Customer Reviews:
 great for Audiobooks! September 11, 2008
I have had my Zen V plus for about a year, and I use primarily for audio books. My public library is associated with NetLibrary and Overdrive, so I can download books for free. My Zen is my companion for housework, the gym, car rides, shopping, etc. I use it on average two to three hours a day.
The Zune and Ipods cannot play audio books from these sources because they cannot manage the DRM licenses. The Zen V Plus can play these files, and even allows the user to set up to 10 bookmarks. Another nice feature is that if you shut off the machine, it holds your place in the book. I have used several other players, and the only other system that worked as well for audio books was my Rio Audio Carbon (how I mourned the death of that machine. Two years later and it can still bring a tear to my eye...)
I have had the zen freeze up on me a few times, usually when I am doing a lot of fast forwarding. Luckily, being female, I usually have an earring on hand, and that works perfect for the reset button hole. My machine takes only a few seconds to rebuild the library - which seem like less time than others are claiming. This is perhaps because I have less files - audio books as opposed to lots of mp3 files. For me, this has never been an issue.
I love the zen even more now that I bought the creative audio charger. I really hated charging with the USB port - the only method available when you purchase the Zen V plus. It takes too long and it is inconvenient. I tried other usb chargers, and the only one that works is the one from Creative - it has some type of proprietary technology. But with this charger, my zen charges in just over an hour. The battery life is variable, depending on how much time the little video screen it lit up. The more you hit the buttons, advance songs, play with the menus, every time you light that screen for 10 seconds, you cut about 15 minutes of pure audio battery time. I have read review that the battery life is over 20 hours - but these reviews must have just turned it on and left it, never using the video screen. In real life I get about seven hours - I recharge every couple of days.
 Everything I was looking for in an mp3 player! September 7, 2008
I am very happy with the Creative Zen V plus. I bought it primarily to play mp3 files, and am also pleasantly pleased with its ability to play video files and display pictures. I tried once to play a video file, and had to wait for the Creative software to encode it. The video played fine once or twice, then I was trying to play it again and it hung-up the system. I might have been asking it to do too much, and not waiting for it to process. I loaded one picture to it, and it resized it and displays it very nicely. The software to browse music and upload and delete is like a normal Windows' file system view. Very simple, yet exactly what you need to add/delete quickly. The software also allows you to make playlists for the zen v plus quickly, by browsing folders and clicking on the music you want to add. I'd have given it a 5 star rating if I did not have the little glitch with the video file (since it is designed to play them), but on the positive side, it has worked perfectly for my mp3 files. Battery life is very good as well. I charged it overnight, and have played it all day at work, about 8-9 hours, and the battery is only down to 1/2 left. Navigation with the 3 buttons also is easy and fast.
Great., handy machine September 6, 2008
I was disappointed that people found this handy machine unreliable and ineffective in meeting their requirements.
I have had the machine for at least a year, and its been nothing but a pleasure to use. It stores all my songs, and lectures, Records with an above average quality, an the battery-life is excellent.
I have only two complaints - it the earphones supplied don't work any more - the wire became unusable from use. It is now out of date. I bought the 4 GB model. Its time for an upgrade, to a model that supports a few more features - I want to read pdfs on my device.
However, these are the only problems I had with it. Overall, its great and would recommend it for someone who is interested in recording lectures and listening to songs at a reasonably good quality.
 Good sound, but it died before it was a year old!! September 6, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This Zen V was the first Mp3 I have owned. I found the software not intuitive at all, and had to reset the device frequently, and it was nearly impossible to delete content after it was placed on the device. This is bothersome when you listen to audiobooks. I could live with those faults. The sound quality is decent and my money was already spent, so I was not unhappy. However, when the device died at about month 9, due to a known "red screen" manufacturing fault, I was done with Creative.
I found out about the known defect but unless you have the original receipt, the company will not replace the defective device. The product was registered with the company at the time of purchase but they still will not replace it. With this lack of customer service, I'll spend my money elsewhere and will recommend that other do as well.
Straight Forward & Great Flash Player September 5, 2008
Great sounding and easy to use flash player. Easy to manage music files and to access the tunes you want in various ways. Battery life could use some improvement but is not bad. Charged quickly from computer and even faster with optional ac charger. Handy controls...like it much better than the Sansa E250 I had before it. I would buy another.
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