Creative Zen 4 GB Portable Media Player (Black)

This is a good player, especially if you like FM radio. That's a nice touch, which Apple seems to have forgotten. :)

Sounds great, video is great. Plays mp3 files. What more do you want? The only thing I wish is something that worked with iTunes, which is why I have an iPod.

My needs for a portable media player were mostly for video and radio use at the gym. After doing a lot research and feature vs price comparison, I decided to go with the "Zen 4gb Portable Media Player". The deciding factors for me were:

* Large 2.5" screen has an amazingly sharp, clear picture (very viewable while on treadmill)
* Long battery life while playing videos (over 4 hours)
* Support for SD cards (a little cumbersome, but usable)
* Good FM radio with 34 "Presets" (must have since TVs in gym broadcast audio on FM channels)
* Low price for 4gb model

Transferring media onto the Zen can be a little tricky to master at first, but here is what worked for me:

* Use iTunes to get podcasts and music downloads
** Use the included Zen Media Explorer to transfer iTunes selections to the Zen (there is an iTunes button)

* Use Amazon Unbox to get TV and movie selections.
** The Amazon Unbox software will detect and allow for transfer to the Zen (only Free and Buy can be transfered, not Rental)

My only real complaint with the Zen is the long work time needed for the "Creative Video Converter" to reformat videos for transfer (this is not needed for Amazon Unbox). I typically update my iTunes subscriptions at night and start the conversion and transfers before going to bed, so they will be ready in the morning for my trip to the gym.

For my needs, the great video functionality, and the fairly low price, the Zen is highly recommended!

Not being a serious music buff made my choice somewhat easier since it looks likes the iPod is hard to beat in that area.

We have four of these players in my family now, a 2, 4, 16 and 32 gig player. We have all had fantastic luck with them.

I did notice a few things though:

1. I have had a couple of videos lock up on my 32 gig player. But they seem to lock up at the same place all the time, and when I use the included video converter they seem to play fine. I see that as a problem with the video.

2. The included video converter is very slow, but it has a better compression ratio than my other converters, so I put up with that.

3. I only did the iTunes thing for a while. It works fine on the Zen, but I found that the MP3 files form Amazon have no DRM encoding in them at all. I can play them anywhere. No more iTunes.

4. My old Zen needed the installation software to put music on the player. This one works with Explorer. I like that a lot better.

5. When I try to delete the last song in the music directory my player hug up and I had to do a reset. It seems to do that whenever I delete that last song. I normally keep all my tunes in subdirectories in the player but now I always keep at least one in the "root" of the music directory.

6. I would suggest that you always keep videos on the SD card and not the player. They eat up a lot of space, and they play fine from the card. Music should be put on the player as it shows up in the display classified by artist and title, etc. If you play music form the card it only shows the file name. Others have suggested that Creative include tunes from the card in teh players "catalog" but I would prefer not to wait for the player to sort the card out each time I change it. I really like the import from the card function as it allows us an easy way to swap music and photos between the players.

I have used ipod before. The Zen is MUCH better and you don't have to deal with Apple's sorry copy proofing system. The ipod is fine for teeny-boppers, but I think the Zen is a lot more suitable for the over 17 crowd.

I bought this MP3 player for my teenage son. He previously owned a Sandisk MP3 player. He likes this Zen more. Of course it has more memory, but the video screen makes its usage more user friendly and there's also the "cool" factor with it. He has watched a movie on it with easy success, but normally he just uses it for music.

I bought him a case, screen protector, and Amazon.com gift card so that he could easily download MP3 music from Amazon.com. It worked out great.

We used to have a Napster account, but that was always getting screwed up. Such a pain. The interface was also too restrictive. We've just buy MP3 files straight from Amazon.com or iTunes and be free of any subscription like Napster.

Amazon got my 4 gb Player to me quick.
It is easy to use and add content.
You can Click and drag pictures, Music, and audio books onto the Zen with out even using the software.
You can delete items from your Zen with out hooking it back up to the computer.

Only trouble. The 3 videos I tried to download haven't worked. One locked it up, the second wasn't supported, then the 3rd said problem with player.
I haven't figured it out yet, but the sample videos that came with it work. I'll figure it out. But it is way better than the Zune I have.