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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Customers in the UK,
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Creative Zen 16 GB Portable Media Player (Black)
Customer Review: Excellent music media player
Summary: 5 Stars
I purchased this 16GB media player because it was big enough to hold all of my music, plus leave extra room for videos. It turns out that I don't really use the video playback all that much. If I was commuting on a train or bus, maybe, otherwise I keep a couple of TV shows on it for demo purposes.
Here, I'll list my answers or corrections to what I've read when researching this item.
Power Management is very well thought out. People have said that the backlight doesn't go out, which wastes power. Actually, when you turn the lock switch on, the screen does go completely off after a decent period of time. It will stay on in a very dim backlit mode long enough for you to completely read a scrolling title, but it is smart about conserving battery power.
Additionally, it has a smart power up routine. It seems that when you turn it off, it actually goes to a very low power, sleep mode for a while before going into a complete power off mode. At least this is my observation since you can turn it off in the car, walk into the gym, change and get to the machines before turning it on. When you do switch it on, it immediately starts playing from where you left off in the car. I think this is a very nice touch, especially if you've ever used a player that always takes 10-30 seconds to boot even if you turned it off 1 second ago.
I love the bookmark abilities. It will hold 10 bookmarks and since I play a lot of podcasts and netcasts on it, I love being able to bookmark my spot in a few podcasts and always go back to where I left off. Before this feature, I hated switching from a podcast to music because I'd never find the right spot in the podcast to resume from.
Fast forward and rewind is also very podcast friendly. If you hold the button long enough, it accelerates the fast forward speed so you start skipping minutes instead of seconds going through a long podcast.
Navigation is very easy. It even lets you search for songs by typing in a word in the title.
Sychronization with Windows Media Player is very simple. I even have search playlists in Media Player, and they transfer over well.
The overall design is wonderful to use. The horizontal, landscape type of use makes it easy to use and easy to hold. The screen fits better this way and the size of the unit is perfect. It gives you a huge screen on a device that still fits in an Altoids Tin, which is a great way to get laughs when using it.
IT HAS A STANDARD USB CONNECTOR!!! This one feature made the choice simple for me. I was just about to buy a Sansa since they're a great choice too, but the ability to plug in a standard USB cable at home, at work, and at other houses made the difference! I don't care what other features a company can build into their special connectors, every device should allow me to use any USB cable to charge and browse the device. I buy my cell phones and other devices based on the support of standard USB connectors.
Overall, I strongly reccomend this device.
Customer Review: Great little MP3
Summary: 5 Stars
After researching all the non-harddrive MP3 players out there, I decided on the Creative Zen. It was down to the Zen VS Sandisk Sansa View 16GB. My criteria was:
1) Solid State
2) 16GB or larger
3) Ability to add more memory (reason Ipod & Zune weren't in the running)
4) FM Radio (Ditto)
5) Memo recording
6) Decent sized display (older eyes)
7) Able to play wide variety of formats, no DRM (I hate Itunes)
While I preferred the way you operate the Sansa View, I finally went with the Zen due to the reviews of customers.
PROS: Nice thin size. Great bright display. Pretty good battery life. Excellent sound quality. FM tuner has fairly decent sensitvity. OEM headphones are pretty good with the exception of the straight plug, a 90 degree plug would be better.
CONS: Hard to operate with left hand due to design. Included software is a little clunky, but still does update automatically. Not a whole lot of aftermarket accessories available. The content on the SD card doesn't show up in the normal listings, you have to go into the SD card to access it - this prevents you from including the content in playlists and sorts.
I would like to be able to sort the music easier using the Creative software, maybe in a future update.
Tips: Get a screen protector and put it on before you take it out. Also recommend a case, I found some of the rubber ones on eBay. DON'T leave it plugged in and let your computer go into hibernate mode, this locked mine up and nothing Creative or anyone else suggested would make it power back up. Had to return it to Amazon for a replacement. The folks at Amazon sent a replacement ASAP - Thanks Guys! The only additional feature I would like is Bluetooth so I could get rid of the cord.
UPDATE 10/20/2009
I still, for the most part, like this player...BUT....Aside from the inability to access any music stored on the SD card in the normal controls and playlists, I've also found that it's a real pain to add a song to an existing Playlist. Or even to sort the Playlists.
I've yet to find a way to easily sort my Playlists alphabetically (to see if I've already added a song) so that the new sorting will transfer to the player. These are BASIC features that should be easy to perform. Also, Creative is VERY slow, if at all, to fix missing features. They seem to put the product out, support it for a few months, and then 'sorry folks, you're on your own'...
These things will keep me from buying Creative players in the future unless they fix them.
Customer Review: Cool
Summary: 5 Stars
Wow, I bought this to upgrade from my 4 GB iPod nano (2gen) I love it! It works perfectly (so far). Hopefully reading this you know about the promoted features but here are some things I would've loved to know before I bought it.
It has this awesome advanced shuffle feature. You start playing something then simply navigate to any category and you can add it to the list of what to listen too. (like adding a single artist or cd or song) If you have it on shuffle you can listen to any selection of music shuffled together. You can save this list as a playlist as well. This is a feature I use constantly.
Also, I read a lot of complaints about the SD card slot. I find it useful, if only for videos or pictures. I was on vacation and my memory card on my camera was full, I simply put the SD card into my player, imported all the pictures and then cleared it, so I would be free to take more pictures.
This player also has some handy little features that are well integrated. I can change the play mode right from the song menu (it's impossibly annoying on the iPod). The My Shortcut button is also immensely useful, I have it set to go to Date and Time. Navigating through long lists is so much easier than even the brilliant design of the iPod. I have 2010 songs on here and I can find them twice as quick as on the iPod. My last little feature is that you can zoom in on a portion of a picture and set that portion as your wallpaper. (very useful for moving the center of the picture so it isn't covered by the icons on the main menu)
I'm not going to mention the sound quality because even though it is great, it depends heavily on the headphones (I have some Sony's that work well).
The software is also good, fast, effective and very easy to use. One thing I did notice is that it cut off the end of some information, like my artists, songs or album information. It's a little weird but easily fixed. This only happened about five times and is such a minor bug I almost didn't mention it.
I will warn you, it's thicker than it looks in that isometric view they have on the page. Also the placement of the headphone jack is a bit annoying when trying to operate one handed. I will give the designers credit that it was the only place they could've put it without it being even more annoying.
Overall, an excellent mp3 player that I would (and have) highly reccommed to anyone who will listen. It has a very well thought out design and it works perfectly.
Customer Review: Out-of-the-Box Review
Summary: 5 Stars
This is an out-of-the-box review, based on first impressions of the device.
Good:
1) Sleek and shiny.
2) High quality screen.
3) Amazing color depth and picture quality, even at 10% brightness.
4) Surreal sound quality, as long as you use good headphones.
5) Microphone can pick up normal speaking voice from almost 20 feet away, though you may have to up the volume on playback.
6) Videos look awesome. The screen on this device handily beats out Ipod, Sansa, and iRiver screens in visual quality.
7) Visual themes. Haven't explored these much. Appear to change the wallpaper and the look of various menu/interface widgets.
8) EQ. Not quite as expansive or customizable as the EQ on a Zen Micro, but better than anything you will find on a modern device.
9) Transfers occur much faster than they do with an Ipod or Sansa.
Bad:
1) Crappy earplugs, just marginally better in quality than the earplugs that ship with Ipods.
2) Button resistance: you will feel the buttons on this device. Requires an adjustment if you're coming from one a touch-sensitive button-freee device like the ZEN Micro. The buttons become easier to press with use.
3) The buttons, once successfully depressed, make a loud clicking noise. The noise gets softer with use.
4) Exclusively for right-handed users, unless you can read upside down.
5) Tiny buttons. I have small hands and I think the buttons are too small.
The Ugly:
1) Clamshell encasing safely ensconces the ZEN from harm. It also keeps the device safely out of your hands for several more minutes.
2) The included USB cable is 3 inches long, *including* the USB plugs. On the bright side, the ZEN uses a standard mini-USB hub, so any mini-USB cable will work, such as the generously long cables that once shipped with all ZEN products. I use the cable that came with my ZEN Micro.
3) No power adapter. I use the power adapter that came with my ZEN Micro.
Untested:
- Memory card slot. I don't own any SD cards.
- TV (Video>TV).
- Radio.
- File format compatibility.
EDIT:
I gave this 5 stars, despite the button problems, because the problems faded away with use. It also took a few minutes to adjust to the button size. My gripes in The Ugly section apply almost universally to almost all modern mp3 players, including Ipods. I didn't think it was fair to penalize this device for industry-wide shortcomings.
Customer Review: A Great MP3 player, despite a few glitches
Summary: 5 Stars
I wanted to wait a month before doing my review, since it often takes that long for issues to surface, and my opinions to solidify. Just so you know, I only use my ZEN to play MP3s. I don't store pictures on it, and have no desire to watch videos on a tiny little screen (although the image is remarkably bright and sharp, with fantastic color depth).
Having said that, this is a GREAT MP3 player! Noise levels are incredibly low, and the EQ settings (both presets and custom) guarantee a sonic experience that will be pleasing to almost any ear. I like bass, and this unit can certainly deliver (with the right headphones).
Here's what I like:
- Great sound! (See above)
- No moving parts. Completely solid state player with no disc drive, which should decrease vibration susceptibility and increase unit life.
- Lot's of storage space. I have 834 MP3 files downloaded, with almost three forths of my memory leftover.
- Reliable operation: My unit was shipped with OS ver. 1.10, which gave me headaches. It would sometimes hang when connected to my computer, or even when just turning the unit on. I had to reset it several times. But ever since I upgraded to ver. 1.20.02 several weeks ago, it has been rock solid! I have downloaded to it, uploaded from it, and played it for hours at a time with no problems whatsoever.
- Long battery life. I haven't tested how long it lasts, but it seems to go for hours and hours without needing a recharge.
- Connector placement: All the connectors are on the unit's side, allowing all cables to be routed next to each other in my car (ahh, it's the simple things in life...).
Here's what I wish was better:
- User interface: Button functions and menus took me a little while to get used to.
- Software gremlins: Syncing album artwork to the music sometimes gets messed up. For example, whatever "Greatest Hits" album is playing, it will show the album cover for Styx "Greatest Hits".
- Construction: The tactile feedback from the buttons and switches makes me wonder how long they will last. Perhaps this is an unfair criticism, since I am an engineer used to working with expensive lab equipment.
Incidentally, the "5 in 1 New Creative Zen Kit" with AC charger and car charger (also available from Amazon) is a GREAT accessory, worth every penny!