• First on TechTree: Review: Creative Zen Style M300

    First on TechTree: Review: Creative Zen Style M300

    Pradeep 'Shifty Rat' Menon, Jul 12, 2011 1749 hrs IST

    A great gift for people you hate.

    Offers Bluetooth connectivity

    Controls suck; Poor audio quality; The screen will make your eyes bleed; Poor stock earphones

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Product: Creative Zen Style M300
MRP: Rs 3499 (4 GB); Rs 4999 (8 GB)


Let's get something out of the way. I have always had a soft corner for Creative MP3 players. I've found them to deliver in terms of audio quality and functionality quite consistently. In fact, when I received the M300 to review, I was looking forward to a familiar sound, one that I had grown up with.

The package was simple; the tiny player sat at the centre while two compartments held the user manual, stock earphones, and USB cable. The player is really small with a 1.45" TFT screen, surrounded by touch controls. Honestly, I thought it was a piss-poor design. MP3 players today look slick - even the tiny ones. This one just looked like a single bathroom tile: square, plain, and prehistoric. It reminded me of when I was a young boy trying to make meth in the school lab, a time when I thought baggy pants that dragged on the ground were cool, and sending porn clips to girls was funny. All of these above issues were fixed by my dad and his leather belt. But I digress.


Review: Creative Zen Style M300


The Creative Zen Style M300 package.




Anyway, I decided to give the player a chance. After all, my first player had been a Creative Zen. After that, I sold out to Steve 'Lucifer 666' Jobs and bought a f00kin iPod, which ended with me tying it to the sole of my shoe and jumping from my first floor balcony. It ended well, fellas - a most satisfying event.

So I threw in my usual set of tracks: a playlist with a nice mix of genres. Adding tracks was a breeze. When you plug the player into your system, it pops up as a drive and all you gotta do is copy-pasta your music into the Music folder (I'm looking at you, Steve Jobs. I'm looking. At. You.)


Results
When the first track played, I burst out laughing. The song I played was Daimonos, by legendary Polish Death Metallers Behemoth. Now, this happens to be one of my favourite Metal albums because I've never heard this level of production on a Metal album before - especially the drums. The Zen made it sound like a wedding band playing on the street. It was absolutely horrifying.

At this point, I was extremely puzzled, because I just couldn't believe that Creative would release such an inferior product. I figured it was the earphones that was killing my buzz, so I brought out my mighty Sennheiser cans and gave the player a second chance. The song sounded much better, but it was still far from the kind of quality that MP3 players deliver these days. "Weak and thin" best describes the audio quality of the M300.

I quickly ran it through some of the other tracks (Limp Bizkit, Boards of Canada, Porcupine Tree), but the result was the same. The quality was simply missing. It seemed a bit early, but I had already made up my mind about the player. I couldn't think of one demographic that was suitable for a player as crappy as this. I understand that it's a budget player, but I've heard cheaper Philips players that sounded better.


Review: Creative Zen Style M300


I was so angry I stabbed it and left it overnight in my cat's litter box.



Let me clarify at this point that I am not trying to sound like those elitist audiophiles who turn vigilante and stab people who listen to MP3s. I'm not even talking like the snobbish audio professional that I really am, awesome at my job and all that. I would never let a friend buy this. I feel a bit bad trashing the product like this, but I'm not even trying here. This is purely the sound of my disappointment.

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Discussion Board
(43) Comments
Anonymous
,Eskilstuna, on Dec 12, 2011 04:44 AM
After buying the M300 I will NEVER trust Creative again. The first one I bought back in August broke after about a month of daily use. I sent it back to Creative and I got a new one. I have had this one for 3 months, it is not broken but it is still horrible. I have had to format it about 4-5 times because it wont boot up, it takes ages to laods and it is just plain slow. I think I will be getting myself an ipod soon :)
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demon lover
,mumbai, on Jul 18, 2011 06:06 PM
u guys r killing this website 4 me slowly n steadily...has been a reference point for me for ages. I wish i could read reviews from experts and not jokes from school kids coz thats nt what i want to read here. And dude Pradeep SHITTY Rat' Menon get up n smell the coffee... u surely r above 18 n have a brain of a grown up. techtree is not the place for u.... join any other website... dont kill this one atleast
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Kiran
,Mumbai, on Jul 12, 2011 10:42 PM
This is what happens when an aspiring stand up comedian writes a tech article. I am removing tech tree from my favourites. The only thing worser than this product is the review itself!!!!
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Kumar.GN
,Hyderabad, on Jul 14, 2011 06:07 PM
what is that Article can you please conform me
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Chetan Thaker
,Navi Mumbai, on Jul 12, 2011 06:20 PM
Wow. You're kidding me, right? Not a lot of people know the state in which Techtree is at the moment, but let's be clear on this. This is a TECH blog, not a place where people rant to sound funny. I don't speak for all, but this is absolutely a shocker to the name with which Techtree was once founded.
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Anonymous
,Chennai, on Jul 12, 2011 06:35 PM
Fully agree... Techtree team.... Have you lost your MOJO??
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satya
,pune, on Jul 13, 2011 09:42 PM
I completly agree with techtree.We have not so much money to waste such garbage products.We are indians and we love lots of choices and value for money
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rehan zariwala
,Delhi, on Jul 19, 2011 04:06 PM
hahahaha who is techtree kidding out here. Dudes from techtree please wake up and get out of your grade 3rd or 4th and act grown up. am sure you've corssed puberty so please show that. And please stop trying to ridicule stuff for no rhyme or reasons. You're losing the edge so pelase focus on improving standing in the market . psl pls pls you guys were good once upon a time, now it s a team of juvenile delinquents...WAKE UP pls
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kaiser
,Mumbai, on Aug 12, 2011 07:02 AM
how do u justify ur review against this? http://www.t3.com/reviews/ipod-and-mp3-players/all-mp3-players/creative-zen-style-m300
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TechTree
,Mumbai, on Aug 17, 2011 02:29 PM
They might be sellouts, we aren't.
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J. Mitchell
,Flagstaff, az, on Aug 17, 2011 02:05 PM
i couldnt agree more! i bought this thing as my 4TH Zen, and was so disappointed with sound quality, not to mention the overall volume lacking. firmware in most zens are sometimes buggy, just need to hit the reset button occasionally. m300's firmware crashed in the first 5 minutes, had to hit reset. then again 10 minutes later.. ive read other reviews that match my experiences of the on/off button taking at least 3 tries to get it to turn on. i wish i had a cat box to throw this in!
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tom
,Ahmedabad, on Jul 13, 2011 02:24 PM
This is called a C grade review, please grow up. Techtree is loosing the grip over its followers.
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Sachin
,Mumbai, on Jul 14, 2011 01:03 PM
Considering the language used this review should be given "A" grade i.e for adults only.
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zomberi
,Blore, on Jul 13, 2011 01:57 PM
If you had used a microscope, it would have been more funny.
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Johnson
,Blore, on Jul 13, 2011 09:04 PM
Just like your penis.
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Manohar
,hyderabad, on Jul 13, 2011 05:10 PM
hahah dude this review is truly shitty, and funny too , well i guess that aint gonna work on techtree. So grow ur brains and write professionally.
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sunil
,Jammu, on Jul 13, 2011 03:07 PM
cummonn.. who reviews a tech product with names "F00kin" ??? i have creative Zen Stone and it's awsome. post that i bought an iPod touch (Though it sucks on the lines of FM and iTunes rwquirement). buy file transfer is 20 times faster than usual copy paste. 35 of my Mp3 songs were transferred within 6 seconds where as copy pas usualy takes over 25-30 seconds. The review here appears to be written by some college fresher freak who need to be taught how to write reviews before techtree closes it's shop.
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hari
,thrissur, on Jul 13, 2011 01:04 PM
LOL, that was really hilarious ,, but , seriously,i dont want to see this kinda crap on techtree. instead it would ve been great if u could just write " this player is really bad dont buy it" and stop the 'review' there.
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Sachin
,Goa, on Jul 13, 2011 12:36 PM
This is what happens when you watch movie "delhi belly" & start writing review.LOL!!
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phnom penh
,Mumbai, on Jul 13, 2011 08:54 AM
Hey, pretty good write up. Am surprised that the M300 is so bad... most other sites seem to like it a lot. But i guess thats the best you can get for 3.5k anyway... its better to save and buy a quality player. I would still recommend Creative, because their players are pretty good... Lol @ angry comments... they are probably from gaonwaalas and dehathis who don't know anything about the rest of the internet. Too bad this is not on any other site with a better audience... i'll definitely look forward to shifty reviews ;-D
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Shubham
,New Delhi, on Jul 13, 2011 09:41 AM
Hey dehati you can get best of best for less than 3500. Try Sandisk Sansa Fuse+ for rs4500 or Sansa Clip+ for rs2500. The Audio quality is class apart! Not even the best phones can match its Audio quality. Don't say 3.5k can't get you a good audio player.
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numberman
,mumbai, on Jul 13, 2011 09:52 AM
disagree. sandisk suxx
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Shubham
,New Delhi, on Jul 13, 2011 10:26 AM
Have you used those Sandisk players? Please use them and then say. They are widely accepted as the best players. Though they are very basic with small screens and simple designs. But the Audio quality they deliver is just fabulous.
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ganesh
,chennai, on Jul 13, 2011 08:17 AM
Why does tech tree reviews an poor rated product when u don't recommend the readers not to buy it and say "First on Techtree" as though its like an Kick Ass product.
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Chi
,New Delhi, on Jul 13, 2011 05:42 AM
Of late I am reading more crap on techtree than ever.I am following this website since five years.This writer tried very hard to be funny but only left a majority of the people disappointed.There was nothing in this review worth reading .Even though I know you cant write much about such a mp3 player.Even though it wasn't up to the mark you could compare it with other mp3 players in this category......You talked about bluetooth connectivity without mentioning the version.I can only assume it was 2.1 with A2DP .....No mention about the video or audio files it supported.....The product sucked but atleast you could have done your bit
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spybrowser
,Hyderabad, on Jul 13, 2011 01:27 AM
Wow, what an article. No one has a single good thing to say about the author’s efforts, but surprisingly everyone took time to read the entire article and moreover put efforts to write back to the author. Why? Possibly for two reasons 1. Author learns from his mistake and hopefully writes a better article next time. OR 2.Author is working in a bad working environment, where colleagues don’t encourage each other. Abuse the author anonymously so that he stops writing. Looking at the comments, none of readers have any positive feedback to the author, so I go with the second option.
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Sreekanth
,Mysore, on Jul 12, 2011 11:15 PM
The best tech article I have ever read in my life. Those who have commented negative must be those who don't know how to write articles in a better and easy way to understand. Aspect ratio, Resolution, Supported formats, RMS, treble, bass etc who wants to read keeping google in another tab of the browser ready. They might be used to read the boring and high techincal reading. @ Pradeep : Well start just with the "A great gift for people you hate." Please keep up. But I suggest you it would even be bit more better if words like "porn" are avoided. Perhaps you can try to write in a passive way. The images are enough to say how well the content is written. Also, please inlcude (just) a bit more technicality. One and all, I loved it.
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Sameer
,Mumbai, on Jul 12, 2011 11:23 PM
Pradeep!!! You have a follower. At least now, I can look elsewhere for some technical stuff for a technical thing.
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Removed TT from
,Out of whatever toilet you wrote this from, on Jul 13, 2011 12:58 AM
This cannot be the best tech article of your life, even if all the tech articles you have read are the ones scribbled on the walls of public toilets and filthy back alleys. I'm sure that shifty rat has ripped most of his stuff from there. If you think this is a tech article, you are clearly delusional, or you were never looking for a tech article. Seriously Mr. Shifty Rat, you give every sewer dweller (and that ranges from the disgusting worms living in the intestines of dead rats, right down to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles). I would advise TT to take up the leather belt your father was so fond of, and continue to use it on you, since he clearly did not do so enough.
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One angry geek
,City, on Jul 13, 2011 12:47 AM
wtf is this you call this a review seems like it was done my a 13 year old girl who was PSM'in...... Mate grow a pair take some snap listen and write simple as that, techtree where do you get moronic ppl like the Shifty Rat, maybe in the sewage drains of delhi.......!!
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jassi
,mumbai, on Jul 12, 2011 11:18 PM
wot are you guys tklin about???!! I thought the article was hilarious!!!!!
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I just removed
,Out of whatever toilet you wrote this from, on Jul 12, 2011 07:29 PM
Honestly, if this was a blog for idiots who write obnoxious stuff they think is funny, this article would still be a flop. This is a tech site. You review tech gear, and you don't go around making jokes which make you sound you managed a meth lab in your basement. Seriously, what sort of editor actually lets people write stuff like this. If you think that the MP3 player is bad just write a review on it being bad, don't make it into an essay for trigger happy morons with a mental deficit. Techtree has lost all its decency..........it lost all its charm, and fans long ago. Throwing away a few USB sticks and External HDDs from a company I've never heard of before (and I'm pretty sure that they are paying you for the contest. Speaking of which, the three Onza controllers were obviously given to you from Razer because of your negative review on the Nostromo). Also, if you actually thought this review was funny, then I think you would have found it funny to send your grandma porn. And this is not the kind of "shitty" language you use on a tech site. Any blog would have banned you from writing this, but I guess TT will award you jester of the year, as those guys up there are high on the pot you cooked up for them. I bet I could see better review from a degenerate monkey hanging upside down from a tree.
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Vulcan
,Vulcan, on Jul 12, 2011 09:34 PM
Well said!! And the author doesn't even spell his own name correctly. "Pradeep 'Shifty Rat' Menon" ... That should be 'Shitty Rat' in my humble opinion.
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Anonymous
,Chennai, on Jul 12, 2011 10:01 PM
Well said!
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Arwind
,Mumbai, on Jul 12, 2011 11:05 PM
I'm a qualified psychologist and I feel you suffer from Breast-separation syndrome. The solution is to phone your mother right now. rgds, Arvind
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Steady Cat
,Mumbai, on Jul 12, 2011 10:58 PM
I was hoping Techtree would become a better site one day. Bye bye Techtree. @reviewer : Grow up dude ! You are a total Phail. No wonder, working for TT.
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Viz
,Chenai, on Jul 12, 2011 09:42 PM
Wow.. after reading the review I feel like gifting the player to the reviewer..
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Ashish
,Delhi, on Jul 12, 2011 09:32 PM
I agree with most of the people here. I think ever since Mr. Aamir khan released Delhi Belly, people like this reviewer think they've every right to say just anything. Grow up buddy, we dont want to know what you were sending to the girls, this forum is about serious reviews and some good quality humour. If you're an expert at bathroom humour, Mr Aamir is waiting for you.
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Vulcan
,vulcan.eager@gmail.com, on Jul 12, 2011 09:27 PM
I also wish your editor loses his job as a result of this trash.
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Sameer
,Mumbai, on Jul 12, 2011 08:25 PM
Should I even comment on this review?? I guess I am the one who is culprit. Culprit of visiting this site and trying to read this review.
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Switch
,Marlborough, on Jul 12, 2011 07:55 PM
This is an example of the differences between "A funny article and trying to sound like funny" article. Cmon Pradeep, wake up. This is not your cup of tea. You have made yourself an idiot by trying too hard to make this article sound funny, and in the end made it look like unprofessional and substandard article. You should understand that there is a huge gap between professional jokes and silly jokes. Hope you keep this in mind while writing your next article.
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shibtanu biswas
,kolkata, on Jul 12, 2011 07:09 PM
cmon people.....dont kill the man......it was funny tho....nice playlist btw (and am also a little concerned abt the knife, keep it safe).....ha ha ;)
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Bali ki ma.a ha
,Mumbai, on Jul 12, 2011 07:00 PM
HAha what a joke. Is this a technology site? the standards are at am all time low for techtree. The only comforting factor is that tech.2 is at an even worse state.
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