Creative Zen 4 GB Portable Media Player (Black)
by Creative
|
List Price: Our Price: $45.00 You Save: $54.99 (55%) Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours Category: Network Media Player See more product details |
|---|
Customers in the UK,
Buy this product at amazon.co.uk
for British Pounds
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Creative Zen 4 GB Portable Media Player (Black)
Customer Review: Great bang for your buck
Summary: 4 Stars
The Zen is an excellent mp3 player, but it does fumble in some other areas. So your priorities really determine the value of the purchase.
The Greats:
Music is very easy to load. In fact, the Zen supports the unsecured "AAC" format encoded through iTunes, which makes album management even easier, and this .mp4 format is higher quality than .mp3. So this gives the Zen a head start even before the hardware is considered. The Zen explorer allows you to import albums straight from your iTunes folders, so you can actually continue to use iTunes normally, so long as you do not expect to load protected content. This is great because iTunes automatically populates album information, so you don't need to manually manage which tracks belong to which albums. The Zen does not recognize the album art automatically downloaded through iTunes, but I found all you have to do is copy and paste the graphic and it will show up fine.
The sound itself is excellent, although I am not an audiophile so I will not try to improve on reviews that go into greater detail. The Zen has good mixer support, with premade settings and a custom setting, so you can mess around with that to your heart's delight.
The playlist options really shine. I never gave much thought to playlists before using the Zen, but when you're loading a lot of music, one of the things that happens is you end up neglecting most of it! Being able to assign ratings to the tracks and then play back your highest rated helps to keep in touch with all your best music, even if you loaded some of it a while back. There's also the "least played" option which selects the neglected tracks. Sometimes I buy an album because I love one or two songs on it, and tend to play them more than the rest. The least played playlist can make you appreciate the other stuff you overlooked.
I actually enjoy the radio on the Zen as well. It will store stations for you, gives you a neat reading of the signal strength, and even allows you to label your stations. My only complaint is that if you return to the main menu it exits the radio. Still, the only other thing you might be doing on the Zen at the same time is viewing pictures.
The Not So Greats:
Video quality is actually quite good, but the process of loading videos is not so great. Only videos downloaded from Amazon will load without trouble. Everything else will need to be converted into either 1) the right format, or 2) the right size, by the included software. This takes a long time, much longer than I expected. What this means in practice is, if you only want the option to load some episodes from your favorite show, it's fine. If you want to be able to watch video podcasts...be ready to go through a lengthy file conversion for every episode, because no one offers podcasts formatted for the Zen.
My other concern with video is Amazon. Obviously this is not a defect with Creative, but I found that the video quality of television shows and movies downloaded from Amazon was variable. Amazon offers a full size version of videos for display on the computer or DVR, and a portable version for the Zen. Sometimes the video and audio on the portable version is poorly synced. Also I've downloaded some older movies (like High Noon) that were letterboxed inappropriately, shrinking the image too much. This does impact the quality of video play on the Zen, even though it is not a problem with the player itself.
The memory card slot is a great idea, really. The problem is that files loaded on the card are not integrated into playlists, and videos downloaded from Amazon will not play from the card. So all that extra space? It's not as easy to use as onboard memory. I used it primarily for audio podcasts, converted videos, and pictures. If you really want a lot of room for music or videos, I'd recommend buying a Zen with plenty of internal memory, instead of depending on memory cards. I thought I'd save the money and buy the 4gb Zen, and later regretted that choice.
The Verdict:
If you just want a solid mp3 player that will play your music, you can't go wrong with the Zen. It packs a great bang for your buck. It's also a pretty attractive looking device. However in today's mp3 player market of podcasts, games and other applications, you might find the Zen awkward and behind the times. Considering what an iPod Touch or iPhone is capable of, this may be worth thinking about if you want more out of your player and are willing to pay for it.
Customer Review: I'm loving this device more each day!
Summary: 5 Stars
I had been researching for months before deciding on the Creative ZEN. My first player was a Sandisk Sansa e140. For a 1st player it was okay, but my main gripe was that it had no resume feature or bookmarks, amongst other defects. Anyway, it was okay for a beginner device.
About three months ago I decided it was time for a change, since I knew Sandisk, I bought a Sansa e260 4gig: it was nice, but, still no bookmark and the thing was just not built right, seemed like it would break in two weeks...I returned it and after one month of looking at reviews on dedicated gadget websites and Youtube video reviews and looking and trying mp3 players at stores, I finally decided and ordered the Creative ZEN.
Half a year ago,I subscribed to a "Rhapsody to Go" subscription for my son(at 14.99 a month), and I was looking for an mp3 player that would be compatible, the ZEN was not on Rhapsody's "Accepted Players" list.
Still...I decided on the Creative ZEN
I receive my Creative 4GB ZEN 3 days after ordering...Amazon quick!
I looked at the packaging, not too impressive. Charged it up and after a couple of hours (with half a charge because I couldn't wait anymore) I began to experiment.
You can operate all functions practically without reading the manual, it has a very intuitive interface.
I was very pleased with the look and feel of the player.It has a nice weight to it, light enough for a shirt pocket, yet still has the weight of a quality product.
The screen gets smudged up quickly, but it's a non issue. I love the interface and how the pictures and videos look. The volume is loud enough, it may not be the most top quality sound, but it's an MP3 player the size of a credit card...what would you expect?
I was very happy for the first two days using my new toy...I loaded, photos, videos...I had a family video and a short Hendrix concert video. No problem, excellent playback. I even charged it using my Razor V3 cell phone charger! Cool!
Anyway, last night I go in the Rhapsody site and plug in my ZEN and find that it shows on the
I click on authorize device...BINGO! Device is authorized!
I have loaded this thing with tons of stuff from "Rhapsody to GO"...up to this point I had second thoughts about this player, but the fact that it works with Rhapsody to GO was the biggest selling point for me...
Rhapsody needs to update their site and show that this device is Rhapsody to Go compatible.
PROS:
1) you can set 10 bookmarks
2) Beautiful interface menu display
3) Good sound quality
4) Small and slim (pocket friendly)
5) Resume feature
6) Many options including selection of a "personal shortcut key"
7) Easy to operate and to load files to
8) Lots of features at a very reasonable price
9) Works with Rhapsody to Go...also has free Zencasts and other goodies
from their website.
10) It uses a regular USB connection (not propietary), so you can plug into a razor V3 charge (for example) and if you lose your USB connector, you don't need to panic because you can buy one of these anywhere for just a few dollars.
11) SD slot (does not integrate fully, but works for me...I put in my card from my Panasonic FZ7 camera and was able to see the pics I took, cool enough for me. Besides, 4GIG is enough for me, I don't need to carry my entire music library with me. (not yet)
12) Records off the air very well
13) FM radio reception sounds great
14) Videos and picures look vibrant adn very colorful
15) You can view playlists by album covers if you want
16) Digital and Analog clock
17) Many more features I still haven't even discovered yet
CONS:
1) Sound quality could be improved (a firmware upgrade would do it)
2) No carrying pouch included
3) Doesn't make coffee
4) Does not work as a can opener
5) Cannot be used as a fax machine
I will update later on, after giving this baby a full tryout.
So far, I'm lovin' it!
If you read the whole thing...I guess you should be considering to buy this gadget.
Biggest bang for the buck I could find anyway!
Customer Review: Hidden problems.
Summary: 2 Stars
This was delivered to me on a Friday and the following Friday night my neighbor and professional "geek" got it working. Upon opening it, I connected it to my computer, a laptop with xP and WMP 11, and immediately Windows Explore saw it as one of the drives and I used Windows Explore to drag and drop some music files. I was listening to it and reading the instructions that said to first install their software. I installed the software. That's when everything went south. No longer would it show up as a drive on my computer. I couldn't use Explore anymore and Creative's ZEN Media Explorer did not have the ability to move files or folders around within the player like you would expect with any USB mass storage device like a USB flash drive. I uninstalled their software. I could use WMP 11. It still wouldn't work with Explore. I took it to work and another computer with xP and WMP 11 accepted it, found the drivers, and worked with Explore. Another computer with xP and WMP 10 found the drivers. The ZEN showed up as a drive in Explore but the files could not be manipulated. Another computer did something else. A string of e-mails with Creative did not avail any solution. Customer service at Creative was, howerever, very responsive. If I wrote a help request before bed, an answer was waiting in the morning. The last advice was going to get me to mess with my computer's registry. Enter my neighbor. He goes into the control panel and finds the Zen under Portable Devices. He right clicks and uninstalls it. He unplugs the Zen and replugs it. This time the computer says that it found new hardware and then it went to find and install a driver. Success! It again works with Explore. I reinstalled the Zen software and it the computer said to connect the player to finalize installation. Now I'm back to the last Friday. The software messed it up but it contains the video converter. It seemed necessary. So I went back into the control panel and uninstalled the player and unplugged it and replugged it and Explore worked even with the Zen software. I experimented with the Zen software again and it made the player disappear as a drive in Explore. I repeated the uninstall / install process again and nothing has broken for four days. This sucker could be a lot more flexible. It requires Windows xP or Vista with WMP 10 or 11.
The radio works pretty well. It is sensitive enough to get most stations in stereo. The display is 320 by 240. It's very pretty. The Zen software runs all the time and so if you right click a picture (or other media), you have a choice to send it to the Zen. It automatically reduces the picture to 640 x 480 with some additional compression. Why not 320 x 240? But if i use Canon's Zoom Browser to reduce the photo to 320 x 240 resolution, and then try to send it to the Zen from Zoom Browser, it can't find the Zen as a drive. I need to send the photo to a folder and then send it to the Zen from the folder. It should show up like a USB flash drive. The sound is good, but it could use more drive for less efficient headphones. It is probably typical. You can't browse the music in a "folder mode". That is, you can find music by playlists, artist, album, or genre but not by the way you organized the folders inside the player. The battery is not user replaceable like a Sansa E200 series player. If you are lucky, it will go dead inside the warrantee or last until you break the player anyway. The four way navigation button does not work well on my player. If I press around the center of the > button which should change the track or radio station, it activates the ^ button which changes the volume. I need to press the > button in the lower right corner to keep it from doing this. Don't want to charge it from a computer and think the Creative charger is to many $$ and should have come supplied with the Zen? You can find those 5 volt USB chargers all over the place. If you have a cell phone that charges through the mini USB port then you can use that. If you don't really need the 2.5" display and you don't mind the proprietary connector, the Sansa E200 with user replaceable battery and a metal back is probably a better, more friendly bet. Whatever you buy, even a $25 player, a good set of headphones will improve any player.
Customer Review: Heaven and true hell
Summary: 1 Stars
Good things like
- Good sound
- Useful EQ, sufficient to improve even really bad earbuds
- Brilliant little display
have been pointed out in the majority of reviews here, so forgive me if I focus on the downsides (and no, I didn't buy it, it was a gift):
- Horrible file managment
The software for the Creative Zen is one hell of an example for an unintuitive, annoyingly restricted and intrusive piece of misdesigned bloatware, with all the bloat under the hood and not at the surface where you expect it. You cant just copy a folder and play that folder and in order to create playlists, albums etc. you have to use that said software and move things very tediously with something like a downstripped Windows Explorer. You can also use the build-in functions in the player, but that's even more annoying. If your MP3s don't have tags, things are getting even worse. I'm used to operate pretty complex DAW software with more functions than a Boeing 747 in my daily life and after filling the Zen with my stuff, I never ever want to do that again. This lack of functionality became even more upsetting when I found out that the stupid software installs not only autostart junk but also drivers, just to sense the presence of the Zen (something that could be done with build-in Windows functions).
Related to that, the optional SD memory card does not even enjoy that minimalistic functionality, you can copy stuff from the SD slot to the build-in memory and play a single file from the SD card itself, that's it.
If you want to charge the Zen via the USB port and use it at the same time, you better don't have that software installed - if you do, it will play dead while charging.
- Unstable firmware
I haven't experienced the awful things people report here but mine flashes every few minutes when it's turned off and I had a few minor glitches that disappeared after "rebooting" the Zen (which takes a while, my netbook is way faster coming out of hibernation) plus a few occasions where that thing turned itself on.
The UI concept of the firmware becomes even more unintuitive than the software when you leave the top-level menus and try to organize your content with the build-in functions. A "logical UI concept" is something else.
- Non-removable/replaceable build-in battery
After 1000 charging cycles, it becomes electronic junk because the battery's life is over and you can't replace it. Not to mention the environmental aspects of this policy, it makes me sick to the bone that they successfully sell a piece of hardware with build-in artificial expiration date this way and people accept that.
And related to the battery, here is a severe WARNING!:
- THE ZEN MAY BURN DOWN YOUR HOME!
Ok, that's (for now!) slightly exaggerated but:
I know of one Zen 4GB that melted to a charred blob of plastic when it was unattended, laying around on the table. I saw the "blob" but I didn't give too much credit to it (I can't say for sure if they drowned it in a liquid containing water to trigger the dangerous chemical processes in Li-Ion batteries that cause overheating and fires) but then I used it for a 1.5-hour microphone recording a few days ago: For some reason, it was so hot that it was uncomfortable to touch it.
I never drowned it, used it in rain or something. After that I'm really not sure anymore whether the batteries in the Zen may become really, really dangerous or not. I don't want to find out, so I threw it away. End of story.
Verdict:
--------
Creative's products, drivers and services are known to broadcast a certain attitude (Google 'Daniel K. Creative') against its customers, the Zen is no exception. I stopped buying Creative products a long time ago and the Zen confirmed in all aspects that this decision was right. Customer-friendly policy is something else, intuitive operation is something else and the battery story scared me to hell, so you better get something else.
Customer Review: I found my Zen! Beauty and power in a small package.
Summary: 5 Stars
I've had my new Zen for a month now and all I can say is that I'm in love.
I originally planned to get a larger capacity Creative Zen V (which I also highly rate), but this new Zen caught my eye. The 4GB capacity, larger vivid LCD screen, the ability to play videos, and an SD expansion slot - and still a small slender player - it's everything I was looking for.
Now that I've used it for a month, I can say that this player is indeed a wonderful device to own. It sounds great, it looks great, and everything functions the way it should. This slender player indeed packs a punch.
What I enjoy about the Zen:
1. What a looker! This is a gorgeous, slim, trim black beauty. It's also nice to the touch.
2. Vivid sharp 2.5 in. color screen. Photos and videos come up brilliant. The display is set at 50% brightness by default and looks perfect. I've actually lowered the brightness to 20% without losing quality and still see everything fine.
3. Sounds great! I keep my EQ set on acoustic - it's my perfect zen setting that makes my ears happy, but I can choose from several other settings as well. The sound really shines when I put on quality set of over-the-head earphones.
4. Having a SD slot is less worry about running out of space. I currently have a 2GB Sansdisk SD in my Zen and haven't had to use it yet.
5. I truly enjoy that I can use several different programs to manage my media files or load my Zen. However, I found Creative's software that comes with the Zen works great and is my preferred media manager by choice. The software can rip, convert, burn, and manage media files easily (both music and video). The only thing I've never too crazy about their software is their album art and tag management...I usually end up going to Media Monkey to take care of that.
6. It's slim, small and lightweight making it easy to tuck away. My previous Zen V spoiled me with it's small size, but the credit card sized Zen is just as easy to keep. (I tried to "upgrade" to a 30GB Zune but the sheer size of it made it impractical for me in my daily activities. My hubby is keeping that one and he loves it.)
What I'm not so crazy about this Zen:
1. The navigation - I feel like this could have been done better. The large square button functions both as the directional input and volume at different times. Although this is not hard to use, your thumb does a lot of traveling especially because of the "back" button which is on the upper left of the navigation area. Not perfect, but not a huge detraction for this player.
2. It collects fingerprints way too easy and they don't like to wipe off nice, like it usually does with the Zen V. I'm constantly cleaning it with a soft lens cloth. While slightly inconvenient, it's also not a huge detraction for this player.
(UPDATE: Now that someone showed me how to shut off the screen while playing music by using the lock feature, I can no longer complain about the screen staying on all time. I removed item no. 3.)
None of the above complaints alter my favorable view of the Zen.
I truly found my Zen with Creative's gorgeous Zen. I'll gladly buy it again if I had to.
Update 5/19/2008:
1. It grieves me to report that my lovely Zen now suffers the white screen of death. Despite updating the firmware, resetting, or other tricks reported on the Internet, the problem has not been resolved. It looks like I'm going to have to return my unit to Creative. Now I get to report on their customer service.
2. Another problem I found with my Zen is when I was watching videos that are longer than a few minutes. The voice/soundtrack would lag out of sync of the movie I was watching for more than a few seconds. It got worse if I fast forwarded or rewound it.