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| | Features | Enjoy all your media on a device that's about the width of a credit cardWatch 64 hours of videos, enjoy up to 2,000 of your favorite songs or share hundreds of photos with your friends2.5-inch TFT color display with 320 x 240-pixel resolution and support for up to 16.7 million colorsClock and alarm function, volume restriction, eight equalizer settings, and a USB hard drive mode, SDHC supportWeighs 2.1 ounces and measures 3.26 x 2.16 x .44 inches (W x H x D)
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| | Description | This credit card-sized ZEN has a stunning 2.5" color screen and is perfect for music, videos and photos. Enjoy up to 4,000 MP31, WMA or AAC songs, watch up to 60 hours2 of videos and share hundreds of photos with your friends. Even expand your portable music, video or photo collection by adding additional content through the convenient SD memory slot. | |
| | Product Details | | Product Length: | 0.44 inches | | Product Width: | 3.26 inches | | Product Height: | 2.16 inches | | Product Weight: | 0.13 pounds | | Package Length: | 6.4 inches | | Package Width: | 3.4 inches | | Package Height: | 3.4 inches | | Package Weight: | 0.4 pounds | | Average Customer Rating: |  based on 375 reviews |
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| | Customer Reviews | Average Customer Review: ( 375 customer reviews )
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
183 of 187 found the following review helpful:
Few flaws, many pros Feb 27, 2008
By Claudio D'Amato
IMPORTANT NOTES FIRST:
YES, it is iTunes-compatible, and YES it is compatible with Yahoo! Jukebox, BUT ONLY THOSE TRACKS THAT YOU HAVE PURCHASED AS "BURNABLE". In other words, you will not be able to transfer your Subscription or Stream tracks to this device, which is only fair (for that, you have to have Yahoo! Music Unlimited To-Go, which is an invite-based service and thus uncommon). Needless to say, you can import tracks from any CD quickly and painlessly, and/or copy any wmv/mp3/mp4 or whatever that you already have on your hard drive: the device is browsable with Windows and all you need to do is copy/paste to the right folder.
Now for the review.
THE GOOD:
++ Compatible with an amazing variety of file formats, without conversion, unlike iPods. Whatever is not compatible the software will convert for you if at all possible. This is a HUGE plus for the computer-illiterate.
++ Great sound quality, a bare minimum requirement for a music player.
++ Sleek looks, IMO superior to the trite iPod-like, spin-wheel design. It certainly got more looks and comments than the iPod I had previously. Also, it's more pleasant to hold in your hand: small but not too tiny, and very sturdy/solid (which, if you'll handle it 8-10 hours a day like I do, is a huge plus).
++ The included software is fantastic. It's fast, reliable (never froze), and lets you manage files and create playlists quickly and painlessly. Basically, anything you can do with the player's built-in software you can do with ZEN Media Explorer from your computer. So, go for it.
++ Many complained about the interface, but I actually like it very much. The built-in software is easy to understand and utilize. The buttons are a tad tricky, but all you need to do is play around with them for ten minutes before you're able to find them blindly by just sticking your hand in your pocket (something you certainly cannot do with iPods, whose interface is more visually-driven).
THE SO-SO:
++/-- The SD expansion slot is both a pain and a pleasure. Yes, you can basically make this a 16Gb with an SDHC card for a few bucks--but it's true that only SOME content will run off of it, and that while you are playing content from the SD card you cannot navigate the built-in flash memory. So, caveat emptor... but if you know what you're getting there's no reason to complain. How many times do you really browse your music while you're already listening to something else anyway?
THE BAD:
-- Perplexed about battery life info: "25 hours of continuous listening"? I don't think so. More like 10-12, which is on par with similar devices.
-- The shortest USB cable ever bundled. Buy a cheapo extension from Monoprice right away, unless you already own a USB hub. Otherwise, your player will lie on the floor or, worse, hang by the cable while it's being charged and sync'ed, neither of which is good.
-- The joystick buttons make a slightly annoying clicking sound, not when pressed but when released. However, this does not happen on my friend's ZEN, so maybe I got a "bad" unit?
-- AWFUL packaging! What were they thinking? Not only is it one of those impossible-to-open blister packs, but if you use scissors it's relatively easy to harm the contents... not the player, thankfully, which is in full sight, but the manuals and CD and bundled cables. So be careful.
OTHER THOUGHTS:
** BUY A SCREEN PROTECTOR! Apply it immediately. The screen will collect dust (and thus scratches) within hours, like any LCD.
** BUY A CASE OR SKIN! Piano-black finish is attracted to fingerprints like flies to s__t.
** 8Gb is perfect for the serious music listener with varied taste. Buffs and pros want to go for 16Gb. Occasional listeners will do well with 4Gb. Media moguls, of course, need not apply: that's what the Vision is for.
Overall, one of the best entry-level portable music players on the market. The price tag may well be the deal-breaker here: it is cheaper than any other brand music player, and it does the same things AND, in my opinion, more and better. Support by Creative is also famously good, so I see no reason not to buy a ZEN.
146 of 159 found the following review helpful:
Disregard and don't buy: Got the white screen of death after a few months Sep 22, 2007
By JackleggedDawg
Got about 4 good months before white screen problems occurred. These issues are very common; Google "Creative white screen of death". I don't know about you, but I expect more than a few months out of a $100+ purchase. So I bought a Sony NWZ-A726B. Suggest you do the same.
Got my Creative Zen this week, and have been nothing but impressed. It is a sleek, solidly built player. The #1 thing to me is audio quality, and the Zen is a Ten there. I've been using an iAudio U2, and it sounded great; way better than my daughter's Nano. This is just as good if not better.
What I was looking for in a player: First, good sound. Second, good battery life. Third, a nice screen for video and photos. I was tempted by the iAudio 7, because of that great battery life and my knowledge of their sound quality. But they're irrelevant in terms of video. The Clix is highly thought of by the techie sites, but it is weak in terms of space (still waiting on the 8 GB) and display (2.2 inches vs. the 2.5 of the Zen). So as a confirmed Apple apostate, when I saw the Zen, with its awesome audio, brilliant video, and SD slot, I knew it was "the one".
It seems a little odd to me that a player can claim to "support" multiple video formats, yet I have to convert almost all of them. And the Zen software seems to convert everything to WMV. But I guess that is just the normal fallout of all these format wars. I have yet to find a video or audio format (including audiobooks .aa, which I haven't seen mentioned as specifically suppported) that I can't (eventually) get on the Zen. And the bottom line: the video looks vivid, the audio sounds awesome.
I synched up with Windows Media Player, cuz I'm used to it. It mostly worked, but there was some weirdness; songs that appeared under an artist, correctly, didn't appear under that artist's album. I assume that synching with the Zen Media Explorer would work better. But with the ability to drag-and-drop, or even delete and create folders, directly from Windows Explorer, these glitches are easily fixed.
The key to me is the SDHC slot. With SD cards gaining in capacity and dropping in price, this seems like the future to me. I'm betting the next generation iPod will jump on this bandwagon. I've seen complaints about the SD-card implementation, which sees the card as sort-of a separate device. But I actually like browsing on the card BETTER than elsewhere, because I can structure things there like I want. If you know how to create a folder, and drag things into it, you won't have a problem. Just keep it simple: a Music and a Videos folder, and only WMA/V and MP3. I can see monster "playlists" of video and music, organized by cheap, tiny SD cards. The ultimate in modular expandability.
It is a bit slow to boot up, but that is minor, to me. The battery life is average. But it's easy for the Cowon iAudio 7, with a screen half the Zen's size, to have that awesome battery life. A brilliant, color-rich screen like the Zen possesses must come with a cost.
In sum: This is an awesome player--well-built, feature-packed, with unlimited SD capacity.
P.S. Works great so far with Amazon Unbox. The video is very good, the audio has a little crackle-and-pop; but overall, not bad at all, and easy to load. (No conversion necessary, although Unbox doesn't yet list the Creative Zen as an approved player.) However, the .amzn files aren't recognized on the Zen's SD card--easily worked around.
132 of 145 found the following review helpful:
 Small and Sleek, but SD is designed poorly and does not work as advertised Oct 12, 2007
By LastLion
I purchased this item based upon Creative marketing that it worked with Amazon Unboxed, Audible, and the SD card slot would "expand my media library" so that the 8GB core memory would not be a limitation. Well, Amazon Unboxed and Audible do transfer to the unit and play on the core 8GB memory only, but will not transfer or work from the SD memory slot. So, if you expect to be able to run protected videos or audible books from the SD card slot, you can forget about it.
Unprotected MP3's do run from the SD card slot, but they are not integrated with the units software for playlists. So, you have to manual browse folders on the SD card and play one song at a time (no queuing or creating a play list). The moment you navigate away from the song playing on the SD card to look at the list of other songs, the playing stops. So there is no browsing through your songs on the SD card while playing a song. It works, but the SD interface is sloppy.
I talked to Amazon about the issue with the Unboxed videos not playing on the SD card and they said they Unboxed player has to transfer the files to the device. If the SD memory showed up as part of the core memory, than there would be no problem. Also, they said if the unit allowed you to copy/cut from the core memory and move/paste it to the SD memory from the device, this would allow the videos to play. I could not get a response from Creative on this issue after 2 days of phone calls and emails.
I so much wanted this device to be great, and it is so close but the SD card limitations make it really nothing more than an 8GB flash players. I need more room than that. I recommend reading the forums on Creative to see the list of complaints about this very problem. Creative has come out and said they plan NO firmware updates to better integrate the SD card with the core memory or core software to allow protected video or audible to play from the SD memory. It is a slick, small device that has so much potential, but the SD limitations make it useless for a user with a large video and audible library. If you only have unprotected audio, than this device will work for you. Thanks to Amazon's generous return policy, this item is on its way back for a refund since it did not work as advertised. People are also reporting the Napstet to Go does not work on the SD card slot as well, but I do not have this service to confirm it
I gave it 3 stars, instead of 2 because it does work with the core memory, looks good, is small and lite; but I am very disappointed in what I feel is deceptive advertising from Creative where they hide the limitations and imply that the SD care will offer you an endless media library while working with these paid services. .
79 of 88 found the following review helpful:
 If you have iTunes, this is for you Sep 24, 2007
By J. Lee
I recently sold my iPod Video 30GB because iTunes has always been buggy for me and I had to purchase a separate Video Converter, just to watch my videos on the small screen. Most of the time my Divx or MPG files cannot be converted properly into the Apple video file. The video will either be all green or blank. What a shame.
Also Hard Drives are a thing of the past. Flash Memory is definitely the way to go. With Flash Memory, there is a less chance of failure or bad sectors on the hard drive.
I have decided with Creative because of their easy usage of copying Music files into the player via USB. Creative has their own "ZEN Explorer", which allows you to drag and drop files. Very easy. No hassles or waiting for iTunes to run or crash.
The Creative Zen program also comes with a Video Converter for FREE. Of course it converts the movie file to WMV, which you can choose from Normal, Good, or Best quality. You can transfer the file directly to the ZEN player or you can copy the WMV files to a SD card and play videos from there.
I have tested a 2GB Mini SD Card, 1GB Micro SD Card, & 4GB SD Cards. All works great and easy to remove and swap. Removable SD Cards!!! Everyone has SD Cards now a days.
I am truly impressed with this player and charging the player from my car and at home is flawless.
After many months of searching for the next MP3 player (Samsung, iPod Nano, iRiver, etc... ), this is definitely worth the money I paid.
So if you have problems with iTunes and do not want to go crazy for iPods, then this MP3 + Video is definitely for you.
Good luck in your search for your next Music player.
24 of 24 found the following review helpful:
Great Player, but caution if you have WMP 11.0 Mar 06, 2008
By Richard Bissell
I have the Sansa Clip 2GB and it is a terrific little MP3 player that sounds great, but I wanted to get something with more capacity so I spent quite a bit of time comparing specs and reviews between the Sansa e280, Sansa View, and the Creative Zen. 8 GB seemed to be enough to store all of my music and leave room for expansion.
The Sansa View just seemed too large to carry around in my pocket. I was really considering the Sansa e280, a nice sized really cool looking player, but it is older technology and most reviews said that the Creative Zen had better sound. Also, my daughter has a Sansa e200 and has been having problems with the navigation wheel. So I finally decided on the Creative Zen.
I ordered from Amazon with expedited shipping and it came a day earlier than I expected, which was great!
The Zen design is what I would describe as minimalist. It's not something that is really going to catch your eye, and it comes in every color of black that you would want, but it is a nice size and weight and the image quality is outstanding. There is no external volume control but you can program a short-cut button to access it, and I like to use headphones with a line volume control anyway. The navigation buttons work nicely, even with a skin installed over them.
The sound is just awesome...even better than the Sansa Clip, which had previously impressed me. Now I know what a really great MP3 player sounds like! The navigation menus are logical and well designed too, and I like how you can customize them. The device has a lot of really nice features. The expandable memory is one reason that I chose this player, despite the fact that there is a HUGE flaw in that it is not integrated into the main library and you have to access it thru the menu into the "Memory Card" selection and access files like you are using Windows explorer. I think this would be a killer if you plan on putting more music into the expandable memory thinking that it will just integrate into the rest of your music library, but since I knew about this in advance and I just plan to put documents, videos, photos, and maybe music that I don't listen to very often there it was not a big deal to me.
Here is my advice to you if you are planning on getting this player:
Follow the instructions and charge it up for 4 hours before doing anything. If you install the software and plug it in and start going thru the registration process while it is charging, you can update the Zen software but it will not let you update the firmware because the battery is too low and you will have to exit and do it later.
The biggest !!!WARNING!! that I have to give you is that you need to be really be careful if you have Windows Media Player installed on your PC. You need to find out if you have version 11.0. If you don't you will be fine. But if you do have 11.0, you will find that when you upgrade the firmware on the Zen that the upgrade will hang up and suddenly your unit will be stuck in recovery mode and your computer will no longer recognize the player and you won't be able to do anything with it. I could not even turn off the Zen without using the paperclip in the reset hole trick. Trust me, this will happen. I've spent many hours reading forums about others that have had this problem and the official FAQ for Windows Media Player specifically mentions the problem with the Zen Creative. If you have WMP 11.0 on your PC your are either going to have to roll it back to an earlier version, or set up your Zen on a different PC with an older version of WMP and update the firmware. Once that the firmware is updated, if will work fine with WMP 11.0 (which is really cool and I prefer using it over the Zen software), but DO NOT upgrade your firmware with WMP 11.0 installed on your computer! I'm sure that Zen will fix this problem eventually, but as of this date it is still an issue that I am sure will screw up many customers. By the way, the only way I was able to fix it was to take my Zen to work and find a PC with an older version of Windows Media Player and install the software and upgrade the firmware. After that, the player was working fine again and when I took it home it worked fine on my PC. Again: You need to upgrade the firmware BEFORE upgrading your WMP to version 11
The expandable memory and the firmware issues are the reasons that I downgraded my rating from 5 to 4. If the sound was not so excellent, I probably would have given it a 3.
See all 375 customer reviews on Amazon.com
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