Customer Reviews
Excellent value, excellent player 
2008-06-18
I have been using my Zen Xtra for three years, and it turned out to be the correct choice for me based on the market at that time. Looking back on it now, I have to say that I'd be inclined to buy this player again in today's market. Apple players are stylish, but they cost too much and are only now beginning to offer the cavernous storage Creative made available when this player was new.
I have had the WMP 11/10 rollback and firmware issues, but the frustration was minimal and I was able to work through the process with a little help from Google. I use my player primarily for entertainment while surfing twisties on my motorcycle, and it's held up beautifully and flawlessly for that purpose.
It's large because it employs an ATA-100 laptop drive for storage. To be honest, the player itself isn't much larger than the drive and battery life is excellent for me even after three years of heavy use on the original battery. I'm only now thinking of buying a spare to take on bike trips, but only to extend my play time between charges. The original battery is still going strong and I have no real concern about it flaking out any time soon.
Some reviews claim the interface is poor. I disagree. The interface is different from Apple's, which most manufacturers emulate because Apple has a well-designed interface. The interface on the Zen Xtra is perfectly useable and intuitive, and doubly so for me since I have ~20k songs on my player that I actually like. I set it to "Play any track" and just jam the miles away.
So... three years later I would still pick this player over most other available options. It was a value then, and it would be a value today. The "Brick" was, is, and will continue to be an awesome player.
Very good. 
2008-06-16
A very good mp3 player. It had bigger space and was cheaper that the IPOD. I used it so much that I had to replace the battery and I easily bought a battery on ebay (it was cheap too!). Something you cannot do with an IPOD. Overall a quality unit. A little bit on the bigger side, but it was able to hold my entire music collection. The software that comes with it, makes syncing it easy.
Headphone jack sucks 
2008-05-02
This worked fine for the first year or so I had it but eventually the headphone jack needed resoldering since it detached from the insides.
better than an ipod 2008-03-25
THIS IS THE BEST EVER, IT IS LIKE AN IPOD BUT MORE SPACE FOR LIKE 1/10 THE PRICE!!!!!!!!!!!
I LOVE ITTTTTT
Reliable and Sturdy 2008-03-06
I have had this "brick" as some people here call it for about 4 years. It sounds great and is amazing for listening at home or while excercising. I take it to the gym, bike riding, hiking, jogging and roller blading. I've dropped it a few times and it keeps going strong. The only problem is the battery life is low and only lasts 3 hrs at most these days. The replacent battery is $50 online, so it may be a good investment.
I've beaten mine to death and it still works!!! 2008-02-22
30GB hard drive holds approximately 1,000 hours of music at 64 Kbps (or 500 hours at 128 Kbps) * plays MP3, WMA, and WAV files * backlit LCD displays track info * adjustable 4-band EQ with 8 presets * USB 2.0 interface (cable included) *
Who needs an IPod or a Zune when this beast sounds so good! 2008-02-16
I've owned several MP3 players over the years, and this one is by far the best. It sounds excellent, it's very easy to use, it has decent battery life, and did I mention it sounds excellent! The display doesn't have a picture background, which is fine with me since I got it to listen to and not to look at. It sounds so very nice! I highly recommend this one.
Xtra Problems 2007-12-12
I've had this product for about 2 years. Yes, it's been reliable and for the $ is probably okay, but I think there are better Creative Products available now. This thing has always been hard for me to use (both the software and the physical device). Consequently, I mainly use it as my "primary" storage device from which I load/download a smaller Creative Rock (which I highly recommend by the way). Anyway, when I use it in the dark, I always am hitting something wrong. As an example, last night I had it set to "Play Any Track" and this song came on and I thought "I wonder what song that is" and as I touched my Xtra (probably brushing a wheel or button in the process), it immediately switched to another song. Stuff like that happens all the time with this thing. I think it's the multi-use wheels and buttons that are the culprits. A primary requirement for any of my mp3 players is that they are Audible-ready and the Xtra is that. I wouldn't buy it again and as I said, I believe there are better Creative products out there now.
My Faithful Brick 2007-11-24
Now, I can't remember if I got this thing in '03 or '04, but it has lasted this long and still runs great. Sure, the battery life is starting to wane, but it has been three or four years! Three or four year of continuous, if not constant use. It lasted me through the latter years of high school, and its lasted me back and forth on the bus to college for closing in on a year and a half now. The sound quality is great, and, because they're Creative, it comes with a sound equalizer than comes with presets like rock, acoustic, classical, auditorium, etc. It even lets you put in you're own settings if you'd like. To be honest though, the only settings I've used are off and (mostly) rock. Sure, this thing has (or had anyway, as they seem to have disappeared) a few problems. I'm a pretty lazy fellow so I'd leave it charging overnight and then just pick it up in the morning, and every once and a while it would lock up on start up, but popping out the battery for a second did the trick without memory loss. And at one point a few months ago it would see to go back in time and start playing a playlist I had be listening to the previous day. But all that has seemed to stop. Sure, its ugly as hell, and its carrying case (which its been in since practically day one) is ugly too, and its a brick, but its my brick. I love the ugly little troll. If you're looking for something thats cheap (now anyways) and functional, you can't really go all that wrong. The day I upgrade will be a sad day indeed...
Owned player for over 2 years, absolutley no problems 2007-11-11
I bought my Nomad Zen Xtra almost 3 years ago. Great sound, huge capacity and obviously great reliability. Battery lasts 5+ hours consistently. Bought a second battery for those long plane trips. Original battery still holds its charge as well as it did when new even after many, many charges. Fabulous sound especially after using its built in graphic equalizer. I love it.
Do I have any complaints. Well, the software to download songs from my computer, while easy, does not seem to recognize my Windows folders as playlists??? I wish Creative allowed more creative flexibility.
My wife wanted an iPod Nano and it is cute, light, has wonderful touch operating functions and sounds good. But we paid $30 extra for a repair/replacement plan because it's batteries are known to fail and are not user replaceable. Should the iPod fail, how long will my wife have to wait for a repair or replacement? This is a question one should not have to worry about and I don't with my Nomad Zen Xtra 30 GB player.
