Creative zen Sleek 20Gb vs Iriver H10 20Gb

s_gr

I am thinking of buying either an iriver h10 or creative zen sleek 20gb and was wondering if anyone would recommend one over the other. Any help would be great. Also anyone have problems with batteries with either of these

Bard

Assuming you mean the Zen Sleek Photo and not the original model, the two square up against each other pretty well. If you're used to Creative's range (the Zen Micro, for example) you'll like how the Sleek works, basically using more-or-less exactly the same firmware as it's smaller siblings. If memory serves me correctly, it boasts a 19 hour battery life compared with the H10's 14 hour life. Both machines are (IIRC) Windows XP only, both display photos, both have a recordable FM radio, and neither has a removable battery.

The H10 will display text documents, which the Sleek will not, but the Sleek has MS Outlook synchronisation with its contacts and calendar with the H10 does not. On the format support side of things, the H10 supports OGG in addition to MP3 and WMA, whereas the Sleek does not (support OGG - it supports MP3 and WMA) - although, for me anyway, this has never been a big issue. Price-wise, things are in the iriver's favour,- but only just - with the Sleek's RRP being €319 and the H10 coming in €20 cheaper.

The H10 comes with a thick rubber carry case with belt clip and looks a bit nicer, but feels chunkier than the Sleek. Not much between them, really.

And just to throw a spanner in the works - how about Cowon - my own favourite brand of MP3 player? For about €10 more than the Creative Zen Sleek Photo, you should be able to pick up their excellent iAudio X5 20GB player, which is streets ahead of both the Sleek and the H10 in features and style.

muckwarrior

Bard wrote:

the H10 supports OGG

You sure? I thought the 20gig models used a different chipset that doesn't support OGG.

Splinter

id b fairly certain that the h10 20g do play ogg

Bard

Yes, I'm afraid you're correct, muckwarrior. My mistake! The 20GB H10 doesn't support OGG Vorbis files - although, as I said, this isn't much of an issue for MOST people. As an aside, it comes with Windows Media Player on CDROM instead of the (poor) iRiver Plus software.

byte

Sorry for being a bit OT, but can anyone explain why they can only be used with XP?

I thought most OS's, at least from 98SE onwards, would see the device as an external drive?

Bard

Not sure why, really, byte. Most if not all of the newer colour screen players can only be used in XP,- i.e.: iPod Nano, iRiver H10, Zen Sleek Photo, Zen MicroPhoto.

Notable exceptions would be the old iRiver H3XX range and the iAudio X5 range.

It's a failing in any MP3 player if it won't be recognised by a computer with a pre-XP version of Windows as there's no fair reason why it shouldn't be.

muckwarrior

Bard wrote:

Not sure why, really

It's because they're using MTP firmware instead of UMS. Unlike UMS, MTP devices won't be recognised as a mass storage device, but MTP is necessary for the device to be Micro$oft Play For Sure compatible.

matrim

There is 3rd party software out that will allow you to use the h10 with linux.

I'm not sure about the creative but there probably is for that aswell.

For the iriver it you check out misticriver.net, you can find out the information about it.

SBob

Just got a H10 20gb, i was so disappointed to see that it needed to be installed on my pc unlike previous iRivers that appeared as external hard drives and you could simply copy and paste music onto them, which is handy if you want to use it at college or work where otherwise you would need administrator rights to install necessary software.

This seems like a step back for iRiver, the h10 cant even be used as a storage device now unless you have admin priv. Is this also because of the dubious honour of being play for sure?

Oriel

They might work on 2k, but no support will be supplied.

oneofakind32

I saw a 20gb creative zen micro photo advertised at €299 in the 3G christmas cattalogue. Could be worth a look

byte

Ah, thanks for clearing that up for me.

Still sucks though, as I know of many computers in homes that are still running 98SE or its younger sister Win Me.

Bard

oneofakind32 wrote:

I saw a 20gb creative zen micro photo advertised at €299 in the 3G christmas cattalogue. Could be worth a look

That's not a "Micro" - it's just the "Creative Zen 20GB", the Micro's monochromatic bigger brother. It will work on any version of Windows from 98SE upwards.

I have it on sale in Harvey Norman (Dundalk) for €289, by the way. Could always chop a few quid off for boards.ie members too