The Creative Zen Nano Plus 512 mb .

After many a year ( well two anyway ) , I decided to get with the times , ditch the portable CD player and move forward with the purchase of an MP3 player .
I looked at many ( the iPod Nano amongst others - sadly cost & availability said no ) , but in the end kept going back to the first MP3 player that really caught my eye and which was both affordable and from a well respected manufacturer - the Creative Zen Nano Plus - yet it shares he same Nano name as its main competitor , but was on the market way before Apples might player was unleashed .

A built-in lcd screen ( 3cm * 1 cm ) , that can display 2 lines of text , with blue background light ( strangely enough the lower priced 256 mb model has is the only one with multiple backlight choices ) . The backlight can be set to stay on either 3 , 5 , 10 or 15 seconds or permenntly off and is automatically lit ( if not set to off ) upon accessing the player functions such as fast forward. Contrast can also be adjusted for improved readability . Additionally , the diplay can be flipped to allow reading whichever way you hold the Mp3 player . The display is easy to read , and where a track title is longer than the display ( 18 characters ) , it will scroll the title to enable complete reading. In standard playback mode the upper line displays track running time , battery level and equaliser mode , while the lower ( slightly smaller txt ) displays the track artist / title information ( see additional photo )
Voice / data storage capacities - the unit has a built-in condenser micraphone to enable voice recording. You can also record from the FM broadcast . Data storage would be via the fast USB2 connection to you computer .
It supports MP3 , WMA and WMA Digital Rights Management files ( unlike many MP3 players allowing you to save DRM files ) and supports drag and drop from your computer allowing for easy transferring of files . When connected to a PC computer it simply shows up as an external hard disc , which can be opened and files moved / renamed / deleted at will . Tracks can be placed in its memory singulary or as a folder ( a folder would hold a whole album ) . You can then choose to play all tracks / single track / single folder / all folders ; either in order or randomly ; and even play once , repeat once , repeat continually - so much choice !

The Mp3 player runs on a single AAA battery . Battery life is reported to be 18 hours , but the supplied Energizer battery lasted just over 24 hours - so no arguements here .
Binaural stereo in-ear headphones are also supplied , and it has to be said they provide excellent sound . These however can be easily replaced at your discretion with any headphones that have a 3,5mm jack . Furthermore the obligatory neck strap is also supplied .
Its predessessor the Zen Muvo had a direct connecting USB connector . The Nano plus however resorts to USB cable connector ( 1.5 mtr. cable supplied ) , which for me is better suited to my computer which has no front USB access .
Accesing the main functions is via a scroll wheel . Depress it to get into menu mode then turn forwards / backwards to select your required option . Once at the point push the wheel in again to further access commands / actions .It takes alittle getting used to , but you soon pick up the habit .The wheel is also used as fast forward / reverse track selector ( single up/back movement ) and fast forward / reverse of track in two second intervals .
Other than the scroll wheel , the only other exterior buttons for your use are the on/off button which also acts as play / pause and volume up and volume down buttons( with volume set from 0 to 25 ) .

1) FM radio tuner - with 32 user presets available .
2) Six equaliser settings , namely ; Normal , Jazz , Pop , Rock , Classic and user definable.
3) Direct line input ( via supplied lead ) - this allows for direct conversion of material from for example a portable cd player or even a casette player or record deck.
In all quite a comprehsive Mp3 player .

Mp3 player , AAA battery , neck strap , headphones , manual , manual / software cd .
The manual is one of multiple language , and in essence tells you how to start using your Mp3 player and briefly describes the Mp3 players connections / buttons etc . It does not however cover in any depth how to access / use the many functions available. For this information you need to read the PDF files as supplied on the cd rom.I however passed over this and soon ( despite never owning / using one before ) worked out how to use this player .
The Nano Plus is plug and play , however the cd provided also includes Creative software to allow management of your Mp3 tracks as well transfer software - neither are required to use the player , but may be of use to someone . I myself do not use it .

The Creative Zen Nano Plus is sleek and ultra-portable . Small and thin in design, it is feature rich and will easily meet most peoples needs. Audio quality is exceptional ( flaws in tracks are easily noticed using the Nano Plus , that were missed when played back through the computer ) . Complete with a FM tuner, Voice/FM recording, and Line-In encoding for direct connection and recording from any audio source , you can also directly record your music from a CD player etc. - no computer needed , this is simply great ! Well worth looking at if your in the market .