Creative Zen 16 GB Portable Media Player (Black)
This is the new Creative ZEN at a glance. Decked out in an all-black suit, the Creative ZEN is smaller than your average credit card and sits snugly right in your palm. With an attractive 11.3mm thickness, this sleek player weighs a mere 65g, allowing you to carry it around easily. It is also one of the lightest players around that is able to boast a capacity of up to 16GB while supporting different popular media formats. Whats more, you can add as much capacity as you want with its SD memory expansion slot.
Bring your media with you wherever you roam with the Creative Zen 16GB player. Watch 64 hours of videos, enjoy up to 4,000 of your favorite songs or share hundreds of photos with your friends. And do it all on a device that's about the width of a credit card. 
A razor sharp 2.5-inch display makes your photos and videos come to life. See the Zen in detail. |
Small size. Big features. All in the palm of your hand. View larger. | 
Add even more storage capacity via the SD card slot. View larger. |
Design
The Zen sports a 2.5-inch TFT color display with 320 x 240-pixel resolution and support for up to 16.7 million colors. This razor sharp display is packaged in a device that weighs just 2.1 ounces and measures 3.26 x 2.16 x .44 inches (W x H x D). The internal battery powers the Zen for up to 25 hours of continuous audio playback and up to five hours of continuous video playback. Use the Zen's SD slot to expand your portable media library with music, photos and videos stored on your SD card. There's also a handy built-in microphone for capturing notes on the go.Features
Load up up your favorite songs, as well as your album art, and get going with the Zen. The device supports iTunes Plus tracks from the iTunes store and MP3 and WMA tracks. Subscription and pay-per-download music services are supported, as well. Discover, save, and play millions of songs when subscribing to services such as Yahoo Music Unlimited and Napster To Go. You can even tune into your favorite stations with the Zen's FM radio. The radio allows you to save up to 34 presets. The Zen has you covered when it comes to video, too. The device supports MJPEG, WMV9 and--with transcoding--MPEG1 and 2, MPEG4-SP, DivX 4 and 5, and XviD. Enjoy purchased or rented movies and TV shows from online services such as Amazon Unbox and Walmart.com. Watch home videos. Even load your Tivo To Go movies and TV shows onto your Zen. Additional features include a clock and alarm function, volume restriction, eight equalizer settings, and a USB hard drive mode, which allows you to drag and drop files directly to and from your Zen. The Zen can also function as a handy organizer, allowing you to synchronize with Microsoft Outlook and display your contacts, calendar, and tasks. What's in the Box
Zen player, earphones, USB 2.0 cable, installation CD, and quick start guide.
 |  |  |  | | A slick user interface makes it a snap to enjoy your media. |
Creative Zen 16 GB Portable Media Player (Black) Accessories
Creative Zen 16 GB Portable Media Player (Black) Reviews
I found that most of the good things written about this player are true. It has a lot of options and features, looks nice, is portable, battery life is good, works well as a photo album, etc. I bought a rubber case and screen cover to protect the player. Also had to buy a wall charger to charge the battery, that seems like it ought to be in the package, but that is a minor gripe. My major gripe is the poor software/interface and lack of programmability. I can't get the songs to list in the format I like (Artist - Song). Also, the screen display keeps fading (to save battery) even when I don't want it to. The display defaults to "now playing" even if I want to stay on my song list. Depending on what is displayed, I may or may not be able to directly access the volume control. I feel like I ought to be able to set all these things as preferences. Interface software is slow, buggy, and almost useless. The pushbuttons are fine in the light if you are looking at them, but good luck trying to navigate by feel in the dark. Maybe this stuff is doable and I haven't figured it out yet, but it seems clunky and not intuitive.
Great music player. I haven't had a chance to use it for things other than music, but will do that soon. It does have a few quirks, but what doesn't. The only thing I miss from my last Creative mp3 player is the random play all button, but it didn't take much time to learn how to use it. Overall a great value.
Creative really kicks apple's butt in this market. Thank god the brainwashed masses haven't caught on yet. That means I get an awesome mp3 player for a lot less than an ipod. Really if you put this player side by side with ipod its easy to see which is the best. Customizable menu, fm radio, voice recorder, and massive storage. Plus it has great sound with an adjustable EQ and bass boost. When I saw the great price I had to get it even though I didn't need it. I just passed my old player down to my teenager.
I purchased a Zen 32 for our daughter on 2-6-10 just one month later it has stopped working.. it won't even turn on. Trying to get a phone number or on- line help was a nightmare. She finally got to speak with someone and they have had her send it back (of course there was a fee to ship it back). She hasn't got the replacement yet so the jury is still out on how the new one will perform. The size, appearance, portability etc... is fine but when something stops working 30 days after you get it thoses things really have no importance.
1. No integration of SD Card, after years of waiting for a fix.... if this isn't a deal breaker for all time, then I guess I don't know what people want in a player with a card slot. Sansa and Cowon players have the slot and integrate the libraries. This is basic functionality, and Creative refuses to provide it. See their customer service blogs; the user base has been clamoring for this fix for more than two years.
2. Battery life is great, truly impressive. I charge mine about once a week.
3. Sound quality is great, but how do you play through speakers? There is only a headphone jack, and a mini-USB port, but nothing for a charging/output dock.
I will never buy another product from Creative, a really arrogant company.
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