Ever since the iPod mini and the successive Nano player arrived in the market, many manufacturers were determined to defeat this digital audio device - either by emulating its abilities, or by bringing innovativeness to their own products, or both. Touted as "iPod killers", these players did create a fierce competition for Apple's flagship product, but none of them managed to overthrow Apple from its throne.
I had ordered the player online from bhphotovideo,i had requested ma friend to get it for me from USA ,i had shipped it to ma friends address in US. I got the player with shipping for 100 USD
I had read a lot of reviews about ZEN thought it was worth buying for the features is has i picked up a 4GB its clean[BREAK=Spec Sheet]
Feature Description
Capacity: 4GB
Memory type: Flash-based
Dimensions: 8.2 × 5.4 × 1.1 cm / 3.26 × 2.16 × 0.44 in.
Weight: 65 g / 2.3 oz.
Screen: 2.5" TFT LCD
Screen resolution: 320 × 240 pixels (QVGA)
Color depth: 16.7 million colors
Battery life: Audio playback > 25hrs
Video playback: > 5hrs
Video formats: MJPEG, WMV, and AVI (MPEG-4 SP, DivX, Xvid)
Audio formats: MP3, AAC (unprotected ".m4a"), WMA ,WAV,
Photo formats: JPEG
Battery: Non-removable, rechargeable lithium-ion battery
Signal-to-noise ratio: Up to 97 dB
EQ types: 8 Presets & 5-band custom setting
Album art source: Folder.jpg or from ID3 tag
Microphone input quota: 10hrs
FM radio presets: 32
Connection type: USB1.1 / 2.0, SD Memory Card[BREAK= Page 2-Package Contents]
The Package of the ZEN looks good and its sealed in all possible ways took atleast 10 mins for me to get it out of the box.Out of the box hte player was looking good was advised to charge the player for atleast 4 hrs before the first use but never waited for hours charged it for 20 mins and wanted to check the player screen first ,OMG the screen was looking great.
The package contatined a earphone,a setup disk and a USB cable to charge, wondered y the cable was so small.
[BREAK=Page 3 -Design & Construction]
The Creative Zen comes in just one (although elegant) color, Black. The player is pretty catchy in appearance. The Zen is also popularly known as the "Credit Card" player because its footprint exactly matches that of a standard-sized credit card.
The player is slim but not as slim as a Ipod Nano but even then the design was good.
Front: Almost 70-percent of its front is covered by the sufficiently large LCD screen. Its screen is just half inches larger than the iPod Nano . The screen portrays text and video pretty clearly. The colors are also displayed quite vividly. It's sufficiently bright too.i am actually using only20% brightness
The 5-way navigation keys and 4 other function keys are located next to the screen. The front is covered by a transparent plastic surface which is prone to fingerprints and dust.(without a case which creative must have bundeled its difficult to maintain it)
Bottom: The bottom right corner has the reset hole, in order to restart the player in an event the Operating System hangs.
Right side: Here lies the mini-USB port, the on-off/hold switch, and a standard 3.5mm ear-phone jack.
Top: The top comprises of the SD card slot and the microphone grille located next to it.
The card slot can to used to plugin SD cards or Mini SD Cards( Only with a Converter).This is an added advantage of ZEN
Back: The back of the player sports a circular groove with the model name written over it and the internal capacity printed below.
The Overall construction of ZEN is good it could sustain some drops.
The button arent exactly feathre touch navigatin thru them for a while one a strain their fingers coz its like anyother mobile phones keypad its hard to use them but then once u get used u will be happy.
But i missed the dedicated volume control button ,but u can set a shortcut for volume just by 2 clicks one can control the volume
[BREAK=Page4-UI]
The Creative Zen uses a patented User Interface; which claims to offer users with a visually stunning experience. And stunning it was! The UI is very catchy in appearance and snappy in its operation.
It's quite simple to use; I got the hang of it within a few minutes. It handles the media pretty well. For e.g. high-resolution photos don't take time to load under the full-screen mode. Songs are categorized neatly. It supports displaying album art (if available).
It also includes a basic organizer where one can view the calendar or even sync tasks and contacts from the Creative Sync Manager software.
With respect to sound shaping, it has 8 preset equalization settings and an option for a custom setting too.
Now the specifications of the Zen claim that it can mostly play DivX and XviD files. But during my testing, I found that it does support those formats only if they are encoded up to a certain resolution. And since most of the movie rips that we get are encoded at a higher resolution, they couldn't be played on the Zen directly without any transcoding. Thus, you'll need to convert most of your video files before using them with this player
[BREAK=Page 5-Bundeled Software]
Unlike Apple's compulsion to use the iTunes software to transfer media, the Creative Zen supports the usual drag-n-drop method as well as via its own media management software. Called the "Zen Media Explorer", this nifty application integrates itself into Windows Explorer.
But it took me 30 mins to install the software i dont now y ??
It has a streamlined interface. It can be used to add and browse through media, create play-lists, synchronize Microsoft Outlook's organizer data on to the player, Rip Audio CDs, and to convert and optimize any video to be played through the Zen player.
The video converter is pretty simple to use as well. It took almost 40 minutes to convert a 350 MB video file into Zen's native WMV format under the best video quality mode. Thus, if one calculates, it will take well over an hour to convert a normal 700 MB DVD movie rip. It might take a little less time to convert under standard quality mode.
But still, I found the conversion time to be a bit too long.( IT took me 4hrs to convert Transfromers Movie from its HD-DVD rip to Zen that was agonizing
[BREAK=Page 6-Audio & Video]
The bundeled earphones were at fault coz the effect was sad i had to use ma EP-630's to know the effect it was sexy but wondered y creative bundeled such a sad earphones when they can give some thign like the 630's.
Data transfers are handled via the speedy, popular USB 2.0 interface. In my tests, I was able to copy 1.70 GB of video files in 5 and a half minutes. With respect to smaller audio files worth 536 MB, they got copied in a little over 3 minutes.
Thus, I can conclude that overall, the Creative Zen's data transfer speeds were pretty good.
Video
The video quality was good too. The videos played pretty smoothly and with good clarity. I can thus comfortably state that this device can be used to watch videos, TV shows, or even movies on it.
Comparatively speaking, I'm happy to say that the iPod Nano's video quality was a lil better. My analysis is that although Zen's WMV video format is better than iPod's MP4 format, the Zen has a QVGA resolution in a bigger 2.5 inch display. While the Nano packs the same QVGA resolution in a smaller 2.0 inch display - thus giving out slightly better quality.
[BREAK= Page 7-Battery & Conclusion]
I was pretty impressed with the battery life of this player as well. In my testing period, I watched almost 2 hours worth videos on it and listened to music for almost 4 hours, still the battery wasn't ready to give up!
Conclusion
The Creative Zen is selling for a street price of Rs. 6500 for the 4 GB version. The 8 GB version costs 10,000 bucks. It's definitely not a value-for-money item, but on the other hand, it's not overpriced as well.
One more thing i noticed abt ZEN is tat it has FM radio and voice recorder which arent there in Ipod's and once u connect to the system u can see the battery status by right clicking on the player it will look some thing like the pic below
BUT OVERALL ZEN IS BETTER THAN IPOD & i give lil over 4/5
folks this is ma first review in TE iam sorry if i have done any mistakes ,mods and admins i am sorry the way i have written it correct me if anythiing is wrong.
All the pics were taken in ma N73
I had ordered the player online from bhphotovideo,i had requested ma friend to get it for me from USA ,i had shipped it to ma friends address in US. I got the player with shipping for 100 USD
I had read a lot of reviews about ZEN thought it was worth buying for the features is has i picked up a 4GB its clean[BREAK=Spec Sheet]
Feature Description
Capacity: 4GB
Memory type: Flash-based
Dimensions: 8.2 × 5.4 × 1.1 cm / 3.26 × 2.16 × 0.44 in.
Weight: 65 g / 2.3 oz.
Screen: 2.5" TFT LCD
Screen resolution: 320 × 240 pixels (QVGA)
Color depth: 16.7 million colors
Battery life: Audio playback > 25hrs
Video playback: > 5hrs
Video formats: MJPEG, WMV, and AVI (MPEG-4 SP, DivX, Xvid)
Audio formats: MP3, AAC (unprotected ".m4a"), WMA ,WAV,
Photo formats: JPEG
Battery: Non-removable, rechargeable lithium-ion battery
Signal-to-noise ratio: Up to 97 dB
EQ types: 8 Presets & 5-band custom setting
Album art source: Folder.jpg or from ID3 tag
Microphone input quota: 10hrs
FM radio presets: 32
Connection type: USB1.1 / 2.0, SD Memory Card
The Package of the ZEN looks good and its sealed in all possible ways took atleast 10 mins for me to get it out of the box.Out of the box hte player was looking good was advised to charge the player for atleast 4 hrs before the first use but never waited for hours charged it for 20 mins and wanted to check the player screen first ,OMG the screen was looking great.
The package contatined a earphone,a setup disk and a USB cable to charge, wondered y the cable was so small.
[BREAK=Page 3 -Design & Construction]
The Creative Zen comes in just one (although elegant) color, Black. The player is pretty catchy in appearance. The Zen is also popularly known as the "Credit Card" player because its footprint exactly matches that of a standard-sized credit card.
The player is slim but not as slim as a Ipod Nano but even then the design was good.
Front: Almost 70-percent of its front is covered by the sufficiently large LCD screen. Its screen is just half inches larger than the iPod Nano . The screen portrays text and video pretty clearly. The colors are also displayed quite vividly. It's sufficiently bright too.i am actually using only20% brightness
The 5-way navigation keys and 4 other function keys are located next to the screen. The front is covered by a transparent plastic surface which is prone to fingerprints and dust.(without a case which creative must have bundeled its difficult to maintain it)
Bottom: The bottom right corner has the reset hole, in order to restart the player in an event the Operating System hangs.
Right side: Here lies the mini-USB port, the on-off/hold switch, and a standard 3.5mm ear-phone jack.
Top: The top comprises of the SD card slot and the microphone grille located next to it.
The card slot can to used to plugin SD cards or Mini SD Cards( Only with a Converter).This is an added advantage of ZEN
Back: The back of the player sports a circular groove with the model name written over it and the internal capacity printed below.
The Overall construction of ZEN is good it could sustain some drops.
The button arent exactly feathre touch navigatin thru them for a while one a strain their fingers coz its like anyother mobile phones keypad its hard to use them but then once u get used u will be happy.
But i missed the dedicated volume control button ,but u can set a shortcut for volume just by 2 clicks one can control the volume
[BREAK=Page4-UI]
The Creative Zen uses a patented User Interface; which claims to offer users with a visually stunning experience. And stunning it was! The UI is very catchy in appearance and snappy in its operation.
It's quite simple to use; I got the hang of it within a few minutes. It handles the media pretty well. For e.g. high-resolution photos don't take time to load under the full-screen mode. Songs are categorized neatly. It supports displaying album art (if available).
It also includes a basic organizer where one can view the calendar or even sync tasks and contacts from the Creative Sync Manager software.
With respect to sound shaping, it has 8 preset equalization settings and an option for a custom setting too.
Now the specifications of the Zen claim that it can mostly play DivX and XviD files. But during my testing, I found that it does support those formats only if they are encoded up to a certain resolution. And since most of the movie rips that we get are encoded at a higher resolution, they couldn't be played on the Zen directly without any transcoding. Thus, you'll need to convert most of your video files before using them with this player
[BREAK=Page 5-Bundeled Software]
Unlike Apple's compulsion to use the iTunes software to transfer media, the Creative Zen supports the usual drag-n-drop method as well as via its own media management software. Called the "Zen Media Explorer", this nifty application integrates itself into Windows Explorer.
But it took me 30 mins to install the software i dont now y ??
It has a streamlined interface. It can be used to add and browse through media, create play-lists, synchronize Microsoft Outlook's organizer data on to the player, Rip Audio CDs, and to convert and optimize any video to be played through the Zen player.
The video converter is pretty simple to use as well. It took almost 40 minutes to convert a 350 MB video file into Zen's native WMV format under the best video quality mode. Thus, if one calculates, it will take well over an hour to convert a normal 700 MB DVD movie rip. It might take a little less time to convert under standard quality mode.
But still, I found the conversion time to be a bit too long.( IT took me 4hrs to convert Transfromers Movie from its HD-DVD rip to Zen that was agonizing
[BREAK=Page 6-Audio & Video]
The bundeled earphones were at fault coz the effect was sad i had to use ma EP-630's to know the effect it was sexy but wondered y creative bundeled such a sad earphones when they can give some thign like the 630's.
Data transfers are handled via the speedy, popular USB 2.0 interface. In my tests, I was able to copy 1.70 GB of video files in 5 and a half minutes. With respect to smaller audio files worth 536 MB, they got copied in a little over 3 minutes.
Thus, I can conclude that overall, the Creative Zen's data transfer speeds were pretty good.
Video
The video quality was good too. The videos played pretty smoothly and with good clarity. I can thus comfortably state that this device can be used to watch videos, TV shows, or even movies on it.
Comparatively speaking, I'm happy to say that the iPod Nano's video quality was a lil better. My analysis is that although Zen's WMV video format is better than iPod's MP4 format, the Zen has a QVGA resolution in a bigger 2.5 inch display. While the Nano packs the same QVGA resolution in a smaller 2.0 inch display - thus giving out slightly better quality.
[BREAK= Page 7-Battery & Conclusion]
I was pretty impressed with the battery life of this player as well. In my testing period, I watched almost 2 hours worth videos on it and listened to music for almost 4 hours, still the battery wasn't ready to give up!
Conclusion
The Creative Zen is selling for a street price of Rs. 6500 for the 4 GB version. The 8 GB version costs 10,000 bucks. It's definitely not a value-for-money item, but on the other hand, it's not overpriced as well.
One more thing i noticed abt ZEN is tat it has FM radio and voice recorder which arent there in Ipod's and once u connect to the system u can see the battery status by right clicking on the player it will look some thing like the pic below
BUT OVERALL ZEN IS BETTER THAN IPOD & i give lil over 4/5
folks this is ma first review in TE iam sorry if i have done any mistakes ,mods and admins i am sorry the way i have written it correct me if anythiing is wrong.
All the pics were taken in ma N73
