Creative Zen 20GB MP3 Player - Black at Shop Ireland

Creative Zen 20GB MP3 Player - Black

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Average rating -

Rating: - Great Value, Great Sound

A great-sounding, well-put-together little box. 20GB is more than enough space to fit all the music you'll ever need, even though manufacturers' gigabyte-to-song ratios are always grossly overstated and reliant on cloth eared people who'd actually want mp3s at 64kbps.

The menus are easy to navigate, the features are plentiful and easy to use. The EQ section is pretty ineffectual, and there's not a lot to choose between the different settings, so you might as well turn it off and save a little on the battery. Sound quality is excellent anyway- I put the perfectly adequate standard-issue headphones in the junk drawer straight away and used my trusty aftermarket ones. Just replaced my old pair with some Koss KSC75s from Amazon, which are also fantastic.

Don't try to compile playlists on the player- entering text will take you all day with the scroll keys, and will annoy you to no end if you're trying to do it on a bus or train, as the touch controls are a little over sensitive (although they're adjustable) for use on bumpy journeys. The software, however, is easy to use and can be used for any number of deeper functions than the front panel of the player, although the onboard menus will give you more than enough scope for tweaking if that's what floats your boat. The CD ripper also has a major advantage over Windows Media Player in that it can rip to your PC, player or both simultaneously. In the time it takes to rip to WinMP, then transfer to the player and delete the mp3s from your PC if you don't want them there, you can get through twice as many CDs on the Creative ripper.

The player has frozen twice in five months- each time, all that's happened is that the battery has completely drained and the player has then charged up fine and worked perfectly. Don't know what causes it, and it's annoying, but it doesn't cause any permanent damage. This is the only area where the player loses points in my estimation, but ipods are just as flakey in my experience, and with a Zen you've at least got the £60-odd quid you saved to drown your sorrows when it packs up!

Rating: - Very good stuff

I got this mp3 for xmas last year and at first i found it hard to control with the touch panel, but after a while it was easy. It holds so many songs, and although it doesn't let you hold videos like some ipods, its still amazing at the price. I recommend to anyone who likes most music. The radio is also great to listen to! A definate 5 star buy!

Rating: - disappointing

After having had a Creative touch for a good spell, it eventually gave in to the constant battering that it took (and it took a lot!) and so i reentered the mp3 market. My Creative experience up until purchasing this product had been fantastic and so it was an easy choice for me to pick the Creative Zen. However i was bitterly disappointed with it.

The battery life is absolutely atrocious, i cannot stress this enough because there is nothing worse than only getting through half the day when the battery died. My particular Zen froze up after 3 days of use and only served as an adequate reason for my returning of the product, heartbroken and confused.

The Creative team have really let themselves down with the battery life. The supposed 9hrs is nothing like what you actually get (and i don't care if people suggest ways of saving battery life, saving the battery should not be an issue in my view), it was especially annoying after having experienced the 24hr battery life on my old Creative touch.

Creative have some great pieces of kit. The sound is good, the software is the easiest to use of all mp3s in my opinion and they do look good. If you decide to purchase this product, then please do not judge all Creatives on what you receive here, because this is a mere blip in the Creative market, who truely are serving to be a growing competitor for the ipod.

Rating: - i'd give it 10*********** if i could!

When I was thinking about buying this product, I read several online reviews about how recently the reviewers bought it and I think it doesn't give much of what to expect after those few couple of days/weeks.

I bought my Creative Zen a good number of months ago and it feels like i've had it far longer - that's how much i've grown used to it! I can honestly say that I don't have any complaints about it.

The main problems I noticed people had with this particular product were:

1) THE SIZE - well, i suppose it can be a problem especially if you're previous mp3 was tiny (like most of them really are) However, it hasn't been a problem for me. It somehow makes me feel safer knowing that no one's stolen it and also that i can find it easier.

2) THE TOUCHPAD - mostly the complaints were that it was too sensitive and/or that it was too difficult to used to it. if you use a laptop or are used to any sort of touchpad technology, it definitely won't be a problem for you. for all those who aren't, i can't say anything about it.

3) THE EARPHONES - apperently they are uncomfortable. personally, i didn't feel it. they seemed fine. (although i learnt that i shouldn't leave them around my neck, exposed to rain, the hard way and so had to replace them)

4) INBUILT BATTERY - i was actually looking for one like that. although i hear that the ones with a detachable battery are better - but i've never used those so i wouldn't know. i think its something about lasting longer or something.

5) BATTERY - its true that it doesn't last as long as it says on the cover. trick is to switch of the glowing light and to put it on shuffle.

Now here's the reasons why Creative Zen is the product you should buy:

1)ITS A CREATIVE PRODUCT - when it comes to electronics, i'm not too adventerous in trying out new brands. Creative has a reputation i fully trust. You know that when you buy Creative, you're buying quality.

2)GREAT DEAL - to me, if it's cheap but has a great deal - there's something wrong with it. however, this isn't the case with Creative Zen. 20G Creative for £144? Brilliant! Nowhere else can u get a deal like that. even if you browse around the internet or check out other deals, let's face it, they aren't better than this one.

3)MP3 PLAYER - i wanted a mp3 player not an entertainment machine. mp3 players exsist for one reason: to play music. if i wanted to watch a movie, i'd go to the cinema or catch it on Sky. if i wanted a photo album on my player, i'd use my phone. if i wanted to play games, why would i use my mp3 when i bought that damn XBOX? if you want that kind of junk, get yourself an ipod or a PSP - both of which are overrated.

4)SHEER SOUND QUALITY - now that i've established i bought this product for the music, i can move on to say how great this one is at playing it. I cannot even begin to emphasize how clear, how amazingly pleasurable it is to listen to my music on the bus even if there are those noisy kids. BLISS.

5)THE GLOWING LIGHT - appearances of mp3 players play a good deal on why people someimes buy them. Creative Zen isn't the best looking player but it all disappears when that hypnotizing blue light comes on. it's so pretty!

6)ALARM - you don't even have to use speakers to hear the volume: the headphones are quite enough to get you awake with a jolt. and if you're a heavy sleeper like me, you need it!

i can't remember any other advantages of buying a Creative Zen so i guess they aren't really worth remembering. thats all i can say really. hope this review helps you. good luck!

Rating: - Pleasantly Surprised

Having waited for quite a while before looking to buy a mp3 player, I had been put off the ipod by various reviews and also experiences of friends, same can be said of Sony's offering. So having read all the erviews for the Zen, I laid my cash out for this.

And was very very pleased! Arriving very quickly, as always thanks Amazon, it was charged and ready to go the same evening. Putting about 14GBs onto it only took a few hours, and was so easy to do at first I thought I must have been doing something wrong! To be able to literally drag and drop music into the Zen just blows i-tunes out of the water, and you can also avoid software problems.

Another little feature that becomes useful is the ability to use some of the Zen's memory as a removable harddrive. Very good for transferring photos or any kind of documents without having to burn them onto disk.

The only reason the Zen doesnt get full-marks is the slightly short battery life, but I havent really had a good chance to condition the battery (in the same way you would a mobile phone battery) so I expect it will last longer in the next few weeks.

All in all the Zen is a very worthwhile piece of kit, very nice to look at, and if you splash out on some better earphones, the sound from it is very impressive! Definitely the mp3 to choose!