Creative Zen V Plus

Creative Zen V Plus

Zen V Plus Review, by Eric Dahl October 3, 2006

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• Latest User Reviews 11 reviews
• Reviewed by: fishhead01035

  Duration of ownership: 5 Months

  Strengths: ZERO!!!

  Weaknesses: BEWARE The LCD went black after about three weeks. Cons: Only three month ""warranty"" on parts. I purchased it in October as a Christmas gift for my daughter. By the time the LCD went black, it was already out of warranty and Creative wants thirty bucks PLUS SHIPPING just for the PRIVILEGE OF SENDING IT BACK!

  Overall: I will never purchase another Creative product again. Lesson learned: Always read the warranty before spending your hard earned bucks. Creative sucks.

• Reviewed by: rustynail

  Duration of ownership: 7 Months

  Strengths: FM tuner, very good quality sound

  Weaknesses: screen fades out in any sunlight

  Overall: I like my zen its easy to sync the files to it, also i like the fm tuner. I did replace the in the ear speakers with a pair that went over the ears, much more comfortable. I have noticed that any sunlight will wash out the screen making it impossible to read, but i can shield it from the sunlight to prevent this when i am making changes. I like the usb cable arrangement to charge the battery, but i noticed i can not play music while it is docked, as i do not know much about other players, maybe they are all this way. I do not like the tiny control button the black part that sticks out, is so tiny i have to move it with a fingernail i would like to see a change here. Overall i would buy another one and with the few exceptions i am well pleased with this one.

• Reviewed by: jychen1

  Duration of ownership: 5 Months

  Strengths: Small, ok sound quality, can play videos if you really wanted to, about 5 hours battery (music only).

  Weaknesses: Freezes up 40% of the time requiring a hard reset, no carrying clip, non-removable battery, does not include AC charger, Creative's bloatware/software

  Overall: I have the 4 GB version that did not start auspiciously upon initial purchase: it stopped working after 24 hours of ownership (it was fully charged). I received a replacement from the online store and later found out the Zen V Plus was prone to freezing and was not aware that it had a reset button (a tiny hole below the power switch). I now have to carry a paper clip or something with me to use this player because of it's proclivity to freeze mid-song. I also had issues with sound quality because the mp3 would skip or have quirky sound artifacts while playing. I found out that you have to defrag the player to make that go away. My iRiver ifp 799T never had any of these problems before it died from old age -- it just worked. Next issue is Creative's bloatware -- I mean software -- that to configure playlists, etc. It was a necessary evil since I rarely use Windows Media Player. I had to take the extra steps to remove all of Creative's startup programs from hogging my PC's resources. The Zen V Plus does not come with a carrying clip or an AC charger. Charging the player by USB is REALLY SLOW. I had to purchase a third party case with clip and an AC charger for this thing. Not so cheap once you add that into the expense of owning the Zen V Plus. I've tried watching a video on this thing because I was desperate (a really long flight): it's not worth trying due to the eye-strain you will get trying to watch the tiny little screen. Besides, playing video eats power like no tomorrow on the Zen V Plus, so I just use it as a music player. After five months of ownership, I am happy that it still works, but I found it annoying that I have to carry a paper clip with me to make sure I can reboot it. I would NOT buy another Creative music player after this experience.

• Reviewed by: c907

  Duration of ownership: 2 Months

  Strengths: Small, sleek, easy to use, large memory for it's size, FM tuner built in.

  Weaknesses: None

  Overall: I purchased this after my other MP3 went belly up. (got accidentally EMP'ed in the lab) It has just about everything the ipod has except cheaper. I was thinking of going ipod but when I realized Zen does NOT have the compatability issues that apple has I went for it. The audio books are easy to use (despite other reviews) as all you have to do is press the center joystick in to go to "chapter select mode" to jump between chapters and there is a bookmark feature. Battery life is excellent and won't leave you high and dry unless you listen to it for +15 hours. (ie the entire time you're awake)

• Reviewed by: ladystarlynn

  Duration of ownership: 4 Months

  Strengths: Small, good sound, FM radio

  Weaknesses: easily breakable, poor customer service, LCD not very bright, Joystick kind of cheesy!

  Overall: I did not have this unit long and the LCD because cracked. There was no abuse to this thing. I protected it with my life. When I tried to get creative to help me on this they told me that they were going to charge me $25 just to look at it. But parts and labor was going to be more. Your kidding right!!!??? So now looking for a different MP3 player and warning others of the scam with creative. They will get their money one way or another. Just got email from the people at creative and they said that they were going to charge me (now get this people) $87 to either fix it or send me a new one. Does anyone see something wrong with that besides me? I am trying to find the email or phone number to the president of the company to let them know about my experience. This will be the last creative product I purchase ever.

• Reviewed by: themp3critique

  Duration of ownership: 1 Year

  Strengths: good picture good sound easy to use fun to use

  Overall: my overall review of the creative vplus 2gb is that it was something I definetly enjoyed using I tell people all the time to buy this mp3 player.

• Reviewed by: pcworldpat

  Duration of ownership: 2 Months

  Strengths: Easy to use software, easy to navigate menu

  Weaknesses: Could have more accessories included, but overall I'd rather have a better player and pay the extra for them.

  Overall: I've owned an Ipod and sansa e2oo series mp3 player. So far I'm really impressed with the looks, feel and quality of the music on the Creative Zen V Plus. Very easy to use, and attractive. The menu is very user friendly and (maybe this is a girl thing) but you can change the backlight colors.

• Reviewed by: speaky1

  Duration of ownership: 2 Months

  Strengths: Ease of use - Hard drive size - video quality excellent

  Weaknesses: Will not accept all codecs such as rax & ra from Rhapsody which included as part of the package when purchased at Best Buy

  Overall: Great value and quality. There are accesories starting to show with a new FM transmitter w/charger for play on radio in car. A new carry case that not only is functional but also protective.

• Reviewed by: babynique012

  Duration of ownership: 2 Months

  Strengths: Loud Music

  Weaknesses: Takes long to charge

  Overall: I don't know how to put music on my Zen. When I put the disc in it says "Your software can't allow this product..." I lost the packet that came with it so if anyone can help me out, I would really appreciatwe it, lol.

• Reviewed by: queerlib

  Duration of ownership: 2 Days

  Strengths: Multi-functional

  Weaknesses: Ugly

  Overall: Let's not kid ourselves. Most if not all of us care about how attractive our MP3 palyers are. This one nearly beats the Microsoft's brown Blair Witch Project-like Zune player for the most ghastly gadget in an era when technophyles and the lay public alike enjoy showing off their wares. The Creative Zen V Plus is something I'd rather see put to better use like, say, a bookend or, better yet, an end-of-life "last words" didgital recorder.

• Reviewed by: labguy49

  Duration of ownership: 1 Day

  Strengths: LOOKS GREAT

  Weaknesses: A LOUSY FELT POUCH FOR A CARRIER. I TRIED FOR 5 HOURS TO DOWNLOAD MUSIC ON IT THEN IT FROZE AND I COULDNT GET IT TO UNFREEZE. I RETURNED IT THE NEXT DAY AND IT WAS STILL FROZEN...LIGHT STILL ON.

  Overall: A PIECE OF JUNK

• Reviewed by: Rajesh12012008

  Strengths: FM and Inline recording, etc

  Weaknesses: Major weakness is the battery and it cannot be replaced easily. The A/C charging option does not exist.

  Overall: I will not recommend to buy such an option. Carefully, analyze the options such as battery replacement, A/C charging cord, Screen saving options, etc.Moreover, the plastic feels too fragile. In fact, I tried to open the player since the battery life is over in a year, and was surprised to see the quality of plastic is too bad.

• Reviewed by: ZENVlady

  Strengths: Easy to work, fairly good sound

  Weaknesses: Impossible to see this player when you're in the sunlight. Player freezes up often. Battery charge does not last very long.

  Overall: Received this as a Christmas gift. Like it, overall. Biggest disadvantage is trying to see the screen when out in direct sunlight. That is a real disadvantage, especially when you compare it to an IPOD. Player freezes very often and has to be reset. Battery needs to constantly recharge. I need to recharge every 4 - 5 hours.

• Reviewed by: cah11705

  Strengths: Great Screen, easy to use interface, actual volume buttons, easy to use, very small and light, Stellar sound quality

  Weaknesses: Feels a bit cheap, hard for people with small hands to use, freezes periodically, but not a problem thanks to a reset button

  Overall: I have had this player for over a year now and still works extremely well. I love the sound quality on this, better than any other mp3 player i have used. It is also great to have such a small and light player that i can put in my pocket and forget about. It is very easy to use but it may be hard to us the joystick control with gloves or big hands. Great player overall and i would definitely recommend it

• Reviewed by: Ayamia

  Strengths: DURABLE!!!!!!, great sound, amazing product

  Weaknesses: None

  Overall: I have dropped this mp3; down 3 flights of stairs (all at the same time), into a muddy puddle, off a second story porch and it bounced off the pavement into a kiddy pool. I have also put this thing through a washing machine, it has been attacked twice by a dog, and once by a hyper two year old, and not to mention dropped by me hundreds of times! And after all of those things that would of put normal mp3s into a scrap heap, my mp3 works perfectly fine, and the only negative results of all the torture I put this thing through, is just a few tiny scratches on the screen.

• Reviewed by: homebre

  Strengths: Large screen, good sound quality and ease of use

  Weaknesses: Some functions, especially the bookmarks are not intuitive

  Overall: This is another great mp3 player by Creative. I bought this for my wife to complement her Zen Nano since this has bookmarks. Does a good job with sound and pictures, and the size of the screen is especially nice for those with eyes over 50 years old!