10 August 2007 – When the Zen Wav was announced back in May, it was met with overwhelmingly negative feedback. Putting it nicely, most simply didn’t like the way it looked. The Zen Wav is one of the first flash players to feature built-in speakers. While this sounds like an interesting idea, Creative decided to put the speakers on the front of the player (not too pretty). Other complaints included the retro silver color, the low capacity (2GB), and the high price tag (around $117US).
I wasn’t too concerned about this response. I figured, this would just be another Asian exclusive like the Neeon 2, that gets overlooked. To my surprise, Creative has brought the Zen Wav to US shores and have actually provided some of the things people were asking for. Yes those speaker grilles are still on the front, but now there’s an all black version, that comes loaded with 4GB’s and retails for just $99. The 2GB silver version is also available at $79.99US.
* Capacity: 2 and 4GB
* Display: 1.5" TFT screen, 65K colors
* Audio: MP3, WMA, WAV, and Audible
* Video: Transcoded AVI
* Built-in mini Stereo Speakers
* FM Tuner
* Line-in and Voice recorder
* E-Book support and World Clock
* Battery Life: 30 hours of audio playback, 20 hours when using speakers
* Dimensions: 85.0 x 42.0 x 12.5 mm
I think the black version looks a lot nicer than the silver one, since the speakers don’t stand out as much. The 30 hour battery life is also impressive. The Wav comes with a docking station that doubles as an "acoustic stand" that apparently enhances the sound of your music.
