Zen Uses iTunes To Try To Compete
09.07.07 - 02:01pm
Perhaps since no one has been able to beat out Apples iTunes a way to try to compete with Apple is being sprung from another angle - that of a player that can use iTunes. Apple has received their very first competition from a player that supports iTunes AAC music tracks, however with the launch of Apple’s new iPods paying $300 for the 16gb rather than getting the iTouch 8gb or the iPod Classic with 160gb for the same price seems criminal.
The players comes from Creative and is in their Zen line. The new Zens are credit card sized measuring 55×83x12 mm and weighing 2.1 ounces. They have a 2.5 inch color LCD screen which supports up to 16.7 million colors in 320×240 px.
The new Zen player not only supports the AAC tracks but also MP3 and WMA formats allowing a user to buy music from pretty much any store they want to.
The players have 4gb, 8gb and 16gb of stor age space but you can also add on to that storage space with add-in SD cards.
The Zen also supports numerous video formats including wmv9, mjpeg, mpeg40sp, comaptible divx 4 and 5 along with XviD.
The battery last for 5 hours of video playback and up to 25 hours of music playback.
You also have the ability to choose from popular subscription services such as Napster.
Along with the video perks the audio is also supposed to be incredible - as good or better than many home systems.
Other features that are a built in include FM radio with 32 presets, a voice recorder, clock, alarm functions, volume restrictions, personal organizer that will sync-up with Microsoft outlook and upload contacts, to do lists and your calender.
The player will retail for $150 for the 4gb, $200 for the 8gb and $300 for the 16gb. Shipping is expected to begin in early October.
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