Couldn't Be Happier With My Choice!

Author's Rating:

Pros: Battery life, sturdy construction, easy of use

Cons: None really - haven't had any problems thus far

The Bottom Line: 
For the money and compatability with various music files, it's a no brainer to get the Zen Touch!

Author's Review
When I realized I would be spending an average of 6-8 hours driving in my car over the course of a week, I decided it was time to break down and get an MP3 player so as not to have to continuously change out CDs or scan the radio for working stations in whatever town I was passing through.

After much debate between three different MP3 players I decided to go for the Creative Zen Touch. My reason was two fold: the price was cheaper and the ability to save ANY music file I wanted to the player - a WMA, an MP3, a file I made on my own or a file from an online music service.

I've had this little player for two months now and I can honestly say that it's the best choice I could have made. This thing is a DREAM.

I've seen other complaints about the touch wheel, but I just changed the setting to "slow" and it basically solved the problem for me. I've seen other people complain about the software being unfriendly, but I was able to load it up and begin using it without even looking through the help file. I've seen other people complain about lack of aftermarket accessories, but for me all I needed was my cassette tape adapter and I was good to go while driving.

I have about 1000 files (including many talk show podcasts which get deleted as soon as I'm done listening to them) saved on the Zen Touch right now and have used 5,000MB of the 40G available to me. I'm confident that it'll easily house the entire CD catalog I plan on uploading over the next few months.

The battery life is excellent - I was able to do my extended driving each day without worrying about the battery going dead. I would recharge the Zen each night and hit the road the next morning. Instead of bogging down my work computer with music or internet music software, I just bring my Zen in, plug it in to my work speakers and have my tunes to help me get through my day.

It's a solid piece of equipment. I have dropped it a couple of times while it was in it's case and have had no issues. The size of the Zen Touch might put off some people but it makes me feel better about manhandling it - and letting my 3 year old manhandle it when she won't take no for an answer.

The menus are easy to navigate and I love the playlist option - my husband and I have created playlists so that when I'm alone I listen to "my" music, when he borrows it he can listen to "his" music and when we're together we have a playlist of music we can both tolerate. Add in a playlist with kids-only music for when the kids are in the car with us and voila - we have our own personal "radio station" everytime we're in the car.

I can't say enough good things about it - and I'm convinced you'll be happy with it too!

Update on August 14, 2006:
I have to tell you that over the weekend after I posted my review my Creative Zen Touch locked up on me. It basically got "stuck" during shutdown and no buttons would work and nothing would make it turn off all the way. I went online and looked up the instructions on how to properly reset the player. I followed the instruction to hold the Play/Pause button while inserting a paperclip into the Reset hole. I did it and my Touch promptly reset itself and rebooted - not losing a single song in the process.

Once again, I love this player.