April 28 - 10:20am EDT   Creative has added a new entry-level model to its portable audio player line-up with the ZEN MX. Available in models with 8GB or 16GB of internal memory, the new players look largely like the company's current ZEN players with detail changes to the control button layout. The same 2.5-inch LCD display with 320x240 resolution remains. Supported audio files include MP3, WMA (with DRM) and Audible 4. As for videos, only Creative's proprietary video-CMV format is compatible. Creative did include its Creative Centrale software that will convert videos into the format, however. [full story]

November 21 - 10:00am EST   Creative today tried to appeal to a niche market by introducing a line of Zens encapsuled in a cow's head likeness, calling it the ZEN Moo. Basically a new exterior for what is essentially the Zen Stone, the Moo includes 2GB of integrated memory with MP3 and WMA file support as well as built-in speakers. There is an entry version and a higher-end one, called the Plus, that includes a small OLED display behind the cow's nose, an FM tuner, voice recording functionality and an alarm clock. [full story]

November 11 - 9:10am EST   SanDisk raised the stakes in its competition against the iPod shuffle and Creative ZEN Stone with a new, 8GB version of the Sansa Clip. The capacity gives it storage for up to 2,000 songs and doubles the capacity of Creative's best ultra-small models and quadruple that of Apple's. It continues to hold the same four-line OLED display that lets it have full control over music while still rendering it small enough to attach to a belt or clothes through its namesake hook. [full story]

September 12 - 12:05pm EDT   Creative is readying itself for a new X-Fi product launch next week, the copmany has revealed through an invite sent out to an Engadget reader. The invite for the September 17th event provides only a brief glimpse of a device with the X-Fi logo and states that the brand is "heard everywhere," hinting that the launch is for one or more portable devices. No other details have been revealed through the message. [full story]

September 11 - 1:40pm EDT   A Wednesday report suggests a patent filed by Creative at the start of 2008 may reveal an upcoming ZEN Internet tablet or ZEN Vision media player. Creative itself describes the device as a media player in the PDF patent document but conspicuously shows features such as a back-mounted camera that aren't normally used in this class of device. [full story]

September 1 - 8:20am EDT   Creative has quietly updated its ZEN Mozaic to 16GB, doubling the capacity of the player just a week before observers and inside sources expect Apple to update iPods through a special event. The new model should have the same features as the 2GB through 8GB Mozaic models, including the relatively rare external speaker as well as FM radio, voice microphone, and Creative's newer Centrale software for syncing media more easily than the company's past software. [full story]

July 24 - 2:25pm EDT   Prices on the flash memory used in portable devices have plummeted in the past month, according to a report by DRAMeXchange. The Taiwan-area research firm says that a combination of economic inflation, the Sichuan earthquake in mainland China, and a seasonal lack of orders in spring have forced companies producing NAND flash to drop their prices by about 20 percent between June and July in order to clear overstock and is only expected to get worse. As the usual recovery isn't expected to be as strong, the problem could last until at least the end of the summer, the researchers say. [full story]

July 24 - 3:10am EDT   Creative Technology on Thursday introduced the Creative ZEN Mozaic portable media player. The "boldly designed" player is available in black, pink, and silver colors for what the company says is a "statement that reflects the user's sense of fashion and individual style." It features a built-in speaker like the ZEN Wav, 1.8-inch LCD color screen, FM radio with 32 presets, and a microphone for voice recording. The compact Mozaic also runs unusually long with up to 32 hours of audio playback on a single charge of the battery. [full story]

July 17 - 10:25am EDT   Creative is trying its hand again at competing with the iPod shuffle through a new and sleeker player, according to an unofficial release from its own website. The ZEN Krystal appears a successor to the earlier ZEN Stone Plus but is designed from the start to be used with its OLED screen with an upright design rather than the side layout of the pebble-shaped ancestor. It also targets the exercise market with a built-in pedometer that not only tracks jogging but comes with several games that tie into the pedometer's sensitivity to movement. [full story]

July 14 - 8:25am EDT   Creative this morning set US launch information for the ZEN X-Fi, its first Wi-Fi media player. The local launch quickly follows the Singapore announcement and prices the full wireless versions well below the iPod touch and also with more features than Microsoft's flash-based and similarly wireless Zunes, putting a 16GB version of the player at $200 and a 32GB player at $300. An 8GB player without wireless will sell for $150. All three should be available in early August. [full story]

July 10 - 8:40am EDT   Creative on Thursday took the wraps from the ZEN X-Fi, the company's first-ever wireless player and its first competitor to the iPod touch and Zune. The device succeeds the original ZEN and includes a new, nine-point control pad key to using the device online over Wi-Fi: Wireless LAN versions can use a phone-style text entry system to chat online using Windows Live or Yahoo instant messaging. The network access also gives the X-Fi the ability to stream music and video directly from a home computer on the local network, although a rumored Internet streaming feature doesn't reach the finished product. [full story]

June 29 - 10:40am EDT   Creative's ZEN X-Fi player is still in progress and is being more directly targeted at Apple on both the hardware and software sides, says a slew of leaked information obtained by epiZENter. Spotted in an official product shot, the X-Fi changes the look of the original ZEN to an aluminum-and-chrome look believed to be drawing heavily on the visual appeal of the iPhone. According to leaked documents from the company's UK website, the new ZEN will also be Creative's first wireless player and will have a unique nine-point directional pad to take advantage of integrated Wi-Fi: users will have the option of instant messaging on Windows Live or Yahoo Messenger with a phone-style ... [full story]

June 3 - 11:10am EDT   Hynix today unveiled a new upgrade to its flash memory that it hopes will dramatically improve the capacity of portable media players and other flash-bound devices. The company's version of three-bits-per-cell technology lets the company stack data to offer as much as 32 gigabytes of data into a tighter space. Despite the capacity jump, the 32GB chip occupies 30 percent less area than a more typical two-bits-per-cell flash chip, the company says. The space would allow a single chip to hold as many as 8,000 average-size MP3 tracks. [full story]

May 27 - 8:45am EDT   Creative has for now shelved its plans to develop a Wi-Fi capable player, the company's Nordic product manager Jan Hvidberg has revealed in an interview. The senior official confirms the one-time existence of the ZEN Share but says that there were "technical complications" developing the player that prompted the company to drop the project. The executive doesn't rule out the possibility of a future player with wireless but for now shelves hopes of an immediate release. [full story]

April 16 - 10:00am EDT   Creative's answer to the iPod touch and Zune has had details firmed up in its development, says a new, purported leak to epiZENter. The player once known as the ZEN Share is now said to have been changed to ZEN X-Fi to turn attention to the player's sound quality. While Wi-Fi is still a defining feature, the future jukebox now appears likely to include the Crystalizer used in other Creative devices to auto-enhance sound quality by filling in audio detail lost to compression. [full story]