Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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64 of 64 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Learn how to use it before knocking it, 27 Jul 2007
I've had my 60Gb Creative Zen for a few months now, and reading these reviews feel I should add my two penneth.
The Zen is in many ways better than an ipod, and has a few neat features that make it easier to use. However, there are a few things to be aware of:
1. The dongle that plugs in to the bottom is annoying and liable to get lost. It shouldn't really be necessary, considering you can get third-party chargers etc. that plug straight into the socket.
2. The headphones supplied are relatively poor. This applies to most media players, however, including the ipod, so budget for a decent set (I have some Sennheiser closed back 'phones and the sound through them is awesome). Just as the most important part of a car is the tyres, as that is the only bit in contact with the road, the most important part of your audio player is the speakers!
3. You will definitely need accessories. A silicon skin or protective cover to protect from scratches, a mains charger (it takes ages to charge through USB), and maybe leads to connect to your hi-fi and TV and possibly an FM transmitter or connector to play in the car. There are more accessories available for the ipod, although other companies seem to be producing Zen compatible accessories now.
The screen is great quality and comfortable to watch. The FM radio is really good. The sound quality is brilliant, as long as you play through good headphones. The output is powerful enough to use as a line level source. Shuffle play allows you to play a specific artist, album or genre, or shuffle all to play all tracks at random.
Some of the reviewers have mentioned problems, some of which can be solved by reading the manual that Creative kindly supply with every Zen. For example:
'You have to press several buttons to skip tracks' - Or you could use the skip forward/back buttons either side of the touch pad.
'The album of the day button is really annoying' - don't press it. Or assign it to some other function you do want to use.
'The touchpad is harder to use than the ipod wheel' - Really? Have you tried scrolling through 1000 songs using the ipod wheel as compared to holding your finger at the bottom of the touchpad while the Zen does the work?
'If you use media player it sets the sample rate really low' - No, you can set the sample rate yourself in the settings along with the destination of the ripped files.
'It skips/sticks when I'm running about with it' - This is a hard drive player. If you want to listen to music while you go for a run, get a flash memory player. They have less capacity but fewer moving parts so won't skip if you shake them around.
'The battery doesn't last very long' - Give it a few charge/discharge cycles and always fully charge and fully discharge rather than topping it up. Also bear in mind that the higher the bit rate, the more power you use, the higher the volume, the more power you use, and if you are watching video or keep the display lit it uses more power as well.
'Its really big and heavy' - Not compared to a mini-disk player or a 1980's walkman. And consider how much more it does :-)
In short, the Creative Zen is an excellent piece of kit, and I'm very happy with mine. I suggest you all go out and buy one immediately.
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105 of 107 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
I love it! (some useful tips buried here somewhere), 21 Dec 2006
Not much point writing a comprehensive review, as there are so many for the 30Gb model. www.anythingbutipod.com has a very nice review of it. But here are some assorted comments:
Before getting the ZVM I actually played with a brand new 30Gb ipod and a 30Gb ZVM, which we bought for work purposes.
Firstly - the circular vs vertical touch-sensitive pad. Its a draw. Then - the buttons. The ZVM wins. Now I am completely at ease and familiar with all sorts of technology, but I found the buttons on the ipod almost completely un-intuitive. This was the first time I ever used it. Granted, I own a Zen Micro, but I still think its system of going up and down levels is better. The ZVM also has a very useful button which works like "right-click" in Windows - bringing up lots of useful options.
No question that the ipod is a much prettier looking thing out of the box, but this soon wore off as its shiny metal back plate looked awful after 2 weeks of living in its protective sleeve and being taken out maybe 10 times! In my experience all ipods look absolutely filthy after a couple of months of average use, even if kept in a pouch. By contrast, my own ZVM still looks spic and span after a solid month of travelling with me on my commute in its own velvet pouch. Bear in mind, I spent half that time watching videos so its out of the bag a lot of the time. Looks-wise it will easily outlast the ipod. My 2-year old Zen Micro still looks almost brand new and it never saw any protective cover. So - lesson no. 1 - you really don't have to bother with getting a silicon case or those fiddly skins you apply with soapy water. Its own pouch works great. (the silicon cases actually promote scratching by grinding all the dust that gets trapped between them and the player into it)
There is also no need to buy a screen protector - just keep the one it came with. Its already properly applied, and I think is designed to stay on. It doesn't have a "peel here" corner, unlike the one on the 30Gb ZVM. So I've already saved myself all the money I had earmarked for the case and screen protector.
The earphones are of course poor and uncomfortable. I think anyone who keeps earphones supplied with their mp3 player is a fool and is challenged to fisticuffs with me at any time. My all-time favourite earphones are the Sony MDR-ED21LP. You can pick them up for about £10. The bass on them is excellent, they fit the ear really well, and are very easy to get in and out. They are a great half-way point between blocking all sound with those ear-canal 'phones and letting it all in and out with cheap and nasty ones. Tested on the tube with dance music, you can hardly hear any sound escaping. You can also adjust them to control the amount of outside noise coming in - useful if listening out for announcements.
The size of the player is just a complete non-issue. I now laugh at the foolios on the forums bleating about the extra 2.3mm, or whatever. As if every gram and millimetre needs to be shaved off for it going on a space probe! It is very comfortable to hold for watching videos, and I just don't give it a second thought when its in one of my pockets. Although come the summer, I think I'll just leave the pouch at home for carrying in shorts and trouser pockets.
The radio on it is superb - much better than on the Micro. You only get about 3-5 stations, but the reception is great.
This ZVM comes with the new version of the MediaSource software (5ish). Which is almost identical to the previous one (3ish). I only use WMP11 to manage music on it. However - I found that its much, much better to use MS for loading videos onto it. WMP11 insisted on converting avi files before uploading them - something that takes an age. I also tried various converters after reading that avi files cannot be read by the player. Well, what do you know - I tried MS for the hell of it, and the same avi file which WMP11 took half an hour to convert, losing quality and actually crashing my ZVM, went on without a peep in about 15 seconds! So, I would really recommend installing and using MediaSource for videos. (In any case, please upgrade to WMP11 if you use WMP10! Its now in many ways better than iTunes).
And the videos are so good on it! I've just finished watching Firefly on my commute and have no complaints, save that you need to look at the screen from above to get the best brightness. For this reason, holding it in the hand is the best option, if not as comfortable as getting a stand.
One last tip - get a paperclip and put it on the drawstring of the pouch - this is for resetting the player. I got caught out the one and only time it crashed on me.
So - the 60Gb ZVM exceeded my expectations, which, according to my Systems Engineering lecturer, is the Holy Grail for any manufacturer. Look, I'm even recommending it to you heartily and I should be working!
Finally - top marks to Amazon for refunding me the £[...] it went down in price in the month since I bought it! :)
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58 of 59 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great Sound, 22 May 2007
Received my 60GB Vision M a few days ago after another painful delivery by Parcelforce (card in door and drive away at full speed on two occasions without checking to see if anyone is in!).
All seems to be excellent. I am really only interested in audio and perhaps having a few photos on the zen. Quality of audio and graphics is ace. The docking dongle is plain stupid and prone to be lost. The unit should be all black rather than black on front only and white to rear and sides. The touch pad is nothing like as positive as the Ipod click wheel but it can be tamed and is a matter of getting used to it. The absence of a mains charger is criminal although I guess Creative want to squeeze every last penny from customers! I already had a mains plug with usb socket for another mp3 player (Rio Carbon) but plugging this in with Creative's own lead will not charge the zen - clever technology to ensure a dedicated Creative plug is used. However I understand there are several generic plugs on the market that will work with Creative gear so will endeavour to get one of these.
Battery life is not as good as Creative state. Mine lasts approx 10 hours using audio only.
Mine came wihout all the warranty details and without the warranty support phone number. It took a while to get Creative to give me the helpline number as my Aamzon sourced unit came with a CD that only appears to give phone numbers if one lives in the Americas. Creative isisited all was on the CD but I cold not locate it.
Transferring music from Media Player 11 is easy although I have now succumbed to using Creative's Media Explorer for transferring and editing music, playlists etc. It works well. Any errors are normally due to problems with files already on the computer that need a little tweaking of tags - but hardly anything at all. Album art is automatically transferred over with the music folders.
One critic said that jumping mp3 songs is a pain but I have found it only a matter of pressing one `go back' button, running up or down the clicking touchpad to another song and pressing the pad to accept.
I had agonised whether to buy an Ipod or the Zen and had used an Ipod with Itunes software. I was not impressed with Itunes after finding that I would have to sign up to Itunes to ensure getting album art across plus the restriction on non-use of wma file format. The zen has FM radio that I thought would be hopeless but it turns out to be really good quality! I know that there are fewer accessories for the zen and Creative really need to get their act together with promoting the zen and get some more accessories produced/licensed. I believe the Ipod is a neat player but the zen only falls down on the touchpad v clickwheel. For all other matters the zen appears (so far) to be a real winner for me.
Although Amazon will not inform you whether they are selling the thinner 60GB version or not, they did say that use fresh stock so I did in fact receive the thinner version (same as the 30GB) and I bought the Creative leather case and that is fine although an additional screen protector built into the case would have been sensible.
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