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| Home >> Handheld & PDA Reviews: Creative Zen 16 GB Portable Media Player (Black) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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User Submitted Creative Zen 16 GB Portable Media Player (Black) Reviews (cont...)Date: 2008-12-30 Great product bought this for my cousin for christmas. feels sturdy in your hand. controls are easy. videos are sharp. has fm radio.4g at the price. buy it Date: 2008-12-29 Beats an iPod in my opinion I currently own both an iPod Classic (or iPod Video) and an iPod Shuffle. I was disappointed to find out that iPods do not support WMA-DRM (i.e. some Audiobook subscriptions) and purchased this for that purpose. 1. It supports audiobook subscriptions in all formats, and not just mp3 like the iPods do .. which means that I can download and listen to books from sites like netlibrary.com without any problems. 2. It includes a microphone to records notes, an FM Radio, an alarm clock, and all kinds of other features that are not found on Apple products. For example, the FM Radio remote will cost you an extra $50 and it ONLY works with the iPod Classic and Nano. 3. It's adorable, has a great screen, and has some quick and easy controls on it. It took a second to get familiar with it and to me, the pulldown is one of the best parts. 4. It Bookmarks up to ten locations .. so in two seconds I can mark my spot in an audionbook, even while it's actively playing. This was one of few mp3 players that included this option and was the reason I chose it over the other brands. It sure beats trying to remember where you were! 5. It has an SD card slot, so while you may buy the 2, 4, 8, 16, etc gig mp3 player it's expandable based on the size of an SD card that you add to it. That I love!! The only things I am not crazy about are: 1. The software is a bit clunky, but after 2 seconds you figure it out and life is good. If I recall, iTunes took a minute to get used to as well. 2. The screen does not turn off after playing so long, it only dims, although it does dim quite a bit. I just like to listen to audiobooks while going to bed and so I have learned to turn it over. All in all, after being an iPod fan for years I'll have to say that I may never go back. It's a great little device, both in design and usage, and instead of getting 'just the basics' the Apple gives you, this comes loaded to play or do so many things that they can't. By not paying for the Apple logo you save a lot money (especially because of the expandability of the player) and get three times the mp3 player!! Date: 2008-12-28 good player, nice features This is a good player, especially if you like FM radio. That's a nice touch, which Apple seems to have forgotten. :) Sounds great, video is great. Plays mp3 files. What more do you want? The only thing I wish is something that worked with iTunes, which is why I have an iPod. Date: 2008-12-27 Very Good, Affordable Media Player - Recommended My needs for a portable media player were mostly for video and radio use at the gym. After doing a lot research and feature vs price comparison, I decided to go with the "Zen 4gb Portable Media Player". The deciding factors for me were: * Large 2.5" screen has an amazingly sharp, clear picture (very viewable while on treadmill) * Long battery life while playing videos (over 4 hours) * Support for SD cards (a little cumbersome, but usable) * Good FM radio with 34 "Presets" (must have since TVs in gym broadcast audio on FM channels) * Low price for 4gb model Transferring media onto the Zen can be a little tricky to master at first, but here is what worked for me: * Use iTunes to get podcasts and music downloads ** Use the included Zen Media Explorer to transfer iTunes selections to the Zen (there is an iTunes button) * Use Amazon Unbox to get TV and movie selections. ** The Amazon Unbox software will detect and allow for transfer to the Zen (only Free and Buy can be transfered, not Rental) My only real complaint with the Zen is the long work time needed for the "Creative Video Converter" to reformat videos for transfer (this is not needed for Amazon Unbox). I typically update my iTunes subscriptions at night and start the conversion and transfers before going to bed, so they will be ready in the morning for my trip to the gym. For my needs, the great video functionality, and the fairly low price, the Zen is highly recommended! Not being a serious music buff made my choice somewhat easier since it looks likes the iPod is hard to beat in that area. Date: 2008-12-27 Great MP3 Player We have four of these players in my family now, a 2, 4, 16 and 32 gig player. We have all had fantastic luck with them. I did notice a few things though: 1. I have had a couple of videos lock up on my 32 gig player. But they seem to lock up at the same place all the time, and when I use the included video converter they seem to play fine. I see that as a problem with the video. 2. The included video converter is very slow, but it has a better compression ratio than my other converters, so I put up with that. 3. I only did the iTunes thing for a while. It works fine on the Zen, but I found that the MP3 files form Amazon have no DRM encoding in them at all. I can play them anywhere. No more iTunes. 4. My old Zen needed the installation software to put music on the player. This one works with Explorer. I like that a lot better. 5. When I try to delete the last song in the music directory my player hug up and I had to do a reset. It seems to do that whenever I delete that last song. I normally keep all my tunes in subdirectories in the player but now I always keep at least one in the "root" of the music directory. 6. I would suggest that you always keep videos on the SD card and not the player. They eat up a lot of space, and they play fine from the card. Music should be put on the player as it shows up in the display classified by artist and title, etc. If you play music form the card it only shows the file name. Others have suggested that Creative include tunes from the card in teh players "catalog" but I would prefer not to wait for the player to sort the card out each time I change it. I really like the import from the card function as it allows us an easy way to swap music and photos between the players. I have used ipod before. The Zen is MUCH better and you don't have to deal with Apple's sorry copy proofing system. The ipod is fine for teeny-boppers, but I think the Zen is a lot more suitable for the over 17 crowd.
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