Zen V Plus 8GB Black/red Carry Music Video Clips & Photos Eng/fr by Creative
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Digital camera reviews of Zen V Plus 8GB Black/red Carry Music Video Clips & Photos Eng/fr
Digital camera Review: Cute, but problematic
Summary: 2 Stars
I bought the V Plus last month, but had to return it to Amazon. I had the problem that seems to be common in several other reviews on CNET. The software kept freezing in the middle of playback, and I could not do anything - restart song, go back, even turn the player off - without resetting, which requires a pin or paper clip. Happened several times in the first week. My files were never deleted, but it was a pain. I was sad, but could not justify keeping it - I don't plan to carry a safety pin in my pocket when hiking.
It is too bad, there was a lot to like about the player - the small size was great, sound was pretty good with EQ adjustment and menus were easy to navigate. I did not have much problem downloading files, and the bookmarking feature would have been nice to use since I listen to a lot of audiobooks (although I found bookmarking was not as easy to do as I thought anyway).
Sorry, Creative. Hope the software/hardware issues will be improved in the next generation.
Digital camera Review: DOA
Summary: 1 Stars
Don't really know how well it works since it was dead on arrival. The unit didn't turn on unless it was connected to the PC via USB. This was an immediate turn off so I returned it and bought a different brand.Digital camera Review: Does what it is supposed to well
Summary: 4 Stars
Have had this model (the 8gb V+ black/red) for about a week now. Love it. I would give it 4.5 stars, but Amazon doesn't allow that. The reason it isn't 5 stars I go into below later.
The picture makes it look bigger than it is. This thing is tiny, will probably fit in the tiny coin/key pocket in your jeans.
The buttons have good feel to them, the 5 way joystick is similar to the one on my Sony Ericsson cellphone. Very intuitive to use. Although if you have big clumsy thumbs, it might take a little getting used to.
Power/Lock button is on the opposite side from the volume control. 3 inputs at the top of the device.
1.) USB port (for syncing and charging)
2.) Headphone jack
3.) Audio In jack for connecting external CD player directly to the Zen V+
The FM tuner is decent, can get a little static-y in-doors if the station isn't very powerful. But was able to pickup all the major stations.
The OLED screen is supposed to save on battery life, which is nice, but is also the reason I kept it from getting full 5 stars. It is very crisp and clear in doors, but outside, especially under the sunshine, it can be hard to see sometimes. I have to cup my hands over it to see the screen if under direct sunlight. My solution is to just make sure I load up the playlist in the car before I step outside in the morning when exercising.
Battery: I believe it is a lithium ion battery. So don't worry about it having battery "memory" like the old nickel metal hydride batteries. Don't wait till it gets on empty. Just plug the thing into the charger every night to ensure it always has full charge. Creative says it gets ~15 hours of play time, I haven't gone that long. Longest I've gone is 1.5 continuous hours, and it didn't make a dent in the onscreen battery display bar.
Charging: This is a bit of a pain. It does not come in the box packaged with a wall charger. It only comes in the box with a usb cable that you use to both charge from your computer and sync music with. Charging via the included USB cable connected to your computer takes up to 6 hours!! So when I bought this, I also bought the Creative brand Zen V + wall charger. WARNING: Creative, in their glorious corporate greed has seen it necessary so that normal generic USB wall/car chargers will not work with the Zen V+ (for now atleast). So factor into your budget the Creative Zen wall charger if you're thinking about buying this. With the wall charger, it only took about an hour to fully charge it from dead empty to full.
O/S and software:
All Creative mp3 players use what is called PlayForSure technology. Also known as MTP players. It is a technology Microsoft developed that allows mp3 players to talk with computers. Some good and bad sides to it.
The included software from creative is "okay", but not great. It does include the MTP drivers, and some software for converting videos to the Zen V format, and some WMP-esque music organizing/synching software.
If you have windows vista, OR windows media player 11, you already have the MTP drivers installed. The only reason then to install the creative software is if you want to convert videos so they will work on the Zen, or if you really don't like WMP11 :D
After I installed the Creative software, I went and download MediaMonkey on the advice of some mp3 player message boards. It is much better functionality wise, and is fully compatible with the Zen V+. So that is what I'm actually using to add/remove music.
The menus on the Zen V+ itself:
Very straight forward and simple. After using my brother's IPod a couple times, I had no problems switching to the Zen V+'s menu, wasn't too hard of a transition. All the basics are there. You can browse by artist, album, playlists, genre, or view all. Full shuffle/repeat/play once features available.
Since this is a MTP device, it organizes music on the Zen via your Mp3's ID3tags. It doesn't care about the folder structure you use in windows to store your mp3s. So make sure you clean up your ID3tags or you might have a lot of songs stuck in the "Unknown" menu under Artists. :) (ID3tags are editable with the Creative software, or WMP11, or most free MP3 players.)
Sound quality: Very good. I'm no audiophile or music snob(I listen to regular pop/rock/alternative stuff, nothing fancy like classical music), but it sounds pretty good on the included Creative headphones. Most of my Mp3s are at 192kpbs, I can crank it up without any noticeable distortion or crackles. There is an option in the audio menu to do "bass boost", but with the included Creative headphones, I couldn't tell a difference in the bass.
Overall, I love it. It does what it is supposed to, without any problems.
Digital camera Review: Durable Little MP3 Player
Summary: 4 Stars
This device was purchased for me by my audiophile boyfriend. I love this little mp3 player.
It's lightweight, tiny, and very user friendly. I had no trouble figuring out the system without ever cracking my manual. Any problems that I could not figure out, I took to the internet. Creative is a well known brand and there are plenty of tutorials and advice for most of their products.
I have had this player for about two years. In that time it has taken a beating. I am known for killing everything electronically (I'm on my 3rd hard-drive in 2.5 years and my cell phone is so manic that I can't even place calls), but I have yet to really damage this little beast.
I abuse it, I charge it at half battery, I leave it sit in my black car all summer and winter, I drop it, I bang it and it still plays on. I have even confused the mic for the restart button, stabbed it repeatedly with a pin, and never damaged the mic.
I can only say this about audio quality: you get what you put in.
If you put a cheap, crappy mp3 that your little sister made on there, you'll hear a cheap crappy sound. If you are an audiophile and put some super HD WMA recording of shostakovich's 7th, you'll get it right back. I have Sennheiser HD-280 Professional Headphones (used primarily for hearing defects in sound recordings, they let you hear EXACTLY what you have; all pops, warbles and cracks included), and I cannot hear any defects in the sound so long as the recording was good.
I have used the recording feature to make notes about story ideas or reminders for me. I wouldn't use it to record school lectures or HQ concerts, but for a quick note, hold it about 4-6 inches from your mouth it works fine.
There are only 3 bad things I can say about this mp3 player:
1. I do have the occasional (once every 2-3 months) freeze up where I need to hit the restart button with a pin. Keeping it out of my blazing hot car and the freezing cold limit this to a rare occasion. I see it most when I let my mp3 player hit blindingly hot temperatures and THEN try in use it. You have to let it go back to room temperature first or it WILL freak out. It's annoying when it does occur but hardly detrimental to my listening experience.
2. After dropping it so many times, I occasionally have trouble with it pausing play back randomly. It won't actually say the play back is paused (it still shows the play sign), but I have to hit the play button twice to turn it back on (ie. pause the song and then play it again). Again, annoying, but not detrimental to my listening experience. This seems to happen when I keep restarting a song about 1 minute in to it. It's almost like the player remembers where I restarted and pauses there.
3. You need to have the creative software that comes with the mp3 player on your computer to charge this player properly. Any USB link up that works for digital cameras will work for this baby, but without the software my mp3 player has a hard time charging. (I learned this after my second hard-drive failure when I discovered I left my drivers at home). I was able to find them online, so this wasn't really a problem. (Go to their website, click on your mp3 player and download the "applications". Mine were on this page[...]
So, here is the long and short:
Pros:
-Very sturdy, takes everyday and prolific "oops" abuse from a college student and still works
-Hold lots of songs
-Tiny and lightweight, never cumbersome
-System is easy to use and very easy to figure out. I never read the directions.
-Widely recognized system, you can find help on the internet for any questions you have
-Not an IPOD
-Takes MP3 and WMA for sure, plays video though I can't remember the format
-You get the sound quality you put in
-Makes personal voice recordings easily
-Uses standard Digital camera cable to charge
Cons:
-Can freeze up occasionally (fixable with a pin)
-Can randomly pause music after too much abuse (fixable by hitting the ply button twice)
-Need a computer with the creative software to charge (Easily down-loadable on their website)
Digital camera Review: Excelent - Very Very Small, but it is not that cool on the sunlight !!!
Summary: 5 Stars
Sound quality, excelent! Price, excelent! Everything works fine, but do not try to change or operate the menu in the sun, I mean, with the sunlight in front of it... You are not going to see anything !!!
Good choice, Better than the IPOD thing!