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Creative Labs ZEN8GBBK MP3 / MP4 Players
Customer Reviews for Creative ZEN 2.5" Black 8GB MP3 / MP4 Player
Newegg.com's Product Ratings and Reviews feature enables Newegg.com customers to help each other make informed buying decisions. Learn More

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Review Summary (133 Reviews): Rating + 4
OverallLast 2 WeeksLast 6 Months
Excellent Rating + 5 80ReviewsExcellent
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newegg
21%
Average Rating + 3 5ReviewsAverage
newegg
4%
Poor Rating + 2 12ReviewsPoor
newegg
9%
Very Poor Rating + 1 8ReviewsVery Poor
newegg
6%
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Reviewer Product Review
Ricker
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
8/1/2009 10:08:40 PM

Rating + 5 Great Player


Pros: Great mp3 player; does the job well. A really nice feature is the DJ option; allows selection of a random album of the day. Another nice thing is the radio option. Flash disk is nice, so dropping is not a major concern. (Although obviously don't drop electronics. duh)

Cons: None

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N/A
Tech Level: average
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
This user purchased this item from Newegg
7/26/2009 6:04:33 AM

Rating + 4 Nice MP3 player


Pros: Very nice design. Good sound quality. Small and lightweight. Long battery life (8+ hours of audio), have not used player for video yet so can't speak to battery life when watching mpeg/wmv files.

Cons: I've owned it for over 2 weeks now and it froze once the 2nd day I had it. As all functions are useless when it freezes (including turning if off), I had to use a VERY small paperclip to 'reset' the player. After updating the firmware and resetting the player, it's been working flawlessly.

The earbuds are very uncomfortable and obviously of not high quality. Strongly recommend using your own headphones or purchasing an alternative pair.

Other Thoughts: For the money, this player is a good buy. I use it every day on the subway and while at work for 8+ hours without worrying about recharging.

Also, might be a good idea to carry around a safety pin or very thin paperclip in the event your player freezes. Again, it only happened once so far and my firmware upgrade seemed to fix the problem.

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Soundsysop
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
This user purchased this item from Newegg
7/25/2009 2:46:46 PM

Rating + 1 Dead in Two Days


Pros: Sounded and looked great while it worked.

Cons: Dead in two days. It was my son's birthday present and he was very sad when it died.

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MistaWolf
Tech Level: average
Ownership: more than 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
7/21/2009 4:04:45 PM

Rating + 4 Once it breaks it gone


Pros: It works Great! and is the size of a credit card, very nice item.
i would buy it again over the new version.

Cons: Creative "help / Tech support" is the worst waste of time, i don't even see why they have a support line and its mostly done by emails, i did find a phone number, but by what was said in the email i found no point to try calling. you need a "CCPP" Plan to get a replacement battery or a new screen or what ever your problem might be, so just trash it once it breaks.

Other Thoughts: had mine for a little over a year and the battery gave out, yet the other two are holding up nicely. Great product bad support.

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1Kurgan1
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
7/8/2009 12:36:10 PM

Rating + 5 Great MP3 Player


Pros: Great Price, Tons of Options, Looks Fantastic, and Nice Size

Cons: Sometimes can be a bit confusing as I can play an artist and have it show 15 songs, then open the artists albums and count all the songs in there and there will only be 10 or 11. And the only way to get those extras to play is to play all on that artist. (those were example numbers)

Other Thoughts: Good alternative to an iPod, I like mine a lot.

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arnoldez
Tech Level: average
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
7/1/2009 9:44:24 AM

Rating + 4 cheaper than iPod


Pros: It's cheaper than an iPod, it's small, it works well, and it supports audio, video, and AM/FM tuner.

Cons: It freezes up a lot, the included headphones aren't that great, and transferring music to it can be annoying, especially if you have xp64.

Other Thoughts: If you're looking for an inexpensive flash-based mp3 player, this is the way to go. It's small enough to easily fit in just about any pocket, without being too small to see the screen. Don't know if I just got a dud, but I've trained myself to carry around a paper clip to reset it when it randomly freezes, which is about once every week or two. Similar to issues I've had with the Nanos... I thought flash memory was supposed to be more reliable?

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Leonard
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
This user purchased this item from Newegg
6/26/2009 9:54:37 AM

Rating + 1 Creative Zen Player


Pros: Great downloads, kids love this

Cons: Broke within 2 weeks, even in the case. The off-on button doesn't work anymore. Returning for repalcment.
Will resubmit after a new one is sent. Too bad it took hours to download all music, and will need to repeat process thats on the memoryy card.

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Snake Plissken
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
6/9/2009 11:08:05 AM

Rating + 5 Get it!


Pros: Very small, easy to use, very lightweight, and it works flawlessly.

Cons: It is so lightweight it almost feels cheap and junky. Looks great though.

Other Thoughts: I got this for the girlfriend to replace her broken Sandisk.

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Trpod
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
6/6/2009 1:26:34 PM

Rating + 5 Great little unit. Couldn't be happier with it!


Pros: Sturdy. I've dropped probably 10 times in the last year, a few times on hard flooring. Didn't phase it at all. I do a lot of gardening, so I get mud on it, but it doesn't effect it. The "Zen Media Explorer" software is intuitive and a snap to learn. I would never let windows media player sync with it. You can do it all from the Zen program. It holds a charge for a very long time. I use it 12 hours straight, and the power bar rarely goes to 50%. Great video and audio quality.

Cons: The only thing which would make it better is if it came with a set of noise canceling earbuds. The kind which go all the way into you ear, not just partially. I couldn't use the ones supplied during loud activities like lawn mowing, so I had to buy better ones to replace the ones supplied.

Other Thoughts: If you can get it on a sale price with free shipping, go for it. You won't regret it. I rarely write reviews, but I was so happy with this player that I wanted to share the positive experience i have, and continuing to have, with the Zen.

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AJ
Tech Level: average
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
6/5/2009 11:29:37 AM

Rating + 5 Good Overall!


Pros: The audio/video quality is very good
Good screen&colours
SDHCcard support
Custom EQ[5]
Preset EQs
Bass Boost
It has taken many falls
Customizable Menu[Add or remove links]
Set your own wallpaper[can change brightness and change colour tones[cool,warm,grey,sepia]
Set photo slideshow
Coolblue light near the power/hold switch
mic:10hr/1file[files can be split]

Cons: Attracts dust,fingerprint
Bad shuffling: repetition of same sequence of songs
mic quality:low
fm reception quality:very low
cant record fm
Unsure of 30hr audio playback
backlight dims after 10secs but wont turn off unless put on hold
Cant rename the recordings
hanged once[reset button resets all the settings]
small usb cable

Other Thoughts: The cons are only small issues. Audio/Video quality is what matters and ZEN does a good job at it. But not recomended for those who listen a lot of fm.

'Get Creative'

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N/A
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
6/1/2009 12:54:13 AM

Rating + 1 Support by Creative very bad


Pros: Enjoyed all the features of this product until stopped working after 6 months

Cons: Trying to RMA this Zen to Creative has been a nightmare .You spend quite a while filling out requested info and then error occurs when trying to submit informtion.No one seems to be on the phones.

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Pojut
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
5/28/2009 11:19:34 AM

Rating + 5 Fantastic PMP!


Pros: The Creative Zen is absolutely fantastic. With full sound, excellent battery life, a superbly colourful screen, a simple interface, and the ability to transfer music, video, and files using just Windows Explorer, the Zen is super easy to use. The control scheme works great, and I love having the "shortcut" button that you can assign to any function. The built-in microphone sounds fairly decent, and the FM receiver works well enough. It also has an SDHC compatible memory card slot for capacity expansion! Personally, I put my music on the internal 8 gig memory, and put a whole TON of movies and TV episodes on an 8 gig SDHC card. w00t!

Cons: The memory card slot is a bit limited...you can only browse everything in one long list, and the list is seperate from whatever you have stored on the internal memory. For this reason, I just use the Memory Card for stand up comedy sets and for videos. Also, if you use Windows Explorer to transfer files over to the player, you can't browse different folders while files are transferring...you can, of course, get around this using the (horrible) included iTunes-like software...or, you can just use Media Monkey (which is by far the best PMP management software out there, if you choose to use any). Most of the time, you need to convert videos to get them to work on the player, but this is a fairly easy and quick process. Video quality is excellent during playback, so this isn't that big of a deal.

Other Thoughts: Overall, the Creative Zen is an absolutely fantastic portable media player (PMP), one that is CERTAINLY worth the money. There are some minor negatives associated with it, but hey nothing is perfect; overall, this is definitely one of the best media players I've ever used. Be sure to pick up the Creative brand clear case, though...this beauty scratches kind of easily. The clear case has a little pop-out leg that is extremely useful while viewing videos. All the Pure Pwnage, Futurama, Family Guy, and South Park episodes as well as some stand up comedy video help pass the time at work, and the pop-out leg keeps the player in an easily viewable position:-)

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ndaara
Tech Level: average
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
4/28/2009 2:09:14 AM

Rating + 5 Great player for a great price


Pros: * Good battery life on audio, about 23 hours for me (have to lock player to shut off screen)
* Great sound
* Clear video, it is small but crisp
* OK battery life for video (about 5 hours)
* Expansion slot handles SD and SDHC
* Works with downloadable library audio books!
* FM Radio
* Tiny pinhole mic for recording works well enough

Cons: * Expansion slot not integrated with main memory
* Doesn't come with non-computer method of recharging
* DRM media must be in main memory (such as downloadable audio books and movies from the library)
* Earbuds are too big for my ears, had to find different headphones (but husband loves them, YMMV!)

Other Thoughts: We bought a 4 gig Zen about a year ago and liked it well enough to get this one to replace an old ipod shuffle. The only time the charging thing is a problem is when traveling. We don't have a laptop (shocker, I know!) but have a powered hub that we haul along, that works fine.

Now that I'm used to the non-integrated expansion slot, it doesn't really bother me. Specially with the 8 gig version, PLENTY of room on it. But still... Would really like to see the Zen view it as part of itself, rather than as a completely separate device.

Overall I love this thing. I did not care about the video aspect, but it is a fabulous bonus. So handy to carry photos on it. I use it all the time! Sometimes, a picture really is worth a thousand words.

Tiny microphone does a great job too, I use it for recording live music to practice with. 10 minute limit makes it less useful for lectures, but handy still.

I happily recommend this player to anyone. Don't forget a spare SD or SDHC card!

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

Avi
Tech Level: high
Ownership: more than 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
4/26/2009 9:31:21 AM

Rating + 3 Works great, when it does


Pros: When it works, it works great. I love the quality of playback, the battery life is fairly long. 8+ hours of constant use, I've only run it dead once and that was over the course of several days.

The video playback quality is fairly good, but converting takes too long so I don't bother with it.

Cons: when you put files on an SD card to plug into the MP3 player, the loaded library and card library will not work together. You can listen to music off the SD card or the MP3 player, but not both....this is kind of a disappointment.

The MP3 player has a lot of problems. The first one I received after 31 days just started "bleeding" the way LCDs do when they break. No physical shock or damage, it just became impossible to see anything. Newegg was nice enough to extend my warranty by a day so I could get an exchange.

The second time however, i've owned this MP3 player for a long time now, and apparently this is a lot more common than I thought. The MP3 player no longer displays anything, it's simply a white screen. It still plays music automatically, adjusts volume etc., I am just glad I left the MP3 player on shuffle last time I used it. I will never buy this player again, and honestly as much I as I like Creative, I don't know that I trust them anymore.

Other Thoughts: Do not buy this one. Get the X-fi, it's worth the extra few bucks, and hopefully they made improvements that won't allow the stupid glitches that came with the zen.

3 out of 3 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

N/A
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
4/2/2009 9:53:35 AM

Rating + 4 have a pin ready


Pros: Good sound, good storage size, bright screen
battery life good

Cons: Have a pin ready, it will lock up for no reason. I use it almost daily and it locks up about once a month. A reset with a pin in the reset slot solves the problem without loosing files or configurations.

Playlist editing is awkward without using the included software. The software itself is ho hum.

No user replaceable battery which is common these days. You are chained to a computer to top up the battery, inconvenient at times.

Other Thoughts: I like creative products, they work well, sound good, but there is always some software or hardware glitch that you have to put up with to use the product.

My 1 GB Zen Nano was trouble free, not so here.

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Uromastyx
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
3/27/2009 8:38:53 AM

Rating + 2 good start, flawed execution


Pros: Nice video, good bookmarking, great sound and controls.

Cons: 1st one bricked, RMA'd Creative sent an (obvious) refurb, that one went white screen of death in under a month, RMA'd again and got a brand new one from factory, which promptly bricked within a week. 1 yr warrenty needed...

Other Thoughts: Great when it works, but quality control and obvious system problems make this unit completely unreliable. quite a shame.

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Diane
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
3/26/2009 9:06:08 PM

Rating + 5 LOVE


Pros: My first mp3 player and it is very easy to use. I dont think I ever read the manual lol. Great sound and picture quality. I love the space! I have had it for almost a year and am only at about 4GB... It is very small and light... We even got some computer speakers so I can use it with out ear buds. Nice large screen, easy controls... and my favorite is the variety offered in this one little product.

Cons: Nothing about the Zen in particular but I will say one thing. The lack of quality accessories for this awesome little guy is maddening!! You can not see the screen if the unit is in the armband, what is with the tiny usb, sub par ear buds etc.

Other Thoughts: I really did not want to shell out the cash for 'other' name brand mp3's that were much more expensive... You get all the quality with this product with none of the price :) This was my first newegg buy and I love it.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

glsmas
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
3/9/2009 12:35:23 PM

Rating + 5 Nice


Pros: Fast Newegg shipping per usual. In my opinion the Zen has got the IP beat. This player sounds great, (as does most of Creative's stuff,) and it has more features with the expandable flash slot and the FM radio. The screen is crystal clear and navigation a piece of cake. And all of this at a much better price.

Cons: My Windows Media player crashes with the Zen connected, but works fine sans the Zen.

Other Thoughts: The crashing WMP doesn't really matter...the Zen Media Explorer does all the tasks you need. Tip: don't download mp3 files and add them to your WMP library with the Zen attached to your computer. Wait until you're done downloading, then close WMP, then attach the Zen to transfer files.

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

p_P
Tech Level: average
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
2/25/2009 11:15:19 AM

Rating + 5 Super Sweet Deal! :)


Pros: It sounds great and it is easy to use. I love the screen because the videos are still very clear.

Cons: It doesn't have an option (that I could find) that just plays the artist and all of their music despite the albums, which really bothered me, so you end up making play lists for the artists. :/

Other Thoughts: Other than that tiny nuance it's great!! :D I love it. I'm glad my boyfriend convinced me to get this one, and then bought it for me for Valentine's Day! :P

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Not the Norm
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
2/23/2009 6:21:30 AM

Rating + 5 love my zen!


Pros: I bought my Zen 4 months ago to replace an aging Zen Micro and haven't been disappointed. The screen is bright and vibrant, navigation controls are easy to use. I only use it for music and audio books so I didn't install Creative's software (I don't need another piece of useless software, thanks!), it syncs up with Windows Media Player with no problems. Audible audio book files work wonderfully. Battery life is exceptionally long (keep in mind I don't use it for video). The screen is large enough to see the details of what you're playing/looking for, yet the player is light enough and small enough to fit into a pocket easily.

Cons: Doesn't come with a case, "key" ring, lanyard, or protective cover of any kind.

Other Thoughts: I was hesitant to purchase this after reading the problems some folks had with it, but I decided to bite the bullet and take my chances. I'm glad I did. I purchased the Creative silicone sleeve with belt clip to go with this and slapped a clear screen protector over it when it arrived so no problems with scratching or fingerprints (it does hide the beauty of the thing though).

Newegg's service is exceptional! I ordered the wrong size accidentally and they worked with me and got me the one I wanted with minimal fuss.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

N/A
Tech Level: high
Ownership: more than 1 year
1/24/2009 7:57:02 PM

Rating + 1 BRICK


Pros: Smooth interface. Decent sound. When it works.

Cons: Always had a few issues with syncing, firmware, but managed to get it to load most of my girlfriend's music. I spent 6 months holding out for a firmware update that would fix all the problems, but then the computer stopped recognizing the device at all. I tried the recovery mode and the zen recovery software and it would not load new firmware. BRICK. I don't have time to deal with this. Zen doesn't get a second chance.

Other Thoughts: Bought this for my girlfriend. I'm giving her my Cowon D2 and buying another one for myself. This is your first and last chance creative labs.

1 out of 8 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

N/A
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
1/13/2009 1:36:18 PM

Rating + 5 Amazing!!


Pros: This is amazing. its a lot cheaper than an ipod and in my opinion its a lot easier to use.

Cons: none

Other Thoughts: After i ordered it it went on sale for $20 less than i got it. That kinda bummed me out

2 out of 4 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

PC Bummer
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
1/9/2009 12:42:47 PM

Rating + 5 Nice MP3 Player


Pros: I would highly recommend this mp3 player.
Good sound and good video.
The ear pieces are nice too.

Cons: The batterie's life is not 30 hr.
But I'm not sure if that is not a real concern.

Other Thoughts: My mp3 player came with the newest framewear.
So no need to update it.

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

Chainwave
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
This user purchased this item from Newegg
1/7/2009 3:13:28 PM

Rating + 1 Bad Quality Zen 2 Times Replacement


Pros: Sleek design.

Cons: I got two defective units. The first one had the white screen of death upon getting out of lock mode. The second has a misaligned screen on the right side. The battery drained itself out when I didn't even use it once. Yes, I did charge it for 5 hours before first use. Terrible radio reception most of the signals are mono. Terrible quality testing from Creative. I wasted $16.28 on two replacement.

Other Thoughts: Forget about getting this Zen as I seen the battery drain itself without me using it. I bought 3. 2 were shipped my relatives. One zen had lost 30% battery while it was shut off. I did charge it for a long 6 hours before first use. Terrible units. It's not cheap at $99.99 when I bought it when you have to keep RMA'ing for a replacement and have to pay return shipping.

1 out of 2 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

Judist
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
1/1/2009 7:49:15 PM

Rating + 5 Fantastic


Pros: Music, videos, pictures, radio, this thing does it all (and does it very well).

The screen is very vibrant with a great resolution. The music quality is everything I expected from a Creative Labs product, crisp and clean. The menu/navigation system is fast and easy.

Drag and drop!

Cons: USB charged. Might wanna buy a "charge adapter" if your constantly away from a computer (buisness, vacation, travel, ect).

The included video conversion software is solid, but slow.

Other Thoughts: You actually dont need to have your Zen plugged into your computer for the video conversion software to run.

After you load/run the software for the first time, plug the Zen in so the software can determine which player you have. After that, your Zen will always be an available choice (plugged in or not).

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

Geek1945
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
This user purchased this item from Newegg
1/1/2009 12:34:16 PM

Rating + 5 Do you want a status symbol or player?


Pros: There certainly are MORE EXPENSIVE PLAYERS available but like a Timex watch this player does the task well. Now if your a Rolex wannabee then spend extra $$ to impress others. This player USES SD CARDS which give expandability for a reasonable price and are usable in other devices. The sound quality is great and you won't need a PHD to operate it. Get some Sennheiser HD280 headphones with the money saved and you'll be rewarded well. Forget your appearance the fidelity will blow you away.

Cons: Video conversion is well within except able limits and your PC will be the determining factor here. The support for XP64 needs improvement, but so does everyone else stuck it 32bit coding [PS it's a dead horse change or parish].

Other Thoughts: Personally, I'm not a fan of Lithium-Poly batteries but they are being force done our throats. Currently their about as reliable a stick of old dynamite. All their pluses are negated by there short lifespan and hi-cost. Till they improve this NiMH are the best bang for the buck. Since ALL current players use them I can't fault the ZEN.

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

N/A
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
1/1/2009 10:31:47 AM

Rating + 5 zen 8GB


Pros: Good sound quality, easy to use, many more features than iCrap, looong battery life. I love the ability to program one of the buttons - makes it easy to just turn the thing on and let it play on repeat shuffle.

Cons: Requires screen protectors. I had some left over from my HP iPaq, so that was fine. Then again, I should have used them on my old iPod too, so this is kind of moot. Kinda picky on video format, but that's no biggy - I have to convert the movies I have anyway.

Other Thoughts: Connected flawlessly with my PC using Winamp on Vista x64. Using Sennheiser MX760 earbuds with it. Using Super C as a video converter (its free, you should get it too!)

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N/A
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
12/30/2008 2:23:24 PM

Rating + 5 Get this!


Pros: I love this thing, the sound is great, the fm is great, the video is great, and it supports sd card to boot. The software for this is so intuiative, if only sandisk,apple,and microsoft could make it so easy(especially microsoft)

Cons: Initially i had to rest it a few times cause it froze, but for the last month or so havent had to do that.

Other Thoughts: I usually purchased sandisk mp3 players, but i got a deal on a zen stone, the audio quaility was so good on such a small thing i had to get its big brother. On another note dont watch richard pryor videos at the gym, you will laugh, people will think you r insane,LOL.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

ICE
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
12/21/2008 12:24:53 AM

Rating + 2 Pass it by


Pros: 1) The battery life is great!
2) The screen is better then an Ipod
3) No ITunes so you can use monthly services such as Rhapsody

4) The sound is on point for an MP3 player

Cons: My biggest problem is the headphone jack. I got this as a replacement for the Creative Zen Micro. But at least that lasted a 3 years with tons of use. I haven't own this product for more then 6 months.

I had to rest the player just a little too many times

Other Thoughts: Look, if you plan on using an MP3 player over an extended time, pass Creative products up until they fix their headphone jack problems

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

Gungrave
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
12/18/2008 2:18:25 PM

Rating + 5


Pros: This is a great mp3 player. Its great for people who just want something to listen to music on the go. Its store 8 gigs of music, which is all my music and an extra 1.7 gigs of space left over. Easy navigation, great sound clarity. Nice slim look to it.

Cons: None

Other Thoughts: Give me the option between this and an ipod nano and i would choose this any day.

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DaPon
Tech Level: average
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
12/15/2008 7:25:32 PM

Rating + 4 I recommend


Pros: Exellent player. Read numerous file types. Nice and strong in a nice little package. Easy to use and setup. Additional storage via SD media. Radio tuner picks up agreat and gets good reception.

Cons: Only powers via USB. Cannot use or do anything when charging.

Other Thoughts: Get a screen protector and carring case. This is an awesome player any you don't want to scratch that beautiful screen.

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N/A
Tech Level: average
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
This user purchased this item from Newegg
12/13/2008 4:30:15 PM

Rating + 4 Good mp3 player but limited video support


Pros: Cheap price when I got it. Sleek design. A lot of function like radio, microphone, pictures, videos, calender, organizer, audible, music. Good battery life for audio and video playing compared to Ipod.

Cons: mediocre radio reception. Video converter is slow. I prefer to use mediacoder to transcode. Supports only 2 video container avi and wmv. Should include mp4. Only supports the following codecs: 3IV2, DX4, DX50, MJPEG, DIVX, XVID. It doesn't support H.264 or mp4. Short USB cable leaves player dangling. Should be at least 5 inches.

Other Thoughts: There should be a firmware upgrade to support more codecs like H.264 or mpeg4.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

Chainwave
Tech Level: average
Ownership: less than 1 day
This user purchased this item from Newegg
12/13/2008 1:11:14 AM

Rating + 5 Good Player but a bad radio reception


Pros: Good price when I got it. Clear sound and screen. Easy controls.

Cons: Bad radio reception mostly mono. Video converter takes a long time. Limited support of video formats. Only supports 3IV2, Div4, DivX, Div5, MJPG, and Xvid. The container must be either WMV or AVI. Wish the container can include mp4 and the video format to include h.264

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DemonicDerek
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
12/11/2008 10:43:19 PM

Rating + 5 Worth the money!!!!


Pros: Video Playback
Audio Playback
Price
Size
Durability
The list would go on and on, but I don't have all day here :)!

Cons: The only thing I have against it is that AM band can't be recieved, but who listens to those stations anyway?

Other Thoughts: I've dropped this thing countless times from a heigh tof around 5-4 feet and although it makes a nice clacking noise against tile floor this thing is built like a friggen tank!!! The audio is crystal clear and gets nice and loud for those rockers... while yeah I've heard louder from other products, but really if you get much louder than this you are risking going deaf!

The lock feature is nice as it allows battery consumption to be lessened as no electricity is wasted checking to see whether a button has been pressed or when playing music the entire LCD screen turns off!!!

Really this is a nice product, the iPods are good however this beats them in price and many other areas!

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N/A
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
This user purchased this item from Newegg
11/24/2008 1:05:53 PM

Rating + 2 bad software


Pros: nice screen, light weight

Cons: build quality and bad software

Other Thoughts: the software just would not behave. i couldnt fast forward some of my audiobooks and it froze quite a few times. i just had to return it. my mp3 sony player 8gb rocks! try one of those instead.

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getsaved
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
11/23/2008 7:54:43 PM

Rating + 5 ohioman


Pros: I love this thing...I have had absolutely no problems out of this thing. I bought it a few weeks ago because a freind recommended it to me and I would recommend this to everyone who wants quality at an affordable price.

Cons: Protective case is high priced, but you dont need that. But is recommended.

Other Thoughts: Just make sure you buy a protective case for it.

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N/A
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
This user purchased this item from Newegg
11/21/2008 2:06:20 PM

Rating + 3 Awww.....


Pros: NOT APPLE OR MICROSOFT, NOT OVERPRICED! just the hardware required to do the job. good quality screen, relatively streamlined interface, fm radio and sd port for expansion.

Cons: Software for syncing is a little dumb, since it has no specified library from which to sync, some of the software could be more intuitive, but overall the real problem was that it would freeze fairly often at random intervals, and the only way to fix it was to reconnect with another computer. EXTREMELY IRRITATING.

Other Thoughts: The 3 star is not reflective on newegg, which offered 3-day shipping, but sent it within 2, 5 stars for you guys. i am simply disappointed that CL could make such a simple error that wouldnt take a whole lot of coding to clean up. they either ignored the flaw during testing, or they didnt even realize that it was there. shame on you guys. I'm sendin' this mp3 player back.

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lex
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
11/20/2008 8:39:01 AM

Rating + 5 Great Little Device


Pros: This thing is sweeeeet! It's got a really nice and intuitive interface, it hold tons of music and video and the video quality is crystal clear, even when you use the low quality conversion it looks pretty dang good. Zencast Manager is great for podcasts and extremely easy to use.

Cons: I wish there was a way to browse the files stored on the device like you can on the sd card. Although the SD card doesn't get integrated into the rest of the device, I prefer it's windows explorer-esque browsing of files over the Artist/Genre/Album/etc.. Ipod method. But I know most people prefer the latter

Other Thoughts: In regards to using the video converter while the device not connected... YOU CAN use it while it's not connected. It's just that all options in Zen Media explorer are greyed out while it's disconnected. You actually have to go to Start-->Programs-->Creative--->Creative Video Converter to get to the program.

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Mochanic
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
11/11/2008 6:06:24 PM

Rating + 2 Buyer Beware!


Pros: Small, light, good size screen.

Cons: Bought it for Mother's day this year. The wife used it a couple times during her workouts. Less than 6 months old it white screened (white screen of death)!
While it is still under the 1yr parts warranty Creative's labor warranty is only 90 days which is about the dumbest thing I have ever heard of! They know exactly what the problem is and how many of these units actually have this problem yet they want to charge a $25 diagnosis and repair fee!!! (probably will just replace the guts or whole unit anyway)
Its just another way they are ripping people off.
A manufacture defect should be covered for the entire 1yr parts warranty including labor!
Yeah theres some people that have gotten lucky with the reset procedure and 1 other workaround you can find on the net, but it didn't work for me.
I give it 2 eggs for its design, otherwise Creative will never get my business again with that kind of customer service. (Customers are getting serviced all right!)

Other Thoughts: Did I mention Creative has horrible customer service?

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Willy
Tech Level: average
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
This user purchased this item from Newegg
11/7/2008 1:13:49 PM

Rating + 5 Great video / mp3 player...


Pros: -8 gigs of space is more than enough for me and I have already loaded 400 songs and about 10 shows on this thing.
-Awesome conversion software.
-Very small and convenient.
-Easy to use even if you dont know what your doing.
Overall, this thing is great though you have to find low res videos if you load them on as it only supports up to 320x240 resolution. I use it mostly for listening to music at the gym but bring it everywhere with me now :).

Cons: Only 320x240 resolution but this is hardly a problem as I have found many videos that work on it.

Other Thoughts: Would buy another, loving it so far though I think buying a case for it would be a good idea. Haven't had any problems at all so far.

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dem0dave
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
10/30/2008 7:18:30 PM

Rating + 5 loves it


Pros: I got this as a gift for my wife and she loves it! She has a bunch of different music file types and is able to use all of them. She really likes the versatility of the item's storage and capabilities. It is really easy to use... I dont think she even really had to read the instructions.

Cons: The cord is really short.. She has a PSP and uses that cord to charge and load files so it is not that big of a deal. It could have come with a case of some sort but they were very cheap, so it was also not a big deal.

Other Thoughts: Very easy to use, awesome price. I would take this over an iPod any day.

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Risquee
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
10/27/2008 9:23:18 PM

Rating + 5 This Player ROCKS!


Pros: Really bright clear screen, nice crisp stereo sound with great channel separation. I wouldn't have thought watching movies on a screen this size would be enjoyable but the picture quality is awesome. The software does a superb job of converting files to the right size and format. The menus are straight forward and the battery life is terrific. I watched a full length 2 hour movie and listened to downloaded music and the radio for over 3 hours all on a single charge! I liked mine so much I bought one for the spouse and she LOVES it! The SD card slot is a great addition. I haven't tried any card larger then 8 GB but I had no problems with any brands of cards. This little player is a great bang for the buck. Music, video, photos, FM radio, voice recorder, calendar, contacts - all in one small package. The software is easy to use and makes loading a snap. Buy THIS!

Cons: It's picky about video formats but plays mpg's and converted video flawlessly. It needs a screen protector as it gets fingerprints and marks very easily. The SD card is a little tricky to get out if you have thick fingers like me. I wasn't super impressed with the ear buds, but that's just a personal quirk.

Other Thoughts: Get the clear acrylic case for this player. It provides excellent protection.

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Tricia
Tech Level: average
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
10/26/2008 7:30:31 PM

Rating + 4


Pros: It works well. I like it a lot! No problems at all.

Cons: None that I can think of.

Other Thoughts: Easy to figure out and understand.

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BlackStrike
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
10/19/2008 10:09:19 AM

Rating + 2 Good? I think...not.


Pros: Small device, yet relatively big screen. Good battery life. That's about it about good sides.

Cons: Software for uploading your music/pics.videos/other is confusing and unflexible. TERRIBLE firmware. Device prone to freezing - A LOT. Apparently, firmware update helps, but still, it is annoying. VERY HARD to make a playlist without using device itself - you're limited to computer if you want to do it easy and relatively painless. For almost the same price you can get yourself iPOD 8 Gb that offers much better features, even if screen is a bit smaller. I'll sell this junk ASAP and go for iPOD, which I recommend to you too.

Other Thoughts: I like Creative Labs as a company and I use their sound cards, but this device is so flawed that they really need to invest a lot more time and money to make it worth and competitive. Stay with Apple, folks. At least for now.

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jr
Tech Level: average
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
10/7/2008 10:20:08 AM

Rating + 5 Great MP3 player at a great price!


Pros: Great phyiscal size, and great storage size for price. I bought the rubber skin offered by newegg, and even though I toss it in my bag, there hasn't been any damage.

Cons: I have had to hit the reset button a couple times. While I haven't lost any data, it the player does require a reset every once in a while. I don't notice that it is getting worse with age, though.

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wqerty
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
This user purchased this item from Newegg
10/6/2008 12:52:17 PM

Rating + 5 Great


Pros: Cheap, reliable, fm radio, 8 gs, video, microphone.

Cons: I have had it freeze a few times, but the reset button worked.

Other Thoughts: Get screen protector

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Bubbie
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
10/3/2008 7:54:40 PM

Rating + 5


Pros: Bought the wife one (4gb) for music 6mos ago then started loading transcoded movies on it and. wow!!! I just had to get one too cause they looked great. She got me the 8gb one for my birthday and we got cases and skins with it too. Love it very much and works well with sd/sdhc cards.

Cons: Don't attempt to play AVI, DIVX unless under 5mins or you will lose audio video sync. I don't think there is a way to fix that w/o a firmware upgrade, not yet released. Just let the Zen converter transcode everything to wmv and all will be well. Contact newegg if they don't update the tracking info within a day or so of ordering to prevent any holdups with your products.

Other Thoughts: The plastic case covers the player and the screen. If you get it please, please, please, take off the little red or whatever color key ring attatched. It will scratch the case screen period, especially if you put it in your pocket etc. Take it off and just live without it, you will be happier, cause now i need a new case.

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Broz
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
10/1/2008 5:32:29 PM

Rating + 4 Great...


Pros: Great design, very cheap, has FM radio which is great for me.
Expandable memory, lightweight.

Cons: The buttons feel cheap plastic, you cant navigate the menus while listening radio, scratches easily.
They might have added games, and a some better buttons and it would have 5 eggs.

Other Thoughts: Buy a case for this.
I dunno why but sometimes when i am listening to music it suddenly freezes i cant move anything turn it off or anything, music stops, screen goes black, i think it is my fault but i really dunno...
Excelent buy it!

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N/A
Tech Level: average
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
9/27/2008 6:02:43 AM

Rating + 2 Support is clueless


Pros: It turns on. It shows pictures albeit rather slowly and with OK clarity.

Cons: It doesn't recognize music when I download it into the unit. Good luck getting a manual off the internet. I've looked and looked everywhere. Google nor Creatives own sites are of no help. The people who run Creative must be to be clueless. Apples position as the leader in MP3's is totally safe at this point.
It is slow to run through pictures. The camera that took them is 10x faster at showing them.

Other Thoughts: I've owned three other Creative Players and I've never had trouble getting any of them to play music before. I've hunted for over an hour and have been unsuccessful at getting a manual. Usually a 3 minute process with most companies.

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JDog2pt0
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
9/18/2008 6:43:00 PM

Rating + 4 I did love it


Pros: Oh where to start..... Well its a ZEN for starters so you know your going to get good sound quality and generally a good product. I'm pretty abusive to my hardware and this thing is still kicking so thats a good sign. Love the interface and the SD card slot is convenient to have but could be better. Love the battery life, very good

Cons: Quite a few problems with it, varys from person to person. It seems this was rushed so when you first get it the firmware will be a bit quirky but when you update the problems seem to disappear (mine did anyways) but again most of it is the firmware so don't immediately assume when you get it that its no good ; the assistance on creative.com is very good so just go to them if u need help

Other Thoughts: (probably due to my own treatment of it) i have experienced semi backlight failure meaning my backlight is stuck at 5%(the brightness when it idles on a fully working one) and my LCD is starting to go (i think i might have gotten rubbing alcohol in it which might explain the problems :) ) But overall i love it and would only trade it for another Creative product *cough* ZEN X-FI *cough*

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skyboxer
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
9/10/2008 1:53:26 AM

Rating + 4 Price drop


Pros: As of the time of this review, creative has cut the price to cheaper than was avaialble here. Don't see that often! Lighter and runs much longer per charge than my Zen microphoto with the same capacity. Sounds good too. Ample size at a cheap price, with almost as much as you can expect from an mp3 player.

Cons: Had to reset it once, but it recovered nicely. The memory card management is a dissapointment as previously mentioned.

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N/A
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
This user purchased this item from Newegg
9/5/2008 9:09:44 AM

Rating + 5 Amazing MP3 player


Pros: Great little mp3 player. It really is the size of a credit card, with great storage for the size and price. When I got it and plugged it into my computer, Realplayer instantly recognized it and I got all of my music on it in under 10 minutes. I thought the videos wouldn't be that great but wow, they look amazing on the small screen. Videos take a while to convert, but the included software shrinks them down to a nice size and quality. The buttons feel nice and crisp with easy navigating of the menu. Newegg sent it right away and got here on the expected date, with free shipping. Easily worth 5 eggs.

Cons: Comes with a 4 inch usb cord, easily smudges, would recommend getting a case and screensaver. I just got the 3-pack of skins and cut down a PSP screensaver. Haven't had the chance to put any pictures on it yet.

Other Thoughts: I would highly recommend getting this if your looking for an mp3 player that plays music, videos, and has lots of space.

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warbird281
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
9/2/2008 2:07:31 PM

Rating + 4 NIce unit


Pros: Very pretty screen, it will play xvid/divx at 320x240@29.97fps, plenty of space + sd card slot for more space, fm radio, LOUD.

Cons: Battery life isnt quite as good as claimed to be, fm tuner isnt very sensitive, no ability to record fm (thanks alot riaa), sound quality is pretty good but not superb.

Other Thoughts: A very decent player for the price. Im satisfied.

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blackadidashat
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
8/27/2008 6:03:34 PM

Rating + 2 Good product, but not for me.


Pros: Easy to use, beautiful screen, many play modes.

Cons: The sd port doesn't work "with" the player. It is accessed separately any doesn't support subscription music. All I have is subscruption music, so this is unacceptable. This device crashes regularly, and when it does my subscription needs to be renewed.
Screen scratches very easily.

Other Thoughts: I still don't get how plugging in headphones can make this thing crash.

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N/A
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
8/25/2008 8:51:58 PM

Rating + 5 Great Little Player


Pros: It's not an Ipod, thus easier to load the non itunes songs you have.
It has it's own converters that even my wife understood, for transfering video, pictures, and audio.
Great DJ feature gives a random mix, though there are lots of other ways to play, highest rated, most heard, least heard, etc. Helps alot when you've got 600 songs on it, and want to listen to something you haven't heard in a while.
Easy functions, logical. Sound quality is excellent.

Cons: It's not a Ipod, thus it's not one touch friendly like the Ipods are. It's got a good design, but takes an extra click to get there some times.
No Itunes, though you could burn the track, rip it and then put it on your ZEN, but if you wanted Itunes why are you looking at this?

Other Thoughts: Creative has been the king of PC audio cards for a long time. They have tried lots of mp3 players through the years. I think this is the one that finally gets it right and makes them a contender for more then just PC cards.
It is a notch under the ipods, but a very solid product. I'd buy it again over the ipod myself

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Tony
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
This user purchased this item from Newegg
8/14/2008 8:07:40 AM

Rating + 5 Awesome Value!


Pros: Great price from Newegg! Unit is sleek with good dimensions, about the size of a credit card, and light weight. Sound quality is good and the screen is vibrant and clear. Zen navigator program is simple and effective.

Cons: Should be packaged with a belt clip, holder, or protector of some kind. Comes loaded with some bloatware. (But that is easily removed). You may have to purchase a longer USB cable, the one that comes with it is short.

Other Thoughts: I use my ZEN primarily for music, so I cannot comment to much about watching movies on it. Compared to the leading product, this unit is just as good if not better. There is no better value out there than this product. Props to Creative Labs for stepping it up lately.

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TheDigs
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
8/9/2008 1:31:55 PM

Rating + 5 Awesome Player


Pros: Easy to use MP3 Player. Starts up quickly. Controls are nice. Great battery life. Recognizes without software so moving files to and from is really easy. Charging is a snap! Volume output is nice and I can attest how durable this little bugger is. Played a bunch of wmv video files easily without conversion just fine. You can do playlists while I thought I wouldn't need the screen so much (just wanted a mp3 player), I am very glad I chose this.

Cons: If I were really picky I would ham about the case being prone to fingerprints. It was $120 when I bought it about a month ago and now is quite lower.

Other Thoughts: Get the hard shell case for this immediately and get headphones you prefer). The hard clear case is only 10 bucks and gives this thing great protection and helps with the fingerprints. If you want a really nice bang for your buck player and not swayed by the marketing madness of the ipodian swiftheads, then this is for you! I

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Jo
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
This user purchased this item from Newegg
8/9/2008 1:31:39 PM

Rating + 5 great product great price


Pros: Good player. Nice size screen for the price. Great for playing video/movies.

Cons: I really don't have any other than the short USB cable but that is such an easy fix I wouldn't let that stop you from getting this player.

Other Thoughts: This player is really good for the price. The video on it is exceptional. I have the 4 gb and have now purchased the 8 gb because the price was so good. A number of people don't like the memory card not be intergrated with the music, but I like it. In my Sandisk it takes so long to come up with the SD card being intergrated so this works great for me. I had been using my 4 gb one for about two months now and when I saw the 8 gb for less then 90 bucks I gave the 4 gb to my husband . I went to the local office supply store and bought a wire business card holder and it works great to put the player in for viewing on a table or desk. For a 2.5 screen and good video quality and the price, Go for it.

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Jon
Tech Level: high
Ownership: less than 1 day
This user purchased this item from Newegg
8/8/2008 11:31:46 PM

Rating + 5 A great MP3 Player


Pros: FM radio is great. Sound quality is greater then an Ipod could ever get to.

Cons: You cant go back to main menu when your listening to the radio. Picture quality could be a tad better.

Other Thoughts: Overall Great player. Serves all my needs.

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smb
Tech Level: high
Ownership: less than 1 day
This user purchased this item from Newegg
8/7/2008 7:22:35 PM

Rating + 5 Pretty good & Pretty Simple


Pros: Very simple and easy to use. You don't need "special" software to load the mp3's. I really don't watch movies on small screens. I was surprised how nice it is once I got my hands on it.

Cons: the really short synch cable. It's only 6 inches long.

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RICHARD
Tech Level: average
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
This user purchased this item from Newegg
8/5/2008 6:40:58 AM

Rating + 2 poor quality


Pros: good sound

Cons: poor quality control. the down key not work. spent money to ship back for Rma and new egg need several days to repair it instead of replace a new one.

Other Thoughts: ANY RETURNED PRODUCTS HAD BETTER MARK " DOA" OTHERWISE NEW EGG WILL TRY REPAIR IT AND THAT MEANS WHAT YOU BUY IS NOT BRAND NEW.

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cdamis
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
This user purchased this item from Newegg
7/31/2008 8:27:02 AM

Rating + 3 where's the mp4


Pros: overall the zen is great so far. nice sound from headset that came with device. software easy to use and transfer file to player. get a case to protect the screen scratches and smudges easy

Cons: the tile list is as an mp3/mp4 player but it would play any mp4 files.

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N/A
Tech Level: high
Ownership: more than 1 year
7/28/2008 7:46:56 AM

Rating + 5 charger advices


Pros: Motorolla hosue charge or a portable 2 piece (wall plug+mini usb) sold separately, unsure if newegg has it, also works fine.

Cons: none

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Mike K
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
7/25/2008 9:49:08 PM

Rating + 4 OK, but a few annoyances


Pros: Nice screen, relatively small size, good sound quality on my MP3's.

Has a standard USB plug connector for power and downloads- don't need to carry a special cable like other brands.

You don't have to use the (lousy) Creative software to upload/download files, unless you have to do video conversions (see other thoughts below).

Good price.

Cons: I was somewhat disappointed with the player, as I also have a larger 80GB MS Z*ne player, and comparisons were inevitable. The MS Z*ne has a much better, slicker interface that's easier to read, with less button clicks than this Creative Zen.

While the Creative Zen is small, the size of a credit card, it is also fairly thick. It's also rather heavy for it's size-surprising since it does not have a tough glass screen like the Z*ne.

The Zen's buttons are very "clicky" (noisy), and require moderate force to press.

As everyone says, the screen scratches too easily, and there's no carry case or skins included. And yes, the supplied cable is a joke.

Very limited video file format support without conversion.

Other Thoughts: I had an older hard drive based Creative Zen Micro, and hated their buggy, slow software, so I refused to even load the disk (not necessary, and Win XP found an appropriate driver-no problem). I like that you don't have to use the Creative software to get files on and off this Zen player.

However, I was surprised at how finicky this player was with video file formats. I have a lot of home movies in .wmv format, and also wanted to watch .MP4 or .MOV video podcasts. It did not play any of these natively. I had to use a 3rd party video converter (SuperC) to convert these using a Divx 5 codec at 320x240 pixels with MP3 audio and save it as an .AVI file to get this player to play them. (Remember I didn't use the Creative software that has a built-in video converter). That conversion is a pain and slow to do.

I guess I'll just listen to MP3's on this Creative Zen and save the videos for the larger MS Z*ne, that play many more video file formats without conversion.

1 out of 2 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

N/A
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
This user purchased this item from Newegg
7/21/2008 10:50:04 AM

Rating + 4


Pros: looks, storage size, screen size, overall size, options,PRICE PRICE PRICE!!!

Cons: buttons instead of scroll wheel... but thats personal prefrence, froze one me a few times, shuffle mode is kind of poorly designed

Other Thoughts: I bought this after my ipod mini died and I am pretty satisfied. However the scroll wheel on ipods is way more convenient than buttons in my opinion, and the shuffle mode in the zen is totally random unlike the ipod, so it will repeat songs in shuffle mode. Also it froze on my 2-3 times in the first week I got it, but hasn't since.

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madman1337
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
7/20/2008 1:25:01 PM

Rating + 5


Pros: great sound quality. super light weight. picture quality is excellent. expandable memory. FM radio. easy to use. battery life is great.

Cons: included software sucks.

Other Thoughts: use a program like Winamp to manage your music with it. Windows Media Player works too, but I prefer Winamp.

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N/A
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
This user purchased this item from Newegg
7/12/2008 9:25:29 AM

Rating + 5 Fantastic Player


Pros: Its awesome. The screen size is perfect, everything is very easy to navigate. The FM radio is VERY strong. The battery life is substantial and its USB charged so you can plug it in anywhere. I Love it.

Cons: Doesn't include armband or belt clip.

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bruinman86
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
This user purchased this item from Newegg
7/2/2008 8:39:47 AM

Rating + 4 Nice little Player


Pros: Good sized screen, pretty easy to operate. Very easy to drag and drop songs onto it. I bought it for my 11 year old son and have found he liked it from the get go. Plus you can add memory to it. Although I've read that will shorten how long you can go between charges.

Cons: USB wire is very short. 5" long to be exact! Luckily I had another one that was longer to use. Software is a bit confusing at first, but i found that you can simply use windows explorer to copy and paste songs/pictures/video into their respective directories on the Zen.

Other Thoughts: For the price, the Zune is a great buy. It's tough and quite water resistant. Compaired to the NANO, it is in my opinion a much better dollar spent.

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Tree
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
This user purchased this item from Newegg
7/1/2008 10:30:50 AM

Rating + 4 Fanastic Player


Pros: Great Sound Quality, Great Picture, Lots of Space, Fast Usability from the package and uploading music to the Zen.

Cons: Unless your computer's USB port is a inch from the ground/desk consider getting a new USB to USB(b) transfer cable because the one included is very short, shortest Ive ever seen, 1 inch! you might like it if you think a $120 mp3 player is supsended. You also might like tht the usb(b) male port is kind of hard to get out, just a harder tug is needed. Good thing i have a bunch of USB to SUB(b) transfer cables that are 25 ft long for my blackberry. Also the converting software is picky about compressed AVI files, free DIVX converter fixed that though.

Other Thoughts: Besides the USB transfer cable and video converter this is a definite better choice if your not into a $200 ipod that holds the same, bigger screen, exellent sound/video quality. Definatly a great product.

3 out of 3 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

N/A
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
This user purchased this item from Newegg
6/30/2008 3:38:28 PM

Rating + 5 Nice and small


Pros: Pretty cheap. Much cheaper than the Ipod Nano. I got this for my mom and she is the least tech savvy person I know. I sat down with her for 5 minutes showing her all the features like the radio and the microphone, she loves it. The title screen is very big which is great for her too, she can't see very well. Shes very excited that she doesn't have to use glasses to choose a song.

Cons: The included USB cord is about 3 inches long. Kinda ridiculous. Luckily, I had a cord from my Creative Zen Vision: M that is the right size but a lot longer. Also, there isn't a way to charge it other than USB. My Zen Vision M has a wall charger accessory and charging through that is much faster.

Other Thoughts: All in all, great product. My mom loves it too. I was going to get her an Ipod for her birthday but this was way cheaper with more features that she wanted.

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

N/A
Tech Level: average
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
6/26/2008 10:44:28 AM

Rating + 5 amazing mp3 player


Pros: this little guy is built rock solid, has great sound quality, and is priced lower than I would expect. Also, the screen is beautiful.

Cons: Headphones are low quality.

Other Thoughts: I would take this player over an ipod any day. I like it better than the sansa sandisc as well.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

eklipz330
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
6/24/2008 11:15:44 AM

Rating + 5 great player!


Pros: its a flash based player, doesnt really get any better than that! great, vivid color screen, you can always add more memory with an sd/sdhc card which is AWESOME, and battery life is outstanding! it's fairly small, and catches more eyes than that other popular brand... you know which one im talking about...video and music is standard, but you can always listen to radio and it has a microphone, something the other brand does not.

Cons: ok, some problems that almost all mp3 players have is the fact that important accessories are sold separately... i mean this thing NEEDS a screen protector, or you'll be annoyed by that scratch.. and you also need a case, most of them really cover up the beauty of it...sadly
the headphone jack is placed right next to the on/off/hold switch, which can get annoying... and the biggest problem i had was that it kept freezing! i had to reset it about 4 times before i got sick and was gonna return it... but a simple update from the site fixed that, AND it turns on wayyy faster now! SWEET

Other Thoughts: well... update it as sooon as you get it, and you won't have to worry about it freezing.. and it won;t delete any of your files when you do, so YAY!

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El_dfw
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
6/24/2008 10:27:27 AM

Rating + 5 great player for the buck...


Pros: This player is very good at what it does. It plays movies great and also music. The sound quality is execellent. Have a pair of Koss portable headsets with it. Also the video is clear and crisp. You dont need to re encode video if you use dvdfabplatinum and rip your dvd's down to pda avi format at 320x240 resolution. U can then just transfer them to the memory card. The player plays them just fine.

Cons: Can't transfer and browse memory card while in player. Always have to take my arcrilic case off to take out the card and put it in my reader.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

Carson
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
6/23/2008 1:28:59 PM

Rating + 3 Great sound - Bad software


Pros: Great sound, sharp screen, interfaces with winamp, mediamonkey, and wmp11.

Cons: If it weren't for the poor software included with this product I would have given it a 5. I stuck the CD that came with this in my computer and started installing. Part way through it hung. I left it for 20min to see if it was just busy doing something but it never finished. I had to kill the process. Tried installing again with the same result. I finally found a newer version on the web and it managed to install . . however once the software was installed my ZEN seemed to be connecting and disconnecting every minute or so. My computer would alrert me that it had re-connected. I decided to un-install the creative software . . . but the un-install hung. I checked my cpu and it was pegged. After waiting 15min I killed the process and tried to un-install again. It thought the software had been un-installed. I still had several creative processes still running and I had to manually shut them down and remove them.

Other Thoughts: DON'T INSTALL THEIR SOFTWARE! - you will be risking your computers health. After all the problems with their software I went to another one of my computers and just plugged the creative unit in. WMP11, MediaMonkey, and Winamp all recognized it and I was able to sync and get the unit loaded up with tunes.

In my opinion the sound output isn't high enough to drive a regular set of headphones - but earbuds are fine.

Also if you have 2 albums with the same name one of them will have the wrong album art. I found this when I had to different artists with albums tagged with the title "Greatest Hits". I had to re-tag one of the album titles to get the correct art to show up.

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

Shonen
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
This user purchased this item from Newegg
6/20/2008 3:21:05 PM

Rating + 5 awesome!


Pros: Great sound quality, sharp screen... plays video, has an SD card expansion slot, uses mini USB to connect (no need for a dock), smooth OS. Very nice finish (although it doesn't last long...), and the physical size is truly amazing. Great product!

Cons: Comes with standard Creative fingerprint-loving finish...and buttons can be a little hard to press if you have bigger fingers. Minor things though, just get the silicone jacket and use your fingernails if it bothers you.

Other Thoughts: I got this after finding that my Vision:M was too big to carry around simply for music, and was pleasantly surprised to find that the Zen would play video too. I don't know which one to use anymore...more storage or smaller form factor?

ps. a friend of mine sat on hers and cracked the screen; make sure you know where it is, or you may miss it!

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nate el bueno
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
6/14/2008 11:35:11 AM

Rating + 5 swwweeeeeet!


Pros: Where to begin? Videos on this player look just as good as they do on my monitor. The only time my music sounds better is when it's coming though my xfi soundcard! Controls are fairly simple to learn. Built very well (see other thoughts) I'm using an SD card to turn this into a cheap 10 gig player

Cons: Screen smudges and scratches easily. As always, the 1mm usb dongle cable could be better. I consistently press the random track of the day button on accident instead of the play button, which gets irritating.

Other Thoughts: I dropped this outside by mistake the night before the huge tornado/rainstorm fiasco. I couldn't find it anywhere, and didn't know it was outside. The next morning the UPS guy rang the doorbell and returned it. Good man. I saw it and expected to get a piece of scrap plastic. When I tilted it, water poured out. For kicks, I booted it up to a perfect menu and have yet to have a problem! CREATIVE ROCKS!!

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N/A
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
This user purchased this item from Newegg
6/13/2008 1:15:56 AM

Rating + 5


Pros: This player is perfect for anyone, it looks good and has awesome sound and picture quality. I would recommend this over an ipod to anybody considering it costs less, has more features, and is very easy to use.

Cons: The software to convert movies to your zen is extremely slow, you've got to leave your computer converting all night for just one movie.

Other Thoughts: Anyone looking to buy this player should also purchase the acrylic clear case, or the leather case as this player tends to attract alot of dust.

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Tensuke
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
6/6/2008 9:25:01 PM

Rating + 5 Great PMP!


Pros: The Zen has a beautiful 16.7 million color 2.5 inch display, plays a wide variety of video and audio codecs, has on-the-go playlists, an FM radio with up to 32 presets, high customization, great battery life that is rechargeable via mini-usb, and expandable memory with an SDHC slot!

Cons: The SD slot is not integrated into the main content, so it's best for videos and pictures really, but I haven't filled up the 8(7.49)gb yet. Getting close, though! Other than that, it's great!

Other Thoughts: I had problems when I first got it...It came with firmware 1.11 or something like that, and I tried to connect it after charging it for the first time. It would only connect for a few seconds before disconnecting, so I had to keep installing the mtp device driver for it. I did some research, and it turns out that all I had to do was disable the lib-usb-win32 driver(used to connect my PS3 controller to use on PC) and bam, it now works perfectly. Was going to get the 16gb version, but I needed it for a trip and so could not wait to order it online, so I picked one up at Circuit City. Best player for the buck, period!

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N/A
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
This user purchased this item from Newegg
6/2/2008 12:51:52 PM

Rating + 5 Creative ZEN 8GB


Pros: Creative makes a great ZEN product. The quality of the screen and the music is great!

Cons: Not sure if this was a bad batch but the first one arrived DOA (Dead On Arrival). The second one had a weight shifting around inside; probably the battery. Newegg to the rescue both times via RMA. Thanks Newegg!!!

Other Thoughts: I still prefer the Zen over all other MP3 / MP4 players!

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

N/A
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
This user purchased this item from Newegg
5/30/2008 9:33:21 AM

Rating + 2 Great idea, poor follow through


Pros: Beautiful screen, easy to use interface, good sound, plays videos. My daughter loved being able to watch her movies on a recent trip. I like the battery life and the utilities that come with it.

Cons: The white screen issue. When it arrived I charged it for 24 hours and then followed all of the recommended steps to update the firmware. At that point I thought the white screen problem would be resolved by the firmware update. It didn't, but I did find a work around on You Tube. The work around worked until last weekend. Now I have not been able to get the screen to display anything but the white screen.

Other Thoughts: I plan on either RMAing for another one because when the Zen works it really is a nice player. I may have just been one of the unlucky ones. I have heard enough good about the Zen that I am willing to keep it.
One last thing is that the USB cable that comes with it is too short, but everyone has spare so it really isn't a big issue.

3 out of 4 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

mroyal
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
5/25/2008 1:09:24 PM

Rating + 4 GREAT Player!!


Pros: the screen clarity -- the easy controls -- the size -- the sound -- MP3 support -- FM radio -- SD slot

VERY NICE PLAYER!

Cons: conversion software only converts to WMV, and is a little slow (I just load it up and let it convert overnight whilst I sleep.) -- no AVI support -- no FLAC support -- can't rip CDs to FLAC or MP3, only WMA -- could have a bigger screen

Other Thoughts: get yourself an InvisibleShield for this thing, and put it on as soon as you take it out of the packaging, or one of Creative's clear acrylic cases.

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Artemis Goldfish
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
5/23/2008 1:37:27 PM

Rating + 1 Good until invariable breaking


Pros: A beautiful high-color screen, good sound quality.

Cons: Absolutely awful SD card support, forget about the warranty, many problems, RUN AWAYYY!

Other Thoughts: I bought this player on January 24th, 2008. It served me faithfully until now, and I'm quite used to players serving me at least a year before buying the farm. The flash has become completely unchangeable, and even using it's recovery mode has resulted in nothing. What's more, Creative wants me to pay $25 just to have the unit examined, even though it's still less than a year old. DO NOT BUY THIS UNIT, there are plenty of companies out that that make media players of high quality that need your financial support!

4 out of 6 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

MotoX3style
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
5/20/2008 1:58:23 PM

Rating + 4 MP3 player with amazing sound


Pros: It's got a good amount of storage without breaking the bank. Plays my MP3's just fine. Looks great. Screen looks amazing and is very sharp and clear. It's bright enough to see clearly in the day. SD card slot. Amazing sound quality, even at full volume. Battery lasts a good amount of time. Screen shuts off completely in "hold" mode to conserve power. Transferring music to it is extremely easy. The unit in general just has an easy, yet sophisticated feel to it. Playlists can be made on the unit itself and saved.

Cons: It's crashed 2 out of 3 times I've played videos. Not only that, but the videos were converted using the bundled software. When it does crash, resetting the unit must be done with a paper clip, which I'm sure most people don't take jogging with them, so you're stuck with a worthless paperweight until you find one. The SD card doesn't work like you'd think. Any music you put on it does not get added to your library & shuffled in with your other music. You can either play music from the onboard memory, or from the SD card only. It comes with a 6" USB cable. The buttons feel too "clicky". Black case gets scratched way easily. I can't seem to move songs up or down in a playlist on the unit once you've added the songs to it. You need to use the computer to arrange songs, so you can't add a bunch of songs from one artist, then another, then arrange them. You gotta add each song in the order you want it to play, which can be a tedious task.

Other Thoughts: Overall, I'm very happy with the unit. It does what I need it to do. I only really use it to listen to new music in the car when I don't feel like burning a new MP3-DVD just for a few new songs. The sound quality is amazing. I'm somewhat of an audiophile with a high end sound system in my truck, and I cant really tell much difference between this unit playing through an auxiliary input, and my truck's DVD player when playing the same song. Most portables start distorting at full volume, but this thing continues to play crystal clear. The only thing I can really complain about is the stability issues with video playback, and the fact that you need a paperclip to reset & reboot it when it crashes. Other than that... it's an iP*d killer!

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

Professor X
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
5/14/2008 5:06:15 PM

Rating + 5 Zen > iPod > Zune


Pros: I've owned: a $huff!e, N@no (1&2 Gen), Z?^e 30, Zen in that order. Compare it to a N@n0 of the same size, and it's without a doubt the cheapest option. Storage space is expandable, something thats not even offered with *Pods. A microphone to record LECTURES AND NOTES (college students pay extra attention); which is, yet again, not offered with other major players. The screen is smaller than the Z?^e 30, the same size as the *Pod C!assic. It will play or convert many of the major video extensions. Beautiful bright screen. It's flash memory, so you can dance, run, do back flips without the worries of skipping or longevity issues. The battery life is extremely good. You have the ability to delete songs from the player without a computer, hide password protected files, customizable background. Did I mention it is dirt cheap?!?

Cons: Yes, the memory expansion is not seamless. You must access the SD card separately in the menu screen. I'm sure Creative is working on a firmware update to solve this; however, it's better to have the option to expand then to not have one at all. Lastly, it's so beautiful it hurts every single time you drop it. Nothing you can do about it, but buy a skin.

Other Thoughts: None really, if you are reading this I'm sure you've done enough of your own research on mp3 players. As always, thumbs up to the people at Newegg. I'm convinced you have psychics working there; it felt like the item was shipped before I even decided to buy.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

N/A
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
This user purchased this item from Newegg
5/8/2008 3:00:51 PM

Rating + 4 Great value


Pros: The screen is very bright snd clear. It's very easy to use. There's an "album of the day" feature that will randomly select a song or album to paly

Cons: The firmware installation took very long. I received an error message when I was updating the firmware. I had to go to Creative's website to download a fix for my problem. It also stopped working a day after I received it, but I reset it and put the power switch on lock mode, then turned it on. After that, it worked. I don't have problems anymore, but it's only been day 3.

Other Thoughts: This is a good product. Like any software, once updates are made, it should run adequately. I like this product a lot. It's a great value for your buck.

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Tatsu
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
This user purchased this item from Newegg
4/27/2008 1:08:47 PM

Rating + 4 Pretty good so far


Pros: It's a pretty good device, that's all I have to say.

Cons: So far I've had to reset the player twice, once for changing the firmware version.

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Basilio
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
4/21/2008 10:08:56 PM

Rating + 4 Great pocket-buddy


Pros: Cheap. Brilliant screen. Excellent sound. Feature list includes video playback, FM radio, (with a handy signal strength indicator) Organizer which lets you copy all your outlook contacts and calendar events and of course a voice recorder which works pretty good actually for an "add-on" feature.

Charges fast, transfers fast (using proprietary software OR WMP)

UI is VERY GOOD. Straightforward and concise. Shows all the info you need while playing music - song title, album title, artist, album art, time elapsed, time remaining and of course the battery indicator which also runs "always on top"

Very good design, slim and simple. Nice black finish (front) and good-looking matte finish (back).

Cons: 1. Battery will NOT reach 25 hours of music playing as per manufacturer claims.
2. No AC charger included.
3. So-so earphones.
4. I wish the placement of the mini-USB and mini-jack were interchanged.
5. Buttons when pressed feels kinds cheap but I don't think it will fall of as long you don't put superman force when pressing.
5. While listening to music, screen won't turn off unless you activate the hold button BUT the backlight dims about 25% but still comsumes precious battery life.

Other Thoughts: I would have given this product 5 eggs but since it is supposed to be rated as a whole, I gave it 4 eggs for its so-so earphones. I ordered Sennheiser CX300 from Newegg and WHAT A DIFFERENCE.

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Huracan
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
4/18/2008 10:01:28 PM

Rating + 5


Pros: Cheap!!! easy to use, modest baterry life. Very small perfect for pockets.

Cons: Internal baterry can only be charged with USB plug. Scrathes very easy. No see through case.

Other Thoughts: I love it. If I could buy one for every one in my family I would. Super anyime present.

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Buck
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
4/15/2008 2:57:16 PM

Rating + 4


Pros: Compact Credit card size slips easily and comfortably into just about any pocket. Music, Movies, TV podcasts/zencasts, pictures... you've got it all.
Built in FM Radio Tuner and microphone.
Organizer Function can be synchronized with Outlook data.
can be browsed directly, or synced and managed with creative's zen software, WMP, itunes, winamp or any other music manager of your choice.
SD card slot means virtually unlimited storage space.
Bass Boost and EQ
Fantastic battery life - with 5 hours battery time on video playback you can easily watch an entire movie without worrying about the battery running down.

Cons: While the sound quality is generally good at low and, it tends to break up and distort at high volume levels. The Bass Boost pushes the midbass too far up, and the EQ doesn't push it far enough. Be prepared to spend some time balancing and getting used to the sound.
The included earbuds are huge. I tried to use them but they were just terribly uncomfortable.
Device is sometimes iffy about syncing when plugged into my unpowered USB Hub. Simply unplugging and replugging the hub fixes this however.
SD card media doesn't get intergrated into the

Other Thoughts: for casual listening a decent pair of earbuds or canalphones will work best, but if you're going to use higher quality headphones i strongly suggest you buy or build a good portable amp.
the device uses ID3 tag info to sort media and albums. Make sure your id3 tags are in order or you'll find that the player will end up sorting things oddly.

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Glen
Tech Level: average
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
This user purchased this item from Newegg
4/8/2008 4:21:06 PM

Rating + 5


Pros: Great little player for both music and video. Nothing out there can touch it for the price and performance. The SD card slot easily expands the players capabilities. So far I have added a 20 min video and 370 songs and still have 5GB of free space! Best player I've seen for the money. Compared to another player with less memory and about the same price. Glad I bought the ZEN!

Cons: none

Other Thoughts: Somewhat slow video conversion but hey at least it comes with conversion software, some don't! Buyer beware!

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gmdewulf
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
This user purchased this item from Newegg
4/3/2008 8:14:28 AM

Rating + 5 But where are the cases?


Pros: Easy to use. Clear screen. Precise controls.

Cons: None with the product itself.

Other Thoughts: Where are the accessories, Newegg? Especially protective cases. Without them, the Zen looks old and scratched way before it should.

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bob
Tech Level: average
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
3/28/2008 8:09:25 PM

Rating + 5 Creative Zen


Pros: phenomenal functionality, easy to use once software is installed. sync is a nice touch but not completely necessary. well worth the money. kicks ipod's ***!

Cons: froze on me once (just use the reset button), it randomly skips a song part-way through.

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N/A
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
3/3/2008 5:20:17 PM

Rating + 4 Great player


Pros: non proprietary music, plug and play, expansion disk, music, video, photos, radio very versitile.

Cons: slow video encoding, Very few cases available. Expansion card doesn't let you import selective files. Locks up if interrupted during file tranfer-unresponsive.

Other Thoughts: Minor drawbacks except the DOES NOT like to be disconnected during a file transfer. when it happened to me the Reset doesn't "reset" the device, just Zen splash screen and nothing else. I was lucky and the Creative "red button" restore on the support site was able to bring it back to life. My friend was not so lucky he has a RMA number. Keep that in mind and everything else is a breeze. Get a FM transmitter for your radio and it's even better.

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VILLAIN_xx
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
3/2/2008 12:31:39 AM

Rating + 5 Chose this over the 4gb


Pros: Double the Gigs compared to Ipod counter part. AUDIO IS EXCELLENT on BOTH MUSIC AND VIDEO!!!!! If you have an auxilary jack in your car, youll be happy with it's sound. I use WMA and it sounds like a CD in the raw format.

Cons: BUY A SCREEN PROTECTOR and have it ready as soon as you open your Zen. I also notice the screen flickers when i plug in my head phone input. But, its not a big deal, i realized its just the way it is. Scared me at first, but not a deal breaker at all.

Other Thoughts: Ways to update Firmware. By the CD or Can go the website download firmware >plug in Zen >run firmware >easy as that.

The SD memory is a better option if you plan on adding in Movies for traveling. For casual music its a pain to use the SD memory expansion. Which is why i chose the 8 gb over the 4gb. I originally wanted to buy an Additional SD card to expand music library on the 4gb. BUT if you check around, the SD memory does not intergrate well with SD and stock memory. SD slot reads as a seperate media, and lacks nice features such as "last song play history" and when you fumble through albums and songs, it stops the song abruptly.

SD memory is a better option for movie library.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

Ace
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
2/23/2008 7:07:18 PM

Rating + 4 Good, but needs refinement


Pros: Good quality materials, pleasent user interface, SD card slot that you can view/play media from, good FM radio with ALOT of presets, plays videos pretty well, great sound quality, and has good equalizer options and bass boost, has a dedicated shortcut key that can be set for a variety of funtions (example- random song select), and a great deal from Newegg!

Cons: While using this player the screen occasionally flickers which can be irritating at first but you get used to it (Screen flickering with these players is normal), can be scratched easily if you don't have some kind of case for it, no FM recorder, and the buttons could be quieter.

Other Thoughts: A good overall player but should be refined with more scratch resistant materials and the screen flickering issue NEEDS to be fixed in a firmware update.

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N/A
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
2/20/2008 8:44:32 AM

Rating + 5 this thing is lovely


Pros: small (it IS like a credit card), good looking, 16mil color 2.5 TTL scrn, good interface with some nice tagging and file management features (you can DELETE TRACKS on the Fly!), flash memory storage, good battery life, excellent, excellent audio quality, dynamic range and modulation (volume), price

Cons: be SURE to flash to latest firmware as soon as you get the thing. scratches easily. The Zen is superior in almost every way, bt u cannot deny Apples easier interface & random play algorithm. And yea, an 80g IP*d is pretty sweet ;-D BUT for bang/buck, the Zen is a no brainer

Other Thoughts: Ill probably be getting another one for my daughter...get some screen protection on this thing, like InvisiShi3ld

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Fromanator
Tech Level: average
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
2/18/2008 1:28:12 PM

Rating + 2 great while it lasted


Pros: Great sound and video

Cons: It stopped docking with my PC and creative's support is terrible. All they do is tell you the exact same stuff that is on their self help knowledge base. Now they told me to reload my firmware and now it is completely bricked without any firmware because i cant load it!

Other Thoughts: they need to work on the reliability of their products i don't want $200 down the drain!

4 out of 5 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

Meats or Exceeds
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
2/14/2008 11:17:19 AM

Rating + 2 Your results may vary


Pros: The display is stunning. Audio is very good, even for mp3. I work in the A/V industry and have specific tastes for audio.

Cons: Typical of Creative products....Your results may vary.
I have had this unit for two months and it has done a "black screen of death" (similiar to Mirosoft's blue screen)on three occasions. After the first system failure, I went to their less than intuitive website and up'd the firmware. This caused another failure and lost all music, video, pictures on the player. It worked well for a few weeks and then today, I picked it up in my coat pocket to skip to the next song and it shutdown. I rebooted it and it appeared to be ok after "rebuilding".

Other Thoughts: I did an exhaustative amount of research before I decided to purchase this player. I have an old 256Mb iRiver audio player that I kept running out of room on and decided to get a "do it all" player. Creative has great ideas/equipment but they fail to follow through with a reliable product. I have used their sound cards in the past and present since they are the only real game in town. They have always been trouble setting up and fail easily. It must also be said that their products are a lot like Italian sports cars of the 60s and 70s. When they run, they are amazing and beautiful. However, you will be fixing it, tuning it, or completly rebuilding it.

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Ted
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
2/14/2008 12:50:58 AM

Rating + 1 Creative Customer Service Is A Crime


Pros: It was a great looking player while it worked and my teenage son was very happy with it. Great screen and excellent sound.

Cons: It went completely dead within 2 months of purchase, no big deal anyone can get one bad apple but due to Creative terrible customer service and newegg new policy of only allowing a 30 day RMA, i will never purchase a Creative product again. I will also have to rethinking staying a loyal newegg customer. I went to the Creative website since i had a 90 day warranty and realized its designed to keep lopping you in a circle till you give up try to get a RMA. I wrote Newegg who told me they couldnt help me since its after 30 days and to call the Creative Tech Support. They stated if i didnt get help to write them back and they would contact Creative for me.

Other Thoughts: First there tech # is not toll free so i had to pay for the call. After stating my problem i was told that my 60 day free tech support was up and if i want to continue the call and get a RMA from them i had to give my credit card and pay 13 bucks. I was furious since i didnt want to spend one penny more on this darn thing so i recontacted newegg for help and i havent recieved any reply and its been 2 weeks. Newegg has dropped the ball big time and are becoming like every other lame company out there with poor customer service. To make it all worst Newegg dropped the price on this thing by 30 bucks the day after i bought it with no refund and the player is now 50 dollars cheaper then when i bought it a few months ago. Well i guess i can still use this thing as a fancy paper weight after i buy my son a player from somewhere else. Do your self a favor dont buy from Creative and let Newegg know there new return policies are going to make them go the way of Comp USA and the Dinosaur.

6 out of 9 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

hevykevy
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
This user purchased this item from Newegg
2/10/2008 5:14:10 PM

Rating + 5 Every one is green with envy


Pros: My first player, pretty late entry for a techie. Display size is my reason for buying, (2 grand children) Video display is perfect, Sound is great. Size is perfect for a watch pocket. Easy to upgrade firmware and load media. Intuitive controls. Showed it to workmates...one has already bought the 4GB model for his wife.

Cons: Because it can't record from FM radio I had to buy a different unit for my wife.

Other Thoughts: I finally got it right! The price went up a week after I bought mine, plus the rebate ended.

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