Customer Reviews:
 A great mp3 player! February 5, 2008
I had the 1GB Zen for almost 2 years until it got broken :( (it slipped out of my pocket getting into my car and got hit by another car...lol) and I absolutely loved it! My only problem with it is the problem everyone else seems to be having with it...that it often freezes up for no reason and you have to reset it. Mine didn't do that too often but it was still a bit of a pain. I like everything else about it though. It's easy to use (I knew how to do everything on it the day I got it) and personally I like it better than the ipod. I plan on buying this model to replace my old one! :)
 Buggy Bloatware, Defective Hardware - How UnZenlike January 26, 2008
3 out of 6 found this review helpful
If you buy this player, be prepared for a huge amount of "required" and promotional software to be installed on your system.
In the end, I wound up with a defective player, but my biggest objection to this unit was the sheer volume of useless, redundant, and trial software that got placed on my system during the installation. I bought this to play Overdrive audio books provided by my local library. Overdrive uses DRM that requires Windows Media Player. I'm no iFanboy, but my everyday audio players for commuting and the gym are those are made by the company that has ~80% of the market - and now I see why. One required program that manages my media, including Amazon MP3 purchases, beautifully. It just works.
The unit arrived along with an installation CD. Going along with the installation, I wound up with several Creative programs (media manager, transfer manager, etc.) and some promotional trial software including Audible. I thought the Audible trial installation was interesting as I already had an Audible account and software installed. In the end, I had 5 or 6 new icons on the desktop and a ton of unwanted and unneeded software. Much of it didn't work or was unnecessarily complex.
The Creative software took control as default media player without asking. It even managed to cause my PC to be deauthorized with the iTunes store. The Audible trial installation hosed my existing Audible software. In the end, the unit itself had defective memory so I just uninstalled the software, cleaned up my system and sent it all back. Four hours wasted.
I wound up replacing this unit with the Sandisk Sansa Clip. The capacity is less, but it holds 5 - 6 audiobooks and meets my intended purpose perfectly. There is no software needed other than a simple driver. Audio book files are transferred using the Overdrive console. Other means of transfer include via Windows Media Player or simply by using Windows Explorer and dragging files into the Music folder on the Clip. (Imagine that!)
Sorry Creative, but I agree with the Sandisk approach. If I buy an audio player, that's all I want. I don't need you to replace all the media management software on my system with buggy versions of your own. Oh, and besides, the Sandisk hardware wasn't shipped with defective memory.
Great Machine - Plenty of Bookmarks January 23, 2008
Great machine--plenty of bookmarks to keep your place. I bought this as a gift for my wife who listens to classes more than to music.
I selected this player specifically because it has multiple bookmarks. She had a two-to-three day learning curve to become familiar with all the features and now she loves it.
Whenever we drive together, we play one of her classes using a Kensington FM transmitter so the Zen plays through the car speakers--it's wonderful. Sounds great, works great, and as far as I could tell, this has more bookmarks than any other machine I could find.
This MP3 player was selected as one of the top five players by CNET Review Editors.
Excellent player January 18, 2008
I shopped for a long time for a MP3 player and chose the Zen Plus V because it has the line-in record. This feature is excellent for capturing songs off old cassettes and the radio or internet sites. There is no need to use this for CDs if you have a PC since it is better to rip a CD on a PC and then load it to the Zen. The sync manager with cassettes does not separate the songs out if you just start the tape and let it play. So this is a short coming. It will separate the songs if you monitor it and stop it after each song. The sound quality for the Plus V is good. The toggle button is small as other viewers mention, but I have not found it to be a problem. I have had it lock up only one tiem on me. It was under very heavy recording usage at the time. I hit the reset button and everything restored correctly. I also bought the extended warranty because of the problems I read in the reviews with lockup. So far it has not been much of an issue. I would highly receommned this player and recorder. The line in record feature is good for people who want to transfer old cassettes and I also use it to record public presentations and speeches I do.
a quick death January 15, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I got this as a gift from my wife just this past Christmas. It completely died mid-song while I was walking to the supermarket. And that was only the fourth or fifth time that I used it.
Caveat emptor.
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