Creative Zen Xtra review

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Verdict:

Review Date: 22 Apr 2004

Price when reviewed: inc VAT

Reviewed By: Tom Royal

Our Rating 3 stars out of 5

Review
Specs

Creative's range of hard disk MP3 players has long provided a more affordable alternative to Apple's popular iPod.

This latest model, the Zen Xtra, comes in two versions: the 30GB model reviewed here and a 60GB version that can hold a massive 16,000 tracks.

The Zen Xtra is about the size of a cassette walkman. Both Creative's MediaSource software and the streamlined Nomad Explorer are included for transferring and organising music, although transfers over USB2 are limited to 2.57MB/s. The rechargeable battery lasted around seven hours in our test.

Unfortunately, the Zen Xtra isn't without its problems, the most obvious of which is its bizarre control system. It uses eight buttons and a rocker switch that is used only for navigating the menus rather than the more useful task of skipping tracks. The menu system also doesn't automatically show the information for a track that's playing, and the headphones are too large for comfort and a bit lacking in treble. Still, there's a huge capacity here for a good price.

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