Creative Zen V Plus

DaisyChains

Hi!

I'm on the look out for a good MP3 player that isn't too gadgety...I find the Ipod Nanos are getting that way with prices to match...I just want an MP3! Not one with a camera, video recorder etc...just a simple MP3 with good sound and memory storage.

I love the look and promise of the Creative Zen V Plus. Does anyone have experience of these?

I see that it is coloured according to GB size. I was thinking of getting the 2GB one (Green/White) but would that hold even 1000 songs?

In reviews I have read about the Zen, some users said that it froze on them and had to be reset? Is this a common fault? Would activities like running upset them?

Also it is easy to upload songs and copy direct from CDs?

If anyone has any other ideas on MP3s, it would be great to chat with you!

Thanks

dunworth1

i had one of them a few years ago

pretty good little device
i did have to problem where it froze and had to be reset a couple of times

other then that it was good nice and small size

and the radio is handy for listening to the news when out and about.


as for hold songs
it depends on the size of the songs

i believe they do the calculation with songs with a bit rate of 128kbps and songs 3 minutes long.

pleasant Co.

The Zen V+ must be 2-3yrs old now? it's a discontinued product at this stage and yes it's had quite a few weird and random problems.

My father had one for about 8mths, but it died...I suspect it was a damaged memory unit that caused the failure but was never able to confirm it.

If you are going to get the V plus make sure you do not pay a lot for it, like if you find it at full retail price then I'd recommend you look at sony's range of DAPs.

DaisyChains

Yeah, I'm finding it very hard to get my hands on one.

Will check out those Sony ones.

Any thoughts on the Ipod Shuffle?

pleasant Co.

DaisyChains wrote: »

Any thoughts on the Ipod Shuffle?

It's nice and small. Cute...

Controls are located on the headphones, it sounds like poo, represents quite poor value for money and the battery isn't the best.

That's kinda all i've got to say about it

dunworth1

you could also try the sanza

clip or fuze

there is a guy on ebay that i bought my zune off of that has

4GB sanza clip for 32.28 and a sanza fuze 4Gb for 57.89

he was very quick sending out my zune.

Phil D

I would strongly urge you NOT to buy a Zen Creative. I bought a new one on-line a few years ago and had nothing but problems. Firstly, it would crash at first weekly, then more frequently to the point where it wouldn’t restart. It took about seven phone calls to be allowed the “honour” of returning it to Creative labs. I kept getting the same excuse and they wouldn’t listen to me when I explained I’d already restarted the device and it didn’t work. They sent me a replacement, a second hand device which broke after a couple of months. This time it was the headphone socket. Nothing but problems with it and I’ve heard of many other people in the same situation. Horrendous customer service, rude, snide and condescending. I swore I would never buy a thing from them again and if you do you have no one to blame but yourself when it breaksdown and you’re 400 euros out of pocket.
After that debacle I got a cheapo Tevion player from the supermarket and it’s been flying for years. Less memory but easy to use and never had a single problem. If Lidls or Aldi sell them again buy there. I couldn't be happier with it.

J_Dublin15

Conversley I have only ever bought Creative and had no problems, over the last few years I've had.

Zen Microphoto
Zen Vision M
Zen Xfi2 (Current Player)

None of which have broke down on me.

syklops

I got the creative vision M for my birthday the year before last. I don't have a bad thing to say about it. The radio is dead handy, and it syncs with outlook so I can keep track of my meetings.

It does need to be reset now and again, but its no big deal. You just reset it and thats it. FYI resetting it does not wipe the memory, its more like a reboot.

Phil D

You're lucky if you haven't had any problems. Go on-line and you'll find that isn't the case with many others. I wish I had. And they come down to major flaws in the design software and service. The company is doing badly in most markets outside of Singapore. Also, I noticed a lot of the positive reviews were posted from Singapore. Probably by employees of Creative.

pdebarra

I'd have to advise against the Creative Zen V Plus.

There are a couple of annoying features. For example, it plays in truly random order, which means it can play the same track twice or more in a row; this is not "shuffle" as I understand it. This is bad in a 2 GB player, where the chances are much higher that it will play the same song again.

Worse by far is its "idle shutdown". The player will, while playing, decide to shut itself down. You can interrupt this by pressing any button within a few seconds, but if you're not watching it, the first you'll know if when the music suddenly stops. I'm downloading firmware version 1.32.01e now, and will report on whether that fixes it (release notes don't mention).

pdebarra

Alright, the "idle shutdown" is sorted: apparently, when you set the snooze timer, it is set until further notice. And it doesn't give an accurate warning message.

cnocbui

DaisyChains wrote: »

Yeah, I'm finding it very hard to get my hands on one.

Will check out those Sony ones.

Any thoughts on the Ipod Shuffle?

The old version was good and might still be available in some places. The old nano sounds like it might suit. They still seem to be available on Amazon: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Apple-iPod-nano-8GB-Blue/dp/B0014IK8JU/ref=sr_1_24?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1265630126&sr=1-24

Might also be worth checking out Samsung Mp3 players on Amazon. I have no direct experience with them but I do have a Samsung phone with media playback and the sound quality using good headphones is excellent.