Today, Creative's Europe division has announced a promotion called "Pure Music Listening" that will allow customers who buy select MP3 players, headphones, and speakers to download a live concert of their choice.

Here are the list of Concerts available to download:



Applicable products include the ZEN, their Aurvana line of headphones, and a few of their Gigaworks line of speakers among others. The promotion goes from 5/15 to 7/31 and is available for customers in Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and the UK.

Although I don't think this offer will "stimulate sales" for Creative's products as the PR email I received will lead you to believe, I do think it's a nice little promotion. I wouldn't mind seeing that Radiohead concert for instance.

LINK

I just received my stimulus check from the IRS last week and now it seems like Creative wants a chunk of it. They're having a one day "Recession Buster" sale and have discounted a bunch of their players. On top of that they're providing free shipping store-wide. All of the players seem to be refurbished, but from personal experience, their refurbs are as good as new. Here's a run-down:

Players:

1GB Zen Stone - $13.99
2GB Zen Stone Plus - $21.99
2GB Zen V Plus - $24.99
2GB MuVo V100 - $19.99
4GB ZEN - $64.99

Accessories:

Vision:M Docking Cradle - $9.99
Vision:M Video cable - $5.99
Zen V and Zen Stone skins - $3.99 each

LINK

Creative is known for releasing their players in a wide assortment of colors, but they chose to go with just black for the ZEN's release. That looks like it's about to change, as one of our watchful members has just spotted the player in red. It's showing up as being "Temporarily sold out" at Buy.com, which means it should be available within a month or two. It would be great if Creative partnered with Product (RED), but there is no indication of that. Not only would it help to increase awareness and support of the AIDS epidemic around the world, but it might also help introduce Creative to a greater audience.

Features:

• Capacity: 2, 4, 8, 16, and 32GB
• 2.5" display with 16.7 million colors (320 x 240)
• SD Expansion Slot (with support for SDHC)
• Audio: MP3, WMA (and WMA-DRM), AAC (supports iTunes Plus tracks) and Audible
• Video: WMV, Divx, Xvid, MJPEG, and TIVO to Go
• FM tuner and Voice Recorder
• Battery Life: 25 hours of Audio, 5 hours for Video
• Dimensions: 55 x 83 x 11.3mm (65g)

The red ZEN doesn't appear to offer anything different from the original model, and looks to cost the same. We'll fill you in when we find out more about this and other models Creative may have down the line. I wouldn't be surprised if we see the ZEN in the same colors as the Zen Stone.


LINK

via Our Forum

Thanks nuttbecky!

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Update: It's also in Pink! This has shown up at Walmart as an "Exclusive". We just might see it in all colors as predicted: LINK Thanks Who_ME

Great news everyone! One of our pioneer ZVM modders has successfully booted up Rockbox on his Vision:M. Right now, he is able to start-up the open-source firmware, but has yet to get the controls to work. Check it out in this short video:



Many of us have been waiting years to see that Rockbox screen on our Vision:M's and it seems like we'll all get to try it out very soon.

via Our forum and Rockbox

Thanks mophead740

When you think of Wi-Fi on an MP3 player, a few possibilities come to mind. Among others, there's the ability to browse the web, share music with other players, obtain music from subscription services (i.e. Rhapsody), and to stream Internet radio stations. What if I told you Creative won't do any of the above? I just got another rumor sent in to me by another of my trusted sources and I must say, it's an odd one. It's so strange in fact, that it seems just the kind of thing that Creative would do.

Okay enough with the build-up. One of the main functions Creative may be touting for their upcoming Zen X-fi (or Zen Share) is the ability to access a virtual storage system. I'm sure I lost a few of you there so i'll try and explain it to you. Basically Creative will be leasing out virtual space, say in 2GB increments, that you can purchase and access from your player at any WiFi hotspot. You can then stream and play back your media files over this wireless network,

That's all the info I know about right now, and I can't say I'm all that thrilled about it thus far. It just doesn't seem practical to upload media files to Creative just to stream them wirelessly. I prefer expansion in the form of SD cards, rather than network-based. It would be nice if I could access my PC's library of music and movies wirelessly, but ultimately playback is still limited to WiFi areas. Hopefully there's more to this service than just this. We'll keep you updated.

Disclaimer: Like always, keep in mind that this is merely a rumor. It could turn out to be 100% inaccurate.

It's been a little while since I told you about the Zen Share and I know some of you are dying to hear more about it. Keep in mind that nothing that I write below has been confirmed by Creative and should be taken as just a rumor for now (i.e. don't get your hopes too high/low!). So here we go:

Zen Share is now ZEN X-Fi

First, the player that this site broke to everyone as the Zen Share will apparently go under a different name. I've been told that it will be called the ZEN X-Fi. The name should give you a hint about one of the players main capabilities, Creative's Xtreme Fidelity technology.

What does it look like?

If I'm to believe my source, the Zen X-Fi will look a lot like the Creative ZEN. It's said to come in different colors and have a "silver backing", My source only saw the player briefly but mentioned a button on the left side of the player that reminded him of the iPod touch (or iPhone for that matter). Whether the device is touchscreen is still unknown.

Will it still have Wi-Fi?

Yes! Wi-Fi is still onboard. The big question is what it will be used for. I was told of two functions, one that sounds realistic, the other not so much. It seems like Creative may be using the same sharing scheme as the Zune, allowing for a 3-day time limit for shared songs. The other use of Wi-Fi is for internet messaging through services like MSN messenger. Sounds a bit far-fetched to me, but I'm just the messenger here!

HD or Flash?

I know many here will be disappointed, but it seems it inevitable that Creative will stick with flash memory for the foreseeable future. Like the ZEN, the ZEN X-Fi will come in 8, 16, and 32GB models. With the arrival of this new player, the regular ZEN will only be offered in sizes of 4 and 8GB's. If it really is like the ZEN then we'll see an SD expansion slot too (hopefully with SD integration this time!).

I hope this info was worth the wait! Every word above might turn out to be completely inaccurate, but I'd like to hear your impressions on the rumored Zen X-Fi. Additionally, I was told that Creative is working on a Zen V replacement. I'm assuming something in the lower range, with a 2" screen or so. We'll try and keep everyone up to date on that player, and any other news from Creative.

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When it rains, it pours. Just in time for April's Showers comes this deluge of bad news. Okay enough with the weather puns, let's get serious. Creative has just notified the public of their plans to sell their Headquarters in Singapore. The building, located at 31 International Business Park, will be sold to an undisclosed buyer for 250 Million Singapore dollars, or about $180 Million US. Creative won't be moving out anytime soon though. Under the leaseback agreement they can stay there for at least 5 years. Creative states that they will be making a profit of approximately 200 Million Singapore dollars (or about $142 Million US) from the sale.

I don't think I'm alone when I say this is bad news. Sure they've made a real estate gain from selling the property, but it's the fact that they had to sell it to begin with that worries me. This feels like another tell tale sign of a company that won't survive for very long. Creative also stated that they're expecting an operational loss for the Third Quarter. We'll have more on that when more info is known.

Press Release

(image via Singapore Page Nation)

Thanks Varuna!

One of Creative's more quirkier products was their PoPz speakers. These speakers were built into a mesh lining that zipped up for complete portability. Although they probably didn't sound that great, I've always wanted to have one. Unfortunately they never made it to N. America, and the same can be said for the newest PoPz speaker.

As you can see, this one is made specifically for the Zen Stone/Plus, which nestles nicely inside the casing. The speakers are powered solely by your MP3 player, which sounds good at first until you realize the Zen Stone's rated battery life is not so good. The PoPz P20 is being sold as a "Limited Edition" of just 50 at Creative's Singapore store. It costs 20 Singapore dollars or about $14US. I'm not sure why Creative would just sell 50 of them, but if you're in the Singapore area, please feel free to get me one.

Features:

• A handy travel speaker with a mini built-in MP3 player compartment
• Shock absorbent and scratch-resistant
• Metal carabiner for fastening the speaker to your bag
• 36mm inverted dome drive
• 3.5mm L-shape stereo cable dressed within the pouch compartment
• No batteries or adapters required. PoPz P20 is powered by your MP3 player

LINK

Thanks kingone