Hasta La Gadget!

Details are emerging from Creative’s Singapore headquarters this morning about a new touch-screen-based portable media player. The ZEN X-Fi2 will be available in 8GB ($129.99), 16GB ($179.99), and 32GB ($229.99) capacities and can be pre-ordered from Amazon now.

The player looks, well, a lot like an iPod touch–but I suppose that can be said about most touch-screen-based PMPs now. The X-Fi2’s 3-inch TFT LCD will feature 262,000-color support, but no word yet on the screen’s resolution. Codec support seems well thought out, if not overly generous: MP3, WMA, AAC, FLAC, and Audible4 for music; WMV9, MPEG4-SP, DivX4/5, and XviD for video; and JPEG and BMP for photos. There’s a microSD expansion slot, and 32-preset FM radio, and the ability to display RSS content feeds while offline.

The player will also come preloaded with some music tracks from a variety of artists courtesy of eMusic and James Patterson’s maximum Ride: the Angel Experience, as read by Evan Rachel Wood. And, as always, the X-Fi Crystalizer is loaded onto the player, for those who wish to play around with stereo-enhancing effects. 

Not bad, but there seems to be no true Internet support, which puts the player a notch behind the Zune HD and whatever new iPods we see next week. Price, however, could make all the difference. Creative has always made decent players–some of them even excellent. So for the people who care more about music and videos than Web browsing, the ZEN X-Fi2 could be just what they’re looking for–and certainly cheaper than the $220 and $290 16Gb and 32GB Zunes and iPod touches.

Look for a full review at PCMag.com in the coming weeks.