Creative SoundBlaster and X-Fi Windows 7 Compatibility List

Excited about Windows 7 but not sure which Creative sound cards work with the operating system? Fear not, for here is a list of ones that officially work according to Creative. It’s pretty extensive and covers pretty much every sound card made by the company dating back to the Windows 98SE era. The Compatibility Center on Microsoft’s site is a bit out of date- here’s the latest we got from Creative. If it is listed as not compatible, it may still work- just try the Vista drivers on the Creative support site. (more…)

Inspire S2 Wireless: Bluetooth Hits Your Speakers

Creative’s made wireless speakers before. So why are the Inspire S2 Wireless speakers spiffy? Aside from the fact that they are way cool, they feature Bluetooth technology for the connection, enabling you to stream music from your Bluetooth-enabled audio device directly to the speakers. Most smartphone and music-oriented cell phones have a Bluetooth chip installed on them somewhere, and the technology is becoming more popular on DAPs- the one that springs to mind is the Samsung P3. According to the specs, you’ll be able to get up to 30′ from the unit and still get it to work; but as always your results will vary based on location characteristics. Also sporting Bluetooth is ZiiLABS’ Zii EGG, and while it’s not fully implemented yet, don’t be surprised to see these Bluetooth speakers being demoed using a Zii at CES 2010. If you have no Bluetooth devices, fear not, as the speakers come with a dongle to allow use with your PC, as well as a standard AUX IN jack.

Among the other less intriguing features is the apt-X codec, which Creative licensed a while back, Mac OS support (a new theme for the company), and Energy Star certification. I dunno if they’ll make any sales based on the “Energy Star” rating, but yay environmentalism.

Inspire S2 Wireless on Creative US

A Splash of Color to the EP-630s and Creative’s Website

Creative’s in a bit of a lull lately. Between the recently-released Mk II Fatal1ty Headset and these new EP-630 earbuds, it’s pretty apparent that the big guns have been out and about designing the touchscreen ZEN. Regardless, they did add a few more colors to the lineup of their excellent EP-630 earbuds. There’s now a white, pink, baby blue, and lime green version in addition to the black pair.

Additionally, the Creative website for every major region sans America has gotten a minor facelift. The backdrop is now a cleaner and lighter color, and most of the product pages have a slightly more cleaner look. I like it, and hopefully Creative US will follow as they have in the past. Though it would be excellent if they fixed the twitter advertisement on the new pages. The links are broken on all the sites.

Creative Launches ZEN Mozaic EZ2300 and Aurvana Air

UPDATE: Vado HD on Sale at Amazon US!

Amazon has the Vado HD at a good price- $179. But to sweeten the deal, they will drop you $50 in store credit within the next 35 days after you purchase this great camera. This makes a great low-cost graduation gift for any graduate as well as a great gift for anyone with any thoughts of making videos.
Buy the Vado HD on sale at Amazon now!

During our post-CES but pre summer gadget swoon, Creative has dropped one notable and one less notable product upon us.

Mozaic EZ2300

Basically just the Mozaic with a little black dress on it. Rather than the checkered style of the current Mozaic, the EZ2300 is completely black. It does keep the same input pad style, so no new news there. On the inside, it’s essentially the same player, except for the changing of a MTP device to a plug and play one. (more…)