Touch me-- all night long.

Author's Rating:

Pros: Excellent sound quality, no software needed.

Cons: Has a bit of a learning curve, can't mount on Mac natively.

The Bottom Line: 
I recommend it over most alternatives, especially the iPod. Creative Labs make excellent players.

Author's Review
I'm very much the mp3 player advocate, fan, and collector. While I love my CD-players, turntables, and tape decks, I have quite an obsession with this digital audio players (or DAP). I've used players from Apple, iRiver, Sandisk, Digmind/Xclef, Samsung, DMC, and Creative. The latter of which is my current player of choice. Two years ago, I regularly used the Creative Zen Vision: M, a photo viewing, movie playing, audio supporting PMP (Portable Media Player) the size of an iPod Photo. Unfortunately, I broke this player in a rather stupid manner-- keeping it plugged in to my computer while running cleaning/defragging software on my C-drive. Recently, I acquired the Creative Zen Touch 40GB, a player meant to rival the older Apple iPods.

I am very pleased with what this player has to offer, although, I've been spoiled and am beginning to miss some of the features my newer players had offered.

Let's start with the PROS:

-The Creative Zen Touch requires nothing but drivers to run, meaning the Windows Explorer is all you need to mount the player. Not having to use software such as iTunes or SonicStage is a huge plus, as it is usually bloatware (software that takes up too much space and is laggy). However, if you do like using Media Management, you can use Creative Explorer or MediaMonkey to sync the Zen Touch.

-Supports both .mp3 AND .wma. Even though I don't really use .wma anymore, it's nice to know that I can use it, as I do have some albums encoded at .wma 192.

-Battery life is rated at over 20hours. That is amazing for a HDD player.

-Thick and fits well in the hand. It feel sturdy in the hand, has a metallic finish on the back and a good, solid feel. It fits wonderfully in the hand or pocket, and you won't lose it.

-40GB or 20GB models.

-Mounts at the snap of a finger.

-Excellent sound quality, especially compared to the every popular iPod. Most Creative players do have some of the best quality of any DAP line.

-Can make Playlists on the go, although there is a bit of a learning curve to do this.

Now...onto the CONS:

-You can't edit the ID3 Tags from the player, as it is an MTP device (Mass Transfer Protocol). There are third-party softwares to help with this, though. MTP also means that this player won't mount natively with a Mac. Luckily, XNJB, a third-party software, exists. This program not only allows the Zen Touch to mount on a Mac, but you can also change the tags.

-Easy to press buttons if not on hold.

-A little difficult to operate if driving.

-The menus have a little bit of learning curve. They resemble the iPods menus, but they have a little more beef to them. One should get the hang out the Zen Touch after a few tries. Still, it's rather annoying that it's not as intuitive as other players I've used. In particular, playing a specific song means selecting:

Music Library > Artists > View Albums > View Tracks > OK > Play.

-Now out of stock. However, one can find a cheap $100 one on eBay.