CNET Editor's rating: 8.3 out of 10
Reviewed by
Jasmine France
Review date: 9/14/07
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.
Description:
The Creative Zen is a 16 GB, large capacity player.
Compared to other large capacity MP3 players on the market, it is midpriced at around $170.
Pros:
Has a 97 dB signal-to-noise ratio, which is somewhat more favorable than some similarly priced MP3 players.
(Signal-to-noise ratio is a measure of the strength of the audio signal in comparison to that of the background noise.
A lower signal-to-noise ratio means that the device produces more hiss and static, while a higher number (closer to 100) means clear-sounding audio.)
This unit comes with a radio tuner.
Cons:
None noted, given available product data.
Suitability:
A large capacity MP3 player, suited for bringing an entire music library with you.
Listen to your favorite local stations on this radio equipped player.
Comes with equalizer presets to easily tailor your listening experience.
Comes with a 1 year warranty, which is standard in the industry.
Value:
Overall, this MP3 player's features are as expected for this price.
Suggestions:
Audiophiles may wish to buy
aftermarket headphones
for better sound reproduction.
9 out of 10 - Spectacular
Not available yet
I emailed the folks at Creative to ask when the 16GB version is available. I got back a nice... Read more
by nycgal (see profile) -
September 20, 2007
15 out of 15 users found this user opinion helpful.
9 out of 10 - Spectacular
Very pleased
What first struck me was that the player was almost all screen. And what a gorgeous screen it is.... Read more
by moishmeister (see profile) -
December 24, 2007