The newest music player from the renowned maker of audio related products, Creative, is the X-Fi2 in its Zen series. This is actually an update to the Zen X-Fi that was released much earlier. Surprisingly, the feature that the whole X-Fi player was centered on got left out in the X-Fi2. Wi-Fi was probably removed to lessen the cost of the product itself.
The X-Fi2 introduces a new design and layout that has not been used in other Zen devices. Majority of the buttons have now been removed and the whole front of the device is now dominated by a large LCD screen. All the controls are now integrated into the touch display. The new design is quite similar to the iPod Touch and some of the industry experts feel that this is an attempt to cut into the market share of the iPod Touch. Even more so because of the very low price point of its 32GB version.
Aside from the touch screen LCD display, Creative also boasts that the X-Fi2 produces better sound due to its audio processing system that was born from years of Creative’s years in sound processing. It also has a TV-out slot that lets it connect to a TV set. This is an excellent addition as the X-Fi2 also supports a lot of video codec’s and the generous amounts of memory means you can store a few movies on it and use it as a portable movie player.
Comparing it with the older system, most of the features were passed on to the X-Fi2, aside from Wi-Fi of course. It still has the microSD slot that lets you add memory cards that have a capacity of up to 32GB in case the on-board memory is not enough for you. The integrated FM radio is still there so that you can listen to your local stations and find out what’s new. It also has the same set of applications including the RSS reader app.
The Zen X-Fi2 comes in three packages with varying amounts of internal memory; 8GB, 16GB, and 32GB. They are also priced accordingly with the 32GB version, which should be the equivalent of the iPod Touch, priced significantly lower. Most people still think that the iPod Touch has a lot more other than playing music files and with this aspect, the X-Fi2 doesn’t compete. But with the much lower price point, the X-Fi2 might just be the device that you are looking for, especially for people who simply want a music player and do not care for the other capabilities of the device.
