Goodies galore!

Thanks to Ram, I was finally able to lay my hands on the Creative Zen Xtra mp3 player. I admit its not so cool as the iPod but its extremely functional (and I seem to be leaning a bit to the side of function than form, perhaps for the first time). The sound quality is awesome (though I haven't listened to the iPod to do a proper comparison). Plus when coupled with the Creative Travelsound (yes, got this as well) it is completely out of this world. The Travelsound packs a mighty punch in a very small space. I am impressed - I'd give a 8/10 to the Zen Xtra+Travelsound combo.

BTW if you plan on getting any of Creative's mp3 players - junk the Creative MediaSource software that comes with it. Instead do this - update to the latest driver from Creative's website. Then go and get Notmad Explorer. It costs $25 but it is worth every penny, plus it is much better compared to the clunky MediaSource that comes with the player. I'd give this software a 9/10 (and I think that recommendation would get bumped up to 10/10 once I use it some more). I did try using Windows Media Player 10 to sync my audio but it doesn't work with the Zen Xtra (as yet or maybe not permanently?).

I was disappointed to find that audible.com doesn't support the Zen Xtra yet. A reply from Audible tech support indicates that support for the Zen Xtra is in the pipeline but no date has been fixed. If anyone knows a good audio service (like audible.com) please drop me a mail or post a comment to this blog.

And to round off all this I also got a Concord 3040AF digital camera - nothing fancy, but a pretty good deal ($63) with 3 mega pixels, 4x digital zoom, SD/MMC card slot and video recording. I'm going to try and post a photo I took with the 3040AF using HelloBlogger as a preview of my photography skills. :)

There's more in the goodies bag - I plan on getting a new laptop. I'm debating with myself on whether that would be a Sony, Acer, Thinkpad, or Toshiba. Stay tuned.