Creative Zen 16 GB Portable Media Player (Black)
by Creative
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List Price: Category: Network Media Player See more product details |
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Creative Zen 16 GB Portable Media Player (Black)
Customer Review: Worth every penny...
Summary: 5 Stars
I'm a techie. Not really a super techie, but everything I own in the techological sense is a top brand or is one of the highest rated in its class. When I buy something I want to make sure I'm getting the best I can for my money. Anyway I needed to find a replacement for my iRiver H10 20 GB MP3 player that I bought 2 1/2 years ago. It was actually the top-rated MP3 player in its class (go figure) when it came out. Overall, it was way ahead of its time and served me great throughout its life. For an MP3 player user, I'm pretty hardcore. I worked on a cruise ship for 2 years and honestly used my iRiver at least 2 - 3 hours each day and took it everywhere with me. It had its fair share of drops and eventually it was needing reset more often than it needed charged (battery life started at 16 hours, ended up at 4). Anyway, in a perfect world I would be completely happy with a newer version of what I already had.
Unfortunately it didn't exist. iRiver got known for making its Clix series and was focusing on much smaller MP3 players that were between 2 and 4 GB. My old one was 20 GB. I listen to trance music more than anything else and I honestly have at least 10 GB of trance music alone that I want to be on my player, so a bigger capacity is a must. I also took a lot of good videos/pictures when I was on my cruise ship (in Hawaii) and wanted a device that I could use to share those with friends. For listening on my own, I use Shure E3C headphones (which are absolutely amazing by the way).
My first choice was to get the Archos 605 WiFi player that just came out. I figured it would solve all my problems. I don't need to go into too much detail about what it promises but the device looked really neat. I own a lot of DIVX movies and also thought I could just put them on the player (sized at 40 GB) and would be able to watch them whenever I wanted. The battery life was rated at 13 hours for music and 5 hours for video. The problem with the Archos is that it comes as a barebones sytem. Everything extra you want it to do costs more, including watching your own movies.
I was under the impression that I could take videos on my digital camera and transfer them to my Archos media player and watch them like they were on my pc. NOPE. Ok so I have to convert them with the included software. NOPE. Nothing's included. I downloaded a sample program that converted files into any format you wanted but because it was a sample, there would be a watermark that would flash on and off the screen for the duration of your video that would only go away after you use the real program. Couple this kind of program in with the already $300 you spent on the unit and you're on your way to making it a not-so-user-friendly machine. Plus, when I took it to the office my first day of using it the battery barely lasted 8 hours playing music and showing minimal video. It had some nice features and had some nice add-ons available, but overall was not worth it for me. So I took that back to the store and was in the market for something new. I started looking into the newest MP3 players. That's when I saw the Creative Zen.
They had the 8 GB version of the Zen at Circuit City (where I bought the Archos), but they did not have the 16 GB version that I would want. You can read the editor's review to find out all the actual specs, I'll just list what I like and don't like about it.
When I first picked it up I was amazed at how light-weight it was. Another reviewer talks about how it feels like a pack of gum. Well, he's right. But that's actually a good thing. It's VERY light-weight but also has a great battery life, seems really durable, and looks slick in its all black paint. If you're working out with it in your pocket you may actually forget it's there. If it accidentally falls out of your pocket it wont even rip the headphones out of your ear because it's too light. So I think the weight is a good thing.
The included software makes it easy to put media on the device and it only takes about an hour or so to fully charge the battery. Both pluses there. At first I was disappointed that the battery life wasn't lasting as long as it said it would, which was around 20 hours or so. I realized the screen would be dim, but still on when the music was playing and couldn't figure out how to turn it off to save battery power. Turns out the only way (that I can figure out) is to lock the unit while it's on and that makes the screen black out but you can't even change the volume while it's locked.
Onscreen controls are real easy to figure out from the get-go and pretty self-explanatory. It also took me a while to figure out how to get to the list of songs that were actually playing, instead of just the song that was playing. To do that, you need to keep hitting the "enter" button when a song is playing. First time hitting the "enter" button lets you rank the song, second time shows the album cover, third time shows all the songs in the list you are currently playing so you can pick another song without trying to find it on a random shuffle.
As far as the videos and pics are concerned, this little screen looks a whole lot better than I thought it would. Yeah, it's small but to have all the other capabilities this device has, it's more than enough. Oh, and with the video, it also doesn't play your DIVX movies or digital camera movies right out of the box. However, this handy little thing comes with FREE SOFTWARE that will convert it for you. Any file, any size, converts for free. Oh what a relief it is!
Sound quality is phenomenal and it comes with some preset equalizer settings which I also enjoy since I do have a large variety of music playing on the player. Oh, and the Archos DID NOT have any preset equalizer settings. I don't listen to the radio or use it for voice messages so I can't give any feedback for those yet.
It doesn't go without its faults though. There are only a few gripes I have about it. The main one is the need to put it in "lock" mode to save the battery power since you have no access to anything while it's in that mode. Another gripe is the power cord that comes with it. For starters, the cord is about 4 inches long and the device can only be charged through a USB port. So to charge it out of a wall you'd need to buy some kind of converter. Charging is quick though, but that cord is so tiny. Also, while the device is charging I can't figure out how to still be playing music. That's about all the negatives I have about it. I'm very happy with my purchase and would recommend this unit to anyone. I paid $250 for it and it's worth every penny. Overall, I'd give it a 9.7 out of 10. Hope this helps some of you.
Customer Review: Compact, Versatile Player for a GREAT price
Summary: 5 Stars
I was looking for a new mp3 player after my old iPod crashed on me a few weeks back. After searching around the internet for an hour, I stumbled across this player. I was very impressed with the results, and it is by far the best player I've ever had experience with.
Appearance (9/10):
The first thing I noticed when I got it, was its size. Its compact, and like everyone says, its the size of a credit card- it fits snuggly in the palm of my hand. It comes in a glossy black, which looks alarmingly eye-catchy. The back is made of less glossy plastic, but still very durable. And lastly, the screen: very vibrant, very clear. Thickness of the player is considerably reduced from Creative's previous players, but it doesn't match up to the competing iPod nano. Overall, this player has a great appearance, with a glossy black surface, vibrant screen, compact size, and well placed navigation.
Sound Quality (10/10):
Player produces great sound quality, although this partially depends on the kind of head phones you are using. The included headphones are a good starter.
Storage (8/10):
Coming in 4, 8, 16, 32 GB, the ZEN does not come close to the bulky 60 GB Vision M it is replacing. To give it some credit though, the player is extremely well priced for the storage it is offering. The SD card expansion slot works very well, even with SDHC cards. The 16GB Zen I purchased is enough room for my entire 1000+ song collection, and even some movies. Overall, the storage is wonderful for the price, and the SD card slot gives room for growth.
Ease of Use (9/10):
This player is compatible with many softwares and formats, but still not up to par with the iTunes + iPod seamless integration. Personally, I did not use the included software, but instead I used MediaMonkey which is a great music organizer, and syncs very efficiently with the Zen. My first sync of roughly 900 songs took about 10 minutes. And thereafter, auto sync works very well and is a 30 second procedure.
Transferring videos to the Zen is quite simple, too. Drag and Drop works quite efficiently, as does the included software.
I did play around with Zencast, a podcast service by creative, and it worked seamlessly with the Zen.
Navigation in the player is very well organized, and a shortcut button (which I set to random play all) is also available.
Format Support (10/10):
I was very impressed with this player and all the file formats and software it works with. Audio wise it supports the basic MP3 and WMA, and it also works with tracks from the iTunes plus store, not to mention subscription services such as Rhapsody. Video wise, it supports Avi and Mpeg, and even DivX and Xvid.
Photo/Video Viewing (9/10):
Excellent photo and video viewing, although the player can slow up when loading high quality images or videos. Good interface. Also, the player loads data from the SD card relatively quickly.
Extra Features (10/10):
The FM Radio and Microphone were my particular favorites of the ZEN's extra features. I also liked how the player allowed me to set a custom wallpaper. It has a calendar and tasks feature, but I really didn't use them. The Volume restriction was very helpful in volume leveling tracks so that some tracks weren't ridiculously higher than others. The SD card slot comes in handy when viewing pictures from my camera, and simply adding some extra storage space.
In the Box, What's included (8/10):
Comes with a USB charger only, which was disappointing, as an AC charger is good when traveling and such. Earphones are a good starter pair. Quick guide to getting started is great for beginners. Unit itself is well packaged.
Accessories (6/10):
Accessories for the Zen are quite limited. Great selection of cases and armbands. Screen protectors and skins are also offered if you search around. What will turn off many buyers is the lack of an affordable docking system available for the player. A good pair of speakers is a good alternative, although it will not charge the player. Accessory wise, the Zen is greatly behind the iPod.
Overall (9/10):
The zen is a great player with very many functions. Sleek, Stylish, Compact design and great interface show off its great appearance. Many customization choices built into the player. Current firmware is very solid. The Zen is very easy to use, and has basic, but easy to use included software, and much more available online. Drag and Drop is very useful. The player has support for many formats, and plays audio, video, and views images extremely well. The ZEN is a great player and stacks up quite a match against the market dominating iPod.
Customer Review: Best flash player on the market, great even for large music collections
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a great choice for those people who previously limited their flash players to workout duty, or only holding a small piece of their large music collection and having to change the music on it every so often. With a 16GB capacity most people can fit their entire collection on here without difficulty, and even have room for some videos.
First impressions of this player are very good. It is extremely appealing to the eye, everyone who sees it will ask about it. It is about the size of a credit card, just thicker (less than 1/2inch). The front is a very glossy black plastic that looks great until you touch it, instantly covering it with fingerprints :) The back is a rough, cheaper feeling black plastic. Overall it has a nice solid weight and feel to it, but not very heavy. This will easily fit in a pocket.
The 2.5" screen is absolutely gorgeous. Very bright with vivid colors. The viewing angle is very good, two people can easily look at the screen at the same time while watching a movie for example. The menus are all nicely animated and intuitive to navigate. The icons and text are big clear and easy to read.
One of the big perks to having so much capacity is plenty of room for videos. This was one of the first things I've tested as it was a big reason for my purchase. First of all it DOES play Amazon Unbox videos perfectly. Transferring files was very easy (just a few clicks) and very quick. The quality of the video was great as well. The max size of videos is apparently 320x240, I have not been able to get it to play anything larger than that. If the video is smaller (for example widescreen) you have the option of playing it at the correct aspect ratio, or fill the screen (stretched out). I've gotten it to play videos encoded in Xvid and WMV format. Xvid files were encoded with AutoGK, and the WMV files were encoded with Arcsoft MediaConverter. If you synchronize with Windows Media Player, you can put in *almost any* video file and it will automatically convert the file into WMV format and then transfer to the player. How long it takes to convert depends on the type of video you're encoding, how big the file is and of course the speed of your computer.
Music sounds very good on this player, but please... get rid of the stock headphones they are horrible. Using a decent pair of headphones makes a HUGE difference. The EQ options are OK, there are about a half dozen presets and a customizable EQ. The "Bass Boost" option just made it worse in my opinion, it just distorted the sound. Otherwise it is a very even and balanced sound, very similar to the Vision:M.
The FM radio has a whopping 32 presets and the reception is pretty good. Strong stations are in stereo, weaker ones come in mono. I haven't had a chance to test out the built-in mic.
I easily transferred music and playlists onto this player from Windows Media Player and MediaMonkey, as well as protected music (WMA) from Napster. Everything was very easy, usually just dragging and dropping. The speed of transfer is probably the fastest I've seen. I've used this player on XP Home and on Vista Premium 64-bit.
Regarding the SD cards. I think its only a slight inconvenience that the memory card media isn't directly integrated with the other content. Meaning if you have videos on the SD card you don't go to the "Video" menu where all the other videos are, you have to access them through the "Memory Card" menu. Once there, you browse through the file structure like normal. If you organize the content smartly on your cards you should have no problem. And really its a small price to pay for that feature. Currently SDHC cards are up to 16GB in capacity, meaning you could double the capacity and carry around 32GB worth of content in your pocket. Amazing. I tested a Kingston 512MB SD Card and a Kingston 2GB microSD card (with adapter of course) and they were recognized and played the content without difficulty.
A quick note about the firmware. Mine came with 1.10.05. When my player turns off, it really turns off. With newer firmwares when it turns off it goes into a sleep mode for a while before it finally turns all the way off. What that means is with the older firmware each time you turn it on it has to "boot" all over again, whereas with the newer firmware you get an "instant-on" at the expense of slightly reduced battery life (since it is asleep and not off). Something to consider before you decide to upgrade the firmware.
Customer Review: I'm so glad I returned my ipod and got this.
Summary: 5 Stars
As a previous iPod owner, a long time ago I wrote an extensive review on here about how the creative zen vision:m blew away the iPod. There were many things that I talked about that really made the ZVM better, not the least of which being the sound quality. This is almost like deja vu for me, because a few weeks ago I picked up an iPod touch, and now I'm writing this to tell anyone who is reading this that if you're looking for an mp3 player, there is no question that this new 16gb Zen once again outdoes the 16gb iPod touch.
In all seriousness, the iPod touch is fun as hell to play with. The apps and internet etc. are extremely useful and extremely entertaining. I have wasted more time on facebook over the last few weeks than i care to admit because of the app for the iPod, but after trying it out for a while, I finally decided that there are a number of problems using the iPod as an mp3 player...the main function it's supposed to provide.
First and foremost, the sound quality of the iPod flat-out sucks compared to this Zen, just like in the past. Using the same mp3 files and the same headphones, the difference that I noticed immediately when plugging into the Zen was amazing. Rap, rock, metal...it doesn't matter. The highs are clearer, the lows are stronger, and the mids are smoother on the Zen. The custom EQ on the zen is so awesome...it leaves me wondering why apple hasn't put it on the ipod yet after all this time. Most of the preset EQ's on the iPod are terrible, including the "Bass Booster", which should really be called "distortion booster"...i'm a bassist, so that's extra frustrating for me.
Now, as a disclaimer, the rest of the reasons I have can be chalked up to personal preference, but I still think they're valid.
Size. This zen is the size of a credit card with obviously more mass. It's actually about the size of the ipod's screen. I love it. It's so much more manageable and light than the ipod. Perfect for a pocket, or if you're wearing it, it's not uncomfortable.
Buttons. After driving once with the iPod, i realized how insane it was trying to just simply change songs. My roommate told me you eventually get used to it, but even he admits that he usually just puts on an album and lets it go. The advantage of being able to feel buttons and press them without looking is something i underestimated. Also, I go to the gym a lot...same story. Every time i wanted to skip a song i had to stop what i'm doing, unlock the screen, then press the exact spot on the screen to skip. the buttons on the zen are placed conveniently and you can feel your way around them easily. simple choice for me, as fun as the touch screen is to play with.
Lastly, as small and light as the zen is, I feel like it's much more sturdy than the iPod touch. The back is black plastic as opposed to the shiny metal that scratches easliy. I feel like when i drop the zen (it will most certainly happen), it will be fine, but with the iPod I was always so paranoid about dropping or hitting it because of how big the screen is, once again distracting me from actually listening to music and doing other things.
Bottom line, while it doesn't have all the functionality of the iPod with the apps and internet etc., as an mp3 player it's really not even close. Just based on sound quality alone you will be satisfied with the zen as your mp3 player...It's really good. The buttons as opposed to the touch screen cater to people with active lifestyles or people who use it while driving...playing around with a touch screen on the highway or as you're about to do a set of bench press is less than pleasurable, take my word for it.
Hope this was helpful...
Customer Review: A Wonderful Invention & Worthy Investment
Summary: 5 Stars
You can check out my other reviews to find out how much a sucker I am for a good MP3 player. As I travel extensively, it's extremely important to me to have a top-of-the-line player (and I'm not necessarily a fan or critic of the iPod, I just haven't taken a great liking to one yet), and the Creative line has had far more hits than they have misses. While I've had mixed results with the Creative Vision W (most of them software glitches than seemed unending), I've had nothing but solid performance out of this next incarnation of the Zen player.
While I'd definitely love this player to be available with 30GB of memory (mostly for the portability of videos), I really can't complain about the offer of 16GB. I do keep my player nearly at capacity most of the time, and, once this little treat gets to under 1GB of available memory, I do experience some similar glitches that I've had with the previous Zen and (moreso) with the Vision W: namely, it either locks up or shuts down completely. When I turn it on again, it keeps locking up until I reset the little system (keep a paperclip handy if you're as anal as I am!), but then it works fine.
For the most part, the video quality is excellent for film / TV transfers. Sequences with much action and quick cuts may come through a bit pixelated, but it's not all that bad. It's certainly very 'watchable,' and the portability is terrific. I'm not entirely certain what file transfers the Zen software requires (not much of a software geek myself); I have noticed that the .avi files need to be converted to a format that meets the operating needs of the player. Again, not a big complaint b/c the software is provided by Creative, and, as long as you have about 10 minutes or so, it'll easily convert an hour of video to something 'loadable' by the player.
As for battery time, the package boasts 30+ hrs of available battery life for listening to music and 5+ hrs for video. Not entirely certain how accurate that may be on the video side, but I've noticed that -- after about ten hours of continuous play -- the battery indicator dips halfway ... so I'd honestly be surprised if I could get 30 hrs of uninterrupted battery life.
Otherwise, FM radio presets are great. 32 available slots. More than enough for most local markets. No AM, but what's new? Photos are crisp and clean on the screen. Creative has really done an admirable service by making these portable players available as external drives to tote pics and small data files around as needed. Bravo!
If I could offer any suggestion (and it's honestly a minor one), it would be that the tiny player offer a modest speaker so that headphones wouldn't always be necessary. I'm not certain how complex a speaker could be at that size, but given the fact the most cell phones offer some type of speakerphone I would think that the technology would be available. It wouldn't be the greatest sound in the world, but it would offer something.
While I'll never use this as much as my Creative Vision W, this is one terrific player and a definite investment for MP player freaks like me!