Creative Zen

ZEN is a series of discontinued portable media players designed and manufactured by Creative Technology Limited. The players evolved from the NOMAD brand through the NOMAD Jukebox series of music players, with the first separate "ZEN" branded models released in 2004. The last Creative Zen player, X-Fi3, was released at the end of 2011. Three Creative Zens (the Portable Media Center, Micro Photo, and Vision:M) won the Best of CES award from 2004 to 2006 in their respective categories, with the latter winning the overall award. The ZEN series had a strong foothold in Asian Pacific markets, especially in Singapore, the company's headquarters. All players support MP3 and WMA formats, while some models support also WAV and Audible formats. They are bundled with device drivers and Creative MediaSource, a media player that includes transferring and syncing abilities exclusively for the players. Some models are PlaysForSure-certified for being compatible with Windows Media Player via Media Transfer Protocol (MTP) and supporting the Janus DRM. They are natively compatible with Windows, with some also supporting Mac OS X. Creative NOMAD The first models branded as a "Zen" were then released under the now-defunct NOMAD line, and have an anodized aluminium case. The 2.5-inch Fujitsu hard drives range from a 20 (NOMAD Jukebox Zen), 30 (Zen NX, Zen Xtra), 40 and 60 GB (Xtra). Unlike the earlier NOMAD Jukebox players, which looked like CD players, these have the appearance of a cassette player. Announced on October 14, 2002, the NOMAD Jukebox Zen was the first player to include the "Zen" branding. It had the distinct ability to connect via USB 1.1 or FireWire, while subsequent releases had connectivity to USB 2.0. Up to 14 hours of continuous audio playback is achieved by the rechargeable battery, and an optional wired remote gives the player an FM tuner and microphone. The Zen NX, as it was later called, was released on August 20, 2003, is an upgrade to the old NOMAD Jukebox Zen, with a removable battery and a slightly smaller size.