- Product Type - MP3 Player
- Memory - 4GB
- Battery - Rechargeable Li-ion Battery
- Storage Capacity: 4GB (2,000 songs)
-Good price/performance
-FM radio and voice recorder
-Small, scratch resistant and cool design
-Drag and drop capability
-Compability with different music stores
-Very easy and quick navigation
-Previous positive experience
If you want a more detailed comparison to IPOD-Nano and Sandisk Sansa C200 series, continue reading and scroll down, if not stop here and get back to what you were doing, or want to do or whatever... :-)
First off, this is my second Creative product in less than a year. No, no the old one is still good (ZEN Nano Plus) indeed the best one I've ever had, but I decided to go with something with color and a more navigation-friendly menu. I am not new to digital music.I've had a pleuthora of MP3 players within the last 5 years. Starting with a 32MB RCA (terrible), a 128MB Samsung (Good), a HD based Dell DJ(died on me,) two 6GB Apple Minis (one's Hard drive died, the other's click-wheel gave up), a Zen Nano Plus (excellent) and now this cool 4 GB Zen V-Plus. Before deciding on my new ZEN, I had two other serious considerations :
1) IPOD NANO 4GB or 6GB :
Although I really loved the look and the price (not much above its competition)of the new IPOD NANO, I could not go with it because of previous (baaaad) experience and the required slavery to it's ITUNES software. It just is a pain in the neck when using my own MP3s (non i-tunes songs) and other music stores' products. Plus it did not have FM and voice recording, which are, I admit, pretty cool features.
2)Sandisk Sansa E250 (4GB) or E270 (6GB):
This was my clear favourite before actually going into a store and physically feeling it. Sandisk is the lead flash card memory manufacturer and its memories are really hi-Q.That and its clearly lowest price among peers made me consider this one more seriously. It had the voice recording and FM radio options and did not have the dreaded mandatory music software. Had even a bigger screen (1.8 inches) than Zen V Plus (1.5 inches). So why did Sandisk got eliminated? Easy:
i)Extremely hard to use click-wheel, even if one has small hands (I don't,I am 6'2" and 200lbs, so in my case a total "forget it"). The wheel is elevated from the surface very little, you accidentally hit other buttons while trying to operate.
ii)Overall size and design. Sandisk looks like a fatter and less slick IPOD Nano. It does not have the different (shorter,squarer, more compact) feel of the Zen V Plus.Bottom line it is bigger and bulkier than both.
iii)Icon based menu.That is a total no go for a small screen gadget. Just stick to line-based menu like all the previous and current IPods if your screen is less than 3 inches accross.
So, cheaper, equipped with features like the Zen V Plus, with a bigger screen and comparable battery life, The Sandisk Sansa still got eliminated.
After a month, what do I think about my Zen V Plus (4GB)?
PROS:
-Great size, look and feel.
-Great, optional very easy to use Creative software.
-100% Drag and drop compatible.
-Vibrant colors.
-Easy to navigate menu.
-Easy to use joystick and buttons (except one, see below in CONS)
-Decent battery life.
-Great FM receiver.
-Price
CONS
-Hard to see the screen (OLED's curse) under direct sunlight.
-Charging through USB (the only supplied cable) takes forever.
-The placement of the "back" button. It should be on the left of the "play/pause" button not below. When the unit is in your palm unless you have a hyperextending thumb, it is hard to press this button though possible.
-Screen is not big enough for video viewing. Although video playback is seamless and vibrant, the size is just too small.Don't let the video capability be a deciding factor if you are inclined.
Buy Creative Zen V Plus 4 GB Portable Media Player (Black/Blue) Now
I purchased the 8GB Creative Zen V Plus player during the first week in February. I am returning it and this is why:The package arrived from Amazon. I loaded up the software on my computer, then hooked up the player through the usb cord. I let it charge for 6 hours like the instructions state. Then I proceeded to load some of my music onto the player. So after the music was loaded, I disconnected the player from the usb cable and started to listen to the music. The sound quality was good, the player is easy to navigate in the menus, etc... The problem was about half the music I uploaded was not on the player. I could see the folder and menu option for the artist or genre but the actual file was not there. So I plugged the player back into the usb cord, and pulled up the file location on the player through the computer. The file was there and I could play it just fine through Windows Media Player. I tried to access it again through the player and it was not there. Then I accessed through the computer just fine.
All my songs, all 4,500 of them, are in MP3 format from 56kps for my audio books to 192kps for the songs I ripped from cd's. The player just wouldn't read about half my songs. There was really no rhyme or reason on whish songs it would recognize. I would load an entire album of 15 songs and I could only play 6 or 7 tracks. This happened with my entire music collection.
So I thought maybe the firmware was out of date so I uploaded all the updates from creative which did include a firmware update. It did not solve the problem. I then uploaded some of the same songs that would not play on the Zen V Plus onto my 3 year old Rio and original Ipod Shuffle and they played just fine. I was frustrated at this point so I called the Creative Customer Service. It is strange because they do not post the number for there company anywhere on there website and now I understand why. They have the worst customer service/tech department of any computer/electronic company I have ever spoke with. After three calls, never speaking to someone who I could fully understand as English was definitely not a first language, more like a 3rd or 4th language, I arrived nowhere. They kept telling me they were emailing document to me on how to resolve the problem. No email ever came, checked the junk folder and every other possible place. So I tried a fourth call. This guy basically called me stupid from what I could understand, saying "I can't believe you Americans" and then mumbled something in another language. I asked for a supervisor. He told me that he would escalate my call and someone would call me in 2-3 days. Then he hung up.
I was really amazed that a company would treat its customers in this nature. They really have to respect for there customers and do not want to help them in any way. So I am returning the Creative Zen V Plus player and I also don't plan on buying anything from Creative again.
By the way, after all this, the problem never was fixed.
Also, when doing research on this product, I came across a couple articles and reviews that stated this player would play DIVX files. This is not true. This player will not play any files without being converted first. I took an AVI video that was 100MB and it converted it into a 1.2GB file. The format they use is absolutely a waste of space. If you want to upload an entire movie on MPEG or AVI format, it will end up taking the entire 8GB of space if not more. I converted the movie Cars for my son on a short road trip thinking I could have my music plus his movie. I was wrong, the movie took up 7.1GB after being converted.
I would not recommend this product to anyone. As much as I don't like the IPod, I would recommend it over the Zen V Plus because: 1. It plays all my music 2. They have a customer service/tech support that helps you and cares about its customers.
I hope this helps anyone looking at this player.
Jeff
Read Best Reviews of Creative Zen V Plus 4 GB Portable Media Player (Black/Blue) Here
The Zen V Plus is a nifty little device that accomplishes a lot of audio tasks. It is an audio player and recording, and also displays JPEG pictures and small video files.I found the usability of the Zen to be very good for it's size. You have to hold the "On" button for least one second to activate the player and this prevents it accidentally turning on by mistake in your pocket. The battery management is also well designed: the display dims a few seconds after you press any of the buttons. If the Zen isn't playing, it automatically turns itself after a few minutes. By virtue of these features, I found that I get hours of play before the unit needs recharging which is done by hooking up to a USB port on your computer.
Sound quality is very good: I was surprised given the Zen's small size and very light weight. In fact, the unit is so small and light, you'll want to attach the strap to prevent yourself losing it. The display is bright and readable. One thing I especially like is that Zen only plays one folder of music at a time and then stops: it doesn't keeping playing one folder after another endlessly like other players do. It's like playing only one CD or record at a time. There also is a "set bookmark" function for going back to an exact spot in a recording.
The included software works well for transferring and managing files on the Zen. While the unit is not straight Windows drag and drop, the Creative Media Explorer accomplishes the same thing. This software also rips music from CDs and is supposed to convert video files to play on the Zen but I couldn't get the latter function to work for my video clips.
The buttons on the Zen are a little on the cheap side but work well enough. There is a "lock" button that is integrated with the "On" switch: this keeps you from accidentally pushing any buttons during recordig or playback. The Zen also acts as a line-in recorder at 128 or 160 kbps recording rate, and has a built-in microphone also. Sound quality is good with line-in and decent on the microphone. I think these features alone are worth the purchase price. The Zen plays FM radio, but you can't record from it with this unit.
You can also display your favorite photos one at a time or in slide show format. The Zen also acts as a portable flash drive. To use this function you need to select from an internal menu to decide how much space to give the new data partition.
As far as "freezing-up" is concerned, my unit froze once when I first used it, possibly due to an incompatible music file that I transferred, and I was a bit miffed. This is simple enough to correct but you need a very small pin to insert in the side of the unit. This causes it to rebuild the file list which takes a few minutes. After doing this once, my unit has worked fine ever since.
The paper manual is a bit skimpy, as others have noted, but the online manual is sufficient. Holding down the "Back" button, the one with the little left-facing arrow, on the Zen shows you additional options for each function. One slightly amusing feature is that the Zen shows you messages like "shutting down" or "processing" in a separate DOS-like window superimposed on top of the main window. It's reminds you that the Zen is, in fact, a small computer. The Zen also contains a calendar and a nice-looking clock with alarm that, while not sounding a beep or buzz, turns on the audio player to a random track or the FM radio. It can do this from a completely shut-down state but you need to keep the headphones attached if you aren't looking at the display.
Overall, I like the Zen V Plus and found that it has become a constant companion for air travel and around the house for a variety of line or microphone recording uses.
(Simeon Hein is the author of the OPENING MINDS softcover and audio books, and PLANETARY INTELLIGENCE: 101 Easy Steps to Energy, Well-Being, and Natural Insight.)
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Update:The player freezes with no sound and with the screen on (displaying album artwork), at random times and for no apparent reason. One of my two units had to be reset so many times that it can no longer be reset: it feels like that internal pad you press on with a sharp pin has now disappeared (it must have broken off). Our only recourse now is to wait 3 days for the battery to run dead, and hope that it will be reset simply by recharging it from scratch. We've only had this unit since August (it's now December), so I no longer feel the reliability level of this product is sufficient to justify its purchase. Buy something else that doesn't have to be reset all the time!
I bought the 2 GB model because the 4 GB version wasn't available yet and it had the largest flash memory of any unit that works with my Napster-To-Go subscription, so it can store the largest number of songs and color photographs. The 4 GB version is identical except for the amount of installed flash memory. This is the V Plus version, so it sports an FM tuner and the ability to display videos as a bonus.
Why did I choose a flash memory based MP3 player? Napster-To-Go compatible hard drive models with much larger storage capacity abound, but I figure they'll break prematurely because they use a hard drive that can't withstand much jogging, accidental bumping or dropping.
I bought two of these players plus the separately sold AC wall charger, and attached one of them to the wall charger for 6 hours, while I attached the other one to a USB port on my PC to charge it for 6 hours.
At the end of 6 hours, the unit attached to the PC was fine until I unplugged it, then it went comatose and would not even revive when the reset button was pushed several times. I had to exchange it for a replacement unit just two days after buying it.
The unit attached to the wall charger was fine, and I went on to load it up with music using my Napster-To-Go subscription. That was fine until 2 weeks later, when my wife charged it on a PC using the USB cable. After charging and disconnecting from the PC, it too went comatose.
This time I was able to revive it by pushing the reset button.
Then I took a look at the other unit, which had been charging on the AC wall charger. It had also gone comatose, and I was able to revive it by pushing its reset button.
The reset button is inside a tiny hole on the left edge of this unit. You can find it by following the thin groove that's below the screen all the way to the left edge of the unit, where you'll find it on the side. The picture in the manual does NOT accurately depict its location.
The hole leading to the reset button is very, very small. The instructions say to penetrate that hole with a pin.
I used the sharp end of a safety pin to do this. When the pin is inserted, it's quite easy to miss the reset button unless the pin is inserted at exactly the right angle. You'll know it's not at the right angle if you don't feel that you're pushing on a pad with a spring behind it when you reset the unit. That pad travels a short distance until it's stopped by a control surface inside the unit; that's when you know it has been reset.
The reset system should be redesigned so that it doesn't depend on the angle you insert the pin to work. I suspect that the first unit I returned could have been reset if I had known that you have to insert the pin at just the right angle to do it. Since I didn't know, my several attempts to reset it were not successful.
Resetting the unit is akin to rebooting a PC: it revives it when the internal software (called "firmware") has frozen by restarting the software. It does not erase your songs or photos.
Make no mistake: this MP3 player looks, feels and works beautifully. However, since the firmware is newly designed, it appears to have bugs relating to disconnecting it from USB or charger power that cause it to freeze, and the reset button is a little hard to use if you don't know about the things I described above that could cause you to be unable to reset it. You may just end up with a unit that's frozen and not be able to reset it.
It needs to be a little more user friendly than that. Hopefully a future firmware update will be available that will lower the occurrence of the unit locking up (freezing), especially when disconnecting from a USB port or AC charger after recharging it. As another user noted, the "safe disconnect" icon is often times not even in the system tray.
If you don't subscribe to Napster-To-Go, your options to get content for your MP3 player are to transfer your favorite songs from CDs you own to your hard disk ("ripping the songs"), or purchase songs one track or album at a time, at a price ranging from 88 to 99 cents per song from Napster, Rhapsody or WalMart.
You can also download books you want to listen to (such as best sellers and classics) or "podcasts" (your favorite newspapers read aloud, or your favorite radio programs like NPR) from a plethora of sites (like NetLibrary or Audible) that make these available, onto your computer's hard drive. Now you can listen to your music, audible books and podcasts over your PC loudspeakers while sitting at your PC.
Then you can transfer your songs, audible books and podcasts from the hard drive of your PC to your MP3 player(s). This enables you to take your MP3 player with you to enjoy listening in your car, in your office, while jogging or working out at the gym, while shopping, or at the pool or the beach to hear your music, audible books and podcasts anywhere.
The form factor for the Zen V is terrific. The tiny size and curved shape make this comfortable to hold in your hand or slip in your pocket. And despite its all-plastic construction, it seems as if the Zen V can stand up to some abuse. I've found that it also does not scratch as easily as my previous player, the result of a scratch-resistant polymer coating. I plan to take this player running, camping, to the gym, etc., and don't feel like I'll need to "baby" it.
The interface is what you'd expect from Creative: simple, intuitive and powerful. There are many options for customizing, including choosing main menu options to display, setting photos as wallpaper and rotating display orientation -and corresponding controls -in 90-degree increments, so you don't have to strain your neck to read the display when your player is strapped to your arm. I feel like Creative spent some time figuring out what real users would want in a player. Also, despite its small size, the five-position joystick is easy to use and works well in combination with the interface.
Of course, the Zen V Plus also has a boatload of other features that you may or may not care for depending on your needs: FM radio with 32 presets, voice recorder, line-recording and PIM functionality (you can sync your calendar, contacts and tasks with MS Outlook).
I can really only come up with two negatives for the Zen V Plus. One is battery life, which at 15 hours (less if you use a lot of EQ) is on the low end of the scale compared to some of the newer players. If you plan on taking this on long trips, I suggest getting an AC wall charger. (Hint: the bargain-priced charger for the Zen Micro works just fine with this unit.)
The other possible drawback is the OLED screen, which is small, has lower resolution than most LCD screens and is difficult to see in bright sunlight. On the other hand, if you're buying this primarily as a music player and not a multimedia device, the screen is more than adequate. It is quite vibrant (the colors really pop) and does a decent enough job with photos.
Some also might be disappointed that this device is not true UMS (although you can partition the memory for storage). I run Win XP and am the sole user of the device, so having an MTP player is no big deal for me. I have my music organized by folders, which I drag and drop onto the player using Creative's Media Explorer. (Note: like the Sansa and some other players out there, the Zen V uses ID3 tags to categorize music and display file properties, so it pays to make sure your tags are cleaned up and correct.)
The Good:
Excellent sound, with no system noise
Convenient size and form factor
Simple, but powerful interface
The Not So Good
Small, low-resolution screen
Battery life could be better
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