Creative Zen 8 GB Portable Media Player (Black)
This credit card-sized ZEN has a stunning 2.5" color screen and is perfect for music, videos and photos. Enjoy up to 4,000 MP31, WMA or AAC songs, watch up to 60 hours2 of videos and share hundreds of photos with your friends. Even expand your portable music, video or photo collection by adding additional content through the convenient SD memory slot.
Amazon.com Product Description Bring your media with you wherever you roam with the Creative Zen 8GB player. Watch 32 hours of videos, enjoy up to 2,000 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 8 GB Portable Media Player (Black) Accessories
Creative Zen 8 GB Portable Media Player (Black) Reviews
I also was under the impression that the sd-slot would give me more memory. I have a 2G and purchased a PNY 4G thinking I could add memory on top of the 2G. But, the 4G works and adds more memory but I can only play single tracks from the card and not continuosly from the library. I use the player on my motorcycle and the bigger screen is why I use the creative products. Overall, their pretty good for the money. I now have an 8G on the way.
I love everything about this unit except that it crashes all the time! I've done all the software patches and it's still touchy. It's great not to be chained to ITunes. Give me reliable software, and I'm sold!
First of all, I'd like to say that I've been using a Creative Zen 8GB for almost 2 and a half years. I have found this shiny piece of gadgetry to be one of the most reliable players in the market.
I will point out the features that I have enjoyed the most during this span of time:
* Sound Quality: If you have bought a nice set of headphones, you're going to enjoy this media player a lot! I personally recommend Sennheiser earphones, which also go well with the overall black design.
* Menu / Navigation: Quite easy to use and enjoyable after you get the hang of it. The clicky sounds that the buttons make are not for the touch screen hardcore crowd though.
* Radio: It works well and I'm happy it's included.
* Battery: Even though I have gone through hundreds and hundreds of charge cycles, the battery easily stays long enough for 10 hours of use.
* Reliability: This device has only crashed on me twice in the past 30 months!
* Design: I still enjoy its design aesthetics. Two and a half is a lot of time in the realm of Multimedia players. Zen on the other hand, still looks fresh and current.
* Accessories: If you like to keep the MP3 player protected and also keep your headphones nicely wrapped around it, be sure to check out the Silicone Skin Case for Creative Zen Black. When I bought it, it cost around $12. Now it is dirt cheap and very handy for storing inside pockets.
Below I will list any lack of features / negative stuff that I found:
* I've been a Mac user since mid-2008, and since I migrated, I had problems with the lack of software support for the Zen. Creative does not officially cater to Mac owners. Essentially, you lose any syncing functionality you normally get from the applications originally included, such as the video converter. I've got to say that even though iTunes support is available, syncing files is only possible with iTunes-bought music. If you do not wish to use iTunes, I suggest you download XNJB, a free Mac alternative for syncing your music.
* I wish Creative wouldn't use the rocker switch that sits on the side for turning the device on/off. It is not as intuitive as it could have been.
* I had an issue with a firmware update once and had to re-sync my files. When you decide to upgrade it, be sure to follow the instructions that Creative has on their support page line by line!
* The player comes with a very short mini USB cable. Early on you may feel the need to replace it with an AC power cable or invest in a longer USB cable. This is not 2007 though, and most families now own at least a couple of devices that come with mini USB cables, so I guess it's not a big issue anymore.
This is the third 8gb Zen I bought in the last 1 1/2 years. I bought one and then bought one for my brother. This one was purchased for my wife and we all love it. All the features work very good, my only wish would be that the memory card would be integrated with the player which they did with the new model (MX) but I here the software included with that model is not as good.
I've always been a big creative fan. The only problem I really have with this is it doesn't let me organize folders and such the way that I want to. For instance, on my computer, I have a Johnny Cash folder with songs from different albums in the same folder. On the zen, I have 4 Johnny Cash selections to choose from rather than just clicking "Johnny Cash" and seeing the songs I have. For instance:
Johnny Cash
Johnny Cash; June Carter
Johnny Cash; Kris Kristofferson
Johnny Cash; U2
What the hell? Why can't I just throw all of the songs together? So I think I now have to edit the properties in each and every song on this thing and make sure it says they're all on the same album and all by JUST that artist (take out any additional artists credited for that song) to have them show up in the same folder. *sigh*
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