Creative Zen Review
Creative's new player, simply named Zen, adds another powerful player to the Zen family of MP3 and PMPs. With a really nice form factor, this Zen has a 16.7 million-color screen making a noticeable difference to video playback and photo viewing. I had my fingers crossed for a Zen Vision:M flash-based replacement, but to my disappointment transcoding is required for video playback.
Although the Zen is not a ZVM replacement, there is the same great interface with much more to like. Read on, and let me take you though a journey of Zen and let's discover if the Zen is right for your next portable media experience.
- Quick Look
- Capacity: 4GB / 8GB / 16GB
- Size: 55 x 83 x 11.3 mm
- Weight: 65g
- Screen: 2.5" 16.7 Million Color, QVGA (320x240 pixels)
- Battery Life: 25 Hours Audio, 5 Hours Video
- Video Formats: MJPEG, WMV9, MPEG-4 SP, DivX, XviD *320x240 pixels
- Audio Formats: MP3, WMA, AAC, WAV, Audible
- Photo Formats: JPEG
- Complete Specs
Accessories
You don't get too much Inside the box, just the basics: a short USB cable, the Zen player, earbuds, and Creative's Media software. Creative does have a nice line-up of optional accessories, mainly cases. There is a silicon case, hard plastic case, leather case, neoprene like armband, and screen protector . You may see some speaker docks and other third-party cases in the future.
Design
The Zen is slightly larger than a credit card and about the thickness of a CD jewel case. The player's exterior is made entirely out of plastic. The back has a matte finish that fends off nearly all possibilities of scratches. The front face of the player is made of a very hard glossy plastic. While still scratchable against harder metal objects, it is very resistant to typical use. If you are hard on your gadgets you may want to get a screen protector or a case for your Zen. But if you use reasonable care, you should be able to avoid a scratched screen. Even with minor scratches on the screen, the bright LCD shines right though and does not impede your view. Though the front screen and buttons are very susceptible to showing finger prints which enhance the glare, it's nothing a wipe on your shirt won't fix (but it can get annoying).
Typical to other players in the Zen family, it may feel toy-like, but it still has a very sturdy and well-built weight to it and will definitely survive some accidental drops. Buttons are flush against the face of the player are easily pressed with small and large fingers alike. The buttons also have a nice solid tactile click to them.
I do have one minor complaint about the placement of the headphone jack located on the upper right corner of the player. It is a little uncomfortable to use the interface if you have a larger jack plug getting in the way of operating the controls. Not a big deal, but it may have been better to swap the position of the USB port and the jack, locating the jack on the bottom.
Screen
Creative has upped the ante on the screen, pushing it, as mentioned, to an impressive 16.7 million colors - up from 267 thousand on previous model. It is a great looking screen, accurately producing colors for photos. Video looks great as well: true colors and fast response times. It is definitely an improvement of Zen Vision:M. There is a slight downside which may not even be an issue for most users. The viewing angle on the screen is near 180 degrees for viewing from the left, right, and bottom. It is only about 30 degrees top-down viewing, but I say it is not an issue since it is not a natural viewing angle.
User Interface
The interface is similar to the great Zen interfaces of past players - very easy, very intuitive. However, I think there is an improvement over past players in that Creative has added a few more buttons without complicating the user experience.
The face of the Zen is graced with a 5-way directional pad in addition to four other buttons: back, menu, shortcut, and pause/play. There are no dedicated volume buttons, and if you know from my previous reviews I am a big fan of these volume buttons. In the case of the Zen, I think they can get away without them since the short cut key can be set to show the volume, or better yet, the Now Playing screen. Hence, adjusting volume is only an extra button press.
Creative has done a beautiful job of solving the problem of browsing a long list of media files with a tactile interface. With most players you would have to hold the down button until you got the item you were looking for without overshooting it. This problem is solved on the Zen (also seen on some of their other players) by using the alphabet on the side. By pressing the right button you will move the alphabet where it will allow you to jump to specific media by beginning letter. This is very handy for massive amount of media; something you may need with the 16GB version.
Another great interface feature is that it is customizable. If you don't ever plan to use a particular feature, you can remove it from the main menu with a simple press of the menu button at the home screen. I find this to be very useful since I'm not a big user of voice recording or FM radio. I can more or less remove them from the main menu, but if I later wanted to use those features, I could put them back on the menu. It can really simplify the interface and reduce the number of button presses.
To wrap up it up, all you really need to know is that you can pick up this player and start using it right away with little to no learning curve.
Transferring Media
The Zen is an MTP device, meaning that you will need Windows XP SP2 or above. (There are some hacks to get it to work on Mac, but to be honest it may not be that easy to get going.) In Vista you will not need to install any software; it is easy drag and drop just as an MSC (UMS) thumb drive. Drag and drop on XP works as well but can be problematic. However, with both OSes you have many choices of software to help you transfer media to your Zen. There are a dozen or so media players that will help you manage your media and playlists which include, but aren't limited to Windows Media Player, Monkey Media, Yahoo! Music, Napster, and so on.
Music Services
Being PlaysForSure compatible you will be able to use music subscription and ala carte download services such as those found on Napster and Yahoo! Music. For audio book listeners, the Zen is compatible with the Audible, managed by Creative's Media Player.
Since the Zen supports unprotected AAC, you are able to download DRM free tracks from iTunes. Creative even goes as far as advertising this on the front of the packaging. I am not a fan of iTunes but I do like the DRM free movement, so I sincerely applaud Creative for giving consumers what they want.
ZenCast aka Podcast
Creative includes ZenCast software that will allow you to manage your audio and video podcasts. The software is a portal that easily allows you to subscribe to podcasts and sync them automatically. This can be done with other software, but it is a nice lightweight option to have.
SD Card Slot
Creative has added an SD card slot for expandability which, however, is severely crippled. The SD card does not fully integrate into the library; it is a completely separate entity which cannot take advantage of all media functions.
Here is how the SD card works. In order to use media (video, photos, or audio) you must go to the "Memory Card" menu on the player. When in this menu you can browse the media by typical file folder browsing, but ID3 browsing cannot be enabled. All media is playable by selecting, but you don't have the same options, such as "view details", "lookup artist", "remove", "save as playlist", "add to playlist", and "set bookmark", as you would if you were in the main library To add insult to injury, if you have a short cut key set to the Now Playing screen, it will take you to an empty Now Playing screen and stop your music. If you are playing music from the SD card, just moving to any other part of the menu will stop the music.
That the SD slot is pretty much useless really kills this player for me. If you had hopes of using the SD slot to expand your memory, you should avoid the Zen until this is fixed. Other MP3 player makers such as Cowon and SanDisk got this right, so there is no excuse as to why the SD slot cannot be fully integrated into the main library on the Zen.
Features
Radio
FM Radio reception at best was only mediocre to sub-par, but that did depend on the headphones I was using. The included earbuds seemed to work best, whereas more expensive phones tended to give less than acceptable performance, but you should have no problems getting the strong local stations with any headphone.
The autoscan feature is nice for filling your preset list. The Zen did fill them with only the good clear stations, but I did find it annoying that it left the rest of the presets blank. It would have been better if those presets were removed so you didn't have to flip though them. Onenice feature is that presets can be named by the user. Not quite RDS but the next best thing.
Although previous Zen players had an FM recording feature, don't look for it here. You won't find it on this one.
Voice Recording
Voice recording works well, just as expected. Recordings are saved as low quality WAV file. If would ever like to use this player as a voice-recording note taker, the short cut buttons can be set for quick one-button recording. On the downside, mechanical noises from pressing buttons may interfere with your recordings, an inescapable problem for most voice recorders. This can be avoided by not using the player while recording.
Extras
Date & Time
Although not too exciting, but a nice feature, the Zen can keep track of the date and time and will display the time at the top of the screen. There is also an alarm function if you with to hook it up to some external speakers.
Organizer
Using Creative media software you can manage contacts, tasks, and the calendar. The software will also allow you to sync your Zen with Outlook. This is a feature that is entirely managed by software, and these organizer entries cannot be edited on the Zen. It's nice to have, but many may find that their cell phones work just as well, if not better. The good part about this is that if you find this feature to be superfluous, you can get it out of your way by removing it with the menu customizing feature.
Photos
In addition to photos looking great in the 16.7 million color screen, photo viewing features are fairly extensive. Browsing is easy in either a thumbnail matrix or thumbnail list, including file names. Other photo options will allow you to rate photos, rotate photos, display properties, and zoom in on photos.
Slide shows can be prepared with Creative's media software, basically playlists for photos. Without using the software you can still view slideshows according to folders. The pause/play buttons will start and stop the slide show. Different transition effects can be selected in the options which look very smooth. Lastly, a quick mention that photos and slideshows can be viewed at the same time music is playing.
Audio
The Zen interface lends itself to a very controllable experience when navigating and manipulating audio files and playlists. Browsing is done according to ID3 metadata so your tags will need to be relatively clean. This is one complaint I have shared with many Zen users: Creative must ad file folder browsing. It can be added in the firmware easily; hopefully Creative will step up since ID3-only browsing is a major pain point for many MP3 player users.
Playlists / Bookmarks
Like past Zen players, this Zen has the ability to create multiple playlists on the go very easily. Additionally, playlists can be named with a full virtual QWERTY keyboard screen. On the downside, playlist order cannot be managed, but that would be a great addition to the Zen interface, making it near perfect.
Up to 10 bookmarks can be stored by a simple menu press in the middle of a music track or audio book. Semi-related, bookmarks cannot be used for video (but that would be a nice firmware fix).
EQ
In the Sound Options menu, the EQ can be tweaked to one of 8 presets: acoustic, classical, disco, jazz, new age, pop, rock, and vocal. For those of you who like a little more control, there is a custom EQ allowing you to optimize five bands.
Sound Quality
The Zen sounds great like most of those in the Zen family. I benchmarked the Zen against the Cowon iAudio X5 with a pair of Future Sonics Atrio's as well as a pair of Sennheiser HD650's. For the most part they were indistinguishable, both at a flat EQ without any sound enhancements on. However, at higher volumes the X5 sounded a bit cleaner, more open, and could push beyond the Zen's max volume (notably at a louder-than-comfortable volume). Still, the Zen performs better than the majority, and sound quality should not be an issue for even those using a nice set of headphones.
Video
The great looking screen lends to a very nice video viewing experience, but video did fall a little short of my expectations since conversion is required. I would have liked to have seen the Zen handle video like the Zen Vision:M did, whereas it would play any video you dragged and dropped onto the player. This could have been a limitation of hardware, and other players in its class require conversion as well, so this may not be a fair complaint.
Transcoding
Video needs to be converted to WMV with a size of 320x240 or less, and this is done very easily with the converter included with Creative's media software. DivX, XviD, and many other codecs are changed over with ease. Windows Media player can convert video also, but did not perform as well since it was unable to transcode simple XviD of DivX files.
Conclusion
There is much good to say about Creative's new Zen. The design is durable and a comfortable fit in your hand. The interface is intuitive and lends to a very low learning curve (if any at all). The 16.7 million color screen looks great, as does the video played back on it. I really applaud Creative for adding AAC support, but it would still be nice to get some other license-free codecs such as OGG or FLAC.
There was a slight disappointment in that the Zen's video needed to be converted, unlike its older brother the Zen Vision:M which handled many video codecs and sizes natively. I can understand that this could be a hardware limitation and other players in its class suffer from this same problem.
There is, however, one inexcusable flaw in the way the Zen handles the expandable memory slot. Functions for media on the SD card are very limited, and media does not integrate into the main library.
I am very happy with the Zen; it is a fantastic player in many ways but one of its main attractions, the expandable memory, was not done right. If this is an important feature to you, don't buy it until this problem is fixed or go ahead and buy any other player with expandable memory, since all the rest managed to get it right.
Compare the Creative Zen
- Creative Zen vs Cowon iAudio D2
- Creative Zen vs SanDisk Sansa View
- Creative Zen vs Creative Zen V
- Creative Zen vs iriver clix2
- Creative Zen vs Zen Vision:M
Pros
- Simple interface
- Good sound quality
- Customizable menus
- Multiple playlist support and renaming.
- Solid and durable design
Cons
- SD memory does not integrate into main library
- SD media cannot use features.
- Video transcoding required
- Bad top viewing angle
- Limited Codec support
Purchase
You can usually find the Zen for the best price online at Amazon and Amazon UK
Comments
JDGAFFLIN on September 25, 2007 2:11 PM
The limited SD card options kill this one for me. Seems like more of a hassle to deal with.
Gifford on September 25, 2007 2:37 PM
Good review.
I agree: SD is poorly done.
Also experienced same viewing angle problem from top, did not like that.
Interface is nice.
Also, it supports Amazon Unbox for those interested. I downloaded some NBC pilot episodes (free) and played fine.
Protected (for hiding) content option is good for sensitive info!
My ZEN froze 5 times over 1 week of use for me. Not good.
charlie on September 25, 2007 4:58 PM
Post some audio recordings (without voice/sound) of the players that are reviewed so that we could hear any interference/hiss and such.
Jeremy on September 25, 2007 5:11 PM
I agree. The SD card issue is a major issue for me. I am considering sending mine back to Creative and getting something else. Perhaps Meizu or whatever.
DonDon on September 25, 2007 5:50 PM
Ouch, SD card screw up really kills the deal for me as well, and even If they fixed it I would be strongly disappointed with not being able to record the radio, although- with the new Zen's poor reception, you probably wouldn't want to anyway. Would you please demonstrate in your review the Zen's fastest possible scrolling speed vs. the ZVM, as well as demonstrate setting backgrounds. I have not seen a Zen that didn't have that red/green/yellow background so far and I'm beginning to wonder if they can. Also, can you transfer files from the SD onto your Zen, example: I "borrow" friends SD card put it into my zen, can we share music in this way? If so- I may be able to forgive the SD card mishap, especially with Sundisk coming out with the 32gb flash drive.
Alex M on September 25, 2007 5:50 PM
i have my zen v now but i see for 130 i can get twice the storage AND battery life. The extra storage can help me hold some more stern shows which is nice but i bought my zen v refurbished from creative on ebay and the battery life seems like it is less then 12-15 hours or whatever they say that the expected audio life is. i don't care to much about the sd card cuz i don't need too much. 4gb doesn't take too long to load up. i have a zen v and zvw and i could replace my zen v with this. but the pic of the zvw vs. the zen kills me XD
joey on September 25, 2007 7:17 PM
Thanks for the nice review. I should get my Zen by the end of the week, since Creative says it is mailed. I am worried now about the radio reception since that is probably the most important thing to me.
joey
A.K. Bhuiyan on September 25, 2007 7:17 PM
hmmm the SD problem is annoying...can it be fixed via an update? or is it going to have to be a whole hardware reconstraction that will allow for it to be working the way we want it to?
otherwise, this looks good, loved the review pretty much told me everything I wanted to know...
by the way, what about battery life?
Bernardo on September 25, 2007 8:45 PM
In my opinion, Creative havent released yet a player better than its ZVM! I think the market, or at least me, is looking for something like ZVM, but with better image quality, smaller, UMS transfer mode, and compositive video-out and CELL PHONE, lets Wait! ;)
skippyg on September 25, 2007 8:47 PM
Am i the only one that doesnt Care about UMS? Sure it would be nice, but Maybe they should instead just implement an option that will allow for MTP/UMS, because i like my Subscription Music.
Alex M on September 25, 2007 9:06 PM
Bernardo the zvw is better for me :)
and a phone would be cool but apple fanboys would be yelling at us.
yeshu on September 25, 2007 9:13 PM
video transcoding?that sucks....my zen vision m 60gb is the best...
aardvark on September 26, 2007 12:22 AM
How is the Zen's performance regarding long video files?
I haven't been too happy with the mp3/PMPs at the smaller physical sizes with how they deal with 60-120 minute movies, mainly having problems with dropping frames or having serious audio sync problems.
Is the Zen good on that score?
Ectomorphian on September 26, 2007 3:02 AM
Thanks for that wonderful review! Very informative and straightforward. I have one question though: How does the ZEN's screen compare with the CLIX 2's? I understand that they're both totally different screens but i'm assuming that the 16.7m colour screen on the ZEN might have put it on par with the CLIX 2's?
Attreides on September 26, 2007 3:36 AM
Nice player, does it have LastFM support without rockbox? I don't care about SD, since 16GB of music is enough.
EnzoTen on September 26, 2007 10:09 AM
The clix2 screen is unique it is faster and brighter than the Zen. But the colors tend to bee less accurate on the clix2 and obviously less in number of colors. They are both great, but i tend to like this more accurate Zen screen.
akasan on September 26, 2007 1:14 PM
I have never been satisfied with the sound quality on the zvm through the headphones, is the sound quality on the zen on the same level or better/worse?
AndyS on September 26, 2007 3:47 PM
Do the bookmarks finally work within a playlist?
The problem with my Zen V Plus is that you can create a bookmark in the middle of an audiofile, but if you load that bookmark, it only loads the one file that you were playing, not the playlist. So you get to listen through that file, then you have to go manually add the rest of the book back in to the playlist.
Seems it would be a simple and logical fix, but Creative doesn't seem to do a lot of support via firmware updates on these.
Sirocco on September 27, 2007 2:16 AM
Does this Zen have an "accelerating" fast forward, for skipping through large audio files?
arubaluba on September 27, 2007 11:34 AM
I can't imagine a worse card implementation than on my Sansa e270.
While music on the microSD will be seen by the database (which is what I think the reviewer wanted to see in this device), whenever you put a card in, the database recompiles and then my computer's media manager thought the player was empty. (yea, I keep installing the crappy new firmware updates ~ they're just not fixing it).
Just as annoying, when the card and player are getting kinda full, it takes forever to boot up (seriously,I timed it at 4 minutes once ~ that's just ridiculous).
I had hoped to use several cards to keep different media on (like a workout music card, a books on tape card, etc), but because there was no folder-based browsing, it didn't work well at all.
Also, you couldn't put video on the card ~ although I hear that was improved in one of the more recent (using the term loosely) firmware updates, but I've given up on using the cards with this thing at all.
It's a pity, because other than that, I really liked the player (except for the perpetual dust under the screen) ~ my gripe was kinda the mirror image of the criticisms of this player.
I can understand how the SD as described here wouldn't appeal to someone who wants to use the card to essentially upgrade their 16gig player to, say, a 20gig player with the card. And the not being able to bookmark stuff on the card is moronic ~ I hope that fix that quickly.
But for someone like me who wants to carry a couple of extra SD cards, each dedicated to a different category of media, and swap them in and out like removable disks, without disrupting my core library of songs, this folder-based directory system actually sounds great!
Of course, some of you have actually used the thing, and I have not ~ but I've gotta say, after reading this review, I'm seriously reconsidering my previous intention to pick up the 16gig iAudio 7 when it comes out. (that 60-hour battery life is pretty appealing, though).
I don't think I can wait to get one of these ~ I better go sell some plasma!
TEL on September 27, 2007 3:19 PM
The SD slot looks like a killer, but if you were to use the main memory for music and just use the SD slot for movies, would that not lighten the blow considerably? I know I often switch movies out more then music anyway. You can get 8GBcards fairly cheaply and thats a few movies at a time.
If they ever do decide to fix it, is it a firmware problem or a new hardware release?
D'Artagnan on September 27, 2007 6:34 PM
I was willing to give this a try. But no UMS? Sorry Creative. It's 2007. Stop trying to Sony us.
Andy on September 27, 2007 9:31 PM
It seems the Zen Vision M is still their best product.. What were they thinking? Only 16 GB? An SD CARD extension which serves basically no purpose? No FM recording? Video transcoding is necessary and the time it takes kills the 16 million colors for me. If my Vision M died, I'd still go for another one.
Vishal on September 28, 2007 8:39 AM
why such a SHORT REVIEW...
Aaron on September 28, 2007 3:55 PM
When are you going to finish uploading that video. I wanna see.
Aaron on September 28, 2007 3:57 PM
When are you going to finish uploading that video. I wanna see.
Setebos on September 29, 2007 9:52 AM
Yeah, I'd like to see the video, too.
Anyway, nice review! If there was a better implementation of the SD-card and UMS the zen would be quite a nice deal I think. But with the current state of things I think I'll get the D2, though it's f***ing expensive (at least in Europe).
skippyg on September 29, 2007 10:16 PM
On the contrary D'Artagnan:
A LOT of new Daps are coming out with MTP support. once again, if i had ONE choice, id choose MTP superb integration with Vista and Xp and subscription support...
More and more daps these days are ditching Ums or just implementing MTP+UMS
they should make a protocol that ALL PMP's and DAPs use that can be used on all os's AND can support Subscription Tracks and ID3 tag browsing
madve2 on September 30, 2007 5:14 AM
Bah... a flash-based player again! I have a Sony NW-HD5 which I really like (I didn't feel so during the firts weeks of having it but then I have read about other HDD players available at that time and it became clear that I've choosen the right player =) also, I really hated SonicStage when it was 3.x, but now 4.2 is almost as good, if - at some points - not better, than WMP... It's quite sad that it'll be abandoned.) but I really would love to have larger HDD space (60GB at least...) and a much better on-the-go playlist support - but such player doesn't even seem to exist! Except for the ZVM or maybe the Cowon iAudio idontknowwich... but how old these players are? 1 year? 2 years? More? Isn't there any hope that anyone but Apple will release such player in the near future?
iamtheworld on September 30, 2007 1:45 PM
nice review.
just pre-orderd my 16gb today.
still no video??
Tofa on October 3, 2007 5:24 AM
Hi,
is it possible to simply drag and drop files on this device? Or you always have to use the creative software?
Clinton on October 3, 2007 2:39 PM
I got my Zen (8GB model) last week and used it on a long flight across the country. It held it's initial charge well enough to last throughout the trip. I do find the video transcoding to be a pain, but I mostly listen to podcasts, so it is not a major issue for me.
silent on October 4, 2007 7:36 AM
when will the video be uploaded?! It's been almost 10 days!!
samson on October 4, 2007 5:19 PM
"Video needs to be converted to WMV..."
Not true, .avi files encoded with Xvid at a resolution of 320x240 do not require conversion.
cheezstake on October 5, 2007 9:59 AM
You stated that there are no dedicated volume buttons. Volume can always be changed during either music or video playing by pressing up or down on the d-pad!
I have, however had video conversion issues. The Creative software crashed repeatedly on two movies I tried to put on my Zen.
As for the issue of the SD card. I can see Creative making a firmware fix in the future.
I've had my Zen for 2 weeks and no real complaints!
Jericho on October 7, 2007 12:47 PM
Applause for a great revie Grahm Skee. This is certainly the best choice for me.
However,if anyone knows. Is it possible to transfer files directly from the SD CARD to its flash memory (w/o the need of pc)?
I find the SD card expandability useful because I plan to transfer files(pics) from digicam via SD card directly to ZEN. I just hope its possible.
Mrshmllo on October 7, 2007 1:51 PM
Personally, I don't think that the SD card is that big a deal, I mean it'd be nice if it integrated but who fucking cares if it doesnt, u just press like 3 extra buttons. No need to give this awesome mp3 player a bad review because your finger cant handle the extra movement. And please dont comment badly on the mp3 if you dont own one!
Abansal on October 8, 2007 2:52 PM
this is a great player. The screen has to be seen. The SD card feature though a pain is useful
Sirocco on October 9, 2007 1:37 AM
Well hello! It's not possible to bookmark files on the SD card! Deal Killer! I don't know why such details are routinely left out of reviews. That only makes my Samsung YP-T8 that much more precious - which doesn't even have an SD slot but at least it has a powerful bookmark feature, a fast FF, and a user defineable skip feature - and only 1 gig. Which demonstrates that it's not about raw capacity, or fingerprints, or how many thousands of colors. Gimme FF, ability to skip, and a bookmarkable SD card (position in a file), that's all I want. And right now, no DAP's can do this!
randommmmm on October 10, 2007 7:14 PM
does the zen have a replaceable battery
Alex M on October 11, 2007 5:30 PM
@randommmm
if you mean user-replaceable battery...no sadly. the insignia pilot does though :)
randommmmm on October 12, 2007 8:09 PM
so that means you can still have it replaced at a service center or something right? its a nice player though...
Nobody on October 13, 2007 5:20 AM
sirocco et al:
so you're saying a player with less features is better than a player with pretty much all the features of the former player but without some other feature which is not applicable to the former player? i.e., your samsung player does not have an sd card slot...but the creative player does. so the samsung player is better? uhm...i really don't get your logic.
tamadrums888 on October 16, 2007 12:15 PM
Hey iam wanting to get this, but i wandered if you can hide content on the player and show content on the player. also is there a password, and if there is, can i enter it on the device?!?!?! Thanks
Linda on October 18, 2007 11:14 AM
I received ipod nano as a gift last week ( after Dh ran over my Zen V plus) and TRIED to like it. I returned it aafter muc frustration. After reading this review was able to price match this ZEN for 124.00 CAD at Futureshop.
It does has fast-fast forward like Zen V PLus.
I like the player- howevr I think they should have backlit buttons, not placed on of switch so close to headphone jack ( hard to get at using my headphones) . Video conversion a pain. If its true that there is no need to convert Xvid at a resolution of 320x240 - this is not a commnly avialable resolution. SD card not an issue for me.
user on October 28, 2007 10:33 AM
I have bought a Creative Zen and I'm regretful now!! Not supporting UMS protocol is a big negative point. I have loads of MP3s that are organized in folders on my DVDs, setting the ID3 tag properly for each track that I'm to teransfer to my player is a big headache, furthure more finding a specific track will become hard amoung 8GB or 16GB of MP3s in many albums by many artists. So don't buy any player that does not support UMS protocol.IMHO the movie feature of a player that does not have a TV out is useless. Something that Zen Vision M has. Also another negetive point about movie feature is that you should almost convert all videos you have! because it only accepts files that not only have supported codec but also their ratio is less that 320x240 (again a solved problem in Zen Vision M). If you can bear not having UMS and a little bit heavier player, consider Zen Vision M seriously (It's not much more expensive) otherwise buy iRiver Clix, but do NOT buy this one !
sirusblack on November 2, 2007 12:50 PM
(sorry for the english, I'm french)
hi,
I wondered myself, is this player more or less interressant than the new sandisk sansa view ? because he must come out with a memory of 32 Gb and that's very interressant in flash memory...
TyreKicker on November 3, 2007 8:59 PM
Both the lack of Folder support & SD card "functionality" issues are primary concerns for me. Additionally I'd like to see "Gapless" playback.
As for Folders, I've got my entire CD collection (1000+) ripped & organised by genre, artist etc and there's no way I'm going to go back and re-visit this! Especially when I have a three year old $50 JNC device that handles folders perfectly!
As for the SD functionality, there's another small point. Check out Creative's SD support matrix: http://www.creative.com/products/mp3/zen/?nav=sdcard
You'll note they support SDHC 8 GB from Toshiba but not SanDisk. Let's hope this is just administrative slackness on the part of whoever manages the site because if it's taken literally it would be an absurd situation. On the other hand I actually think they did well going for SD rather than Mini or micro SD as it gives you greater flexibility with media types - if you get an adaptor card you can use Mini & Micro as well but if your slot is Micro - such as with the Sansa 2xx & View your stuck with that format. So I think Creative have the basics right in that regard.
The primary question we should be asking is whether these issues are in fact firmware related rather than hardware limitations. There's no point buying into the device on the promise of resolutions from upcoming firmware releases if it's just not going to be possible in the first instance. And granted it is firmware related - what is Creative's track reckord like with regard to firmware resolutions?
sirusblack on November 3, 2007 10:38 PM
Thanks for have answered...
I have not undersood everithing, but you speak about SD card capacity but what is greatis that with 32 Gb of memory, SD card is useless !
But the SanDisk doesn't reckognise the ID3 tags oder the folders ?
Paul on November 10, 2007 12:49 AM
Do the buttons on the Zen give off a nice solid click everytime you press them?
pequeno on November 10, 2007 6:10 AM
If you pay attention and have very good hearing you might hear a click when you press the buttons. Otherwise you just have to feel it.
I bought one and am pretty satisfied. Althou it crashed a few times when I uploaded mp3s to it, its still good. Havent tryed using a sd-card yet but if it isnt fixed by a firmware upgrade then it is pretty much useless and I would regret buying it... I really hope a firmware upgrade will make the sd-slot more usable.
A firmware upgrade can make it understand UMS too I believe. Just hope Creative will do this too.
Alan on November 12, 2007 6:13 PM
I was in J&R Music World today and saw the 4 and 8 gb versions and asked when they would be getting in a 16gb version. The salesman told me that Creative wouldn't be releasing it because there were problems and that was why J&R didn't have it.
Paul on November 13, 2007 3:54 PM
Is the back of the Zen plastic or metal? On Cnet it says it's metal.
Richard on November 14, 2007 5:30 PM
Read about the white screen bug before you buy one, there is a discussion on the Creative website forum! Creative have given me no support, other than to take it back to the store... I am not impressed with them, hence this post.
D. on November 15, 2007 1:54 PM
I waited for this thing for weeks. When I got it, I found out it does not have enough earjack power to power my high end in ear monitors (Etymotic 4's) Tech support said all of their devices have the same earjack output. Also, the feel of the device is...well...junk! I bought their warranty also. Now that I returned the device, Creative is telling me I have to write a letter to get the warranty refunded. Ever hear of a comapny making you write letters for a refund? I haven't and consider this some of the worst service I've ever recieved. When you shop at Amazon, when you have a problem, they send you a replacement before you ever return the original purchase. Now that's service! I ended up buying the Archos 605 WiFi with the 4gb flash memory so I dont have to worry about killing a hard drive while snowboarding, mt. biking, etc. It's bigger than I wanted, but I found myself amazed with all the stuff this thing can do! WiFi, huge screen prettier than my ThinkPad, external speakers that sound better than my laptop speakers, can connect external camcorder lens and record, full internet browser, touch screen that does all the cool stuff that Apple COPIED (LOL) for the Iphone, and that's just what I've figured out it can do. The overall impretion of the Archos... IT's NOT A TOY!!! love it! and...the in ear monitors have plenty of power.
Megan on November 17, 2007 7:28 PM
Hey! I'm thinking of getting this player for Christmas. I had a ZenMicro a few years ago and loved it so I thought I should upgrade. I hate how all of my friends are obsessed with the Ipod Video that doesn't have near the amount of features this has and for way more money. I just wanted to know is this a good player for an average user. I go to college so I really like the recorder on it and will just be using it for mostly music and movies, and if I can figure out the videos I'll use that as well. So my question is is this player better than an Ipod and good for a college student?
Anon on November 19, 2007 8:09 PM
A great player but I would like to see the insides of it
Paul on December 9, 2007 6:21 PM
How do you guys think the buttons feel? Do they feel solid or do they feel cheap?
sometimesibreathe on December 12, 2007 10:19 PM
I'm debating if I should get this or find a Vision M. Everbody who has a Vision M on the creative forums seem to love it...but it crashes too often.
My zen micro crashes maybe 1 a month max.
Oliver on December 13, 2007 7:10 PM
Anybody know what to do when it gets stuck in docked mode. I tried paper clip in the reset hole and nothing happened Laptop is no longer recognising the machine and cannot turn it off either
rexus on December 18, 2007 8:08 AM
i took mine back, browsing is only done by id3 tag. if the id3 tag doesnt contain track number then the album is played in alphabetical order. it doesnt even matter if the tracks begin with 01-band_name, 02-band_name etc, it only plays in alphabetical order. what a load of rubbish.
also, it wont let you transfer files that it doesnt recognise into the media folder - total rubbish if you keep scene releases with nfo, m3u and sfv files.
i bought this as a replacement for the meizu miniplayer which i broke - its not a patch on it.
jhardluck on December 20, 2007 3:05 AM
Do not buy this unit. I bought 2 of these in a row. I was told by the software that there was a critical firmware upgrade. When I tried to upgrade the firmware it froze at the end of installation of the new firmware. I was left with a Zen that had NO software on it. The computer would then not recognize it so that I could even try to install the old firmware. When I bought the second unit the exact same thing happened when installing the firmware upgrade. It wiped out the whole system. I have now read on the internet where several people have had this problem along with random freezing during video play back. I am now trying to decide what to get instead of the zen. I am looking at the Sansa View but, I'm concerned that the battery can never be replaced. I also looked at the Insignia but, I'm concerned on how well it will hold up being a Best Buy store brand item. Any suggestions. I'm looking at spending no more then $150.
Teesh on December 26, 2007 12:01 AM
Does anyone know if the Zen's buttons are backlit? I just got one for my dad for xmas and it doesn't seem to have buttons that are backlit. Not a problem if you're using it during the day, but difficult to use in low light conditions. I can't imagine why they'd exclude that function considering all the previous players seemed to have that.
WoA on December 26, 2007 7:54 PM
Why would you need backlit buttons? There are only four, and they're easily recognizeable by touch.
I've had a different problem with random loss of functionality in the SD card slot. One day it'd recognize and easily (and quickly) play video from a card, and the next it wouldn't even recognize that there WAS a card.
Is this some kind of firmware problem that could be fixed? Has anyone else experienced this?
RY on December 26, 2007 9:09 PM
I returned my player. Looks beautiful but lacks performance. Here are my complaints.
1) Cant bookmark on SD card
2) SD card is not integrated with rest of the player
3) FM radio reception sucks
4) The headphone jack is in pretty useless place. It should have been on the left side so that one can operate controls on the right.
5) The buttons don't light up in the night. So you have no idea what the heck you are pressing.
6) The volume is NOT loud enough. I use it to play audiobooks through my car AUX jack. In spite of full volume, it doesnt help (my ears are ok BTW)
7) Pain in the arse to convert the videos to the form the players likes. I couldn't play half the videos.
8) Crashes very frequently.
9) Cannot copy the files from SD card to internal memory.
10) blah blah blah.....
...
...
...
So I returned it.... I need a player with following features for my audiobook crap.
a) should use AAA battery (for my long flights)
b) should use SD card
c) bookmark
d) fast FF
e) Play WMA at 32kbps
f) play netlibrary DRM files
g) FM radio in case I want to listen to ESPN crap from my Gym TV (they modulate audio on FM).
I am willing to pay any amount money to get these features.
Cannot find a player that does this except Motorola m25 or Rio Carbon. But these cannot read SD card beyond 1G. So I am looking for a player to upgrade with no luck.
Sandisk seem to have most of the features except no bookmark and no fast-FF. It takes me 3+ hours to FF a book that is 20 hours long. It is stupid. I sent an email to Sandisk requesting them to add bookmark and fast-FF feature. They have no clue what the heck I am talking about.
RY on December 28, 2007 3:19 PM
Ok, after lot of searching over internet. I think I found a player that is the best fit for audiobook listeners.
The player is ...
...
...
Cowon D2....
I ordered the 4Gig version from Amazon.com yesterday for $145. I received it today. I used it briefly. Fantastic player!!!
Maurk on December 29, 2007 9:28 AM
I have had the Zen for about 3 days now and find it to better than some of the posting complaints here. I got the 8 gb one and loaded up about 5 gb. The unit powers up in about 5 seconds. The firmware updated fine. The SD slot complaints are accurate but I just put movie files on them and they play fine. Music files on the SD only give a filename until played, so filename IS important for SD files. Although not perfect, I am pleased with the Zen and do NOT plan to send it back. I love the wallpaper feature, sound is excellent, battery life is longer than many and slideshow feature is good. I rate it a 7.5
Elizabeth on January 2, 2008 4:05 PM
ok i had had my 4GB creative seen for a while now and it was doing fine till than it like goes blank, i mean its on but there nothing on the screen i cant upload any songs on it now and sometimes the blue light on the side flashes on and off. i cant do anything when it just has a blank screen i cant even turn it off! i really need help. please and thank you
???? on January 4, 2008 7:36 PM
its the best thin in the world
Ben on January 5, 2008 12:13 AM
If your screen is going black while uploading files, then simply get a small paper clip and insert it into the reset button. When you turn your ZEN back on it will rebuild the files, and everything will be as good as new. The memory from the SD slot does become integrated into the rest of the files, as long as you upload the files on to the ZEN while the SD card is in, and not directly to the SD card itself. If the top view of the screen bothers you, look at it normally in the middle, and you should be fine.
rapla on January 5, 2008 4:02 PM
sorry for my bad english... im french
i want to know wich is better the creative zen or the sansa connect i want to buy one of them
Norm on January 7, 2008 8:45 PM
I'm not a big fan of the Sansa's, I purchased the e250 for my niece for Christmas and was going to load some mp3's for her so she would have something to listen to instead of the preloaded demos. Anyway I didn't even get that far since I couldn't get my computer to recognize it when I plugged it into my USB port. The Sansa screen would say disconnected right after I try to connect it to my pc. Their website said you have to download a firmware update installer software from their site in order to download the correct firmware for your particular player. I'm not sure If that installer is suppose to help my pc recognize the player when I connect or not. But if I have to go through all that trouble just to try to connect then it's not worth it. I promptly returned it and replaced it with a Truly FT-602 2GB player. Connecting the FT602 was pretty much pnp and transfering file was easy. However I noticed that the battery charge indicator went from full to empty then everywhere in between in the span of one song. I spent a week exchanging emails with their tech support to try to fix the problem with the battery indicator with no luck. So I take it back to Fry's for a replacement. While looking at all the MP3 players I noticed the Zen and liked the display model. So in the span of 2 weeks I went from the Sandisk Sansa e250 to the Truly FT-602 and ended up with the Creative Zen 4GB. The moral of this story is don't get a Sansa e250. I think I'll keep Zen for a while. And as for what my neice ended up with for Christmas, I gave her my old Truly MP-310+. Who knows, maybe next year I'll give her my Zen and get me something else.
CharPaula on January 17, 2008 7:08 AM
Bought the Zen 4GB for my Mom for Christmas. She has a Sansa for music - I bought her the Zen for video. The screen is incredible. And when she isn't watching videos and doesn't have her Sansa with her she can listen to the FM radio. The radio reception with the included headphones was not very good - but with her inexpensive Panasonic (the ones that hang over the ears) headphones the reception is very good.
I charge it up for her every nite and load new videos. The video conversion is the only complaint I have... not able to batch and having to convert 75% of the videos. It is also a pain to load the SD card with videos as it has to be installed in the player. I had hoped to have multiple SD cards built for her giving her a larger library of videos to select from.
She loves the player... one of the best Christmas presents I've gotten for her :)
Bak on January 18, 2008 2:56 PM
Very nice product.
I agree with the review... anyway for those who experience player's crashes: upgrade the firmware and you'll no more be bored.
Bombo on January 23, 2008 8:40 PM
The first week I received this product, I have to say it was almost like the time I got my first computer. It worked wonderfully for a day. Problems began the next morning when I started to listen to it on my drive to school, the screen froze and the song stopped, and more problems began from there. It became an almost daily routine to find a tiny paper-clip or a piece of graphite from a mechanical pencil to hit the small inconvenient "Reset" button. A couple weeks later the Recovery Console menu appeared on screen when I pulled the Zen out of my pocket and turned it on. I scrolled down to the "Reboot" option and it rebooted only to come up with the same message to re-install the firmware. That same day (today) I connected the mp3 player to my computer and pulled out the installation disc to re-install the firmware, and after that failed to solve my problem I turned to Creative.com for a solution and found a firmware fix that was basically a downgrade to a more "stable" version. So I downloaded that and ran it with my Zen connected to the computer via USB cable and selected in the menu Re-Install Firmware, and then it completely shutdown my Zen so that it wasn't detectable by the computer anymore and the Recovery Console did not come up anymore. As soon as I hit the little "Reset" button, it would keep popping up with the huge message "Firmware Problem". So that's where I now am, coming online to look for solutions to this highly stressful problem, and I ended up here.
So that's my story of my >>2nd
If you have any solutions to this irritating problem please feel free to email me @ azns_rool@hotmail.com.
~Bombo (I hope to return this POS and maybe wait a year or five.)
King on January 31, 2008 1:54 PM
Awesome player!!
have got one
I agree that the SD card issue is pretty bad but imo the advantages far outweigh the disadvantages. First I dithered between the iriver clix 2 and the cowon D2 but in the end I bought my ZEN cause I'm a Creative-fan. I think it was the right choise.
Dave on February 17, 2008 6:21 PM
I bought the 4GB player because:
1. 4 gigs will hold ~30 hours of music @ 192Kbps, player battery rated for 25 hours.
2. I would not want the SD integrated into my library, I would rather browse the card considering it would have any video I would watch on it.
3. I love the way it looks and there are only 9 buttons, could be used in the dark VERY easily, from the replies I've read it sounds like we have some developmentally challenged reviewers.
4. No proprietary connections, simple to navigate, and the volume gets loud enough to be uncomfortable (using SONY MDR-V600's).
P.S. Encoding video should be done at ~800Kbps to minimize chop from high movement, I use 768Kbps for Video along with 64Kbps audio + 9Kbps overhead, the player's video capability is weak but you cannot expect +1Mbps video from a player this size.
Dave on February 17, 2008 6:21 PM
I bought the 4GB player because:
1. 4 gigs will hold ~30 hours of music @ 192Kbps, player battery rated for 25 hours.
2. I would not want the SD integrated into my library, I would rather browse the card considering it would have any video I would watch on it.
3. I love the way it looks and there are only 9 buttons, could be used in the dark VERY easily, from the replies I've read it sounds like we have some developmentally challenged reviewers.
4. No proprietary connections, simple to navigate, and the volume gets loud enough to be uncomfortable (using SONY MDR-V600's).
P.S. Encoding video should be done at ~800Kbps to minimize chop from high movement, I use 768Kbps for Video along with 64Kbps audio + 9Kbps overhead, the player's video capability is weak but you cannot expect +1Mbps video from a player this size.
Huan on February 20, 2008 3:05 AM
The first thing i saw when i bought it was a white screen! None of the solutions worked ie. downgrading the firmware...Should i wait for an update or just return the stupid player.
zzz on February 25, 2008 11:28 PM
I'm new to this. I've tried to convert video from DVD on a couple converters (iriverter using Cowon D2 profile, Bitripper) w/ poor results. Freez DVD Ripper didn't even read the DVD files. The video looks very blotchey, mostly in dark video. Can anyone recommend free sw for converting DVDs? Any step-by-step instructions online?
Thank you!
nilufer on February 28, 2008 3:45 PM
Hi all..a lill info needed out here...me thinking of gettin myself either a creative V plus or a creative zen...which one would u suggest.? The only reason y i like the V plus is for the inline recording...Does anyone kno if I can record radio through the it on the V plus ? If not, I guess I'll go for the creative Zen...lemme no people..
Tom on February 29, 2008 6:45 PM
:l
I was looking into buying one of these, but this review makes it look att together less promising than on the official website.
The SD thing screws it for me, so it's a big no no!
Anyone know of a good MP3 with video playback that looks good and is under GBP 40? Lol, i have the ZEN V Plus, but my dad wants it -.-
Cheers
Tom - xD
gera jero on March 1, 2008 6:24 PM
i am disappointed with the video. i tried to play music videos and it is not continous. once the music video finished, just stop then you will press again the next music video...you can't skip or go to the next music video as well.. this is very frustrating.....
techforumz on March 1, 2008 10:36 PM
nilufer I suggest you go for the zen. For the same price you get a 2.5" screen and plays videos (V plus only plays MJPEG)
EnzoTen (Grahm) on March 2, 2008 11:45 AM
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