Creative Zen Nano Plus 1GB - White

 

 

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Well, my Nano arrived today, so I've been spending the day playing with it. First impressions are very good. Neatly packaged, with all the gubbins you need, and a nice box.
Upon opening it up, it's obvious that this will never be as desirable as its iPod rival because, it must be said, it does look/feel a bit cheap and nasty. The battery hatch looks a bit delicate for example, but the rest of the device does at least feel robust, even if it doesn't look it, and I'd rather have my money spent on features rather than a 'Bling' casing that attracts thieves anyway!
Features is where this gadget really scores though. The menu system is simplicity itself and the functions that are packed into the device will leave most iPod shuffle/Nano owners with a distinct feeling of being shortchanged to fund U2's tours!

Sound quality is surprisingly good, the supplied cans are quite reasonable, but a better set is on the shopping list. The FM radio works well with strong stations, having very good sound quality, but the tuner struggles with weak stations. This may be down to the headphones though, if as I imagine, they use the screening of the cable as an antenna.

For people like me, running windows 98se, this is THE device to have. You can simply go into 'Windows Explorer' and drag and drop files with incredible ease, although if you want to spend time figuring out the ripping software supplied, you can have 'iTunes' type features without selling your soul to the Apple corporation.

Some people have said 'Eugh. It takes a penlight battery'. So what? It means you can buy some NiMh AAA's which are dirt cheap and you can take them with you. I'm looking forward to seeing my pal's face when his iPod runs out of grunt and he's nowhere near a USB port! And when he has to send it off to Apple to have the internal battery replaced! There's a lot to be said for easily-replaceable power sources. Anyway, the whole plot is about the size of my lighter, so who really cares? If you're worried about carrying something this size around there's something very wrong with you. I've hammered this all day so far and the indicator's not even gone down one bar, so the claims of 18 hours life can be easily believed.

So, would I recommend it? Definitely. It knocks spots off the Apple rivals for the money. Creative have a real winner here. Buy one. You won't be sorry.

I bought this to replace my Creative Zen Micro which, although a great player, suffers rubbish battery life ' and the headphone socket had worked loose due, I think, to my using it attached to an armband while running.
So, I wanted something that I could use while running without risking damage; and which I could switch on, safe in the knowledge that I wouldn't be left staring at a 'low battery' warning - again.
Other reviews pointed me in the direction of this little beauty - and thanks to everyone who gave it such brilliant write-ups. You're all spot-on. Sound quality is better than on the Zen Micro, which itself is good. The Equaliser feature on the menu does make a difference on certain tracks if you can be bothered to dive in and out of it; otherwise, standard setting is fine, with good detailing and prominent bass.
I knew from the reviews that it would be small, but I still wasn't prepared for how tiny it is. It now slides snugly into the key pocket (too small even for keys, actually) of my running shorts, so I can wave goodbye to the armband that I thought was a fine solution, but which I now look back on as being cumbersome and ungainly.
It's still running on the Duracell AAA battery that comes with the player ' 12 hours or so of use, and still with two out of three bars showing. And that use includes an awful lot of footering about with the menu to get used to its many features.
And what features, too. The FM radio is a revelation: the one on the Micro is appalling, which didn't bother me too much. But here, reception is so good, I find myself using it. It's stable enough to tune into even while running, and you can even record straight from FM. I use the voice recording facility, too, and the menu makes it easy to cue/review while typing up notes.
The standard headphones get something of a bad press. Sound-wise, they compare favourably with others I've tried. They're a little bit big, but I'm happy to use them on long runs with just the occasional adjustment. And the drag-and-drop downloading from the computer is quick and simple. It's also much easier to set up folders with this than with the Zen Micro.
I'm still feeling really, really smug at getting my choice so right.
Update: months down the line, I'm still really happy with the Nano. The ability simply to drag and drop from PC or Mac is fantastic, and the sound quality still wows me. I use the voice recording facility all the time and I also use it as back-up storage for Word files. My son has cottoned on to what a cool gadget it is. He's impressed by the fact that the menu allows him to listen to just the tracks in his folder - whether in order or shuffled - or in all the folders.
I see that a couple of buyers have suffered the problem of it unexpectedly cutting out shortly after switching on. This has happened to me two or three times. If the player's not that old, the thing to do is obviously to send it back. But I've found a way round it: if it cuts out, turn it back on again and immediately push the menu button. Scroll round to any function other than the music folders (I usually listen to the radio) and select that. Leave it be for a minute or two, then scroll back to your music folders - it should work fine then.
Incidentally, I've experimented with various headphones, including a pair Panansonic things, and found that none are as good as the standard ones.
so I can't understand why anyone would buy anything else, unless 1GB isn't enough. Not a problem for me: because it's so simple to drag and drop, I just take 20 minutes out every few months and refresh the content.
Recommended just as highly, if not more so, than before.

I received my nano plus last week and couldn't be happier with the product. I am not the most technologically minded individual but this mp3 player and associated software is easy to install and extremely user friendly.
Unlike some of the smaller flash players the Nano Plus allows you to organise your tunes into folders so no flicking through 100's of songs to find the one you want. Sound quality is good and you get 4 standard sound options aswell as the custom equaliser. The radio is an added bonus - as mentioned above some of the weaker stations don't get picked up but the major stations all get good reception.
Luckily I have had none of the problems with the memory mentioned above and so far (touch wood) haven't had any problems with the headphone jack either. The only gripe I have with the machine is that when you are copying tunes from cd to player the nano plus has an irritating habit of re-organising songs into alpabetical order which is a tad annoying.
Overall this is a tiny slick machine and one I would happily recommend to anyone wanting a mid-priced MP3 player thats small easy to use got a decent memory capacity and sound quality.

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4.0 out of 5 stars review
Great at what it does but screen can be difficult to read depending on light conditions. Controls would be difficult for people with dexterity issues eg arthritis etc

Published 14 months ago by me

4.0 out of 5 stars Pretty Darned Good
I bought my Nano quite a while ago now, I'd say... 2 years? And it's still going strong. Easy to use menus, decent battery life and sound quality, and the equalizer settings... Read more

Published on 16 Mar 2008 by Ms. Claire F. Hassell

5.0 out of 5 stars The only small player that will record off-air...
Lot's of people complaining about build quality etc. Look after your Nano, get a little soft case for it or something - what do you expect for the money - diecast aluminium... Read more

Published on 28 Feb 2008 by Meriadoc Brandybuck

4.0 out of 5 stars Great quality and long lasting. Perfect for a first Mp3
A simple break down of the good and bad points:
=Good=
-great battery life
-good sound quality
-easy to use
-lots of different play modes
-good... Read more

Published on 21 Oct 2007 by N. Hewett

1.0 out of 5 stars Good unit - poort support and build quality
I have 3 Nano Pluses - my son and daughter have black and white ones respectively bought last Xmas, I have a white one bought in March. Read more

Published on 31 Aug 2007 by K. Saxton

4.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant little player
When I was buying this player I was specifically looking for a small lightweight player for running and the gym. Read more

Published on 27 July 2007 by Zedenne

3.0 out of 5 stars Good sound, poor build quality.
I have owned the Zen Nano Plus for about 18 months now and I use it almost every day. As far as this MP3 player goes I can sum it up as having good sound quality, its reasonably... Read more

Published on 19 July 2007 by M. P. Reece

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent value for money - it does exactly the job for which it was intended
I've had this player for about 6 months now and I would recommend it to anyone who's looking for a no-nonsense, value for money personal media player. Read more

Published on 8 July 2007 by Studio 23

2.0 out of 5 stars Broke down very quickly...
Product looks and feels fine, functionality is reasonable. The problem I had was that I tried jogging with it and after a few seconds it locked up and has not worked since. Read more

Published on 28 April 2007 by Charles R. Howlett

3.0 out of 5 stars Nano usage
I have owned this product for over year now and believe it is relatively a good purchase. Having also previously owned a different model of creatives mp3 range, i found that the... Read more

Published on 15 April 2007 by Simone

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