Creative Zen 16 GB Portable Media Player (Black) by Creative
|
List Price: Category: Network Media Player See more digital camera details and other models |
|---|
(Click here)
Digital camera reviews of Creative Zen 16 GB Portable Media Player (Black)
Digital camera Review: Charge first
Summary: 4 Stars
I just received my zen 16 from Amazon today. Amazon had by far the best price, though I am sure the price will keep coming down.
The speed of delivery was amazing. I only ordered day before yesterday.
This is my 3rd Creative Zen player so I am a bit wiser. First, I don't forget and try to start loading music from my library before I charge the little jewel up. It is dutifully charging as I type. I agree that it is unnecessary to download the Creative software that comes with the player.
If you are new to mp3 players, the Creative software is probably a good idea for you.
From a previous disaster, I don't recommend casually trying to update the firmware unless you have a compelling reason to do so. Previous firmware versions were incompatible with Windows Media Player 11, which is installed on millions of PCs. It was possible to quickly freeze up the player. Go to the Creative forums before you try it and see what kinds of results folks are having.
I also agree that the USB cable that comes with the 16 is a joke. If your USB port on your computer is near the top of a desktop tower, it will have to hang in front of it. Unbelievable. Fortunately for me, it is the same size on the end that attaches to the player as my old Zen V Plus. That one came with a longer cord that I can still use. What was Creative thinking on that one??
The 16 is bigger than my Zen V, which doesn't enhance it's portability, but it does have that big screen, and it has twice the memory of my Plus.
I need the space, don't know if I need the big screen. At least it will still fit in my pocket.
I upgraded to better headphones on my last player, so I don't have to use the stock set, which people say are inferior.
I hope I got a non-faulty player here. I won't know till the battery is charged. If anything is wrong I will be writing here again. Creative does let some bad units get out to the stores which are then DOA for their new owners. But if you get a good one, they rock.
Digital camera Review: Compact, Versatile Player for a GREAT price
Summary: 5 Stars
I was looking for a new mp3 player after my old iPod crashed on me a few weeks back. After searching around the internet for an hour, I stumbled across this player. I was very impressed with the results, and it is by far the best player I've ever had experience with.
Appearance (9/10):
The first thing I noticed when I got it, was its size. Its compact, and like everyone says, its the size of a credit card- it fits snuggly in the palm of my hand. It comes in a glossy black, which looks alarmingly eye-catchy. The back is made of less glossy plastic, but still very durable. And lastly, the screen: very vibrant, very clear. Thickness of the player is considerably reduced from Creative's previous players, but it doesn't match up to the competing iPod nano. Overall, this player has a great appearance, with a glossy black surface, vibrant screen, compact size, and well placed navigation.
Sound Quality (10/10):
Player produces great sound quality, although this partially depends on the kind of head phones you are using. The included headphones are a good starter.
Storage (8/10):
Coming in 4, 8, 16, 32 GB, the ZEN does not come close to the bulky 60 GB Vision M it is replacing. To give it some credit though, the player is extremely well priced for the storage it is offering. The SD card expansion slot works very well, even with SDHC cards. The 16GB Zen I purchased is enough room for my entire 1000+ song collection, and even some movies. Overall, the storage is wonderful for the price, and the SD card slot gives room for growth.
Ease of Use (9/10):
This player is compatible with many softwares and formats, but still not up to par with the iTunes + iPod seamless integration. Personally, I did not use the included software, but instead I used MediaMonkey which is a great music organizer, and syncs very efficiently with the Zen. My first sync of roughly 900 songs took about 10 minutes. And thereafter, auto sync works very well and is a 30 second procedure.
Transferring videos to the Zen is quite simple, too. Drag and Drop works quite efficiently, as does the included software.
I did play around with Zencast, a podcast service by creative, and it worked seamlessly with the Zen.
Navigation in the player is very well organized, and a shortcut button (which I set to random play all) is also available.
Format Support (10/10):
I was very impressed with this player and all the file formats and software it works with. Audio wise it supports the basic MP3 and WMA, and it also works with tracks from the iTunes plus store, not to mention subscription services such as Rhapsody. Video wise, it supports Avi and Mpeg, and even DivX and Xvid.
Photo/Video Viewing (9/10):
Excellent photo and video viewing, although the player can slow up when loading high quality images or videos. Good interface. Also, the player loads data from the SD card relatively quickly.
Extra Features (10/10):
The FM Radio and Microphone were my particular favorites of the ZEN's extra features. I also liked how the player allowed me to set a custom wallpaper. It has a calendar and tasks feature, but I really didn't use them. The Volume restriction was very helpful in volume leveling tracks so that some tracks weren't ridiculously higher than others. The SD card slot comes in handy when viewing pictures from my camera, and simply adding some extra storage space.
In the Box, What's included (8/10):
Comes with a USB charger only, which was disappointing, as an AC charger is good when traveling and such. Earphones are a good starter pair. Quick guide to getting started is great for beginners. Unit itself is well packaged.
Accessories (6/10):
Accessories for the Zen are quite limited. Great selection of cases and armbands. Screen protectors and skins are also offered if you search around. What will turn off many buyers is the lack of an affordable docking system available for the player. A good pair of speakers is a good alternative, although it will not charge the player. Accessory wise, the Zen is greatly behind the iPod.
Overall (9/10):
The zen is a great player with very many functions. Sleek, Stylish, Compact design and great interface show off its great appearance. Many customization choices built into the player. Current firmware is very solid. The Zen is very easy to use, and has basic, but easy to use included software, and much more available online. Drag and Drop is very useful. The player has support for many formats, and plays audio, video, and views images extremely well. The ZEN is a great player and stacks up quite a match against the market dominating iPod.
Digital camera Review: Compact, easy to use, good sound
Summary: 4 Stars
I had a creative Zen M (30 GB) previous to this purchase. The Zen M hard drive finally failed after using it almost every day at work to listen to tunes. I was really impressed with the this Zen product size and durable appearance. The metal backing in stylish and protects the unit. The front nav buttons are easy to use but the menu configuration is a little cluncky. For example, you have to go back to the main menu to access different parts of the software (i.e. just from music to system setup). It would be cool if you could navigate with just a scrolling option rather than having to menu 'back' to the main page to get to where you want to go.
One small complaint is that I had this for about a week when I somehow scratched the surface of the screen. I don't know how it happened - i mean I didn't drop it or anything - so I feel the screen is succeptible to scratches. My recommendation is to buy a case with a screen protector.
Overall this is a great small mp3 player that I synch with Napster to get tons of music on it. If you can afford the 30G version go for it. I have yet to watch movies or videos but the screen resolution is good.
Digital camera 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.
Digital camera Review: Creative "Zen" 16GB
Summary: 4 Stars
I will start out by saying that I LOVE my creative zen. Also I will say that a week or two ago I would have sold it for 1/2 the price. read on to find out why.
I did TONS of research before deciding on and buying my zen. I wanted something that's easy to navigate, can use lots of formats, had a good amount of storage, good audio quality, and affordable.
Pro's:
--I find the zen very easy to navigate. very user friendly.
--16gb is ALOT of space, I had thought that each movie might take up 1 or 2gb's, but actually they range from 300mb to about 600mb depending on the length.
--battery life is very good, you can watch 2 full length movies without recharging.
--the screen is very clear, very nice to watch on, I have no problem watching movies on it.
--setup of playlists and slideshows for pictures is pretty straight forward. I set a picture as my background quite easily.
Con's.
--you will have to buy more stuff to go with your zen. (or at least I did). It only came with a (very) short usb cord for charging, and no ac charger or screen covers or anything. I ended up buying a case for it, screen protectors, charger, new earphones (the ones that come with have very good sounds but are quite uncomfortable after a short time). also a program to convert movies (more later) In all, I spent about 100.00 more than the cost of the zen itself by the time I was done. It would be nice to know this going into it. It could be a killer for some.
--The creative zen doesn't play movies longer than about 20 minutes very well in avi format, which is standard for most programs that convert them for the zen. over about 20-30minutes the audio gets out of sync with the video. it starts out fine, but gets worse as teh movie goes on and can be up to 2seconds off at the end of the movie.
--It took me well over 60 hours of research and trial to find that the only way to get around this is to find a program that will convert the movie into .wmv format. I finally found 2 or 3 programs that would do this with just a click instead of a long drawn out manual process, but it was painfull research and would be nice if someone would have just told you.
my zen
creative zen 16gb 138.00
case/charger 12.00
screen protectors 10.00
program to convert dvd's 30.00
new earphones 60.00
Now if you don't want to use the zen for long movie watching (was one of the main reasons I bought it). and want to download stuff from the internet and such, it might be much less painless. and cheaper. if you don't use it often, (or have differently shaped ears than myself perhaps) maybe the earphones work great for you. In the end it is a great thing for me, but it was a very painful process figuring out all the tricks, and could have been made alot easier with some help from someone and some heads up. It was a huge pain having to try literally 15+ programs to find one that converted movies correctly and actually worked. And again, the extra expense of the converting program and extra's might hamper some peoples interest in it.
Just wanted to put this out in case it helped anyone.
thanks