Customer Reviews

Creative Zen Nano Plus 1 GB MP3 Player (Blue)

5 star:		(81)
4 star:		(55)
3 star:		(11)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(12)

 

 

I would have given Creative Zen Nano Plus (abbreviated "CZNP") 5 stars, except for two small deficiences: it does not have gapless playback (see #10 below), and the build quality and controls are kind of cheap (see #4 below). Assuming it lasts, it seems a very good unit for the money. Here's why I bought mine, and some questions to ask yourself when you're choosing. [Updated 8/28/2006]

0. Do I want to make a fashion statement with my MP3 player?

Some people will only buy a trendy iPod. Buying a lesser-known unit like CZNP makes a different statement, and you can choose from 10 colors. I prefer function over form, but CZNP offers some of each. I bought an orange one because it is easy to find in my black bag.

1. Do I want to play more than just sound?

The CZNP is a basic MP3 player, FM Radio, and recorder. It has a simple monochrome display and controls that make it a good choice for playing music, podcasts, and ebooks, and listening to local radio stations. It can record from the built-in mike or radio, or from a line input, which may be handy for some.

Some players can play videos, show pictures, etc, and cost a lot more because of the required color screen and larger memory. I don't need these things and prefer not to spend the money needed to get them.

Of course this player can STORE any kind of content, just like a thumb drive, but it only plays audio.

2. Will I be listening to mostly music or mostly spoken content?

When you switch off a unit while it is playing, or pause it and it turns off automatically after awhile, some units will resume at the beginning of the current track, and others (e.g. CZNP) resume exactly where you left off. If you are playing music, you usually prefer to start the song over again. For ebooks or long podcasts, I need to resume where it was turned off (like CZNP does), because it is hard to fast-advance back to where you were.

3. What kind of accessories can I get?

Creative has a set of speakers tailored to the CZNP, and there are many generic accessories that will work with it. By comparison, there are entire catalogs of accessories tailored for optimal use with an iPod (and may not work with others). I have what I need, but pine for some things available for iPod only.

The best accessory of all is a cable that has a 1/8" stereo plug (like the headphone plug) on one end, and two RCA plugs on the other. Plug one of these into the auxiliary or CD input of all the stereos you use, and you can quicly plug this in and play on the speakers. Such cables are available at Radio Shack and most places selling electronics products.

4. How convenient is it to use?

MP3 players vary considerably on how easy they are to use. The iPod is famous for ease of use, though it does not do everything I want to do. The CZNP has relatively cheap controls that work well enough, and does what I want. You don't have to be a computer whiz to use it or its software.

I have been using it while driving with reasonably good results. It is easy to pause and start it, turn it off, adjust volume, skip or repeat tracks, back up or move forward in the current track, and small enough to hold in your hand and still be able to hold onto the steering wheel.

But if you want to skip to a different album, you have to skip, wait, listen, and skip until you find the first track of the desired album. Of course there is a menu way of getting there more easily, but you can't use menus while driving.

It is small and light. About like a Bic cigarette lighter except twice as wide. So far I have found the size very convenient; I don't think I would want it any smaller. But being small, it might be easier to lose - which is why I bought an orange one.

5. How long will it last?

On Amazon, click the link "See all ... customer reviews", then look for the dropdown "Show:" and choose "Lowest review first" and click the Go button. There are a number of reports from people who had problems with their CZNP, some bad enough to throw it away. Some are real problems, others might be a lack of understanding how to use the player.

Despite these complaints, the average review is high. You'll find about the same mix of reviews for most players.

I decided to take a chance. My unit will be well-cared for. If I have a problem, I'll update this review.

6. Can the battery be replaced?

CZNP uses an AAA battery which is said to last for 15 hours and can be changed easily.

The iPod Nano has a rechargeable battery that is not designed to be replaced, which means the iPod Nano becomes landfill when the battery no longer takes a charge in a couple of years. There will be millions of iPods being thrown away simply because the owner cannot make them continue to work, which has an impact on the environment. There are now battery replacement kits for iPod, with tools and instructions, so this concern is lessened for DIY people, but most won't bother.

7. How does it sound?

The CZNP sounds very good to when when I use good earphones like Koss "The Plug", or when plugged into a stereo.

The free headphones you get with it won't give you the best sound, and you should not judge any player on how it sounds with the included headphones. Go buy quality earphones for any new player, as this will make a huge improvement in your enjoyment at relatively low cost.

8. Does the player use flash memory or hard-disk for storage?

CZNP uses flash memory. Flash memory is more expensive per MB/GB than hard disk memory, and flash memory players are smaller than hard disk players. I would not want a hard disk, which I think is too heavy and too fragile for a portable player. Get a hard disk player if you want to carry a lot of content, but make sure you have a backup. Get a flash memory player if you want to hold the content you will listen to today or this week.

9. Does the player have enough memory?

I use Highest Quality VBR, which gives me MP3s usually 200-250 KBPS, and I get about 10 hours of MP3 music. For podcasts or other material recorded at lower quality, you'll get a lot more. With that much space I can have some new or favorite albums left on the player, and have plenty of room for content that changes (like podcasts). If you don't use a computer regularly, you might want more memory, maybe even a hard disk, but 1GB is very convenient for my purposes.

10. Does the player support gapless playback between tracks?

Some albums have music that flows continously from one track to the next. Examples: Radiohead "OK Computer", Dandy Warhols, Moody Blues. The listening experience is disrupted if the tracks have a gap as the player switches from one track to another.

I don't know of any portable MP3 player that offers gapless playback (without Rockbox), though it's bound to come. The CZNP has a brief gap with no clicks, but it is still somewhat disruptive. One solution is to rip the album as one continuous track. The Rockbox open-source technology essentially replaces the firmware on your player, and it features gapless playback. It is supported on a few players, including some iPods, but not CZNP.

11. Does the player require proprietary software or hardware?

CZNP includes software, but since it also works like a USB drive, you can manage content with Explorer / Finder if you want to. All connectors are industry-standard and you can find matching cables in electronics and computer stores.

iPod can only load music using iTunes, and other players require software supplied with the unit, or with Windows. The iPod and others also use proprietary connectors, so replacing a lost cable is more expensive. I would not be happy with such restrictions. Open standards promote flexibility and interoperability. On the other hand the iPod is widely supported and it's easy to find compatible accessories.

For me, at a minimum, the player needs to look like a USB drive when I connect it to the computer, so that I can load it by dragging files to the player's file system, and the CZNP does that. I want to have a program automatically create a custom listening program of various short podcasts that play in a particular order to support Radio on Demand, and I want that to happen by simply connecting the device to the computer, with no keyboard or mouse interaction involved. I have not found such a program, and may have to write it, but I can do that if I want to. With an iPod I have no choice but to use iTunes (or replace the firmware with Rockbox). iTunes will not do what I want it to do, and there is no option to use my own or third-party software.

12. Is the player file-based or tag-based?

The CZNP is file-based: it will play songs in alphabetical order for a given folder. Naming songs with a two-digit sequence number at the beginning of the filename ensures they play in the correct order. It also has shuffle play, etc.

I had tried the SanDisk Sansa, but returned it because all content is organized and played on the basis of tags, exclusively. While my music has tags correctly set to play the way I wanted, podcasts don't use tags consistently enough to play them in a particular order that I chose. With the CZNP you can at least control the order by putting a sequence number at the beginning of each filename.

Tag-based may have some advantages over file-based (though not for my uses), but only if all of the content you want to play is properly tagged.

I got an orange 512MB one from another online site about a year ago. I have treated it rather badly. It has been to Turkey and Egypt with me, gotten crushed in my purse, dropped, bounced, and tossed. It just keeps on going. Now, sometimes when it drops, it opens up along the sides just a bit - I push it all back together and everything's fine. Sometimes the battery door will pop off when it drops, no problem - put it back together it just keeps going. There was a point where it needed new firmware, but CREATIVE's customer service is definitely up to par, directions were very simple, and it was soon running again. (I think it was a complication from my Audible.com audiobooks.) Very easy to use, and if you are (hypothetically) driving while it's plugged into your car stereo, and you want to change the volume, or flip to the next file, there's no need to look at it to handle the controls, as they are very intuitive. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

First impressions were good. Drag-and-drop upload is a breeze. Plug in the earphones, turn on the player, and the music begins. The sound is fine.

After a while, you'll probably want to change a menu setting or two, maybe go from alphabetical play to shuffle play. The menu interface is not great, but for most users this probably is no big deal.

I went for shuffle play, and for a while all seemed well. But as I kept adding songs, it became clear that something was wrong. The new songs never got played. In the end, I had about 300 songs, and never heard more than about 50 of them.

Before asking for help, I decided to load the latest firmware into the Zen. The result was sudden death. Do NOT try to download firmware into your Zen. The Zen has no separate loader; the firmware just tries to load itself, and if this for any reason fails, you're almost literally up the creek without a paddle. In the computer software business, this is called "unprofessional code". You can take it from me, I've done embedded programming (including a lot of loaders) for longer than I care to remember.

It took a few e-mail exchanges, but eventually I got a return authorization from Creative and mailed in the player. (I think the post office charged me $2.08.) Considering the technical quality of the firmware, I had pretty much written off the thing. However, in ten days or so, a new Zen arrived. I uploaded the gigabyte, and the shuffle seems OK. Obviously Creative has a serious firmware problem, and the technical support may come across as a little grumpy, but they try. Not very smartly: fixing the loader should take no more than a few days, and would probably put an end to most of the returns.

To sum it up: if you stay away from firmware operations, and don't need the menu very often, the Zen is a nifty little device for you. My guess (a little uncertain) is that you will not have my shuffle problem. If you do, you could try reloading all your music from your hard disk, in one operation.

This product comes with 90 day warranty and 1 year limited warranty. If you want a copy of the warranty, it's on the installation disc. My player quit functioning after about 4 months. The limited warranty is almost worthless because Creative charges your credit card in order to allow you to talk with customer service. E-mail support is free. They require the model #, which is not printed on the product or on the documentation. The model # is on their website, but Creative makes it difficult to obtain support. Creative sends form email instructing you to update the firmware. Before updating firmware you must back-up your music. The firmware update also removes the FM recording feature. It did not fix my player. Creative charges a fee for diagnosis and handling plus any added labor costs to fix the player. Bottom line, if your player breaks down after 90 days, it is probably not worth the time and money to obtain warranty service. I will not buy another product from Creative Labs. Even if I have to pay more, my next mp3 player will be from a more reasponsible company.

I am addicted to audio books (in mp3 format) so I've got to have an mp3 player.

I have been using this little gem for about half a year now and I'm more than happy with it. I had been using a Samsung YEPP YP-F1X 512 MB mp3 player (which I was also happy with), but I lost it. I decided I needed more memory than my old unit so the Creative Zen Nano Plus was my choice.

What I love about it (in no particular order):

~ The track will start off where it was stopped. Awesome feature for audio books.

~ Size. Fits in any pocket.

~ Storage. 1 GB is enough to hold two or three books, depending on the size of the books.

~ Can be used as a flash drive.

~ The scrolling. Fast-forwarding and rewinding gets incrementally faster the longer the scroller is pressed. This is a great feature for audio books.

~ The "lock" function. When a track is playing, the mp3 player can be locked so that when buttons on the player are pressed the track is not interrupted. This is a great feature for audio books.

Why it's *almost* perfect:

~ I miss the clip on my old mp3 player that allowed me to attach the player to my clothing. If I don't have any pockets I put the Zen Nano in a cell phone holder that has a clip, but that adds bulk and looks stupid.

~ I seem to go through a lot of batteries. I have been keeping track and, on the average, I replace the battery about every four weeks. I wish it could charge via the USB cable like my previous unit.

The worst thing about it:

~ When the battery is almost drained, the player sometimes loses the ability to scroll and will sometimes not start the track where it was stopped. This means I end up putting in a new battery even though there is still a little bit of juice in the old battery.

I would buy this mp3 player again if I needed another one. In fact, I am going to get one for my brother for Christmas this year. And some batteries.

I love this little player! I bought it specifically for the gym, and it is perfect for that purpose. I also bought the pricey $99 Bose in-ear headphones which make this player sound fantastic. However, the included earbuds are probably adequate for most people.

PROS: takes standard AAA battery; line-in jack for direct recording of non-digital sources such as LP's and cassettes; 5-band EQ with presets; FM tuner with presets; microphone; very good sound.

CONS: none after 2 months of daily use.

The package I purchased contained everything you will likely need including AAA battery, armband, beltclip, & headphones.

This is my first MP3 player. I was a little afraid of buying one, or wasting my money on a cheap piece of junk. However, this player truly met all of my requirements, and exceeded my overall expectations.

I highly recommend it to anyone. If you have never owned an MP3 player before, and are looking for a player to use at the gym, this inexpensive but impressive little player should delight you!

I love this thing. I have only had it for a couple of weeks, but I love it. It sounds great, is easy to use & navigate, seems durable with some care, and is the perfect size for my purpose - I use it primarily when working out - I didn't buy it to replace my home A/V system or my car stereo. I bought it to be able to listen to my music easily and without disrupting others in selected situations. I would buy another, or at least another Creative product. Paid $64.00 on Amazon with free shipping!

I ordered these for my nieces as Christmas gifts and they were thrilled. So thrilled, I decided to get one for myself. It came with an armband, (not a neck strap as the site may specify) and has a stero connector cable, USB cable, battery, and earbuds (the standard kind that are a little big, not the kind that mold into your ears), and a rubbery case that has a belt clip on it. Really cool - great for the money. I installed the software, connected it to my PC with the included USB cable and about 150 of my mp3s went on it in 5 minutes. It was so easy it practically sucked them off like a vacuum! The kids report they hooked theirs up to their personal CD players and it took the music right off their cds! Super easy to use. Now, for the best part. I don't always care to listen to my player with the earphones, so I purchased a $10 cassette adapter that is marketed for the iPod, but has the standard 3.5 mm stero adapter. Cool, now I can play it in my car instead of burning a mix CD. I also purchased the iFish and right now my player is plugged into it and it's next to my computer, wiggling, dancing and fuctioning as a great dock. Worked out great when I reinstalled windows the other day and had to restar my PC after every new driver installation. I highly recommend this player to anyone. It does not support play lists like some other players do, but when you transfer files to it, just change the name of them to the order you want them to play in, or as I do, just separate them into folders and skip easily back and forth between folders of music.

One AAA battery will last you 15-20 hours - incredible!

Don't waste your money. The first unit was defective, and after going through all of the hassle of getting a return authorization, shipping it back, and waiting for repairs, they sent me another defective unit [different unit, and a different defect]. Again, going through the hassle of an RMA and sending it back, after two months I finally got another new unit from them, but it was only a 512mb unit instead of the 1gb that I bought. Again, more hassles calling a manager at Creative, getting another RMA, and having to send it back. They didn't even offer to send me one until they get this one back, even after two months of not being able to use their product and all the hassles. Their poor quality is only surpassed by their incompetency in customer service. DON'T BUY CREATIVE PRODUCTS!! A purchase that I definitely regret.

FIRST OF ALL THIS DOES NOT COME WITH A NECKSTRAP!!! There is a misprint above, it comes with an armband - not a neckstrap. I was aware of this so it's fine with me but thought I would warn others.

In regards to the product itself I read all the professional reviews and this was basically tied with the ipod shuffle for best sound quality in the flash player category. If you are an audiophile looking for perfect sound you should get something more robust, because the sound in these small players can be slightly muddy. How to correct this? As with all portable players you need to toss the headphones that come with it. The Creative headphones are average and aren't really made to stay in the ear during workouts or running. If you are considering purchasing an ipod shuffle they will tell you the same thing - default headphones are always cheap. There's a huge difference in sound quality if you upgrade them to something better so it's highly recommended you do this.

I bought the Sennheiser PMX 70 headphones for this purpose. They sound great and stay in place while running. For walking around or light house-work I also bought the Sennheiser PX 100's which have even better sound and are more comfortable for longer use.

The armband that comes with this is great and you don't have to pay extra for it like you would with an ipod. I also own an older 256mb version of this product. It received alot of abuse but still works fine. It also comes with a rubber housing so if you bang your arm against the wall it won't break. Operating the unit is a no brainer, you just attach the USB cable to the player and your computer. It then acts as a hard drive which Windows will automatically read. A little window will pop up asking if you want to open files in the removal disk. Then, all you have to do is drag and drop your MP3 files and you are set. It comes with a CD with software but it's not really necessary. The software does have an owners manual that is much better than the written documentation that comes in the box so you may want to install it anyway.

A prior reviewer complained you could not put songs in folders. This is not true. You can organize your songs in folders on your computer then simply drop them into the player. When you want to change folders during use just press in the wheel and select "skip folder." You can then rotate the wheel to the folder you want. There are many options available, for example you can set it to play random songs or you can play them in order. If you like to play folders in order you may want to put a number in front of each folder or it will play them in alphabetical order.

There are several equilizer presets such as classical, jazz, rock, or custom. I set mine to normal because I read that you lose a little sound quality to distortion if you use a preset. Battery life is good, I didn't count the hours of use but it lasted quite a long time and the batteries are small and cheap so is not a large concern. I wish however the armband had a small slot in it to hold an extra battery. It's a bummer to run out of juice while on the trail or in the gym but that's a picky complaint.

There are other goodies as well such as FM radio, microphone to record voice and even mp3 encoding capability but I have not tried them out. I only use as an mp3 player.

The bottom line is that if you are looking for a player to take with you to the gym then look no further. It has good sound, good battery life, good options, good armband, and is easy to use. What more do you want?