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: 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: Great Mp3 player, but a few annoyances
Summary: 4 Stars
The players I own in addition to the Zen are: Creative Microphoto, Vision:M 30gb, Sansa e280, and Insignia Pilot 8gb. I have owned a Muvo 4gb, Ipod Mini (1st generation), and Rio Carbon.
I've had this player for about three weeks, and the best things about this Zen 16gb player are:
- small size, lightweight
- great sound quality
- many special features. The best ones are: on-the-fly saveable playlists, custom wallpaper, SD expansion slot, option-packed interface, voice recording
- plays .avi, .divx, .wmv videos
- fairly large screen and beautiful display
I expected this newest player from Creative to at least match the Vision:M's great qualities, but I found that the Vision: M's screen and interface in general was better. For example, the wallpaper on my Zen looks darkened and washed out anywhere else besides the main menu. On the Vision: M, the wallpaper always looked vibrant and bright, even when the screen is dimmed. Some other cons are:
- Barely viewable screen when it's bright/daytime outside. I don't know why it's like this. My Insignia and Vision: M don't have that problem.
- The videos play better on the Vision: M and Insignia. By that I mean the videos look richer and bolder on the Vision: M and Insignia.
- Some conversion issues that I didn't have with the Vision: M. The player cuts off the last 7 seconds of .avi videos. I have found a program that bypasses this problem, but it shouldn't happen in the first place.
In other words, I would have been completely happy with my Vision: M and Insignia if it weren't for the Vision:M's size, and the Insignia's inferior sound quality, lack of on-the-fly and custom wallpaper capabilities, and the fact that every time you watched a video, the current music playlist would be deleted.
I thought the Zen would be the perfect player because it had all the features I wanted and is really compact and thin. In many ways it is an excellent, sturdy player, but I am disappointed that the screen doesn't compare to the Vision:M's. The biggest drawback for me is that you can't really see the screen under the sunlight. But the good far outweighs the bad, and I'm satisfied with this player. It is, overall, the best one I've owned so far. Oh, and a good rule of thumb is to put a screen protector on your player as soon as you get it. After all, once you get the screen scratched, you can't really get them off.
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: Cannot connect to PC
Summary: 2 Stars
I bought this little player after reading the mix of positive and negative reviews. I chose it over the Sony NWZA818 because of the cheaper price and because of the non-proprietary USB/charging connector. I'm a computer engineer, and was confident that I would be able to solve the various software issues described in the negative reviews. I was wrong...
Others have already described the good aspects of the device - the good sound quality and the visually stunning display. I agree, so I won't go into that. Instead, I'll list the negatives I experienced.
First, the user interface and the menu structure are non-intuitive. Sometimes the East and West navigation keys are used, and sometimes the menu key at the top of the device is used. When trying out one of the bundled audio files, I could pause the playback and restart it from the beginning, but was not able to stop it. For ease of use, this is no Apple iPod.
The device firmware does not seem to be stable. At one stage when pressing one of the menu keys, the unit locked up, and I had to reset the device by inserting a paper-clip into the reset hole located at the bottom of the unit. Not so encouraging. I had earlier downloaded and installed the latest firmware version before using the device, so using an old software version was not the problem.
Finally, the unit does not always successfully conect to the PC. The first time I tried it after installing the supplied software it worked, and was able to use the supplied Creative ZEN Explorer to copy files to the unit. But that was it. All further attempts failed. Even reinstalling the software failed to solve the problem. The System Tray on the bottom right of the desktop showed "MTP Device connected", but selecting ControlPanel -> System -> Hardware -> DeviceManger listed the Creative ZEN as an unknown device. During one attempt, when I disconnected the unit from the PC the unit displayed "Shutting down..." and then locked up. Again I had to use the paper-clip to reset the device. The Trouble Shooter page on the Creative ZEN web page also failed to identify and solve the connection problem.
The unit goes back to the shop tomorrow. A pity, because the sound quality and display are very good. The Sony is starting to look attractive, in spite of my misgivings and the much more expensive price. I noticed it has attracted very few negative comments here on Amazon.
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!