Creative Zen 8 GB Portable Media Player (Black)

Having had and loved a Creative Zen Vision: M for years, when I decided it was time for a replacement I looked to Creative again. In that respect, this new Zen improves in some areas and disappoints in others.

Improvements (over Zen Vision: M):
+ Form factor: this player is sleek and thin
+ Flash memory: I can already tell it is less fragile with no moving parts
+ Expandable memory

Now, some cons:
-If you choose to use the SD card, keep in mind that your Music library will be divided into two parts: The Zen core memory and the SD card memory. There are no plans from Creative to consolidate this memory, so you'll have to remember which songs are saved in which location.
-No Video Out. If you are hoping to play the videos on your Zen through a TV, you may be out of luck with this iteration of the Zen. Unlike its predecessor, all those videos may be confined to the tiny screen of the player.

To some those two cons may be no big deal. For me, it is just enough to cause more than a little buyer's remorse. Still, it's a decent player at a great price. It may be basic compared to an iPod Touch, but aside from its few flaws, it gets the job done.

I bought this product a few weeks ago and so far I love it! It has a very easy interface, much more intuitive than the single round button interface of other mp3 players. The FM radio comes in very clearly, even with only one bar of reception. The sound quality is also excellent.

HOW I CHOSE THIS PLAYER: I wanted a small MP3 player to be able to listen to FM radio, saved podcasts, & occasionally music at work on weekends and at night. I like to listen to NPR and will likely download some podcasts from NPR's website. I will occasionally listen to music, but mostly from my CD collection rather than songs purchased online. Given my needs it didn't make sense to spend more money to get an iPod and not have the FM radio feature.

FIRST WARNING: CREATIVE ZEN DOES NOT PROVIDE THE INSTRUCTIONS YOU NEED TO BE ABLE TO DOWNLOAD A PODCAST. IF YOU ARE NEW TO MP3 PLAYERS AND DOWNLOADING AND SUBSCRIBING TO PODCASTS, YOU ARE NOT GOING TO FIGURE IT OUT FROM THEIR WEBSITE. The CD that came with the player didn't provide step by step instructions. I then went to their website and it's a mess - not at all easy to find the "how to" sections (except the one simplistic one with a link on the homepage) and like the CD the website does NOT provide step by step instructions on how to download a podcast from, say, NPR. You first have to download ZENcast Organizer if it wasn't on the CD included with the player. Then you have to open that and even then the only intuitive thing is how to download Zen's podcasts from their website, as opposed to ones you find elsewhere.

Here's what I learned after researching all this stuff on the internet: 1 - you have to have some special software like ZENcast organizer or a free program like "Media Monkey" on your computer to handle podcasts. You must FIRST download a podcast (using that software) onto your computer BEFORE you can save it on the MP3. The MP3 is NOT like a thumb drive that you just save to directly. 2 - Once you have Media Monkey or ZENcast Organizer you have to find a webaddress for what you want to download. Find and copy that address. Then open ZENcast organizer, click on the "subscribe" + sign at the top of the screen, and paste the web address of the podcast into the window that opens. That's how you get it into your computer. 3 -- Then you use the software to copy it onto your MP3 player. With ZENcast you click on "Transfer" at the top of the screen. You can subscribe (often free) to a regular "show" like one of the NPR shows. I have "subscribed" to "This American Life" which is one of my favorite NPR shows. The "This American Life" website lets you download each show for free for 6 or 7 days after it airs on the radio. Once you are subscribed, the software will periodically download all the recent podcasts available from the site you subscribed from and you can pick and choose which ones you want to load onto your MP3.

WHAT ELSE YOU SHOULD KNOW BEFORE DECIDING: I agree with some reviewers that the buttons feel cheap. Also, this unit does NOT come with an A/C charger - you have to use the short USB cable provided to charge it. I ordered an accessories kit that comes with a skin & also with car and A/C chargers. You'll definitely want those accessories. Right now the player is charging from my computer and I hope it will charge faster from those chargers in the accessory kit (it hasn't arrived yet.)

FM RADIO: You can't set a station by picking its station number - you have to use the "auto preset" feature and it will pick up stations it can find. You might want to do this outdoors where you get the strongest signal because if a station you want does not have a strong signal in the building where you are setting the stations, your player won't pick it up. I set my local NPR station while sitting outdoors & when indoors I manipulate the earphone cord (which acts as an antenna) until I get it clearly.

this mp3 is one of the best i've had...and i've had a few. it;s navigation is simple..easy to learn. the sound is wonderful.themes beautiful..the only downside is that it should have downloadable themes. but other that that..this is a must have. will make an excellent Christmas gift

Yeah, I like mine a lot. This thing is great. It's easy to put files in it and the sound is wonderful. I also bought some good computer speakers and when I'm at home I use it as my stereo. Works well if you do not need a lot from your stereo. I also take it to work everyday, where I can use the ear buds and listen to music and podcasts. I've also loaded it with lectures that I listen to. I have the 8g model and have a 8g HCSD card in it. I don't think the 16 g model had come out when I bought it.

I'm very happy with it and can recommend it to anyone. There are a few things that I wish were better. 1) The Zen has a calendar, but there is no way to import date to it. I can't understand why they don't allow importing a CSV file with all the holidays and birthdays. 2)The memory card works well, you can play musics or videos from it. It would be a great benefit if you could delete or move files without having to plug it up to computer. Sometimes I download a bunch of songs to the card. If you play a song that you don't like, you can't delete it then and there. You have to remember the song, get to a computer, plug it in, and then delete it. 3) You can't create play lists from files on the memory card. It would be great if you could do play lists on the memory card.(Of course you can create play lists with songs that are on the main flash memory.)