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More…Creative's superslim Zen has a gorgeous 320-by-240-pixel color display, an FM tuner, a built-in microphone, robust video- and photo-viewing capabilities, and the ability to import contact management information--and oh, yeah, it plays music.
Creative Zen
- Spec Navigator
- Battery
- Display
- Disply
- Features
- General
- Included Hardware
- Included Software
- Interface Connections
- Software
- Storage Included
- Storage Media
- Supported Audio Formats
- Supported Image Formats
- Supported Video Formats
Features
| Equalizer Settings | 8 |
| FM Recording | No |
| Plays For Sure | Yes |
| Presets | 32 |
| Replaceable Battery | 0 |
| Video Output | No |
| Video Support | Yes |
| Voice Recording | Yes |
Included Hardware
| AC Adapter | No |
| Firewire cable | No |
| Included Hardware |
|
| Remote Control | No |
| USB cable | Yes |
Interface Connections
| Firewire | No |
| Headphone output | Yes |
| Line Out | No |
| Microphone input | No |
| USB | Yes |
| USB Host Adapter | No |
Storage Media
| Compact Flash | No |
| Memory Stick | No |
| Memory Stick Micro | No |
| micro SD | Yes |
| mini SD | Yes |
| SD card | Yes |
| Smart Media | No |
| xD Picture Card | No |
- Lab Tested
- How We Test MP3 Players »
Pros
Feature-heavy
SD card slot for instant memory upgrades
Cons
One-handed operation a little tricky
Skimps on bundled accessories
Bottom Line
Gadget-lover's player may lack Wi-Fi but has lots of other features, wide format support and accepts SD cards.
Creative Zen Flash-Based MP3 Player
Zen Review, by Darren Gladstone March 21, 2008
What's impressive is how the flash-based Zen takes the best features of the Zen Vision M, and yet still manages to weigh less and to refine an already-tight interface. The $150 unit we tested has the size and shape of a standard-issue business card case (3.26 by 2.16 by 0.44 inch). Storage capacity in the product line ranges from 2GB ($80) to 32GB ($300). All models have a built-in SD Card slot to accommodate an instant space upgrade.
Despite its reduced size, the Zen earned consistently high marks in our lab's audio tests. Its signal-to-noise ratio of 77 dB fell well short of the 89 dB achieved by SanDisk's Sansa Connect, but it was still quite good (a higher number means a cleaner signal).
The Zen's custom five-band equalizer (and eight presets) helped bring out the best in a variety of high-bit-rate test files.
This jack-of-all-trades can handle most audio formats, too, including Apple's AAC files. It can't play FLAC or Ogg Vorbis audio codecs, though.
The Zen works with MPEG-4, DivX4, DivX5, XviD, and WMV video files. Creative's simple Video Converter software optimizes output for the Zen's tiny screen; a typical hour-long show takes about 20 minutes to convert and occupies about 400MB of storage space.
A standard mini-USB jack built into the Zen's tiny frame lets you sync and power the device, which has a 30-hour play time for audio files (5 hours for video). Plug it into any PC, and the Zen functions as a hard drive. File transfer times are adequate, considering that the Zen works over a USB 2.0 connection: it copied some 16GB of mixed-media files in roughly 2 hours.
The player's simple interface makes navigating your media a breeze. All of the controls you need are flush against the right side of the device. A directional pad and four surrounding buttons let you drill down quickly through menus. The Zen is not ideal for one-handed operation, however. To get a clear look at the gorgeous screen, you have to steady the unit with your left hand while your right thumb taps to the desired song.
The Zen comes bundled with few accessories: a good pair of earbuds, a short USB cable, and an instruction pamphlet. If you want a protective case, you'll have to pay extra for it at Creative's Web site. In an admittedly unscientific test, we batted the Zen to the ground from 4 feet up; it bounced off the office carpeting and kept playing video--no scratches, no dings, no interruption in playback.
The Zen may lack the funky Wi-Fi functionality of Apple's iPod Touch, but it's a great choice for gadgeteers and audiophiles alike. If the 16GB's $150 price tag is too rich for your blood, buy a lower-end Zen and make up the difference with SD Cards.
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PCWorld Lab Results
- Rating Breakdown
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85
-
78
-
90
- See Complete Lab Results »
Performance Comparison with Similar MP3 Players
85
93
89
94
Performance
| Crosstalk, Average (dB) | -59 |
| Frequency Response Deviation, Average (dB) | 4 |
| Maximum Usable Output Level, Average (dBV) | -5.3 |
| Signal-to-Noise Ratio, Average (dB) | 77 |
| Total Harmonic Distortion and Noise, Average (%) | 0.01 |
User Reviews
Average User Reviews for Creative Zen
2 Reviews Add your own »
- Latest User Reviews 2 reviews
-
Reviewed by: brw117
Duration of ownership: 2 Days
Strengths: Interface, setup, SD capability
Weaknesses: BIGGEST - Radio Reception!!!!- THIS was SO BAD I actually just took it back to the store. The headphones are the antenna and reception is great when it's only the MAJOR MAJOR local radio stations. Which is about 5% of radio stations. Otherwise it's FULL of static SD ability does not properly integrate with the search or play-list capability.
Overall: I really liked it but I wanted the Radio capability to work better. I think on the next version they'll hopefully improve that and we can get a FULL SUPERIOR creative piece of equipment!!!
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Reviewed by: mambo66
Duration of ownership: 6 Months
Strengths: great large display. I know it only does 320x240 but let's face it, you are probably not going to watch it right in front of your eyes 3 inches away. compare to a nano video, it's much easier on the eye and consider that you have to hold it up when you are watching it, it's much easier to hold than other players. Over all, easy on the eye and slim to place in your pockets.
Weaknesses: Unlike most other reviewers, I own this unit now for 6 months. At the 4 months mark the player battery stops charging. I also use this player mostly for video and on several occasions the video managed to crash the software forcing me to reboot by pressing the reset button at the bottom of the player. I purchase the unit right after Christmas so I don't know if it's because it's so new they haven't optimize the hardware yet, since I did do a firmware update right after my first crash. I sent it back to creative to get it fixed but had to pay for shipping and the replaced unit seem to actually respond much faster. I haven't crash the unit since then. I also wish that I didn't have to convert so many clips though, it took a lot of time to but since every other player does anyway, there's no complaining here.
Overall: Great valude, good performance, just not the most stable unit however. Creative, work out the bugs please and put a back stand on this unit so I don't have to hold it up trying to watch a movie.
Review Now! Already own it? Tell us What You Think
User Reviews From Around the Web
-
Reviewed by: bigtreepu
Strengths: small,compact, flash drive storage, somewhat integrated expandable SD card, long battery life, awesome screen, easy to navigate, great sound from creative. Also able to use many types of music service
Weaknesses: no FM recording. SD card implementation could/should have been more integrated.
Overall: Just to be clear, this player CANNOT do everything the Vision:m could do. No FM recording, no TV out, resolution limited to 320X240, Vision:M could output to TV with 640X480. Just clearing things up, for any vision:m users looking to upgrade. Unlike an IPOD where you're locked into paying $1 per song, this personal media player can do subscription services, as well as the pay per song services. Also more compatibility w/video than IPOD. Be smart, don't be a sheep and buy an IPOD.
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Reviewed by: seeker1321
Strengths: Flash memory, small size, amazing screen quality, expandable sd memory, great battery life, fm radio, etc.
Weaknesses: No SD integration with system memory, all videos have to be converted to be played.
Overall: Don't get me wrong I think the Zen is a great mp3 player, the problem is I got spoiled by what it replaced, the ZVM. For music only I would choose it as one of the best on the market, but when taking the video into account I feel it is a little lacking, in can only play video at 320 by 240 resolution, so anything a larger size must be converting before it can be played, where as the ZVM would play anything and had Video out. Some would argue that the Zen and the ZVM are completely different classes of mp3 player and I would agree completely except for the fact that Creative forced the issue, by replacing the ZVM with the Zen. Bottom line if you are looking for a great mp3 player that has amazing sound quality a beautiful screen for playing video files ( I usually keep an episode of CSI: Miami on my Zen just to show off the color), like all the extras like FM radio, voice recorder, and want to be able to avoid being locked down by Itunes, then I would highly recommend the Creative Zen.
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Reviewed by: eightyhertz
Strengths: Good audio quality and codec support, SD card expansion slot, FM Tuner and mic
Weaknesses: SD card not integrated with main memory, main memory does not appear as USB storage (No mass storage class (MSC) support)
Overall: In my opinion, this is the best value for money player currently on the market. This player has a multitude of features: thin and lightweight, Brilliant high-res display, good audio quality, SD/SDHC card expansion slot, FM Tuner, microphone recording.Using the Sigmatel STMP3700 chipset, audio quality is good and many file formats are supported: MJPEG, Windows Media, MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4SP, Divx 4-5, and Xvid. As mentioned by another reviewer, the only small drawbacks are that the SD card is not integrated with main memory. Media files on the card do not appear in the media library. You have to access a separate menu for that. However, the SD card has mass storage class (MSC) support and can be set to appear as a flash drive when plugged to the PC.The main memory also does not appear as USB storage (no (MSC) support).The supplied Creative video converter software might not be the best, I recommend iriverter (iriver converter, google for it) to convert most video to 320x240 mpeg4 avis.
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Reviewed by: anupbhargava
Strengths: Very good sound quality, good 16 GB internal built-in storage, can be added by inserting additional sd card
Weaknesses: Wall adapter and protective screen should be part of the package. Otherwise NONE.
Overall: I would recommend this over Apple Ipod, which is very expensive. Quality-wise , it matches ipod with less cost. Additionally 16 GB avaialable and additional can be added as sd card.
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Reviewed by: datruesurfer
Strengths: Plug-n-Play, larger screen, form factor and design, FM Radio, Microphone.
Weaknesses: Media on the SD Card doesn't integrate into the library, Video needs to be downscaled to 320x240, navigation through the menu's takes some getting used to.
Overall: This is an impressive little device. Its small enough, stores my entire media collection without a problem. Transfering media onto this device is a big plus over the iPod. I can plug this thing into ANY Windows based computer and its ready to transfer media with a simple drag-n-drop. You also get things like an FM radio and a microphone which you cant get with an iPod.Just about all the weaknesses I mentioned are small and can easily be fixed by Creative with a firmware update.
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- Before you buy
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