I'm a 17 year old college student whose loves include music and crafting. I aim to be honest in my r...
I'm a 17 year old college student whose loves include music and crafting. I aim to be honest in my reviews, offering both the good and bad.
Member since:06.05.2005
Reviews:21
Members who trust:3
After considering and comparing many MP3 players of a disk size large enough to place more than 150 albums on, whilst leaving room for expansion, I finally bit the bullet several months ago and purchased the Creative Zen Plus 30GB for a price similar to that of 4 or 5GB players about (I cannot remember the price sadly, having something of sieve memory, but I believe it to be in the £150-£200 region. Purchased from Amazon.co.uk, it seems out of stock currently), and can say I've not regretted the decision.
For starters:
A quick read over the manual and glance at the player and its controls is you need to get to grips with it. Either install the software provided, or use Windows Media 10 if you have it (which can work more easily overall)
and you're away. Burning can take as little as a second for a 3 minute song.
As this is my first MP3 player, I cannot judge against others, but I shall warn you that the Zen Plus does freeze on occasion if you leave it plugged into the USB after transferring for too long. This is easy enough to solve; just jab the little "restart" button on the side with a pin and it recovers within a minute, "rebuilding the library", so, whilst a bit annoying, it's nothing major to worry about and doesn't require burning all the songs onto it again. This, I would say, is probably my least favourite point about the player, along with the placement of where the charge jack connects (it requires that you undo the useful protective case to charge it) showing just how good the player is overall.
Interface
The menu on the Zen Plus is very easy to understand from the get-go, offering an appreciable number of options to choose tracks by: Artist, Album, Genre or Song, all with the ability to search by name as well as scroll. Both features mean that I myself at least have never found looking for a particular album or track time consuming.
A useful option is also available, namely "Button Lock". This is similar to the Button Lock systems on mobilephones. The player will continue to play the tracks you have chosen, with no worry of catching any controls that might interfere with this, whilst the screen will go on showing the song, album and artist information, along with track number and track length details, a very useful feature for on the move.
Size, Style and Usability:
The Zen Plus is quite large, yet sturdy and light, easy to carry about in a larger jean or coat pocket or bag. Whilst the main scroll button did strike me as liable to break, thus far it has surprised, turning out to be very hardy and easy to use. All of the controls are well placed and easy to find blindly. A big blue screen makes the player simple to use in all conditions, day and night.
Though those who purchase an MP3 player of this sort are unlikely to be so swayed by looks, it's worthy of note that whilst the player is not exactly "attractive" it is far from an eye-sore too.
Battery:
Those who like to listen to songs rather than albums might find it wise to purchase another battery, as this does drain the player a lot, or plan in advance and sync up a playlist, which can be made and transferred to the player just as easily as tracks. Otherwise, when simply playing album tracks in order, the battery does last for a good long time.
The battery is one of the best points of this player; whilst many other brands build in their MP3 players' batteries, the Creative Zen's is removable, requiring that you never have to send your player away to have the battery replaced, which can be costly; extra batteries on the other hand are well-priced, and also let you listen for longer.
Sound
And last, but certainly not least, is the sound quality. The ability to transfer songs as MP3s, paired with on board sound level and environment controls means that the Zen Plus really is great where it matters. Songs sound full and warm, which makes listening a joy.
I cannot judge the quality of the headphones provided however, having replaced them with higher quality, non-inner-ear type which I prefer, but they seemed quite good and perfectly useable.
Summary:
I would recommend this player to anyone who wants a player for function rather than style. If you have a large music collection, or are building one, that you want to listen to with ease on the move, without burning a hole in your pocket, Creative Zen Plus is sure to please.
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
(+) Av Output to plug to a TV, built-in speakers, easy to use. Come with very good earphones (-) Does not come with power supply (easy to charge from the PC though), av cable is sold separately
Advantages: Great sound quality, holds plenty of files, removeable battery and useful accessories included Disadvantages: Big and bulky, somewhat basic (no video playback, cant display photos etc.)
Advantages: Small, looks great, really easy to operate, great video and music playback Disadvantages: Doesn't come with mains charger, marks easily, battery life not that good
needle202 18.08.2006 (18.08.2006)
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