Creative Zen V ... for Karma-like Victory?!
Written: Aug 24 '06 (Updated Sep 18 '06)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Full featured, compact size, good battery life, scratch-resistant, low price
Cons: Battery not replaceable, Screen not that great, $20-30 more gets the Zen V Plus
The Bottom Line: Overall, a solid MP3 player with decent photo display capabilities. Excellent alternative to the Nano for a much cheaper price.
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| yusakugo's Full Review: |
Now announcing Creative's latest bid to triumph over the iPod Nano. A little late to the party though Creative?
The iPod Nano is almost one year old... I bought my 4GB iPod nano on September 9th, 2005, at Tyson's Corner, Virginia. The first day it was released to the Apple stores. Since then, there have been a slew of competitors against the Nano... from iRiver's U10 (now the Clix) to Sandisk's Sansa lines to Samsung and more. Nano steamrolled all over them. The only one of that ultra-compact bunch to show true promise was the iRiver U10... but iRiver charged almost double for the same amount of memory on the U10 (and the U10 maxed at 1GB). Creative remained rather quiet on this front... only redesigning the Zen Micro into the MicroPhoto with up to 8GB of hard drive space.
Needless to say, Creative's efforts at the time were quite half-hearted and Creative did not have a comparable MP3 and photo viewer product for some time. By the end of 2005, Creative showed signs of life... the Zen Vision M was released. This was a strong competitor to the Video iPod. The V and V Plus were announced a few months into 2006. Finally, the V is here.
Short Take
Creative took its time, but there is no doubt that the V is a solid MP3 player. Add to it photo viewing, recording from an in-line port or the built-in mic, and some organizer features in a compact size with decent to good battery life, now you have an exceptional product that really more than capable of thrashing the iPod Nano. On top of all that, it costs less... much less than an iPod Nano with the same amount of memory.
The OLED screen may help with the battery power but it has small and has a low resolution... making the V ho hum for displaying photos. The recent Zen model now sport built-in batteries... so no swapping batteries when the power gets low. The Zen V continues with Creative's odd option of having to format space to use as a flash drive for your computer. This option decreases the available amount of space on the V for music and photos. More on that later. The Zen V is also quite slow when transferring files via USB cable regardless if it is USB 1.1 or 2.0 (although this could be a firmware problem that can be corrected).
All in all, the Zen V is a solid overall player with the hardware to compete with the Nano and then some. The upcoming V plus adds the FM tuner and video playback capabilities for $20-30 more but there are rumors that Creative will offer a paid firmware upgrade to get these features on the V.
In a direct comparison, the Zen V gives you more for your money but not a tight software integration as the Nano has with iTunes. From the hardware standpoint, the V wins hands down. However, from the software standpoint, the Nano and iTunes has a more obvious and tighter integration that the less computer literate users will likely appreciate more.
Price
This particular unit was a friend's purchase. He wanted some asian music my collection and brought the V over several times. The software from the Zen Vision M disks worked with the Zen V. He purchased the black and green Zen V for $149.
You can refer to my epinions article on some tips to save money on online shopping. Using this referral code at Crutchfield.com gets you a $20 discount (first time shoppers only!) and it gives the referrer a $20 credit at Crutchfield as well. If you have a friend that frequently buys from Crutchfield, they have a code. If you really need one and can't find it, you can email me on my profile page. Amazon is discounting the player about $5-10 currently. I'm sure that $5-20 off MRSP will be the average selling price.
You've Got the Look!
The Zen V has dimensions of 1.7 x 2.7 x 0.63 inches versus the Nano's 1.5 x 3.5 x 0.27 (WxHxD) inches. Both weigh approximately 1.5oz. The Zen V has a more toylike appearance than the Nano but in a good way. The Zen V looks and feels like it can be roughed up more than the Nano can... much more. The Zen V all have a two tone color scheme with the primary case color being black or white. The second color highlights parts of the V and also identifies the memory capacity of that V model. In this case the green highlight are only for the 2GB version of the V. The highlighting is around the 5-way nub/joystick and in a thin line around the border of the player and the volume buttons. The controls from previous Zen models have been simplified. The main control is the 5-way joystick (really just a nub not a stick) and the two depressable panels to the right of this stick/nub which are the pause/play and back "buttons".
The top of the V has the in line port, the headphone port, and the Mini-USB port. The built-in mic is next to the line-in port. On the left side is the power/hold switch and the pinhole to reset the unit. On the right is the volume rocker and the record button. The back has the Zen logo in concentric circles (like a raindrop falling into a still pool of water). On the back bottom of the V is the eyelet for a lanyard or neck strap.
The Zen V is comfortable to hold in your hand although it feels very light like the iPod Nano. The increased thickness of the V over the Nano makes it more comfortable to hold as well (I wear med-large gloves). The unit feels solid and has a smooth feel on the surface. The V has a scratch proof coating on it as well.
The full specs of the V are:
Audio Battery Life:
-Up to 15 hrs playtime (MP3, 128kbps, 4mins/ song)
-WMA format uses more power
Supported Audio formats: MP3, WMA (inc MS PD DRM), WAV
Supported Photo formats: JPEG
Signal-to-Noise Ratio: up to 90dB
EQ settings: 8 presets & custom 5 band EQ setting
Channel Separation: Up to 65 dB
Frequency Response: 20 Hz ~ 20 kHz
Harmonic Distortion Output: 0.05%
Organiser: Calendar, Contact, Task list
Power Charging: Charges via Power Adapter or PC thru USB
Photo with Music: Yes
Voice Recording: Yes
Removable Disk Storage: Yes
Album Art: Slideshow, Thumbnail, Zoom, Pan
Connectivity:
-Stereo headphone out
-Built-in Microphone
-Line in 2.5mm port
Durability
Hard to say from the limited time but the Zen V isn't as scratch prone as the iPod Nano. The Zen V states it has a scratch proof coating. So far... so good. The Zen V doesn't have any scratches on it after being carried in pocket full of keys, a lab coat pocket with a bunch of pens, and thrown in a bag with all sorts of small items (pens, keys, maglite, and a tape measure). My iPod Nano got a scratch after being in my pocket full of keys for a half hour.
Screen
The OLED screen is pretty easy to see in most conditions. Bright sunlight giving the most problems however. The screen is 1.5 inches large and displays 128x128 pixels capable of displaying up to 262,000 colors. While the display does not have the neon glow that the Zen MicroPhoto did (thank goodness for that!), it is still fairly bright. However, the low resolution makes the screen only adequate for viewing photos... the small size screen further limits the photo viewing to portraits and small group shots. The LCD on the iPod Nano sported a higher resolution (176x132) but couldn't display the same range of colors (65K). Between the two, I would lean towards the iPod Nano for photo viewing... although honestly, I would use the Vision M or my PSP for portable picture viewing.
The screen works perfectly well for navigation and good enough for displaying the album art.
After seeing the screen, I do wonder about the V plus and how it will handle video. My biggest question there will be how it handling video especially if there is fast action in them. The low resolution and size of the screen will only compound any problems.
In Use... Music
The music playback for the Zen V is excellent and the V's strongest point. The 5-way nub is more intuitive to use than having the oodles of buttons on models like the Vision M. Moving the nub to the left or right quickly will change the songs as their playing while holding it to the left or the right will fast forward or reverse through the currently playing song. It's nice that the Zen V has dedicated volume buttons as well. The overall Creative user interface is quite good and maybe slightly worse than the iPod if at all. Unfortunately, the file formats supported as limited to MP3, WAV, and WMA (with and without DRM) compared to the iPod's MP3, WAV, and ACC (with and without Apple's DRM encoding). Note that the Zen V is listed as Janus compatible and Microsoft's Play for Sure certified.
Like most of Creative's MP3 players, the Zen V has a wealth of features available in audio playback especially with Creative's years and years of experience in MP3 players. You have all your standard features like shuffle, and various methods of organizing the songs by album, song title, genre, etc. You also get 8 equalizer presets and 5 custom presets as well.
The included earbuds already sound good to the untrained ear but when you attach better earbuds or quality external speakers, you'll note an improvement in the sound. Not bad at all for the Zen V. The Zen V was the equivalent or better than the Nano in sound quality.
The only possible weaknesses of the Audio playback is the less streamlined syncing to your main PC like the iPod has with iTunes (there are at least three different ways to sync libraries to the Zen V from Windows Media Player 10 to Creative's Mediasource and Media Explorer software) and and the lack of playback of some higher quality file formats like .ogg (Ogg Vorbis) which you can find in iRiver's offerings. These aren't deal breakers but may be important if you're specifically looking for these features. Subscription services like Napster-to-Go should work with the Zen V.
Personally, I'm used to Media Explorer from using it with my Zen Vision M. iTunes is seems to be more idiot friendly than Creative's MediaSource software but the MediaSource offers more features as it can handle video playback as well. Windows Media 10 has always been a mixed bag for me... it either works when I open it up or it doesn't. WMP 10 isn't particularly optimized for being the primary sync software in my opinion.
Photo Viewing
The Zen Media Explorer software allows you to transfer your photos pretty easily. When you compare the same photo on the Video iPod or the Vision M... there is no comparison. You would rather use even the Video iPod to view the photo than the Zen V. The screen is too small and the resolution rather low. Detailed photo do not display well at all. I even preferred the iPod Nano over the Zen V (although between the Nano and the V was much closer). It's hard after seeing the same photo on my Dell Axim X51v, Sony PSP, Zen Vision M, Video iPod 60GB, and on the screens of any of my Canon digital cameras to say that the photo viewing on the Zen V is good... it's actually rather mediocre. It's more of a nice extra but not a primary selling point.
For photo viewing you have options like the slideshow and music in the background. Photo viewing is relatively quick. Thumbnails of the photos takes some time to load if the Zen V is seeing the photo file for the first time... otherwise, thumbnails load fairly quickly. You can use any photo loaded to the Zen V as a background.
Recording
Recording Formats:
Voice (via built-in microphone): IMA ADPCM (8 kHz, Mono)
Line-in Recording: WMA (128 kbps and 160 kbps)
All-in-all, you press and hold the record button to start a recording with the built-in microphone. The microphone is decent and primarily suited for direct recordings. Recording a lecture from far away is not a good idea. You should think of this feature like a personal voice recording machine. The screen displays an recording input level to let you know if you're speaking too high or too low.
The line-in recording has to be selected from the menu. After selection of the line-in recording option, you can use the record button to start/stop sessions. The file is recording in WMA format as listed above. The screen will show the input levels for the left and right channels. Overall, this function works rather well and is quite clear if the source is clear.
Unfortunately, all files recorded by either method are given a file name of "LINE YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS". You can't change it in the Zen V itself.
The Awesome FM Tuner and Video Playback
It's not there... you have to wait for the Zen V Plus model for this stuff. On the other hand, there have been rumors that the Zen V is upgradeable via firmware to the V Plus version. Rumor also says that Creative is charging for this supposed firmware upgrade and that it will be released with the V Plus is released. Unfortunately, I have no way of really confirming this rumor or squashing it at this point.
Organizer Features
Like pretty much most of Creative's hardware lineup, the Zen V can sync with Microsoft Outlook via Creative's Sync Manager software. Note that there is no way to edit the information while on the Zen V and no way to protect it with security features like a password. I didn't play much with this feature... leaving PDA functions to my Tungsten C or my Axim X51v or my VX6000 cell phone.
The Zen V has a Calendar, Contact, and Task list. As stated above, the input and editing must occur on the PC and be transferred over via Sync Manager.
Software and Manuals
The software is at least decent and some of it is actually quite good. However the problem is the lack of integratin with the Zen V. Unlike iTunes, much of the sync and transfer features are splintered between various pieces of software including the Zen Media Explorer, Sync Manager, ZenCast manager, and MediaSource Organizer on top of Windows Media Player 10. The integration isn't there. Manuals are overall pretty weak for the software and Zen V. The manual I got on the disk was a Windows Help file that loads into the Windows help interface. It would be nice if Creative could integrate the software into one seamless program instead of several different programs. Creative's MediaSource is the closest to integrating most of the features, syncing, and transferring but the software seemed very cluttered.
In the Box
Included are the same crappy white pouch to store and carry the Zen V around (the pouch is too big for the Zen V on top of that), standard Creative earphones, lanyard, USB to mini-USB cable, 3.5mm to 2.5mm line-in cable, software installation CD, and a quick start guide.
Battery Power
The Zen V lasted anywhere from 14-16 hours in mostly MP3 playback use. The manual lists that WMA file playback will shorten the battery life considerably. Note that this was not continuous playback but blocks a couple of hours over several days.
Charging the player took around 3 hours via the AC adapter and around 7 hours via the USB cable. These times aren't accurate since they are based off what my friend said he charged the player for.
As a Hard Drive
The connection is actually quite slow. Transferring files via Creative's software took about 2-5 minuts for about 200 MBs of files. A lethargic transfer time clocking around 2.5MB/sec as per HDTach?! However, I haven't done full tests since I would have to dedicate hard drive space on the Zen V. The Zen V allows you to dedicate up to 1.5GB on the 2GB model to the removable drive but this space cannot be used for music, photos, or video files to be played back on the Zen V directly. You can unformat the removable drive space without losing any information directly used by the Zen V... you just lose the information stored on the removable drive space. I still don't understand why Creative insists on using this method of utilizing their media players as hard drives. The iPod makes no such restriction on any of their players.
In the End... and the Competition
In the end, this is a viable competitor to the iPod. The interface is well done, it's a good value for the money, and it packs many features that you have to buy accessories for for the iPod Nano. The nub controller works pretty well compared to other competition from Samsung and Sandisk and the no-name brands. iRiver's Clix also has an excellent interface and control scheme as well (and better than the iPod I would say). Personally, I would pony up the extra $20-30 for the FM tuner (since seeing this screen, I don't think the video playback will amount to much of anything.. but I'll never know till I see it).
Other notes... if you were looking at Dell DJ Ditty... Dell has officially left the MP3 player market. This pretty much leaves the big name flash MP3 player makers as Apple, Creative, iRiver, Samsung, and Sony (from what I can remember). Archos only makes hard drive based players... and they are leaning more towards video than audio as of late (they just released x04 series of players that are great for video playback but have received poor ratings in previews for MP3 playback).
I'd highly recommend the Zen V player if you aren't married to iTunes already. If you have your music collection on Windows Media Player already, the Zen V is an excellent choice. Best non-Apple competitor here would be the iRiver Clix.
There is only one other main question that worries me about the Zen V and actually any Plays for Sure compatible device. Microsoft is releasing Zune... a hard drive based player with an integrated experience on the PC like iTunes and iPods have. However, Plays for Sure and Zune seems to be different platforms. If purchasing music and subscription content is high on your priority list, Microsoft's Zune is a worrisome problem since Microsoft has not given any indication on how much they will support the Plays for Sure platform (but they have announced that they will spend years and hundreds of millions of dollars on Zune to make it successful against the iPod-iTunes platform). This unfortunately hurts companies like Creative and online music stores and subscription services. Thanks alot Micro$oft!
Recommended:
Yes
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yusakugo
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Member: Rich Go
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Losing Sleep and Lacking Time... sigh...
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