Here is my review on the new Creative ZEN. Visit my blog to read the review with pictures.
I bought the ZEN around a month ago from London as it was not available in India at that time. The ZEN has been released in three versions, 4GB, 8GB and 16GB. As this was my first experience with portable music players (PMP), I went for the 4GB version. The cost when buying from amazon is £89.99 which is almost Rs. 7300/-
Design: The ZEN comes in only a jet black colour. The size is almost that of an average credit card and easily fits in your pocket. This is similar to the new iPod NANO 3rd generation versions. The screen is around 2.5" and supports 16 million colours. The navigation keys are designed very thoughtfully to minimize the number of controls. It features a standard 4 way navigation key with select button in centre which also doubles up as the volume controller when playing media files. Also there is a key for selecting menu options, a key for going back to the previous screen, a key for playing/pausing media and a customisable key which you can assign to a function of your choice. Overall, the design is quite sleek and visually appealing.
Features: When it comes to features, this small PMP beats all others hands down. Creative has done a lot of improvements in this player. Among audio files, it suppors playback of MP3/WMA/WAV and DRM free AAC files. So all your tracks you have purchased for your iPod can be played back on ZEN. When it comes to playing video, ZEN supports playback of MPEG-3/WMV/XVID and DIVX files. Also the Media Explorer software bundled with the CD can convert unsupported formats so that it can be played back on the ZEN. Also you can view your pictures using the ZEN and it also supports slide show of pictures while allowing you to listen to a song at the same time. It also includes an FM tuner with 30 preset channels and also a voice recorder. You can also transfer your contacts, calendars and tasks from Outlook to ZEN. But possibly the best feature of ZEN is the support for external SD/SDHC cards. Although you cannot directly copy SD card contents to your ZEN, this is a pretty nice feature if all you want is to temporarily increase the disk space of the ZEN.
Performance: The ZEN has a pretty impressive battery life. It can play audio songs for approximately 24 hours and video files for about 4 hours which is pretty good for long journeys and all those international flight trips. The only downside is there is no wall plug charger included and you have to charge the ZEN from the USB port of your Desktop/Laptop. But you can easily find a wall plug adapter from an electronics vendor near you. The sound quality is fine when using the bundled earphones but hardcore audiophiles may want to use their own headphones/earphones.
Final Comments: Although the ZEN may not have the style statement associated with iPod, when it comes to sheer features, ZEN is a clear winner. Also it supports a lot of formats and if you are an average windows user, you do not need to install any extra software and can sync music using a media player like windows media player or real player.
Final Rating: 4.5/5.
I bought the ZEN around a month ago from London as it was not available in India at that time. The ZEN has been released in three versions, 4GB, 8GB and 16GB. As this was my first experience with portable music players (PMP), I went for the 4GB version. The cost when buying from amazon is £89.99 which is almost Rs. 7300/-
Design: The ZEN comes in only a jet black colour. The size is almost that of an average credit card and easily fits in your pocket. This is similar to the new iPod NANO 3rd generation versions. The screen is around 2.5" and supports 16 million colours. The navigation keys are designed very thoughtfully to minimize the number of controls. It features a standard 4 way navigation key with select button in centre which also doubles up as the volume controller when playing media files. Also there is a key for selecting menu options, a key for going back to the previous screen, a key for playing/pausing media and a customisable key which you can assign to a function of your choice. Overall, the design is quite sleek and visually appealing.
Features: When it comes to features, this small PMP beats all others hands down. Creative has done a lot of improvements in this player. Among audio files, it suppors playback of MP3/WMA/WAV and DRM free AAC files. So all your tracks you have purchased for your iPod can be played back on ZEN. When it comes to playing video, ZEN supports playback of MPEG-3/WMV/XVID and DIVX files. Also the Media Explorer software bundled with the CD can convert unsupported formats so that it can be played back on the ZEN. Also you can view your pictures using the ZEN and it also supports slide show of pictures while allowing you to listen to a song at the same time. It also includes an FM tuner with 30 preset channels and also a voice recorder. You can also transfer your contacts, calendars and tasks from Outlook to ZEN. But possibly the best feature of ZEN is the support for external SD/SDHC cards. Although you cannot directly copy SD card contents to your ZEN, this is a pretty nice feature if all you want is to temporarily increase the disk space of the ZEN.
Performance: The ZEN has a pretty impressive battery life. It can play audio songs for approximately 24 hours and video files for about 4 hours which is pretty good for long journeys and all those international flight trips. The only downside is there is no wall plug charger included and you have to charge the ZEN from the USB port of your Desktop/Laptop. But you can easily find a wall plug adapter from an electronics vendor near you. The sound quality is fine when using the bundled earphones but hardcore audiophiles may want to use their own headphones/earphones.
Final Comments: Although the ZEN may not have the style statement associated with iPod, when it comes to sheer features, ZEN is a clear winner. Also it supports a lot of formats and if you are an average windows user, you do not need to install any extra software and can sync music using a media player like windows media player or real player.
Final Rating: 4.5/5.
