The Creative Zen V
I just had the wonderful pleasure of doing some market research with a representative from Creative, who let me play around with their new range of Creative Zens, the Creative Zen V. It’s basically a mini Creative Zen MicroPhoto, but they will also have a version that can play video. On a screen that small, I can’t see why they would include that feature…
It looks like Creative are targeting the iPod Nano market with this little number, and if they market it correctly (and Apple don’t release a new type of Nano) they’ll be onto a little winner. Emphasis on the little.
It will come in 1gb, 2gb and 4gb. Creative have removed the FM Radio feature, which will only feature on the V Plus model (for an extra €20), I think this is an error on their side as one of the benefits of owning a Creative Zen over an iPod is the ability to switch to the radio function. It looks cool (it’s completely black this time, no white battery cover this time thank god) and it feels nice and snug in your hand - and it definitely feels more sturdy and reliable (if you per chance drop it) than the iPod Nano.
Instead of the touch pad there is now a small joystick, which reminded me of the joystick on the Nokia 6600, it’s soft under your thumb, unlike other joysticks that feature on mp3 players such as the Cowan iAudio X5. They’ve added a volume control button to the side of the player, which definitely makes it more user friendly in comparison to the Zen Micro Photo.
A stand-out feature is the abilty to rotate your screen to orientate it to your preferred viewing point. It also features line-in encoding (so you can record music directly from a CD player or other playback source with the supplied line-in cable) technically you don’t even need a computer to store your music, and of course they’ve included the voice recording facility.
I do have some negative feedback, however.
4gb is not enough, personally I like carrying a full 8gb (or more) worth of music with me. The headphones you get with Creative mp3 players are horrible. They’re just so 90’s. They don’t fit into your ear snuggly and the sound quality is dire. Also, asking consumers to pay an extra €20 for a radio and video function is laughable, not many people are likely to want a video function on a screen so small and with a player with such a small capacity. The extra brings the price closer to the price of an iPod Nano and some people may opt for the iPod because of their popularity and “reputation”. Despite these drawbacks, it’s a possibility that I will actually buy one, or buy one as a present.
It’s set to hit the Irish market just on time for Christmas, but with the 1gb model retailing at around €100 it should be a fast seller.
July 26th, 2006 at 6:37 pm
Hi there,
I just got one today (live on the East Coast, US) and it’s pretty cool! Just as the reviews say, it takes a while to transfer songs - feels more like USB 1.0 than 2.0 speed. However, I think it’s great because it supports that crappy Microsoft DRM for subscription music. Plus, my local library has free but DRM’d downloadable audiobooks that work with this player.
Transferring songs using WMP or the Creative Media Explorer (included software) is more cumbersome than iTunes on an iPod, but for small capacity players it’s usable. Also, small nits like not keeping your place in an audiobook file after the sleep timer activates shows a lesser attention to detail that the iPod continues to have.
If I could buy only one MP3 player, it would still be an Apple product, but this is the coolest non-Apple player I’ve found.
July 29th, 2006 at 10:20 am
Hi Mike,
You know, I always forget about the software that is bundled with Zen players. Creative Media Explorer is one of the worst pieces of software I’ve ever had the misfortune to use, infact all the software CDs that came with MicroPhotos wouldn’t install, we had numerous customers come back with complaint about this and all we could do is direct them to the Creative website to download the newest version of the software. Very annoying for ourselves as sales people and for the customer.
Itunes, yes I’ll agree that it is superior, Apple put as much time into the development of their software as they do their hardware - Creative should take a leaf out of their book.
However… I personally would choose to use Winamp over any other music playing/ripping/etc software, and it works so perfectly with all Zen players. I suggest you download Winamp if you find WMP or CME cumbersome. :)
August 24th, 2006 at 9:39 pm
Hi Sinead,
You make some good points there :) Thanks for the suggestion on trying WinAMP; I’ve heard good things about it so I’ll give it a whirl.
Incidentally, Creative might get a chance to spend a little $ revamping their software - today they agreed to settle their patent lawsuit with Apple and will receive $100million.
Of course, this guy at Wired believes that Zune will end up crushing all of Microsoft’s Plays For Sure partners:
http://www.wired.com/news/columns/listeningpost/0,71621-0.html?tw=wn_index_25
Overall, I have to say having such a small player that’s not too thin/breakable like the iPod nano is quite nice - you never have to decide to leave it at home because it’s too cumbersome.
Plus, I’ve realized from owning a regular sized iPod for a few years that all these MP3 players that cost a few hundred dollars are prone to breaking during or after their warranty periods end. So, if you figure on buying a new one periodically, just like buying a cell phone, I guess you won’t be too surprised when the inevitable happens :P