Amazon.com Product Description

The Zen Micro digital music player from Creative Labs packs an incredible 5 GB of storage capacity into a shell small enough to sit comfortably in your jeans pocket. It also rides nicely in your hand, with a palm-fitting profile and thumb-friendly front-panel controls. It's a bit shorter than an Apple iPod Mini, yet its rechargeable lithium-ion battery provides 12 hours of continuous playback--50 percent more than iPod Mini's. The Zen Micro is compatible not merely with MP3s and WAV files, but with WMA as well. Toss in USB 2.0 connectivity and you're looking at one spiffy portable music player.

But playing isn't all the Zen Micro does. You can use it to receive FM radio (with 32 station presets to keep your favorites at the ready), and to record, either from the radio or from live sources such as voice dictation or lectures using the Zen Micro's built-in condenser microphone.

Trimmed in a luminescent blue glow and with easily visible backlit buttons, this stylish black player holds up to 1,250 songs (83 hours) at 128 kbps or 2,500 songs (166 hours) at lower-fidelity 64 kbps (MP3/WMA)--that's a solid week's worth of music listening, never playing the same song twice. Compatibility with Microsoft's WMA compressed-audio format grants access to over 2 million downloadable songs offered promotionally or for sale online.

Perhaps the Zen Micro's coolest attribute is its DJ feature, which will shuffle not only all the songs you've loaded or all the songs in a given album, but also, at your discretion, only the tracks you listen to most, or only those you rarely hear, taking the work out of selecting your favorites or hunting out all the music you're still getting to know.

Zen Micro's rechargeable battery is easy to replace.

For navigation, the device features a vertical, linear touchpad designed to make searching through songs or playlists easy, quick, and fun. The unit's blue, 160 x 104-pixel, electroluminescent LCD shows key functions and song details at a glance, and you can even customize the main menu to keep right at your fingertips the features that matter most to you.

Another of the Zen Micro's handy features is its personal organizer. You'll never forget an important anniversary with the onboard calendar, and it also includes a to-do list and a contacts list, all of which sync seamlessly with Microsoft Outlook (Outlook thus required for use of these features). In addition, the device offers a sleep timer and alarm so you can drift off to sleep to the strains of one playlist and wake to a completely different one.

The Zen Micro's removable battery is easy to swap with another fully charged battery (additional batteries sold separately), extending your listening by a half-day per swap.

What's in the Box
The Zen Micro player, stereo earbud headphones, a rechargeable lithium-ion battery, an AC/DC power adapter, a USB 2.0 cable, a belt clip, a stand, a stylish cloth pouch, an installation CD, a quick-start guide, and Creative MediaSource software. ... Read more

Features

• Micro-sized 5 GB digital-music player stores up to 1,250 songs at 128 kbpsor 2,500 songs at 64 kbps (MP3/WMA)
• Vertical touch pad simplifies navigation; body is curved to fit your hand
• FM radio with 32 station presets for listening and recording; 10-hour voice recording through built-in microphone
• 12 hours continuous playtime using the supplied rechargeable lithium-ion battery; extend your listening using multiple batteries (sold separately)
• Includes headphones, a belt clip, a stand, and an AC/DC power adapter

Amazon.com Product Description

The Zen Micro digital music player from Creative Labs packs an incredible 5 GB of storage capacity into a shell small enough to sit comfortably in your jeans pocket. It also rides nicely in your hand, with a palm-fitting profile and thumb-friendly front-panel controls. It's a bit shorter than an Apple iPod Mini, yet its rechargeable lithium-ion battery provides 12 hours of continuous playback--50 percent more than iPod Mini's. The Zen Micro is compatible not merely with MP3s and WAV files, but with WMA as well. Toss in USB 2.0 connectivity and you're looking at one spiffy portable music player.

But playing isn't all the Zen Micro does. You can use it to receive FM radio (with 32 station presets to keep your favorites at the ready), and to record, either from the radio or from live sources such as voice dictation or lectures using the built-in condenser microphone.

Trimmed in a luminescent blue glow and with easily visible backlit buttons, this stylish orange player holds up to 1,250 songs (83 hours) at 128 kbps or 2,500 songs (166 hours) at lower-fidelity 64 kbps (MP3/WMA)--that's a solid week's worth of music listening, never playing the same song twice. Compatibility with Microsoft's WMA compressed-audio format grants access to over 2 million downloadable songs offered promotionally or for sale online.

Perhaps the Zen Micro's coolest attribute is its DJ feature, which will shuffle not only all the songs you've loaded or all the songs on a given album, but also, at your discretion, only the tracks you listen to most or the ones you rarely hear, taking the work out of selecting your favorites or hunting out all the music you're still getting to know.

Zen Micro's rechargeable battery is easy to replace.

For navigation, the device features a vertical, linear touchpad designed to make searching through songs or playlists easy, quick, and fun. The unit's blue, 160 x 104-pixel, electroluminescent LCD shows key functions and song details at a glance, and you can even customize the main menu to keep right at your fingertips the features that matter most to you.

Another of the Zen Micro's handy features is its personal organizer. You'll never forget an important anniversary with the onboard calendar, and it also includes a to-do list and a contacts list, all of which sync seamlessly with Microsoft Outlook (Outlook thus required for use of these features). Further, the device offers a sleep timer and alarm so you can drift off to sleep to the strains of one playlist and wake to a completely different one.

The Zen Micro's removable battery is easy to swap with another fully charged battery (additional batteries sold separately), extending your listening by a half-day per swap.

What's in the Box
The Zen Micro player, stereo earbud headphones, a rechargeable lithium-ion battery, an AC/DC power adapter, a USB 2.0 cable, a belt clip, a stand, a stylish cloth pouch, an installation CD, a quick-start guide, and Creative MediaSource software. ... Read more

Features

• Micro-sized 5 GB digital-music player stores up to 1,250 songs at 128 kbpsor 2,500 songs at 64 kbps (MP3/WMA)
• Vertical touch pad simplifies navigation; body is curved to fit your hand
• FM radio with 32 station presets for listening and recording; 10-hour voice recording through built-in microphone
• 12 hours continuous playtime using the supplied rechargeable lithium-ion battery; extend your listening using multiple batteries (sold separately)
• Includes headphones, a belt clip, a stand, and an AC/DC power adapter

Amazon.com Product Description

The Zen Micro digital music player from Creative Labs packs an incredible 5 GB of storage capacity into a shell small enough to sit comfortably in your jeans pocket. It also rides nicely in your hand, with a palm-fitting profile and thumb-friendly front-panel controls. It's a bit shorter than an Apple iPod Mini, yet its rechargeable lithium-ion battery provides 12 hours of continuous playback--50 percent more than iPod Mini's. The Zen Micro is compatible not merely with MP3s and WAV files, but with WMA as well. Toss in USB 2.0 connectivity and you're looking at one spiffy portable music player.

But playing isn't all the Zen Micro does. You can use it to receive FM radio (with 32 station presets to keep your favorites at the ready), and to record, either from the radio or from live sources such as voice dictation or lectures using the Zen Micro's built-in condenser microphone.

Trimmed in a luminescent blue glow and with easily visible backlit buttons, this stylish white player holds up to 1,250 songs (83 hours) at 128 kbps or 2,500 songs (166 hours) at lower-fidelity 64 kbps (MP3/WMA)--that's a solid week's worth of music listening, never playing the same song twice. Compatibility with Microsoft's WMA compressed-audio format grants access to over 2 million downloadable songs offered promotionally or for sale online.

Perhaps the Zen Micro's coolest attribute is its DJ feature, which will shuffle not only all the songs you've loaded or all the songs in a given album, but also, at your discretion, only the tracks you listen to most, or only those rarely hear, taking the work out of selecting your favorites or hunting out all the music you're still getting to know.

Zen Micro's rechargeable battery is easy to replace.

For navigation, the device features a vertical, linear touchpad designed to make searching through songs or playlists easy, quick, and fun. The unit's blue, 160 x 104-pixel, electroluminescent LCD shows key functions and song details at a glance, and you can even customize the main menu to keep right at your fingertips the features that matter most to you.

Another of the Zen Micro's handy features is its personal organizer. You'll never forget an important anniversary with the onboard calendar, and it also includes a to-do list and a contacts list, all of which sync seamlessly with Microsoft Outlook (Outlook thus required for use of these features). In addition, the device offers a sleep timer and alarm so you can drift off to sleep to the strains of one playlist and wake to a completely different one.

The Zen Micro's removable battery is easy to swap with another fully charged battery (additional batteries sold separately), extending your listening by a half-day per swap.

What's in the Box
The Zen Micro player, stereo earbud headphones, a rechargeable lithium-ion battery, an AC/DC power adapter, a USB 2.0 cable, a belt clip, a stand, a stylish cloth pouch, an installation CD, a quick-start guide, and Creative MediaSource software. ... Read more

Features

• Micro-sized 5 GB digital-music player stores up to 1,250 songs at 128 kbpsor 2,500 songs at 64 kbps (MP3/WMA)
• Vertical touch pad simplifies navigation; body is curved to fit your hand
• FM radio with 32 station presets for listening and recording; 10-hour voice recording through built-in microphone
• 12 hours continuous playtime using the supplied rechargeable lithium-ion battery; extend your listening using multiple batteries (sold separately)
• Includes headphones, a belt clip, a stand, and an AC/DC power adapter

Amazon.com Product Description

The Zen Micro digital music player from Creative Labs packs an incredible 5 GB of storage capacity into a shell small enough to sit comfortably in your jeans pocket. It also rides nicely in your hand, with a palm-fitting profile and thumb-friendly front-panel controls. It's a bit shorter than an Apple iPod Mini, yet its rechargeable lithium-ion battery provides 12 hours of continuous playback--50 percent more than iPod Mini's. The Zen Micro is compatible not merely with MP3s and WAV files, but with WMA as well. Toss in USB 2.0 connectivity and you're looking at one spiffy portable music player.

But playing isn't all the Zen Micro does. You can use it to receive FM radio (with 32 station presets to keep your favorites at the ready), and to record, either from the radio or from live sources such as voice dictation or lectures using the Zen Micro's built-in condenser microphone.

Trimmed in a luminescent blue glow and with easily visible backlit buttons, this stylish light blue player holds up to 1,250 songs (83 hours) at 128 kbps or 2,500 songs (166 hours) at lower-fidelity 64 kbps (MP3/WMA)--that's a solid week's worth of music listening, never playing the same song twice. Compatibility with Microsoft's WMA compressed-audio format grants access to over 2 million downloadable songs offered promotionally or for sale online.

Perhaps the Zen Micro's coolest attribute is its DJ feature, which will shuffle not only all the songs you've loaded or all the songs on a given album, but also, at your discretion, only the tracks you listen to most, or only those you rarely hear, taking the work out of selecting your favorites or hunting out all the music you're still getting to know.

Zen Micro's rechargeable battery is easy to replace.

For navigation, the device features a vertical, linear touchpad designed to make searching through songs or playlists easy, quick, and fun. The unit's blue, 160 x 104-pixel, electroluminescent LCD shows key functions and song details at a glance, and you can even customize the main menu to keep right at your fingertips the features that matter most to you.

Another of the Zen Micro's handy features is its personal organizer. You'll never forget an important anniversary with the onboard calendar, and it also includes a to-do list and a contacts list, all of which sync seamlessly with Microsoft Outlook (Outlook thus required for use of these features). In addition, the device offers a sleep timer and alarm so you can drift off to sleep to the strains of one playlist and wake to a completely different one.

The Zen Micro's removable battery is easy to swap with another fully charged battery (additional batteries sold separately), extending your listening by a half-day per swap.

What's in the Box
The Zen Micro player, stereo earbud headphones, a rechargeable lithium-ion battery, an AC/DC power adapter, a USB 2.0 cable, a belt clip, a stand, a stylish cloth pouch, an installation CD, a quick-start guide, and Creative MediaSource software. ... Read more

Features

• Micro-sized 5 GB digital-music player stores up to 1,250 songs at 128 kbpsor 2,500 songs at 64 kbps (MP3/WMA)
• Vertical touch pad simplifies navigation; body is curved to fit your hand
• FM radio with 32 station presets for listening and recording; 10-hour voice recording through built-in microphone
• 12 hours continuous playtime using the supplied rechargeable lithium-ion battery; extend your listening using multiple batteries (sold separately)
• Includes headphones, a belt clip, a stand, and an AC/DC power adapter

Amazon.com Product Description

Creative Labs' CD-RW Blaster 8432 internal IDE CD-RW drive enables you to record and copy data directly to discs. Moving your data to a CD is just a click away with Creative Labs' CD-RW Blaster 8432. Copy a complete CD or select only the files you want to record, and CD-RW Blaster does the rest--and in less than nine minutes. You can drag and drop files right onto the CD icon, just like copying a file to a floppy or hard disk. For more flexibility, use a CD-RW rewritable disc so you can add and delete files as needed.

Blank CDs can store up to 650 MB of data, the same amount as 450 floppies or 6.5 100 MB Zip disks, making CDs a cost-effective way to back-up precious data. CD-RW Blaster provides two ways to save your information--routine backups to rewritable CD-RW media or permanent archives to a CD-R disc. In addition, high-quality CDs are more economical than other media, and their durability surpasses their magnetic media counterparts.

Now instead of changing CDs to listen to your favorite tracks, you can create one CD with all your favorite music. Compile music and audio tracks stored as MIDI and WAV files, or download the latest independent MP3 songs from the Internet and store them on a CD to free up valuable hard disk space. CD-RW Blaster delivers the low-cost solution by using inexpensive CD-R and CD-RW discs that can be read by standard CD-ROM drives. ... Read more

Features

• Internal EIDE CD-RW drive with 32x read, 8x write, and 4x rewrite speeds
• Back up and archive up to 650 MB of data on 1 disc
• Create compilations of your favorite songs and MP3 music
• Distribute important documents and files to anyone with a CD-ROM drive
• For computers operating on Windows 95 or 98

Reviews (19)

Wasted time!
Creative Labs was the originator who brought both sound and CD-ROMs to the home computer, so I thought they would be a great brand to start creating CDs with. I was oh so wrong! I am a Windows 98 user with a Hewlett Packard computer and 64 MB of RAM, and with all of this I still had great difficulty in creating CDs. First off, if you want a CD Audio disc made, it puts 2 second gaps between the tracks ALWAYS! Making it non compatable with top CD making software like Easy CD Creator. Then, its also very difficult to even get it to burn a data CD without errors and the most aggrivating part of it is that half of the time it will not even recognize a CD is in the drive! Tech support is quite bad for the product as well, they send you documents to answer your question via email instead of live help.

YOU CAN'T MISS
Well, to be perfectly honest, I had my doubts about purchasing a cd-burner; but then I realized how great they were when I saw my friend burn a cd on his. What really amazed me was how the quality of a recorded audio cd is the same as the master! I bought this burner because it was the most conservative buy. You get the name (Creative), the speed, and decent software/support all for a price thats right in the middle. I also strongly believe that one can't really go wrong with Creative Labs products. Besides, they have the coolest packaging of any brand :-) Seriously though, its whats familiar ... something you can trust (the blue and orange box). I have had no problems so far with the burner itself (it's awesome). The only gripe I have is that the software could be better. It's sort of like trying to learn the basics of DOS all over again. Don't get me wrong, I am fluent with computers, but in todays world I really shouldn't have to READ the directions. Usually I can just use them for reference; not with this stuff. Once you learn it though, it works.

Horrible - Don't Buy One!
Worst drive I've ever used. Stutters and stumbles whether reading or writing. Burns plenty of coasters. When it does record it won't read it's own discs. Often won't even read a pre-recorded disc. It's a piece of junk. I don't recommend it at all.

Shabby burner
It is not so bad on XP now but on 2000 it was a nightmare. It will only really work with Nero ...It's still slow and it staggers when playing games. Also your cd-roms are very hot when they get out!!

Avoid like the Plague!!!
I got this burner in the Christmas of 2000, it was a great price, offered a fast burn speed and it was a name brand product. However don't be fooled by this piece of junk burner, it just plain out [stinks]! The burner itself can't even burn to 80min CD's even if the CD-R box says they are compatable, this left me high and dry since virtually every store in town carried only 80min CD's. After visiting the Creative Labs Website for a possible firmware update, I found that the firmware update was only to Windows 98 and wouldnt even work with my CREATIVE LABS 8432 saying I had some 8438E burner (the box said it was a 8432), it appears there are serval slightly different versions of this burner. Trying to contact Creative I was lead around on how it should be on a seperate IDE cable and try different media they eventually told me that I was simply out of luck.
Overall This burner is not worth the hassle, go with someone who actually supports there products.

Creative stick to sound cards.. ... Read more

Reviews (19)

compatibility problems
This worked fine in my old computer (AMD K6 450MHz, built-in sound/video on motherboard, Win98SE), but was horrible in my new box (AMD Athlon 900MHz, Voodoo 3 video, Win98SE). Wouldn't play DVDs using any software (PC-DVD, WinDVD, PowerDVD, Windows DVD Player). PC-DVD and WinDVD both locked up. PowerDVD decided it wouldn't play copyrighted DVDs. Windows DVD Player apparently didn't recognize the Dxr3 decoder card, because it kept saying the player wasn't properly configured and I couldn't play DVDs without a decoder. Tech support was prompt but not very helpful. I did at least a half-dozen different things they suggested and the problem was never solved. I finally replaced it (and my CD-RW, which was okay) with an LG Electronics GCC-4120B CD-RW/DVD-ROM combo drive, which came bundled with PowerDVD; the new drive has worked great.

Outstanding drive performance
I have watched all sorts of DVDs on this drive, including very scratched ones, but never had a problem, picture quality is just amazing.

Excellent for viewing dvds on your computer or television.
Creative has out did themselves with this wonderful product. Why buy to seperate dvd players for your television and computer when you could just by one. Best of all the DVD player comes with its own decoder card which has its own outputs like video out to mention one. Install the dvd player into your computer run a cable to your televison and you our set.

Win2K drivers that work!
Looks great and had no troubles after I downloaded and installed the new Win2K drivers.

Does have Win 2K drivers!
I'm not sure whether new drivers have been available for the other reviewers but the card works perfectly for me. I did need to update the drivers to the new Win2K ones- but once that was accomplished I had no problems... ... Read more

Amazon.com Review

If you want excellent DVD viewing on your computer, then you should certainly check out the PC-DVD Encore 6x Dxr3 internal DVD-ROM drive kit from Creative Labs. Of course, you can use this ultrafast drive to read DVD-ROMs and CD-ROMs, but you can also use it watch the latest DVD titles in Dolby Digital sound.

The kit ships with a Creative 6x DVD-ROM drive, Dxr3 decoder board, IDE data cable, CD audio cable, dual connector audio cable, VGA loop-back cable, S-Video-to-composite converter cable, and a load of cool software. Installation was surprisingly simple given the complexity of so many cables, but after a few sound-card difficulties, we installed the PC-DVD quickly and easily.

The manual is extensive, walking you through the installation process step by step. The manual answered most of our questions, and we appreciated the troubleshooting section, which offered helpful solutions to common problems. The instructions also outline the function of each software button thoroughly, eliminating much of the guesswork associated with learning a new interface.

We set the jumpers on the DVD-ROM drive to master and set our existing CD-ROM drive to slave, and then connected the drive to the secondary IDE connector with the provided IDE ribbon. We connected the DVD drive to one of the audio connectors on our sound card and connected the provided dual audio connector from the line-out connector on the Dxr3 card to the other audio connector on the sound card. If you have only one CD audio connector on your sound card, then you'll need to connect both your CD-ROM and DVD-ROM drives to the Dxr3 card and connect the audio card to the Dxr3 card with the dual audio connector. The monitor was then connected to the Dxr3 card, and we used the loop-back cable to connect to our VGA card. Hardware installation was completed by connecting our speakers to the audio card.

Once we ironed out some wrinkles in an initially faulty installation, we installed the drivers from the provided floppy disk. The drivers installed right away and the rest of setup proceeded flawlessly. After rebooting our computer, we performed a typical install of the provided PC-DVD Player Application software. The software was very intuitive and easy to use, and in no time, we were watching high-fidelity, crystal-clear DVD movies.

The software consists of a menu that allows you to chose scenes at the start of a movie. (You can also access the menu in the middle of a movie.) The software's "remote control" lets you move forward in slow motion, fast-forward, click to the next scene, stop, reverse, or pause during the course of the movie. You can manually scale the screen to any size or watch in the preferred full-screen mode. The screen supports resolutions up to 1,600 x 1,200 at 32-bit color, allowing for gorgeous graphics (depending, of course, on your monitor size).

You'll want a top-of-the-line multimedia sound system if you plan on watching DVDs on you computer. It would be a travesty to continue to use a tinny pair of satellite speakers. We used a high-end three-piece system with a healthy subwoofer, delivering good bass and full sound, but you should consider a five-piece system with surround sound for cinema-like quality. (Creative Labs recommends several.)

Of course, the DVD-ROM drive is also backward compatible with other media such as DVD-R, CD-audio, CD-I, CD Extra, CD-ROM, CD-ROM/XA, Photo CD, CD-R, CD-RW, and DVD-Video. The drive plays back DVD media at 6x speeds and CD-ROM data at speeds of 24x. Average access time is 120 milliseconds for CD and 180 milliseconds for DVD.

At this price, with its superior performance, easy installation, extensive features, and exciting software bundle, the PC-DVD Encore 6x Dxr3 is too good to pass up.

Pros:

• Easy to install
• Terrific video quality
• Intuitive interface
• Ships with nice assortment of software

Features

• Watch DVD movies on your TV or PC
• Read DVD-ROMs and CD-ROMs
• Decode MPEG-2 video with the Dxr3 board
• MPEG and DVD 1.0 out at up to 30 fps
• Three interactive DVD titles included

Reviews (26)

Trouble-free (once installed), customer service ABYSMAL
I bought this DVD player after reading many online reviews. Most said this one was easy to install and, never having opened my PC case, I did not want any problems. It was fairly easy, but then I lost all sound for a few days. It may have been because I installed Nuts & Bolts the day after, which changed all my settings. I had NO sound on my entire PC for days. It took three days of calling customer service (up to 3 hours on hold on one call - NOT toll-free) for me to get some help. It was never completely clear what had happened. This was the only negative thing about the DVD Encore 6X - the customer service line was a joke until two hours on hold had passed - then it was just a sick feeling of despair for which I paid long distance fees. Three different reps suggested three different things; the third, a wonderfully patient woman, finally figured it out.

I will say that since then I have had absolutely no problems whatsoever. It never acts up and the picture is astounding. I can read the fine print in newspapers in movies and now even the picture in theatres seems out of focus when I compare it to what I can see at home. I will never buy another VHS if there is a DVD available, and I would buy another Creative Labs DVD for my next computer.

I have a Pentium 166 with 32 megs RAM, and even on my system there are no pauses or glitches during playback. The decoder card has jacks for TV and stereo output as well as headphones. The drive also plays CDs, CD-ROMS, DVD-ROMs (Riven)and enhanced CDs with no problems.

The Encore 6X also allows you to output to a regular TV, which works just fine, but a good monitor is far superior resolution.

Despite the abysmal customer service, I give this one five stars because it has never stalled in the several months since I finally got it installed, and I watch a LOT of DVDs.

Pass-through Cable Blues
My main gripe: When I hook my monitor up to my video card directly, my picture is crisp and clear at any resolution. When I hook my monitor up to the hardware decoder card and then use a pass-through cable to connect the decoder and my video, the picture looses a substantial amount of clarity.

(My video card is an ASUS RIVA TNT, and I have a 19" Hitachi SuperScan 751 monitor at home.)

I bought this DVD drive because it came with the RealMagic decoder card. I had read excellent reviews about the RealMagic, and although I was severly tempted by the Pioneer slot-loader, I gave into my impulse buying urge one day.

I really don't have TOO many complaints about this DVD drive. Since I'm used to swapping parts in and out, the physical installation was a snap. (Although when I added a new soundcard, I realized I had to redo my internal sound cables unfortunately and use a pass-through externally for audio as a temporary fix until I get more cables.) I really don't care for the recalibration process, but once you finally get it perfected, the image is finally fairly stable.

I realize my problem lies mostly with using a decoder card, but since it comes bundled with this drive, I thought I should share my experience.

Product is great, support is not so great
This is not one of those stories of the bad experience with the a defective product, and it took months for a replacement. It's the answers and solutions I get from tech support for this that are really bad.

The product itself was great while it lasted. When I first bought it I had a PC with Win98SE installed. It ran fine, picture quality of DVD movies was just a little scratchy (but negligible) from my monitor, but crystal clear on my flat screen TV. This product also played other formats like MPEG & DAT, which was nice to see on my TV. I was having a great experience and thought highly of this product, UNTIL...I bought my new PC with WinXP installed,... guess what? THERE ARE NO DRIVERS AVAILABLE FOR 2000 or XP!!! Sure they got Beta drivers out... but they are pretty flaky and cause your computer to lock up or not respond. These beta drivers could also cause MCI plugin errors, which basically means you can't use the product at all, except as a regular slow-speed CD-ROM. What annoys me is when you are about to download the beta drivers for the product, there is a disclaimer that says they will not provide any tech support or be liable for any damage the driver causes--download at your own risk, basically. What annoyed me more is, if you ask any technician at Creative Labs when the driver will be released, the answer is, "We do not know." ... "We don't know." ... "We aren't sure yet."

When was Win 2000 released? And they still don't have a driver for their extravagant, overly-advertised DYNAMIC EXTENDED RESOLUTION (dxr3) decoder board? It's a wonder how they sell their products. I mean they show off their "new and improved" PC-DVD products every year or so, but they only work with Win 95/98/ME?? It's not like 2000 or XP was suddenly released without warning. Let the world run on Win98 for the rest of their lives to watch DVD's since Creative never knows when their drivers will be released.

If I had recieved a better answer rather than, "I don't know," maybe I wouldn't be so harsh on the tech support.

Windows 2000 + DVD Encore 6x/8x = waste of time
VERY poor after sales service, EXTREMELY slow Drive, Possibly the most cumbersome, poorly designed user interface for the player I have ever seen, and no windows 2000 drivers (waiting 4 months), leaves me wondering how creative managed to get where it did. On a positive note, when I got this for the first time, I was impressed by the picture and sound quality (accept for the drive which manages to interfere with the sound card (awe64) ). And the cambridge speakers I got with it are the most brilliant speakers I have ever heard. I completely recommend the speakers (4 point surround). I eventually have taken the Dxr3 card out of my system, and am looking for a better alternative, as I recommend you do.

Bad purchase
I really wanted to play DVDs at home and read some quick reviews and have had good experiences with Creative Labs prior. I was quite disappointed.

Until I installed the dvdr3wup.exe drivers, I always had to switch to 800x600 before running the Creative Labs software as suggested in the manual. Even after loading the software it seemed to be more stable when running in 800x600. It usually crashes if you try and fast-forward right after playing a movie. Just hitting buttons seemed to crash it regularly so I would always avoid hitting any buttons. Having Norton Antivirus running at the same time causes crashes. Even being that paranoid, it still crashes! I am unable to watch certain movies all the way through. It always seems to crash on chapter 3 of Ladyhawke and in several places in American Pie and will not let me watch the entire movie. When watching 12 Monkeys when it hit the last chapter it started playing chapter 4. I had to specifically chose the last chapter to see the end of the movie.

Creative Labs phone support hangs up on you, and they don't answer e-mail. This product has really hurt my opinion of Creative Labs.

I have two friends who also bought this product and had the same problems I had. We have all switched to Pioneer DVD drives with slot loader and RealMagic Hollywood Plus decoder cards and are much happier. I can not count the times the DXR3 crashed on me in the 3 months I used it. In the two months I've been using the Holywood Plus it's crashed on me once.

The quality is poorer than my Holywood Plus or Toshiba 3109 when playing movies. However, the loopback quality on the DXR3 is better than on the Holywood Plus. If you look closely on the Holywood Plus at 1280x1024 or above the text is a little fuzzy.

The user interface in the player is horrid in comparison to the Holywood Plus. ... Read more

Features

• For PC with Microsoft Windows 98SE1, 2000, Me or XP

Features

• Internal IDE combination DVD-RW, DVD+RW, and CD-RW drive
• Features 8x write, 4x rewrite, and 6x read speeds for DVD+RW; 8x write, 6x rewrite, and 6x read speeds for DVD-RW; 40x write, 24x rewrite, and 40x read speeds for CD
• Front panel headphone jack, volume control, busy indicator and close/eject button
• Comes with Nero 6 software burning suite (Burning ROM 6 & Express 6, NeroVision Express 2, Recode, ShowTime, BackItUp)
• Compatible with Windows 98SE, 2000, Me, and XP

Reviews (4)

Creative Labs DVD +/- RW 8x
This is a terrific bundle! Solid product, even better software. If you are looking for a DVD burner and never used or want to upgrade your Nero, then get this product. Once you use Nero 6 you will never use anything else again.

I purchased this burner to go inside of an external firewire case in order to connect to my laptop. Works great, no problems what so ever. I should mention that when you need to upgrade the firmware that you will need to remove it from the external case and put it inside a tower and connect it via typical IDE master slave configuration. The firmware updates look for IDE channels and the like and don't know how to update over firewire (plug&play) connections. I do recommend performing the firmware update, it improved readability.

Good value and good product
This DVD drive for your PC will record and read in every DVD format available except for DVD-RAM, Panasonic's proprietary standard which is destined for the wastbasket anyway.

It reads and writes to DVD+R, DVD+RW, DVD-R, DVD-RW, and the CD formats. For some reason, it writes at 8x for DVD+RW but only 4x for DVD-RW. With the 8x, you can burn an entire DVD in about 15 minutes. I like the + standard because most of the inexpensive DVD recorders for your video system also use the + standard.

I've used the recorder in my PC to make copies of DVDs that I recorded from my TV to my television DVD recorder, and it works great. Given the price and the fact that it works without a hitch, I highly recommend this product.

Excellent Product
I purchased this about a month ago and was ecstatic to see it arrive with the post. This product does everything it is advertised to do, and it does it perfectly. I've been able to set up DVD back-ups with no problems using the bundled Nero software and some Memorex DVD+RW discs. It was easy to install and even easier to use. No issues and no problems. Highly recommended to anyone who needs a top-of-the-line DVD burning solution with dual formats.
But do remember to check for firmware updates. They are important!

It's good!
Got the DVD player installed in under 10 min. and burned 4 DVD movie BACK-UPS using Xcopy Xpress with no problem. This is my 1st DVD burner, so I am quite happy with the performance. I also like the fact that is comes bundled with full versions of the new Nero software. Good deal for an 8x burner. Don't forget to update the firmware at www.creativelabs.com ... Read more

Features

• With the PC-DVD Ovation 16x kit, you can turn your PC into an advanced entertainment center in no time!
• This kit enables you to playback high-definition DVD video without dedicated decoding hardware
• Video & audio decoding, navigation & decryption are performed seamlessly through software
• When motherboard real estate is at a premium, this kit is the affordable choice for experiencing DVD
• This 16x DVD-ROM drive also supports 5.1-channel Dolby Digital (AC-3) audio and includes easy-to-use DVD navigation controls (Dolby Digital sound requires an optional Dolby Digital (AC-3) amplifier/decoder)

Reviews (12)

Excellent DVD-ROM drive...
I've worked with lots of Creative Labs products in the past, and this one keeps up the quality that I've come to expect. It has worked flawlessly under Windows 98, Me, 2000, and XP for me.

Any standard Windows 98/Me startup disk will allow this drive to be recognized at a DOS prompt, so there is not a real problem there. The drive also works great ripping music and DVD content from every single disk that I've thrown at it. It's my mainstay drive in my primary system, and it works great. Highly recommended product from a name-brand vendor.

It worked great, at first.
First off let me just say that I purchased this drive when DVD-Roms were very popular and it was uncommon to see a computer come with one stock. Knowing that, it was really a heafty price (about 100 dollars). This product worked great for about two months before it broke; in that it, would not notice any type of cd I put into it. So I thought hummmmm, it must be still under warranty because I bought it only a few months ago. I send it into Creative Labs for repare and I get a call about two weeks later informing me that they want 90 dollars (plus the shipping cost) to repare it and send it back. I was furious, and didnt even bother to return their phone calls. Do not waist your money on this product. It breaks easy and can't even read most video disks that any other DVD player would have no problem with (ie VCD)

Sorry, no standing 'ovation' for this drive
This is a really bad DVD drive. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't. But most of the time it didn't. While watching DVD's, it paused sporatically for up to 10 seconds. Sometimes it did not even play at all. It was fine with data and music CD's. I was expecting a good drive, keeping in mind Creative Labs' reputation. Boy, was I wrong.

After awhile, it completely broke down on me, not recognizing any media whatsoever in the drive.

Do yourself a favor and go with Sony or Memorex; their drives seem to be alright.

POOR QUALITY, POOR SUPPORT, POOR CREATIVE!
I purchased this DVD player about a year ago, and have never been able to play a DVD (no picture). I can play music CD's just fine, but when playing DVDs, the DVD player spins...and spins...and spins... with no picture. I've tried half a dozen times to resolve this problem through Creative's on-line technical support, and to no avail they have yet to be creative enough to come up with a permanent fix. According to Creative's techs, I need the latest bios updates and chipset patches for it to function properly (which I already have), however they are too myopic to admit that the potential cause for it not working is lack of driver support/updates for Windows 2000, and the possibility that the DVD player is defective. Not to mention, it may take several days for technical support to respond to questions you may have about their products. And when the finally do, they never seem to give you a systematic way of diagnosing and fixing the problem. Extremely disappointed in their lack of support/customer service and poor quality.. And since the product is out of warranty, I am now stuck with an over-rated, poor quality, malfuctioning, [] DVD player that can only be used for playing music CDs. Never assume Creative will resolve your problem in an expeditious, effective manner because you'll end up paying for it; I did! I will never again purchase another product manufactured by Creative..Buyer beware!!! By the way I am still waiting for creative's response to my lastest inquiry...If anyone feels they have the expertise in troubleshooting the lack of picture, please don't hesitate to email me at ysche@aol.com Any help would be greatly appreciated!!!

Terrible purchase
It seems like a lie but until now Creative doesn't have created any equipment support for this model. In Windows 2k as in 98 when I open the tray....it opens but in a few seconds it closes
alone.....incredible. Absurditly it does not even have a pattern of time to close, so you need to pray for, when you put or take the cd... ... Read more