAY’S STAX
Speaker wire is attached to speakers.$400, http://www.logitech.comMA XIMUMPC VERDICT 10
Logitech completely redesigned the control pod for the
Z-5500—options are now much easier to read thanks to a
new black-on-white LCD screen.2.75“4.38“