Creative Zen (2GB)

Manufacturer: Creative Labs Inc. Part number: 70PF216300111

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CNET Editor rating:
4.0 stars Excellent
Average user rating: 3.5 stars out of 8 reviews

More product information:: Editors' review; User reviews; Specifications; Manufacturer info

Bottom Line:: We're hard-pressed to find anything not to like about the Creative Zen. It's a great option for anyone looking for a great-sounding, pocketable MP3 player with an excellent, video-capable screen and plenty of extra features.

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CNET editors' review

Creative Zen (2GB)

price range: $59.99 - $82.62

We're hard-pressed to find anything not to like about the Creative Zen. It's a great option for anyone looking for a great-sounding, pocketable MP3 player with an excellent, video-capable screen and plenty of extra features.

The good: The Creative Zen sounds fantastic and features a brilliant color screen capable of displaying photos and video. The player offers a smorgasbord of desirable extras such as an SD card expansion slot, an FM radio, a voice recorder, and a user-definable EQ. It has a slim, pocket-friendly design; is very user-friendly; supports subscription music; and sports a reasonable price tag.

The bad: The Creative Zen only comes in black, the control pad feels cheap, and it doesn't come close to matching the max 60GB offered by the player it's replacing.

The bottom line: We're hard-pressed to find anything not to like about the Creative Zen. It's a great option for anyone looking for a great-sounding, pocketable MP3 player with an excellent, video-capable screen and plenty of extra features.

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Editors' note: The body of this review has been updated to reflect added memory options and significant price drops.

Photo gallery:
Creative Zen

In a move that surprised many a Creative fan, the company has ushered in a flash-based replacement for its Zen Vision:M, a full-size, hard-drive player that offered up to 60GB of space. Though the news was not well-received by some proponents of carting around a large library of tracks, those who give the new player--dubbed simply the Zen--a chance will find that it's a completely worthy follow-up to its chunky predecessor. This new Zen--which comes in 2GB ($79.99), 4GB ($99.99), 8GB ($129.99), 16GB ($199.99), and 32GB ($299.99) versions--may not hold as much media as the 60GB Vision:M, but it offers the same, lovely screen in a much smaller body, and it packs in a couple of new features for good measure. Plus, it's an incredible value for the price.

It's all about sleek understatement
Creative has gained somewhat of a reputation for putting MP3 players in a vast array of colors, so it comes as a bit of a shock (and maybe a letdown, for some) that the Zen will be offered in just one: black. Still, it must be said that black does make an excellent frame for the awesome 2.5-inch TFT screen, which is capable of displaying 16.7 million colors. Also, while the design might not be as innovative as that of the iPod Touch and iRiver Clix--or as cute or as eye-catching as that of previous family members--the Zen has a certain understated elegance with its shiny face and brushed-metal backside. It's like a smaller, sleeker version of the Vision.

Despite its ample screen, the Zen is pleasantly compact. At just 3.3 inches by 2.1 inches by 0.4 inch, it's about 60 percent smaller than the Vision:M and it's definitely pocket-friendly. We're also pleased to note that Creative didn't skimp on the controls and has migrated completely to the user-friendly tactile variety. Main functions are handled by a four-way control square surrounding a center select button. This is flanked on the top by a back/contextual menu rocker and on the bottom by a shortcut and play/pause toggle. Sadly, there's no dedicated volume control, but the right edge of the Zen houses the ever-handy hold/power switch along with a standard mini-USB port and 3.5mm headphone jack. The reset and mic holes can be found on the bottom and top spines, respectively.

Fun features for all
Exploring the top side of the Zen also reveals one of the new extras we alluded to earlier. In another departure from the norm, Creative has built in an SD card expansion slot--a first for its MP3 players. We're happy to report that the slot can take SDHC cards, which currently go up to 16GB in the full-size SD variety. (Of course, at a price that exceeds the 16GB Zen itself, those are a bit cost-prohibitive at the moment.) Considering the move away from more capacious hard drive memory, we definitely think the addition of memory expansion was a wise--and necessary--move.

Another new feature to be found on this Zen is its support of unprotected AAC files, meaning it will play back iTunesPlus tracks, though you can't use iTunes to transfer them. The player can sync via drag-and-drop in Windows Explorer, or you can use a jukebox such as Windows Media Player or Rhapsody. Like its other family members, this Zen also supports MP3, WAV, Audible, and both protected and unprotected WMA tracks. Unfortunately, it also shares Mac incompatibility with the other players in its line. Photos must be in JPEG format, which Windows Media Player can convert to automatically during syncing. On the video side, the Zen plays WMV and Motion JPEG out of the box and MPEG4, DiVX, and XViD with conversion. Creative includes an app--Zen Media Explorer--which can take care of the conversion painlessly and (somewhat) quickly.

In addition to its media capabilities, the Zen includes Creative's usual impressive array of features, though it's worth noting that there is no line-in recording for audio or video (the latter in particular would have been a nice touch). You do get voice recording and an FM radio with autoscan and 32 preset slots. There's also basic PIM functionality: you can sync contacts, tasks, and calendar info from Outlook to the device. Plus, you get the usual shuffle and repeat playback modes, handy contextual menus, and the ability to search for artists and songs as well as rate songs on the fly and set up to 10 bookmarks. Nine preset EQs, a five-band, user-definable mode, and a bass boost function ensure that you can adjust sound to your liking.

But it's the fun visual display option that set the Zen line apart. Album art can be viewed as a thumbnail or in full-screen mode on the playback display, and Creative includes various themes for interface customization. You can also set any image on the player as wallpaper, and the photo-browsing experience is great: there's a 5x4 thumbnail grid and each one magnifies as you scroll over it. Naturally, you can view photos and slide shows while listening to music. There's even a nifty, semi-split-screen deal on the main menu that cycles through album art, photos, or video image clips, depending on which media type you are browsing.

Shining performance
No two ways about it: the Zen's screen is fabulous. Photos look vibrant and bright, with excellent color saturation and good detail. Videos are similarly impressive--clear and bright with no noticeable pixilation (though we did notice the occasional blurring around some sharp edges)--and the viewing angle from side to side is excellent. Even the interface looks stellar, right down to the transparent icons on the main menu. It's a nice screen to look at for sure.

Frankly, we've come to expect stellar audio quality from Creative's MP3 players, and the Zen did not disappoint--once we swapped in the Shure SE530 headphones. (For their part, the included headphones were passable.) Perhaps the best thing is that all genres of music sound equally great. The bass of Zeb's disco house track "Disco Patel" was tight and enveloping without overshadowing the sparkle of the high hat and minute ting of the triangle. In the Bangles' high-end heavy intro to "Hazy Shade of Winter," the detail of each instrument was crystal clear, and the relatively quiet Spanish guitar was not lost among the frantic chorus of the rest of the track. Overall, music was rich, warm, and detailed...and it just made us happy.

The Creative Zen also boasts plenty of volume to drive a full-size set of 'phones--we only had it up to about a third with some noise-isolating buds. The rated battery life of 25 hours for audio and 5 hours for video is solid, and CNET Labs pretty much matched these estimates at 24.7 hours and 5.6 hours, respectively. It may not be the longest-lasting battery on the market, but the Zen certainly offers a good value with its lovely screen, nice sound, and good combination of features

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User reviews

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Average user rating: 3.5 stars out of 8 reviews

Showing opinion 1 to 8 out of 8

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9 stars

Good for it's price

by beckytrinh on May 21, 2008

Pros: Good video, picture and sound quality. Has a lot of features, cheap, light, small

Cons: No speaker so it's pointless to have an alarm on this thing, doesn't warn you when battery is going to die

Summary: Over all I think this player is a great device. It's definitely cheap ( you get what you pay for) I don't really see much flaws to it, I ...

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Summary: Over all I think this player is a great device. It's definitely cheap ( you get what you pay for) I don't really see much flaws to it, I know a lot have complained about it freezing up or what not, but it's yet to happen to me and I've had it for 5 days now. So far so good. I like the video and sound quality of it. The program that it comes with is not the best but it works, converting takes a while but the quality comes out looking good for video when you watch it on the player so I'm satisfied. Really the only complaint I have is the fact it doesn't have a speaker, what's the point of having an alarm on this thing if it doesn't have speakers? Who wears headphones to sleep???

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1 out of 1 users found this user opinion helpful.
9 stars

Great bargain; great features

by Marcem2 on August 5, 2008

Pros: small; flexible; easy

Cons: documentation

Summary: This is my first MP3 player, and I love it. Easy to use, tons of features, great battery life. My only regret is that I didn't get one with ...

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Summary: This is my first MP3 player, and I love it. Easy to use, tons of features, great battery life. My only regret is that I didn't get one with more memory because my 2GB are filling up quickly.

I also like the accompanying software. While it's not required, it's aided my first experience with MP3 players.

Documentation is a slight problem. I couldn't find a comprehensive feature list with instructions on how to use various controls. It's all there in the software files, but I had to search for it. Luckily, most controls are intuitive.

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9 stars

Flexable w/ quality

by Tech.Gov on July 9, 2008

Pros: Love the screen, sharp, great sound

Cons: No external mic port

Summary: I love this thing! EZ to use and the quality is very good. I took it into a meeting and recorded the meeting while it was in my pocket in ...

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Summary: I love this thing! EZ to use and the quality is very good. I took it into a meeting and recorded the meeting while it was in my pocket in my shirt. The sound quality is very good even then. I love the fact I can use ITUNES or ZenCast organizer or Creative?s sites to download music or Tutorials for Photoshop. I use it to listen to teachings from Christian preachers. I love it great tool. I can use any headphone I like and I can charge with any USB charger even the one from my cell, Just for this make it a better item than other bands that make you use there stuff?.

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9 stars

best from creative

by iruka* on July 6, 2008

Pros: nice screen, good sound quality, voice recording, radio, video, SD card slot

Cons: nothing, really

Summary: Creative made another genius mp3 player. It's not big at all, it's pretty small but still has a great screen for a player of this size. It's ...

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Summary: Creative made another genius mp3 player. It's not big at all, it's pretty small but still has a great screen for a player of this size. It's bright and the photos and videos look very detailed on it.

This is the first time I ever got an SD card slot, mainly because it was only 2GB. SD cards have a lot of memory so it's a pretty nice deal.

As with all Creative's players, this one also has excellent sound quality.

I would definitely recommend this and if it happens to freeze on you, then you should just take it back to the store right away. Don't think about calling support because it's not that easy to get through xDD You can just get it replaced and all will be well. ^^

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9 stars

The best that's out there if you don't want a Zune or iPod

by Bman86 on June 12, 2008

Pros: Perfect sound, fantastic picture quality, and LOTS of features. It looks and feels great in my hand. All of the function keys are handy and easy to understand an navigate with.

Cons: The SD Card is not really used as memory expansion, but more as a separate HD that you have to access. When you do access the SD, your music will shut off automatically wihle you're listening to it.

Summary: I've been shopping for a great Mp3 player for about three months now. I took my time and read reviews here and other places, and the ZEN is great ...

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Summary: I've been shopping for a great Mp3 player for about three months now. I took my time and read reviews here and other places, and the ZEN is great for me. If you're an anit-iPod person, then this would be really good for you. I wouldn't call it the iPod killer, but it's the next best thing to me at a good price.

While it's true that you have to access the SD separately, I just put all my videos on my 2GB SD and use the Zen for nothing but music (and a few pictures). It makes it easier to maybe put movies on separate SD cards and exchange them as you go. SD Cards are coming down in price anyway. Just an idea.

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9 stars

Lots of Bang for the Buck

by b_coxus on May 29, 2008

Pros: Very slim. 2.5" screen. Attractive design. Intuitive menu navigation. Smooth video. Feature packed.

Cons: No external speaker. Occasionally freezes. PC sync software is buggy but usable. Has occasionally lost settings. Very minimal instructions.

Summary: To me, the Creative Zen (2GB) is a feature rich jewel of a device for a small price tag. In my opinion, it blows similarly priced products away with its ...

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Summary: To me, the Creative Zen (2GB) is a feature rich jewel of a device for a small price tag. In my opinion, it blows similarly priced products away with its style, features, and ease of use.

I'll get the negatives out of the way first so I can get on with the good stuff. It has no built-in speaker, which is a bit of a bummer. Since the device has an wake-up alarm, it seems obvious that the makers either originally intended to have a built-in speaker or they intended to sell you connectable external speakers (probably the latter). I have unfortunately had an occasional 'hard' freeze of the device where the only thing that will turn it off and back on again is poking the button in the 'reset' hole. I also had a problem after updating the firmware where the device would not turn on, but a quick punch of the reset button brought it back into working order. Some of the 'sync' software that comes with the device seems buggy to me, but the bugs were more annoying that 'show-stoppers' (e.g., ZenCast for podcasts seems to do strange things with some entries appearing, disappearing, reappearing after being deleted, podcasts no sorting in correct date order no matter how many times you hit the sort button, etc.). This is probably more my fault the the device's, but I have often had the device lose my overall settings and radio presets. I haven't figured out, yet, what I am doing to cause this. While it is likely my fault, the device probably could have been designed a little better in this respect. A better set of instructions would have helped. The device comes with very minimal instructions. Luckily, with a few exceptions, the device is so easy and intuitive, that instructions *are* almost unnecessary.

Now on to the good stuff! The 2GB version is priced between $70 and $90. I tried a few others in this same price range at a local store and was very frustrated with how unintuitive their user interfaces were. The Zen, on the other hand, was very intuitive and I found myself easily and quickly navigating its menus. I love the style, with its rounded corners and very thin profile (I can carry it around in my front pants pocket). Even though it is so thin and small, the Zen has a 2.5" screen (lots more real estate than similarly priced models I perused). The display is crisp, clear, and bright. As long as you download good videos, the picture quality is great. I have had no problems with pixelation or skipping. The video has been smooth and fun to watch. Finally, the device is feature packed. It has a built-in microphone/voice recorder. You can turn your stored images into a slide-show. Any image you upload to the Zen can be turned into a wallpaper for your background (if you want it to be something other than the default...even the default wallpapers are cool though). It can store songs by album, artist, genre, and you can create your own playlists. You can rate each song and there are 'DJ' settings you can choose from that allow you to play highly rated songs, unrated songs, or other options. There are several equalizer settings, including a custom equalizer. It, of course, stores video and comes with PC software to help you download podcasts and digital books. There is a calendar and 'task keeper' that you can sync up with outlook if you like. It has an alarm and a clock that you can choose to display. There is a slot for an SD card so you can copy things straight from them or just look at and use their contents.

Basically, I love the device for the price.

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2 stars

Do Not Buy Creative

by golemmm on May 13, 2008

Pros: satisfactory device if you do not have alternatives

Cons: Firmware updater breaks the device

Summary: Do not buy creative products. I bought Zen Nano Plus in 2005 autumn. I updated the firmware according to instructions in Creative home pages. The firmware updater completed successfully (no ...

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Summary: Do not buy creative products. I bought Zen Nano Plus in 2005 autumn. I updated the firmware according to instructions in Creative home pages. The firmware updater completed successfully (no crashing or anything) and everything appeared to be OK. When I tried to start the device, it did not respond. The device stopped working after updating the firmware.

The product is out of warranty but Creative is still responsible if their updater breaks the device. Creative customer service denied responsibility.

Do not buy products of Creative as it is irresponsible firm.

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0 out of 1 users found this user opinion helpful.
4 stars

Microshaft and Creative Labs Ripoff

by athornton2971 on April 25, 2008

Pros: Great screen, good feature set

Cons: Must have Windows Vista

Summary: Must have Media Player 11, which is only available as part of Vista. If you have XP, you must upgrad to Vista.

Summary: Must have Media Player 11, which is only available as part of Vista. If you have XP, you must upgrad to Vista.

0 out of 3 users found this user opinion helpful.

Showing opinion 1 to 8 out of 8

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Specifications

Manufacturer: Creative Labs Inc.
Part number: 70PF216300111

General
Width 3.3 in
Depth 0.4 in
Product type Digital player / radio
Height 2.2 in
PC interface(s) supported Hi-Speed USB
Weight 2.3 oz
Color Black
Digital player signal-to-noise ratio 97 dB
Flash memory installed 2 GB Integrated
Digital storage None
Dimensions (W x D x H) 3.3 in x 0.4 in x 2.2 in
Packaged quantity 1
Software type Creative ZENcast Organizer, Creative Media Explorer, Drivers & Utilities
Digital storage media type None
Radio
Tuner type Digital Radio tuner
Station preset qty 32
Tuner bands FM

Creative Zen (2GB)

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