Devhux

Several months ago, I posted a thread in the Hardware forum about why I no longer liked my Nomad Jukebox Zen Xtra. As of tonight however, my dislike for Creative has spread further -- this time into the realm of my Audigy 2 NX soundcard.... or rather, it's drivers.

Now I know that the words "Creative" and "good drivers" usually don't go together, but my issue isn't related to the quality of the drivers. Instead, I realized today that the driver files Creative posts on their site are update ONLY drivers -- they are not meant as a replacement to the original driver CD. With most products (almost anything without "Creative" in the name), you can actually download the drivers for the product right off the website.

Unfortunately, I discovered after the fact that Creative doesn't follow this standard procedure. How can they offer Mediasource as a free download, but they can't have self-contained drivers? After a recent system reformat, I discovered that I didn't have the CD handy (not counting it as "important" to keep), so I had to go digging through tons of discs just to find this one. (Now it's in the first page of my CD binder -- right by my drive image and application discs).

Considering the files on the CD aren't even up to date (and don't provide all the features the card supports), the newer drivers are a requirement -- yet I have to go through the hassle of installing the original ones first. BAD Creative.

redcolours

agreed.
i got the audigy2 card over a year ago due to a very nice deal, its like a no brainer. it DOES have great quality though, i have to admit. so its not a bad purchase - my HTPC is benefitting from it well.

but yeah - stupid "updates" on their sites, bloatware to begin with, and really like going thru red tape just to install it.

if it hadnt been for the fact that it was dirt cheap for a retail card that time, i woulda stuck with teh C-Media 6.1 ch intregrated sound on my abit, or before that, the soundmax integrated chip in my intel board.

yep you, read me right - INTEGRATED SOUND actually sounding GREAT. for someone who's very picky about sound quality, i never thought id hear something very good out of integrated sound chips, but they exist.

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LegendKiller

I dislike creative because they are cheap and don't give out review samples and I had a run in with 2 french CL interns out in CA who insulted americans like I wasn't standing there, bastages.


LK

Devhux

They are afraid of reviewers like the ones at Mobile PC Mag who *gasp* didn't seem to like one of their products (the Zen USB 2.0 in this particular case (a review I agree with based on my experiences with the Xtra).

Granted, I am a little leery of some companies who provide review samples and then try to persuade you to write good reviews. (that's a whole different topic entirely, and I'd rather not openly discuss that one).