Rated 
Excellent Portable Video Player
Excellent 2.5 inch screen Very Good Audio Quality Nice Build Quality Very Portable Expandability via SD Slot
Not True Widescreen No Line-In or External Mic Recording FM Tuner Not as Good as Others Limited Video Formats Supported Works with Macs but not supported by Creative
Posted Mar 9, 2008 - After two ipods, I wanted a portable video player primarily to stay connected with some video podcasts I regularly watch. Originally I thought of the Ipod Touch or the Archos 605, both touch screen, WiFi equipped players. After thinking it through, I probably wouldn't have the chance to use the WiFi connection all that much and touch screen devices a magnet for fingerprints. When I learned of the Creative Zen player, it made sense for the intended purpose, as a portable video player to use on my daily commute. The first thing I noticed about the Zen is that the build quality, controls, and user interface were all well done. While very different from the way Apple does things, the Zen is nearly as well made and the interface is similarly intuitive. After turning it on, the unit's most outstanding feature becomes apparent - the screen is exceptional and state of the art. So good is the resolution and color rendition of the Zen that it makes watching video on a 2.5 inch screen very satisfying. Small text and subtitles are very legible. Even on wide screen videos, where less than the entire height of the display is used, fine details remain well rendered and watchable. Many video podcasts are now provided in the MP4 format native to the ipods. The Zen only supports the AVI and WMV video containers, all ipod format videos need to be converted. The Zen comes with a high quality WMV converter, but it is a bit slow. I mainly use third party converters and I am still looking for the best one. The FM tuner is a nice inclusion, but reception is only fair. I also have an older iRiver player which has an FM tuner (and also line-in and external mic recording that the Zen does not have) and though smaller, gets slightly better reception. In areas where the reception is good, the sound quality is very good. With video compression, even the smallest 4GB internal memory can still hold many videos. The inclusion of an SD slot gives this player effectively infinite memory as well as the ability to pop in a card that has been prepared on a PC with a card reader, not requiring that the Zen be attached to a machine to add content. Of course, the Zen can work as a card reader and data can be copied directly to the SD card in the Zen. As both a PC and Mac user, it is a bit disappointing to learn that the Zen is only supported by Creative on the PC. However, using the GNU XNJB (Zen connection and copying) and some video converters for the Mac, the Zen will work with a Mac. All in all, this new Zen player is a viable alternative to the video ipods, especially when viewing video is considered. Video performance exceeds that of even the ipod Touch. The price makes this player a great value, with extensive features and an easy to learn interface. Its size makes it very portable. Overall, its a very solid device and comes highly recommended.
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Creative ZEN 4GB
OK product
