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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for British Pounds
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Creative Zen 16 GB Portable Media Player (Black)
Customer Review: very good music capabilities but frequent freezes bring down its value
Summary: 3 Stars
PROS--you can personalize your zen (wallpaper, viewable menu options, shuffle on/off, brightness etc.)
--extra features such as radio, mic (very sensitive mic)
--ALOT OF SPACE for a bunch of vids and songs (i have about 1500 songs and 30 vids and its not half full.)
--nice feeling to it..lightweight, small, the back wont get scratched easily (coughiPod)
--conveniant memory card can be switched
--relatively big, pretty and bright screen
CONS--freezes ALOT..this is annoying!! >_< (idk if its this particular product or all in general but mine freezes anytime from listening to music to transferring data. the reset button is good but if you dont have a paperclip around you then youre screwed.)
--usb cord is like 2 inchs long (use any other)
--headphone cushions come off and one side stops workin in few months of use..invest in others for backup
--transferring songs and videos can take a while with the zen software. just copy n paste
--buttons feel cheap and the updownleftright buttons are awkward to press
--this is something of a tick for me..you know how on the iPod when you search an artist, all the songs appear in one list? on the Zen, the albums appear first so you'd have to click each album to listen to the songs..you cant really listen to all of the artist's songs straight out unless you make a playlist OR you get rid of album titles :|
BOTTOM LINE: pretty decent mp3 player. it has many cool features and looks beautiful but be skeptical of the hardware
Customer Review: Not really impressed
Summary: 3 Stars
This is my first mp3 player, and it was not as easy to use as I had hoped, but I did figure it out after a while - took more work than I thought it would. Also, it froze up on me while I was trying to rip cd's. I spent hours reading help pages, and finally just gave up. After a couple days I tried it again and then it worked fine. It died (black screen, completely unresponsive to me pressing buttons, no response when the reset button was pushed) on me one other time too - I think this happens when the battery runs too low. I plug it in for a couple days and then it turns on fine. The battery doesn't last anywhere close to what Creative claims - maybe half of what they say.
The volume could go louder. I read that other people also found this to be true, but after they purchased quality headphones (I priced what they recommended, well over $150). My $70 headphones have wonderful sound quality, but the volume isn't there.
The USB cord they send is about 3 inches long, which makes it completely useless with my desktop, unless I want to hang my Zen from it, which I don't think would be good for it. So I had to spend another $20 on a decent length cord.
The screen looks great, crisp and clear. Sound quality is excellent (not that I have alot of experience with what different mp3's sound like).
From the research that I did, the price at Amazon for this mps is very competative, and I have confidence in the products they sell. Shipping was prompt.
Customer Review: The Zen ROCKS, all others pale in comparison...
Summary: 5 Stars
I first bought a Zen Vision M 30gig last year for my son for Christmas. He has absolutely LOVED it since day one. It plays nearly every format of video, something the Zune and Ipods don't, has an FM receiver, mic, multiple EQ settings, etc and the software to get everything where it needs to be is easy to use and not bloated up with unnecessary junk.
Along comes this new Zen and I bought 2 for Christmas for my daughters. The new Zen is smaller, easier to control (although the Vision M was still easy...)and does everything the previous version did! The major difference here is the drive size. The previous Zen Vision M came in 30 and 60 gigabyte versions and the new ones, due to all being strictly flash driven instead come in 2,4,8,16, and 32GB sizes. (The 32gb version just came out.) The beauty of this is you can get one that fits your budget AND you can also add in more memory with the SD card slot! For my younger daughters I only purchased the 4 GB versions, knowing IF they every filled them up I could easily add in an SD card to give more space.
These are simple to update, simple to load, sound great, video's look amazing, and if you try and put video on there that isn't the right format a window pops open and converts it for you! They are also very small with a screen that's just the right size. 2 guys I work with both sold their Zune's and bought these instead.
If you want a great MP3, Video, and picture player you can't go wrong here.
Customer Review: iPod killer
Summary: 5 Stars
I received my new 16GB ZEN a couple of days ago and I have to say I am very impressed with that little player. The player came out of the box with the newest firmware and so its startup time is amazingly fast now, basically you push the powerbutton and the player starts playing the song it was playing when you turned it off in less than 2 seconds. The sound of the new ZEN is very clear and deep, which is tipical for all creative players in recent years. The player sounds much much better than any iPod I have heard, and the only brand that can beat that sound is Cowon, but of course that comes at a higher price. Especially if you get very good headphones the sound of the ZEN becomes very very good. I only care about music so that is why I focus on the sound mostly, but I have to say that the display is also very bright and clear. And the player looks better when you actually see than on the pictures. Also the transfer of files is much faster compared to the iPod counterpart, I also like the navigation better. One thing I don't like is the power button, it is not the most convenient button on a player but I can live with that. Apart from that I cannot really say anything else negative about this player, it did live up to my expectations and I am very satisfied. And about the the review that says it doesn't support Amazon Unbox videos, you can ignore that because it does. I couldn't care less about this feature but apparently some people do.Customer Review: Great player, impressions are similar to the ones below
Summary: 5 Stars
I just got the 16GB Zen after dumping coffee on my 30 GB Vision M, and although I was a bit skeptical with downsize in memory, I am completely satisfied with my purchase. I haven't even come close to halfway filling up my player yet, and I have a few movies, complete season of Family Guy, and some audiobooks along with my music. I like that the SD card option is there, even if I haven't needed to use it yet.
All pros and cons listed in the below few reviews are what I experienced as well. Completely agree with getting better headphones, and battery life. I actually use the charger for my phone on my Zen(with the mini USB attachment) so I dont have any issues with a power adapter.
One feature I fell in love with recently is the Audible compatibility. I have long commutes to Toronto from Detroit often, and recently picked up audiobooks as an interesting way to keep myself awake!! The Audible feature did not exist on previous generation players that I owned (Vision M, Gigabeat, etc) and it was a huge pain in the butt to try and convert all the .aa formats and break them up into .mp3s. Now I can just upload directly from the website and use Creative Audible Sync to my player in its original 8hr format. The Bookmarks feature lets me mark my spot without having to remember where in the .mp3 file I had paused it.
All in all, a great player and would highly recommend to my family and friends.