Creative Zen V Plus 2 GB Portable Media Player (Black/Green) by Creative
|
List Price: Our Price: $40.00 You Save: $55.21 (58%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Category: Network Media Player See more digital camera details and other models |
|---|
Digital camera reviews of Creative Zen V Plus 2 GB Portable Media Player (Black/Green)
Digital camera Review: Don't Buy This!
Summary: 3 Stars
Update:
The player freezes with no sound and with the screen on (displaying album artwork), at random times and for no apparent reason. One of my two units had to be reset so many times that it can no longer be reset: it feels like that internal pad you press on with a sharp pin has now disappeared (it must have broken off). Our only recourse now is to wait 3 days for the battery to run dead, and hope that it will be reset simply by recharging it from scratch. We've only had this unit since August (it's now December), so I no longer feel the reliability level of this product is sufficient to justify its purchase. Buy something else that doesn't have to be reset all the time!
I bought the 2 GB model because the 4 GB version wasn't available yet and it had the largest flash memory of any unit that works with my Napster-To-Go subscription, so it can store the largest number of songs and color photographs.
Why did I choose a flash memory based MP3 player? Napster-To-Go compatible hard drive models with much larger storage capacity abound, but I figure they'll break prematurely because they use a hard drive that can't withstand much jogging, accidental bumping or dropping.
I bought two of these players plus the separately sold AC wall charger, and attached one of them to the wall charger for 6 hours, while I attached the other one to a USB port on my PC to charge it for 6 hours.
At the end of 6 hours, the unit attached to the PC was fine until I unplugged it, then it went comatose and would not even revive when the reset button was pushed several times. I had to exchange it for a replacement unit just two days after buying it.
The unit attached to the wall charger was fine, and I went on to load it up with music using my Napster-To-Go subscription. That was fine until 2 weeks later, when my wife charged it on a PC using the USB cable. After charging and disconnecting from the PC, it too went comatose.
This time I was able to revive it by pushing the reset button.
Then I took a look at the other unit, which had been charging on the AC wall charger. It had also gone comatose, and I was able to revive it by pushing its reset button.
The reset button is inside a tiny hole on the left edge of this unit. You can find it by following the thin groove that's below the screen all the way to the left edge of the unit, where you'll find it on the side. The picture in the manual does NOT accurately depict its location.
The hole leading to the reset button is very, very small. The instructions say to penetrate that hole with a pin.
I used the sharp end of a safety pin to do this. When the pin is inserted, it's quite easy to miss the reset button unless the pin is inserted at exactly the right angle. You'll know it's not at the right angle if you don't feel that you're pushing on a pad with a spring behind it when you reset the unit. That pad travels a short distance until it's stopped by a control surface inside the unit; that's when you know it has been reset.
The reset system should be redesigned so that it doesn't depend on the angle you insert the pin to work. I suspect that the first unit I returned could have been reset if I had known that you have to insert the pin at just the right angle to do it. Since I didn't know, my several attempts to reset it were not successful.
Resetting the unit is akin to rebooting a PC: it revives it when the internal software (called "firmware") has frozen by restarting the software. It does not erase your songs or photos.
Make no mistake: this MP3 player looks, feels and works beautifully. However, since the firmware is newly designed, it appears to have bugs relating to disconnecting it from USB or charger power that cause it to freeze, and the reset button is a little hard to use if you don't know about the things I described above that could cause you to be unable to reset it. You may just end up with a unit that's frozen and not be able to reset it.
It needs to be a little more user friendly than that. Hopefully a future firmware update will be available that will lower the occurrence of the unit locking up (freezing), especially when disconnecting from a USB port or AC charger after recharging it. As another user noted, the "safe disconnect" icon is often times not even in the system tray.
If you don't subscribe to Napster-To-Go, your options to get content for your MP3 player are to transfer your favorite songs from CDs you own to your hard disk ("ripping the songs"), or purchase songs one track or album at a time, at a price ranging from 88 to 99 cents per song from Napster, Rhapsody or WalMart.
You can also download books you want to listen to (such as best sellers and classics) or "podcasts" (your favorite newspapers read aloud, or your favorite radio programs like NPR) from a plethora of sites (like NetLibrary or Audible) that make these available, onto your computer's hard drive. Now you can listen to your music, audible books and podcasts over your PC loudspeakers while sitting at your PC.
Then you can transfer your songs, audible books and podcasts from the hard drive of your PC to your MP3 player(s). This enables you to take your MP3 player with you to enjoy listening in your car, in your office, while jogging or working out at the gym, while shopping, or at the pool or the beach to hear your music, audible books and podcasts anywhere.
Digital camera Review: Don't buy this!
Summary: 1 Stars
I bought one of these players in April. I had to repeatedly reset and then reformat the player. Finally in August it died totally. Creative customer service wanted $25 dollars to even look at it with no guarantee that, even if fixed, it would last for any period of time. I strongly suggest that you look for another brand of player.Digital camera Review: Eight months of bliss with Zen V
Summary: 3 Stars
Yes, eight months of total satisfaction and bliss with the Zen V. THEN the joystick snapped off. It's still a great little player, but now I must use a strong fingernail to navigate. I checked online for other Zen V owners with broken joysticks, and found others who have had the very same problem. I went to the Creative Technologies Web site, but it's too much of a hassle to enter all the information they require to obtain technical support, and my problem did not match their listed common problems. Joysticks are delicate, but so am I!
Sharon
Digital camera Review: Everything cool except one little thing
Summary: 4 Stars
I received this product as a pre-mom's day gift from my husband. I really really love it. It's super tiny and works beautifully. I hate reading manuals and was able to work it right away. I haven't tried the FM radio yet, but everything else is perfect.
The only thing I REALLY really hate are the earphones that it comes with. Might be my ears, but after 2 days of using it, I have to use what I already had at home. They really hurt! Had they've been comfortable, would have gotten a perfect 5 stars.
Otherwise,like I said, perfect and beautiful.
Digital camera Review: Everyting it makes its self out to be
Summary: 5 Stars
Pro: Good display, video playback, custom wallpaper, EXCELLENT SOUND!, simple navigation, looks good, great battery life, and pretty much everything else advertised.
Cons: I don't know how this compares to other players but it takes a sec to start, and I had to reset the OS by sticking a pin in that hole on the side once.
But over all I am extremely happy with my purchase, a bargain if you ask me.
Update (long term): I have an update on the cons.
Cons:
The buttons lost their clickyness (for lack of a better word) They still worked, but they no-longer have that tactile feedback.
The screen went dead. I didn't drop it or anything it just died. Probably the risk of buying an oled display.