Customer Reviews

Creative Zen Stone Plus 2 GB MP3 Player (Black)

5 star:		(23)
4 star:		(23)
3 star:		(15)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I bought the first Stone and loved it. The folder skip switch was one of the coolest things about the ipod shuffle killer. But then Creative decided to try and one up themselves. So starting from my favorite feature I'll outline the changes.

That folder switch had to be dropped for the Plus. Instead Play and a Shortcut button (for switching to a favorite mode quickly) is put in it's place. Now the center button on the face of the player acts as a context sensitive select/menu button.

The added FM radio, Voice Recorder, and Stop Watch are pretty basic and get the job done. Nothing to write home about and as far as extras go, they may have their use here and there (a lot more useful than the iPod Shuffle).

The music player portion is where Creative got lazy and lose a star. Hot off the intuitive heels of the Stone, Creative manages to drop the ball an d produce one crappy interface. Getting through the main menus is easy enough on the player, clicking the center button once brings you to the menu where you go through the functions and holding it down brings you to the menu for the current function you are using.

That's not so bad. Just takes a little getting used to. What is bad however, is that you can't browse your folders. Huh? Yeah that's right. You just pick folders, not songs within folders. What hurts even more is that the only folders that are shown are the ones with audio files in them! So kiss your file tree goodbye. Creative just prunes it. Another oddity to note is that the MP3 player has it's own weird auto-hold function after the screen fades out. You'll have to tap a button to wake it up, then tap whatever you wanted to actually tap. This can be even more nerve wrecking than going through the music.

Outside of how music organization is handled (and the lack of play lists), the new Stone Plus isn't so bad for the price. The added screen is clear and easy to read and a definite must for the added gigabyte of space on this tiny MP3 player. And the audio quality is just fine. Not perfect but pretty good for something this size.

The first Stone (and Sansa Express) already gave ample reasons to not buy an iPod Shuffle. This is just another nail in the Shuffle's coffin (I consider the iRiver S10 to be the dirt that goes on top of the coffin). So go get one already.

When searching for an MP3 player I was going to use primarily for books on tape the pause feature was important to me. I did not however find the product descriptions or very many reviews that answered my questions regarding this feature. I bought this Stone Plus and hopped it would do what I wanted. It does.

I can pause mid story and let it power down on its own then when I power back up later it starts up where it left off. I can pause and change to the radio feature and when I swich back it starts where it left off again. If I hit pause and change to a different saved song it does not come back and play where it left off and I have to search for the chapter I was in and start that chapter from the beginning.

I hope this helps anyone else researching these features.

The Creative Zen Stone Plus 2GB doubles the size of the iPod Shuffle and adds a monochrome screen for viewing track names and settings. Add in the functionality of a built-in FM tuner and voice recorder with other extras. At the average price of $60 you have a nice value.

Pros -
+ good stereo sound
+ nice capacity for a decent price
+ light-weight
+ FM tuner with 32 presets ( though it's just average )
+ voice recording
+ simple design (no more click wheel!) with more color options
+ great navigation and sorting features
+ Nice format compatibility (MP3, WAV, WMA, Audible)
+ USB 1.1 and 2.0 connectivity
+ Can be used as a USB drive / mass storage
+ Can sync music with drag & drop or via Creative software
+ Nice extras like stopwatch function

Cons
- average battery life of 10 hours (OLED screen sucks the battery)
- mediocre backlight ( but it can be disabled )
- some DRM song transfer issues with some firmware versions
- not expandable - few size options 1GB and 2GB
- Creative software is buggy
- larger than the 2nd and 3rd generation iPod shuffles

Creative's Zen Stone line was meant to be the upgrade to the Zen nano, aka Muvo mini. Unfortunately, the 1GB Zen Stone had some quality issues. With the new 2GB Zen Stone Plus, Creative has tried to improve on previous models and compete with the Sandisk Sansas.

I love the new Sandisk Sansa's. The Sansa Express has the advantage that you can plug it directly into your USB port without a cable. SanDisk Sansa Express 2 GB MP3 Player (Black) Still, the Creative Zen Stone feels nicer in the hand. It's not as sleek as the Sansa Express and doesn't have all the cool cache' of an iPod shuffle or iPod nano. But it is priced very attractively and has some NICE features. It's good for a starter, workout unit, or gift for a kid.

The Creative Zen Stone Plus is lighter than the competition, but is still larger than the new iPod Shuffle 2nd and 3rd generations. Unlike the shuffle, you can actually see your track names! The OLED screen is perfect for a player this size but does suck more power and shorten the battery life.

The controls are an improvement from the Zen nano days. While I didn't mind the toggle wheel, it has been replaced by intuitive buttons for the standard functions (select, up, down, play, pause, forward or reverse). There's a headphone jack, microphone hole, and a USB port.

Another change from the Zen nano days is the Lithium Ion battery, which gives you about 10 hours if your lucky. This is less versatile than the old battery operated unit, but more convenient.

What about sound? The sound is great, and it comes through in pure stereo. As usual, you will hear complaints about the earbuds. Most people replace their standard earbuds so I won't hold that against Creative.

The Zen Stone doesn't have larger storage options. For those needing more space, you will have to explore the Creative Zen, Sandisk Sansa or new iPod Nano. All of those units have higher price tags.
Creative Zen 4 GB (Black)
Creative Zen 8 GB (Black)
Creative Zen 16 GB (Black)
Sandisk SDMX4-4096 Sansa e260 4 GB MP3 Player with SD Expansion Slot
SanDisk SDMX4-8192 Sansa e280 8 GB MP3 Player (Black)
Apple 4 GB iPod nano AAC/MP3 Player Silver (3rd Generation)
Apple 8 GB iPod nano AAC/MP3 Player Black (3rd Generation)

This unit is ideal as a player and not for those who primarily want to use it for recording. The built-in microphone is nice for short reminders.

The price isn't a give-away, and the plastic case could be more durable. Still, this is a nice starter unit that can last you a while. Check it out. Enjoy!!!

I have a 30 gb ipod, and have had several mp3 players before. This 2 gb device was purchased for my jogs. It performs wonderfully. There is a short learning curve to organizing songs into folders, but I love the sound and the tiny featherweight package is easy to carry about. The radio is not as good as the one on my old iaudio, but still it picks up the local stations well enough. If the radio were a bit stronger, it would get 5 stars. Highly recommended for joggers.

After using a bargain bin MP3 player for nearly a year, and upgrading earbuds to something that plays bass frequencies, I decided that I needed a player that can put out better sound.

Since I didn't need to watch movies or view pictures, but still liked the idea of seeing what song is playing, the creative zen stone PLUS with an OLED screen seemed perfect.

I used to own an iPod 2G Shuffle, but I didn't like how I could always hear a some distortion/nastiness on loud drum hits, etc and "hissing" through the headphones made by the player itself which ruined the quiet parts of some songs for me, I was disappointed with the sound.

After using the Zen Stone Plus a few months I think its a great player that does it's job decently.
PROS:

*Greatest sounding MP3 player I've used to date, I think my current earbuds are the only thing holding back better sound now

*Charges fast, if its charging really slow the USB slot you're using probably isn't putting out very much voltage for some reason

*No "hissing" or noises made by the player (fits in with sound quality)

*Decent volume for something so small

*Great OLED screen, very clear, perfect for viewing a song. On a side note the blue backlight makes a cool effect when you shake it.

*You can browse through menus and change options while your music plays

*No software required...functions as a 2gb flash drive

*Loads the next song very fast, no delay like on some players.

*Lots of features like microphone, FM radio (with stereo), timer, clock that the iPod shuffle doesn't have.


Its a nice player, but of course there are some things that make it a little bit less than 100% perfect:
CONS:

*Battery goes dead/almost dead after about a week without being used, even after being charged to 100% and with the "clock" option turned off which would probably make this problem even worse. If Li-On batteries are at 0% for too long it will have a very bad effect and they will never again hold charge as well as they did new, and if the battery goes bad you have to buy a whole new player.

*Mine lost alot of it's shinyness after only 4 days where it spent most of it's time in my pocket.

*A clip like on the iPod shuffle 2G would be nice and would probably give people more reason to choose creative instead of the apple which has a big advantage thru popularity.

*Menu-navigation speed can be somewhat laggy

*Stock earbuds look nice but just don't sound that good, then again I am someone who needs perfect sound. Alrite for average listner/backups.

*Gets a bit warm when charging (hot temperatures aren't good for lithium ion batteries...especially when you can't replace them), probably not hot enough to cause any damage though.

*USB 2.0 compatible but USB 1.1 transfer speeds...about 1.5 megabytes of data a second for putting new songs/files. But once the music/file is on there, read speeds are perfectly fine.

***Recently after not having used the player for awhile, I tried to turn it on only for it to get stuck on the Creative logo. It wouldn't respond so I hit the reset button a few times, without success. I thought maybe it didn't have enough juice to load, so I plugged it into my PC to charge and upload new songs. When I tried to access the device the window froze

F:/ The file or directory is corrupted and unreadable.

...my first thoughts were the flash chip had magically corrupted/broken itself? It was fine the last time I used it. I tried to format the player only to have the window freeze again just from right-clicking on the player's icon. I eventually resorted to plugging it into a computer with OS X and all my files were gone from the memory.

Finally after using "erase" with disk utility.app (same thing as format) the device was revived. I don't know what could have caused this, and if someone clueless would have had this problem, the player might have ended up in the trash or sent in for repairs. The creative support website has good help walkthroughs and instructs on how to format when you choose "transfer problem", but the window kept freezing before I could proceed. I just hope it doesn't do this again and refuse to be revived... only defective flash chips corrupt themselves, I hope it was just a fluke. Looking back, formatting from the command line on PC might have fixed it.

In conclusion I think its an attractive player with many more features and louder volume output than apple's 2G shuffle (it's competitor) if you don't mind the cons.

Cute player, amazingly tiny. Very easy to use. Sound is good. Display is very readable.

Problems: as noted elsewhere, the browse function does not let you select specific tracks, just folders and then you can use the skip function to find the desired track.

Minor annoyance (especially when driving) -- to start up and shut down, you have to hold down the button for about 5 seconds.

If you're listening to books, it's good that it does remember where you left off. However, you cannot specify multiple bookmarks so if you want to take a break and listen to music for a while, you've lost your place in the book.

The main problem I have with this is that it has locked up several times. You can insert a pin or clip in the reset slot, but that's hard to do while you're driving and, by the way, it also loses your time and any other settings.

I had a 60 GB Ipod that I found much to bulky to use unless I was stationary. I purchased this for an "on the go" solution. The Zen Stone Plus is a well built MP3 Player that is a better alternative to the iPod shuffle in my opinion. The Stone gives you 2 GB (1.8 to 1.9 actual because of the software but still almost a full GB more than the shuffle.) for less than the price of the shuffle. I bought the optional skins(with clips) to complete the MP3 Player. The only reason I rated this a 4 instead of a 5 is the navigation menus have a delay in response of half a second. However, this MP3 player isnt made to browse your music for endless hours like the other Zens, its made to slide in your pocket when you are at the gym or out hiking and listen. Thats what its for right?? To play music?

I bought this specifically to download library books (they won't work on my iPod). It's a nice little unit with some fun features. I listened to my book on my last long drive and it worked well - I considered it to be worth the money.

However, since I got back, I have accidentally lost my place in the book several times, and it gets worse each time. Maybe I'm missing something, but the book is one large file, so I can't find any way to get back to where I was without simply holding the fast-forward button down. It really doesn't go that fast at all, so I literally have to hold it down for more than half an hour to get 8 hours into the book (where I was). Currently it's sitting next to me clamped into an adjustable wrench so that I don't have to physically hold it myself.

I already own a creative zen vision m. I bought this for gym work and for that purpose there is no better mp3 player out there. The design is intuitive, build quality is solid and the sound quality is a killer.

EDIT: New firmware was released by Creative on 8/1/2007 which fixes the firmware issue with Media Lite not detecting the correct battery level. (Yay!) +1 star, as so far music playback has been solid, considering its size and features, a total of 4 out of 5 stars.

As of 7/26/2007:
This Creative mp3 player does everything that its advertised for, except for its battery life and upgradeable firmware. As of now, the firmware has not yet been updated (the non-Plus edition had a release just yesterday 7/25/2007). For me, the player keeps misdetecting remaining battery life, which is very annoying because it does not charge correctly. A number of internet forum users, including those on Creative's forums, have also complained about battery issues and charging problems (just search google for "Zen Stone Plus charging"). This is the cost of having a very light weight mp3 player with no exchangeable battery I suppose.

Just be careful not to damage the microphone when trying to find the reset button! I poked my mic by accident- it still works okay.

Otherwise the sound quality is good on the highs (trebles) but very poor bass- which might not be important if you listen to it with cheap headphones or on the airplane/subway/bus since you wouldn't hear it any ways. For under $80, I got what I was looking for, so no serious complaints. Be sure you compare and buy if you have other expectations.