Customer Reviews

Creative Zen Nano Plus 512 MB MP3 Player (Black)

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Ahem. I already had the 5GB Creative Zen Micro, but wanted a flash-memory-based player as well (for working out). I also wanted something that could play audible dot com audio books (which the Zen Micro, otherwise very good, cannot do). On top of that, I wanted something that could record directly from the line-out or headphone jack of any audio source (I can't always get audio material within the vicinity of my computer. It is surprising how many things there are to re-record).

The Creative Zen Nano Plus can do all that. It is pretty and small and has a nice screen (hey, actual feedback! Take note, Shuffle-users). The controls work very well, everything is laid out intelligently and the icons on the screen are supported by word-descriptions.

This little gizmo will even divide audio material into tracks for me. Seems to work pretty well with only the slightest fade at the beginning of the tracks.

When you consider that it will run forever (well, the better part of a day) on one tiny AAA battery...what more could you ask for? I love mine and would buy another in a heartbeat. It is simply the most perfect device for its purpose that I have ever purchased. Even better than my 6-cylinder Toyota pick-up (another fine, smooth-running machine).

I bought the 512MB version, in white. Go get yours now! :-)

I bought this solely to use for jogging & working out & it kicks butt! It's great. Excellent sound. Superlight & small. Fast downloads. Easy & Effective software. One total bit of advice, as in most of these players, the company gives you free earbuds which suck- they're uncomfortable, don't stay in, etc. I personally hate earbuds. I would totally recommend you purchase for around $40-50 or so online including shipping, Koss's great portapro headphones. These headphones are superlight, give very good sound with good but not overbearing bass response & are supercomfortable & stay on your ears without slipping when you're jogging & working out & best as I said, they're supercomfortable & you don't even know you're wearing them! Anyway, Zen Nano Plus is a winner. It is also very durable. I dropped mine a couple of times & it did no damage & still plays & looks great.

I am (or was) an MP3 player "virgin" and was only vaguely familiar with the ipod. I wanted a player with FM radio, so after some research, I got the Zen Nano Plus. I was suprised at how tiny it is! It's a little bit bigger than a lighter; it fits easily into a pocket or you can wear it on the armband that comes with it.

It's pretty intuitive to use, though someone with large hands might have trouble with the tiny buttons and the scroll wheel. I also thought the included ear buds were fine, in spite of another reviewer who said higher quality ones were a necessity. Sound quality and FM reception is excellent.

The software that comes with it, the Zen Nano Plus Media Explorer, is pretty useless. It's very confusing to use, with multiple panes you can close and open, and did not reliably transfer my downloaded music to my player, even though it showed the transfer happening. The song title would appear in my player, but no music. I finally figured out how to use the "synch" function on Windows Media Player 10 and in addition to being very easy to figure out, it worked perfectly. Media Player can do everything that the Nano Explorer and Nano Organizer software can do, so I don't recommend bothering to install it.

Overall - a great MP3 little player and easy to get up and running.

Size and weight are perfect for strapping onto the arm and running, biking, treadmill, etc. Very easy to xfer music files to. Only drawback is if you have large hands like I do, the controls can be a bit small. Music sounds great. The FM tuner works well with the indoor audio at my health club. Did not install any of the supplied SW, not sure why you would want to. Headphones are OK but I had some other ones that hook onto my ears so are better for exercising.

Although I am returning the item to the store (I decided I wanted a player with a rechargeable battery instead), I love this little player.

The sound quality is fantastic, it is easy to use, light-weight, low-priced, attractive, and comes with a cool protective cover/belt-clip. It also gets fantastic battery life.

The only problem I ran into is that the software wouldn't load on my Windows XP laptop for some reason. But you don't really need the software to use the item.

I'd recommend it to anyone who wants great sound quality in a small package, and doesn't mind replacing batteries when it runs out.

...That is, if you don't need to carry your entire music library in your pocket and you want a MP3 player that is small enough to take everywhere with you, this one is for you. The Zen is small enough to fit comfortably into even the smallest of pockets, but when in your hands it does not feel cheaply made or breakable. The Zen has a good weight to it for its size and the screen is readable. When in normal play mode the screen can convey quite a bit of information: The title, how long the current song has been playing, the play mode you're in, and the current battery charge you have.

The Zen also sounds very good with any pair of decent headphones. (I did not try out the supplied "ear bud" style headphones in the box.) The volume can be adjusted to 40 different levels with the two buttons on the side, so you can pick your comfort level easily.

The menu system for this player is well done for a player with a screen of this size. You can select from several different play modes, lock the player (so buttons aren't pressed in your pocket,) and it even has an equalizer with several settings (you can add your own custom settings, too.) The controls become intuitive after only a few days use.

Overall I am pleased with this player, one of those "I would recommend this to friends" sort of things. If you don't need to (or don't want to) carry your entire music library around this player is excellent.

I only gave 4 stars because I have nothing to compare it to. This is my first experience with an MP-3 player and I am very impressed with it. It stores about 250 songs, is easy to operate and has the best small FM receiver I've ever used - clear and bright sound all around. I take it on walks on my Cape Cod beach. Perfect companion. Buy it.

I have had this player for 1 yr now and loved it.
Pros:
1) Easy to navigate.
2) FM
3)FM recording/ Voice Recording
4) Small and very light. Easily fits in my pocket.
5) Good customer support.
6) Good software. Easily convert files to a WMA.
Cons:
1) Earphones are a little big.
2) Battery cover fragile. Broke after 6-8 months but was replaced for free by creative.
3) Inner wire of earphones started showing after 6-8 months. Creative refused to replace it as earphones only have 3 months warranty.
4) No playforsure support. Cannot play subsciption music.

Bottom line: I Love this mp3 player.

I bought this item a few months ago and it works great! The AAA batteries last a long time. Adding songs is so easy, you can synch songs onto it via Windows Media Player, you don't even need to use the software. In terms of making a playlist, all you have to do is title your songs with the number you want them to be. For example if your song is "mysong.mp3" all you have to do is title it "01mysong.mp3" and the next "02myothersong.mp3" and they will be in that order on the mp3player. If you want to put another song in between just title it "015myotherothersong.mp3" and no problem it works. I also recommend converting your files you want to add into .wma format. You can decrease the file size significantly and over normal decent headphones the audio quality is not noticably different at all. This way you don't even need a 1GB, I got a 512 and it fits tons, I haven't even filled it up yet. I really recommend this player!

I just got my player today, and I haven't been able to put it down. It's fairly easy to install, as well.

You do need to get rechargable AAA batteries, this eats batteries up pretty quick. That's really the only gripe I have with the player; Other than that, it's so much better than my previous MP3 player.

If you're looking for a decent MP3 player, I highly recommend this product. It's definitely worth the money.