In an mp3 player world dominated by the iPod, Creative and other companies are having a tough time pushing anything else. It'll be even harder for Creative now, who will be removing FM recording from their Zen series. Requiring a firmware upgrade for units already sold, the upgrade will disable the ability for the unit to record radio, under pressure from the RIAA. Earlier in the year, we heard about the RIAA using the same strongarm tactics against XM, who resisted rather than rolled over.
The announcement from Creative is a bit of a downer to the home media community, as it seems that less and less functionality is being introduced with more expensive devices, rather than vice versa.