Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)This is a great choice for those people who previously limited their flash players to workout duty, or only holding a small piece of their large music collection and having to change the music on it every so often. With a 16GB capacity most people can fit their entire collection on here without difficulty, and even have room for some videos.
First impressions of this player are very good. It is extremely appealing to the eye, everyone who sees it will ask about it. It is about the size of a credit card, just thicker (less than 1/2inch). The front is a very glossy black plastic that looks great until you touch it, instantly covering it with fingerprints :) The back is a rough, cheaper feeling black plastic. Overall it has a nice solid weight and feel to it, but not very heavy. This will easily fit in a pocket.
The 2.5" screen is absolutely gorgeous. Very bright with vivid colors. The viewing angle is very good, two people can easily look at the screen at the same time while watching a movie for example. The menus are all nicely animated and intuitive to navigate. The icons and text are big clear and easy to read.
One of the big perks to having so much capacity is plenty of room for videos. This was one of the first things I've tested as it was a big reason for my purchase. First of all it DOES play Amazon Unbox videos perfectly. Transferring files was very easy (just a few clicks) and very quick. The quality of the video was great as well. The max size of videos is apparently 320x240, I have not been able to get it to play anything larger than that. If the video is smaller (for example widescreen) you have the option of playing it at the correct aspect ratio, or fill the screen (stretched out). I've gotten it to play videos encoded in Xvid and WMV format. Xvid files were encoded with AutoGK, and the WMV files were encoded with Arcsoft MediaConverter. If you synchronize with Windows Media Player, you can put in *almost any* video file and it will automatically convert the file into WMV format and then transfer to the player. How long it takes to convert depends on the type of video you're encoding, how big the file is and of course the speed of your computer.
Music sounds very good on this player, but please... get rid of the stock headphones they are horrible. Using a decent pair of headphones makes a HUGE difference. The EQ options are OK, there are about a half dozen presets and a customizable EQ. The "Bass Boost" option just made it worse in my opinion, it just distorted the sound. Otherwise it is a very even and balanced sound, very similar to the Vision:M.
The FM radio has a whopping 32 presets and the reception is pretty good. Strong stations are in stereo, weaker ones come in mono. I haven't had a chance to test out the built-in mic.
I easily transferred music and playlists onto this player from Windows Media Player and MediaMonkey, as well as protected music (WMA) from Napster. Everything was very easy, usually just dragging and dropping. The speed of transfer is probably the fastest I've seen. I've used this player on XP Home and on Vista Premium 64-bit.
Regarding the SD cards. I think its only a slight inconvenience that the memory card media isn't directly integrated with the other content. Meaning if you have videos on the SD card you don't go to the "Video" menu where all the other videos are, you have to access them through the "Memory Card" menu. Once there, you browse through the file structure like normal. If you organize the content smartly on your cards you should have no problem. And really its a small price to pay for that feature. Currently SDHC cards are up to 16GB in capacity, meaning you could double the capacity and carry around 32GB worth of content in your pocket. Amazing. I tested a Kingston 512MB SD Card and a Kingston 2GB microSD card (with adapter of course) and they were recognized and played the content without difficulty.
A quick note about the firmware. Mine came with 1.10.05. When my player turns off, it really turns off. With newer firmwares when it turns off it goes into a sleep mode for a while before it finally turns all the way off. What that means is with the older firmware each time you turn it on it has to "boot" all over again, whereas with the newer firmware you get an "instant-on" at the expense of slightly reduced battery life (since it is asleep and not off). Something to consider before you decide to upgrade the firmware.
Click Here to see more reviews about:
Creative Zen 32 GB Portable Media Player (Black)This credit card-sized ZEN has a stunning 2.5-inch color screen and is perfect for music, videos, and photos. Enjoy up to 8,000 MP3, WMA, or AAC songs; watch up to 120 hours 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. The ZEN player also is available in 2 GB, 4 GB, 8 GB, and 16 GB capacities.
Credit Card-Sized Player Supports 16.7 Million Colors View your album art, videos, and photos on this 2.5-inch razor-sharp TFT display. Your favorite photos will burst to life in 16.7 million colors on the fresh, new ZEN-patented user interface. The TFT display works under sunlight and allows everyone to watch your home videos and vacation slideshows from any angle.
Truly a Multimedia Player ZEN is the first Creative player to support the unprotected AAC format, so you can enjoy all your favorite CD tracks that you've ripped through iTunes software. ZEN also supports iTunes Plus tracks from the iTunes store, in addition to MP3 and WMA music tracks. It is also compatible with music subscription services such as Napster To Go and Rhapsody.
ZEN also supports audio books from Audible.com. Download your favorite books to keep everyone entertained on long road trips, or download daily news reports every morning and listen to the news during your morning commute.
Watch purchased or rented movies and TV shows from online services like Amazon Unbox. Share home videos, or load your TivoToGo recorded movies and TV shows.
Plus, share your collections of latest photos in 16.7 million colors. Instantly turn your slideshows into attention-grabbing multimedia extravaganzas by adding your favorite song to the slideshow.
Expandable Memory Need more space? Add additional storage capacity with the built-in SD slot and easily play new music, videos, or photos on your player. With SD cards to go, carry virtually unlimited amounts of your digital library, anywhere you go.
FM Radio In between your tunes, use the built-in FM radio to keep yourself up-to-date on world events, sports scores, or traffic reports. Or tune in to the program airing on the gym's TV while running on the treadmill.
Battery Life Enjoy up to 30 hours of your songs or 5 hours of video on a single charge--over a full day of music. Or 10 episodes of Scrubs!
What's in the Box Creative ZEN 32 GB player, earphones, USB 2.0 cable, installation CD, and quick start guide.
Click here for more information about Creative Zen 32 GB Portable Media Player (Black)
