displays Windows? Media Video (WMV) files and JPEG digital photos * plays MP3 and WMA files * 20GB hard drive holds up to 600 hours of music at 64 Kbps (or 300 hours at 128 Kbps); up to 85 hours of movies at 500 Kbps; or up to 40,000 digital photos * 3-13/16" backlit LCD * USB 2.0 interface (also compatible with USB 1.1) *
1 Superb
This is absolutely brilliant media player. I totally recomend getting one.
You can get them free from this link, all you have to do is sign up.
http://www.freezens.com/?r=1846
It works i promise you.
2 Great Gadget (not for geeks)
I think that this is a great foundation for up and coming video playback machines. I currently own one and have had it since christmas day. I love it. It is soo easy to use. Even my little 7 year old brother uses it with ease. All the options on the machine make it impossible to get lost, and if you do, there is a back button. I tested out all the video players out during christmas time and found this one the best. I have had 3 iRiver Mp3 players and was anxious to get there video player. After trying to use it i often found myself lost and confused on the machine, so i kept having to power back on and off. I also tried the archos, which was even more confusing. Overall this is a great hassle free machine here are some pros and cons. If your wondering why I didn't rate it a 5 because no machine is perfect.
Cons
-Big and bulky (Who cares it just means it has a big screen)
-Can't record to device directly from TV
-Scratches easily (I recommend using the case at all times)
-Can't tinker with audio (Can't adjust bass, treble, balance, etc.)
-Takes awhile to put video files on device
Pros
-Unbeilavbly easy to use
-Awesome video playback
-Sound is great (even has own speaker)
-Ultra fast putting music files on device
-Easy to watch during day or night
-Nice size memory for plenty of songs or video or pictures
-Incredible battery life 1 day of music or half a day of video
If you want all the little geeky features this is not the machine for you. If you want a easy to use audio-video player, this is the machine for you.
3 Best So Far
I don't know what all these guys are smoking, but this thing is great. I am a gadget geek, but this is very easy for a pc user to use. All you need is media player 10 and an XP pro machine or MCE. Convertion does takes some time, but it converts the video to utilize space , and all video convertion takes time.
I have an ipod as well but this is with me at all times, with my TV shows with me on the road that i capture hi def...looks sweet.
Get this if you want a great multimedia portable with great battery life.
And common 425.00 is not alot for this device.
4 Not worth getting yet
most pvp's aren't worth getting yet either. they don't have the best support and they are too exspensive. if you have a lot of money to waste get this. mp3 players are still cheaper and practical. if you want more than a mp3 player get the photo viewing iriver h10 If this was cheaper people would actually look at them. still a lot of peolpe don't have compatible pc's with them. if a few years passed pvp's would be worth getting by then they would be smaller and not heavey as bricks creative makes a great zen micro too.
5 Almost but not quiet
I have recently bought the Creative Zen media player and have found it good at times and bad at others. I am very familiar and use windows and windows media player 10. Transferring content is easy because the WMP10 converts any file that may need conversion. Of course, video files which are not WMV will take longer since video files are much larger than audio files. Drawbacks are that the screen lcd is not viewable from any angle, which means you either have to be in front of the device or otherwise you will just see a white screen. The Content transferred will not be in your indivual playlists like on wmp10. They will synch and will list depending on the Tag that the files have or go into unknown playlist. My Zen has a dead pixel on the lcd which is annoying at times while viewing some videos (a lot of people have this same dead pixel) "manufacturer defect perhaps?" The device will mute if you connect the a/v jacks and then disconnect them (from the zen) while playing a video or audio track on a tv or external audio source..only resetting it will return the volume. While playing an audio track, if you choose to play photos as background, there is actually no way of stopping them except to choose another track through the menu. The manual is about a 10 page "guide" which will not answer all of your questions. although there is a downloadable manual on the creative website it makes us wonder why that one is not sent in the box. I bought this one because of the interaction between the zen and windows but as others have expressed, it would be good to have some features that the archos(420;480) have..ability to record using a/v cables and microphone to record audio. I understand that the reason why these options are not available is because private content is then left accessible to anyone who wants to "copy" any movie/show/tv program without hassle.
I have also bought accesories (limited) for the device the fm corded remote and the ir cordless remote. Both remotes lack the ability to turn the device on or off.
6 Got This For Christmas
I just recieved this for Christmas, and I love it. It sounds wonderful, video is awesome, and pictures look beautiful. I wouldn't have any other player. A must-have in my opinion.
7 I thought it would be better
Since i saw my cousins i was really jealous, but now i wish i hadnt been. it does everything it is supposed to really well, but theres just not that much to do with it. It Does Not fit in my pockets, unless i take my leg off, and it is Really expensive. But still its not an ipod, so i used if for a good cause.
8 Zen rocks, MP3 player- R.I.P.
The Creative Zen Media Center represents a fundemental shift in the way I view video and music storage.
I've had it for two weeks, and LOVE it. Even my wife, who still actually has some casettes, thinks this is the way forward, period.
I have never ripped an MP3, recorded a show off tv onto my computer, transferred videos/movies/photos to a device such as this. The Zen was the catalyst for me to do all of the above, WMP 10 and the Zen interface, combined with a Plextor ConvertX box, made all of the above a snap. I didn't need any directions, this tech is so intuitive anyone can use it.
The synchronization of files between the Zen and my PC is almost TOO easy, I almost ended up with some files I did not need/want on the Zen. Anyone who can use Windows will be able to pick up the use of this device and preparing media for it instantly.
The construction is sturdy and well crafted, the picture on the 3.5" color screen is excellent. I have a Casio "Watchman" type tv as well, I was amazed to see how much higher quality the picture output is here. I'm planning to save a lot of kid's shows to my PC for my four year old to view on trips, and some movies for myself.
Whether you can fit your whole cd collection in the 9000 advertised song capacity or not, that is a LOT of songs.
I put my last batch of photos from my digital camera on it to show relatives last weekend, they all wanted one after using it. I took it into the firm I work for, coworkers were most impressed by it. This is the kind of "toy" you can definitely impress people with, it's a good conversation piece above and beyond its formidable entertainment capabilities.
It probably sounds like I haven't found much I don't like about the Zen, that would be true. If it had a case and a belt clip, it would be perfect in my opinion. One other quibble is the ear buds don't fit in my ears very well, but they are cheap. A lot of bang for buck here, it dragged me into this century.
9 NOT THERE YET
THE CONVERSION SOFTWARE TAKES FOR EVER. IF YOU HAVE A BUNCH OF MOVIES IT WOULD SURELY TAKE THE WHOLE DAY FOR IT TO CONVERT. ITS NOT DRAG AND DROP AND THEN PLAY AS YOU WOULD EXPECT. I THINK CREATIVE SHOULD UNDERSTAND THAT WE ARE LIVING IN THE AGE OF DRAG AND DROP OTHERWISE ITS NOT GOING TO SURVIVE. THEY ARE CHARGING ALMOST $500 AND IF THIS IS THE PRODUCT YOU GET I WOULD SUGGEST YOU NOT HAVE IT AND SAVE YOUR MONEY. I HAVE IT SINCE A WEEK AND I DONT FIND IT ANYTHING EXTRAORDINARY FOR THEM TO CHARGE SOO MUCH. I THINK ITS PROBABLY WORTH AROUND $200 FOR THE PRODUCT THEY HAVE RELEASED.
10 Portable Media Center. Excellent all around solution.
When this packed first arrived on my door. I had some pretty high expectations. I have always been big on the digital era and this just brought me one step closer to that.
Where to start? Well I'll start with movie playback. A Very important thing for people to understand is that the video playback screen is fairly small. You dont need large movies to get full Quality on this device. If you have a ripped DVD content in which you've created. The first suggestion is decrease pixel size a thats adequate to your screen size. This alone will make a substancial difference in your overall size. And since the screen isnt nearly as big as a monitor. You will notice no quality loss. You can bring 1 and half hour movies down to about 120-140 megs. With a 20 gig HD you can store a good 70-75 movies on this device alone.
A Small complaint would be that the device only supports .wmv format. To be honest however this complaint is extremely minor since you'll want to resize the movies anyway. The .wmv format does quite a good job at compressing them without quality/sound loss. I recommend a program called #1 Video Converter. Use the Pocket PC compression method. It will give the best quality/compression for this device.
Next onto Audio Playback. Mp3/WMA audio gives you generally what you'd expect. Hooking the headphones in you can listen to CD quality music. However with the storage capacity of the HD itself. You could literally have hundreds of thousands of music files to listen to at your disposal.
Picture Quality. Well this is a pretty generic feature. But still overall useful. I was able to take scanned pictures of this years thanks giving and was able to show them to the family. It makes a pretty decent photo album. However this would not be the only reason I'd buy the device for.
The actual hardware itself. The screen size may seem a little on the small size but it fits perfectly. It's about as big as gameboy advance and it the device is very compact. The sound quality hooked up to head phones is great. The actual quality will rival any compact disc player on the market currently. You can also hook the device into a stereo or dolby digital surround system or any device which except RCA audio adapters. I was able to hook the device into the dolby prologic recieve at our house. And it's pretty incredible. Beats any CD player when streaming the music.
The Device comes with a nice little travel case to avoid damage (But I wouldnt reccomend dropping it. Overall this is an excellent product and I reccomend it to anyone whos interested in digital content on the go.
ChrisRay
11 just average
The appearance of this player is just average and the buttons setup isn't that cool or great.Plus it used microsofts software to play the files and its not supposed to feel like a pc where it takes a lot of time to make playlists.also the battery life isnt that good. i give it a 3 because its one of the only full out media players.But they only offer 20 gb models which is a bad thing.Archos has a 20 gig and 80 gig model but highly discounted on buy.com . Also the archos av420 can record your tv shows in composite or in s video hopefully component in the future.it can play mp3s for 12 hours before needing a recharge which is better then the creative zen as far as I know. it plays many video formats and offers 16:9 for videos.the screen is pretty darn big and the buttons are easy to get used to. and it uses its own os which is upgraded with fixes and features often. The archosav420 and 480 are highly recommended. I recommend putting the built in speakers volume all the way up and the bass in the middle.movies can be a lil hard to hear sometimes but u should use the headphones all the time. i give the archos a 5 cuz there is never any problems with it and the zen a 3.5.
12 No source for video content. Not good for much!
The problem for this kind of product is that there is virtually no content to use teh video function of the player. This unit is too large for real world use and is uncomfortable to carry. The worst part of this mess is the fact that it uses Windows media player as its base. WIndows is probably the worst way to use any media and it is what will probably doom this player to failure. A player such as iPod is so much better suited to let you enjoy your photos or music. Apple's iPod is intuitive which is why its such a better player than ones like this that use the horrible Windows media center software. If you have 500 bucks to waste on a player that isnt intuitive and that has the comfort factor of carrying a bread box in your pocket this is the player for you. If not, perhaps a far batter choice would be the Apple iPod 40 gb Photo model.
13 Great - and reliable!
I recently bought an Archos, but had to take it back because it failed within a week. The replacement went the same way, so being sold on the concept, I went for the Creative Zen as a replacement.
Although it lacks all the recording feature of the Archos, I think its a better machine. So far, its tough enough to stand the kids use in the car without any signs of fatigue.
For content, I find it better to skip Media Player 10 altogether, and I bought a program for $ 25 called the Pocket DVD Wizard, which lets me put my DVD's on the Zen, and the quality is good.
A good tip is not to use Media Player to load the file at all, just let the Wizard do its work, then plug in the Zen, go to Windows Explorer, and drag the movie or mp3 from wherever you saved it straight into the video folder on the zen.
Its much faster that using media player, and the results seem to be better (one less conversion!)
Overall, im very pleased with it.
14 Great alternative to expensive car DVD system...
I was thinking to install DVD system worth 2k for my BMW but after testing and playing with this device, I definately think this is a perfect alternative for a quarter for the cost.
15 awesome device
Things i don't like: Has trouble converting anything but mpegs (makes avi's looks greenish, though very clear, and I believe it's a problem with my own encoder, which can be fixed), 2) no remote to control the audio on the go (since the thing is a bit bulky and you would want to keep it in a bag or cargo pocket), 3)i haven't figured out a way to play tracks on the playlist in a shuffle mode (i'm sure i could figure it out if i played around with it a little more).
If you can get past those little problems, you've got a hell of a machine. Videos are crisp and the screen looks great. The audio hasn't let me down, even if the external speaker is small (put this thing in a room with good acoustics with the speaker all the way up, sounds great). Photo slideshows are awesome. Everything is sweet so far.
If you really want something that does it all, pick this up.
16 Ugh! A blight upon technology.
Uninspired, bulky, and inelegant personal media center (PMC).
PMC = Perfectly Mediocre Cr@p
PMC = Performs Miserably Completely
PMC = Petty Market Capture
PMC = Probably Microsoft's Coffin
17 Great idea, but still not there yet
I had been waiting patiently for PVP (Personal Video Players) to arrive. Saw Archos, wasn't impressed. Creative Zen looked really good at the store, so I bought it. Have been playing with it. The video and audio play features are pretty reasonable. The speakers could be made a bit louder. The major flaw with this device is the limited ways in which u can load up the video files into it. You will need a Windows Media Center PC OR a PC with a TV tuner/capture device to get video in acceptable formats accepted by Zen. Annoyingly it does not have video/audio inputs for capture. It has video/audio outputs to connect it to a TV. The Windows Media Player 10, converts all files to wmv (very slowly) before syncing it with Zen. The Zen, irritatingly needs to be connected to the PC while the Windows Media Player converts the mpeg files to wmv. I am sure that there are lots of third party tools that can handle the capture/conversion rapidly, but I don't feel like investing more into this solution after spending 500 dollars on it. On the plus side, it is a very well made and polished piece of hardware. The video screen is very sharp and clear. I will probably return this and wait for the next release of Zen, or maybe wait for Apple to redo the magic they did with Ipod and hopefully they release a video version of Ipod. If you already have lots of video content already available in easily convertable format and/or own a media center pc, go ahead and buy this device. I guess I will wait around for version 2.0 of this device. Takes too much time and hassle to load up media onto this device. Creative should go with Linux and/or their own proprietary media management software. I own the Creative Zen MP3 player and the software is okay , if not excellent. Microsoft Media Player 10 was a bad choice.
An update to the review. I have recently bought iRiver PMP-120 that is NOT based on Microsoft Media Center. There is another iRiver product model, PMC-120 that is based on Microsoft media center. Dont buy PMC-120, as U will run into same problems as the Creative product. With the iRiver PMP-120 + Pinnacle Dazzle USB Capture Card + Pinnacle Studio software + iRiver supplied DIVX codecs, I have been able to successfully capture a/v signals from my dish tv box, and then import them onto iRiver PMP-120. End Result : A portable DVR that can play captured video whenever I want. I was even able to capture HD channel outputs from my dish tv box using the A/V cables. You will need to experiment with AVI formats and media conversion, before you get it right. The Pinnacle Dazzle capture device + software is about 60 bucks. iRiver provides all the media converter software and DIVX codecs that make it easy to import videos. Use the Portable Media Center profile, when using the iRiver DIVX codec.
18 A bit much for just a music player, but if you want video...
I don't actually care about watching video on a portable device; I bought the PMC because: 1) It's the only device that can play WMA Lossless, in which format I have all my music stored; 2) The Microsoft interface is aesthetically attractive and has some nice usability touches; and 3) I don't want to have to install a driver, so something that works through the USB Mass Storage interface is great. (That it also works with WMP 10 without any drivers is also a nice touch, but kinda cheating, since WMP 10 specifically supports PMCs.)
After using it for several days, I'm of mixed opinions. The software is pretty good, but still has some 1.0-style rough edges to it; it's probably on par with the iPod (though obviously very different), and way above Archos or iRiver, though. If you appreciate visual elegance, there's nothing in the PMC's league; if it's usability lagniappes that flip your switch, the PMC has some really nice bits (overlaying large letters when you fast-scroll through a list, for instance) and some really clumsy ones (its handling of artist/album artist/composer tags for classical music).
The actual hardware is less awkward than you'd think, thanks to the nice leather-ish included case, which has a magnetically clasping cover that, when opened, acts as a stand to prop it up. Still, it's fairly big, and the controls are placed to preclude one-handed operation, so you have to pay attention to it when you want to change things.
As a pure music player, it's ultimately compromised: A nice, but not ideal UI mixed with too-bulky hardware for a price that really is more than a bit much. Still, it's really not bad, and if I were at all interested in video, it'd probably be that much more compelling.
(As for the putative one-hour battery life of the previous review, um, no. I haven't timed it but it's much, much longer than that for sure. Perhaps he's leaving the screen on full-time?)
19 This sucks! - Get an Ipod instead!
This device is usless!
I bought one and the battery life is only 1 hour.
The sound quality is lousy and it only has a small hard drive, so you can't even store alot of video on it! The windows OS installed is very buggy to say the least and it seems to slow down when video is played on it!
My advice is buy an ipod or wait until APPLE comes up with a better, cheaper, easier to use and more intuitive PMC!
I can't even sell it on Ebay at a loss - no one wants one!!!
20 Creative Zen PMC Review
this is one of the best products of the year
i had no idea how good the video quality would be, i dont know what that chinese guy was talking about, this thing is just a little bigger than an ipod, and it easily fits in pockets
ive been putting all kinds of songs and movies on, and ive only used 7 or 8 gigabytes
its definetley worth the money
21 Almost Fantastic
I've had a few days to play with a Zen Portable Media Center because a friend of mine, who's the owner, had trouble getting content loaded. The Creative support folks were friendly, but clueless on this very newly released product. Since I'm his technology guru, he asked me to show him how to get it working.
The Zen is about the size of a paperback novel. It's small but is too large to carry in your pocket. It comes in a nice case the folds nicely into a simple stand. This let's you set the Zen on a table or airline tray-table while using it.
My first impression when I turn it on is that UI is a clone from XP Media Center Edition (which is Microsoft's Media Center PC OS). I own a couple of XP Media Center PC's so found the UI very familiar and intuitive. However, my first reaction was the navigation and play back controls were reversed. I've had a couple of other folks who played with the Zen make the same comment. Perhaps the UI control layout was designed by a lefty (I'm right handed) or perhaps they were XBox users (many XBox games use the left thumb for naviagation). It's a minor nit in any case.
To load content on the Zen you must load Windows Media Player 10 which was just released from Microsoft. Clearly Microsoft wants to get into the content management market and is trying to "one up" the iPod and iTunes by supporting not only audio but video.
However Windows Media Player 10 was where my friend had difficulty. He was not able to figure out the new quirks of the substantially changed Windows Media Player UI. To load new content you must have the Zen plugged in, be in the Sync tab, and then create "play lists" of video, audio and picture contents that you want synced. Once the "play list" is created then the content can be synced to the Zen. It's not hard, but it's a bit of a stretch to call that a play list.
Once you've start the sync process you can prepare to wait... and wait... and wait some more. TV shows saved in XP MCE can be added to the "play list" and synced, however they must be converted to a WMA file that is compatible with the Zen. This takes about the same amount of time as the play time of the show. A half hour show takes about a half hour to convert and download, an hour show takes an hour and so on. Also, TV shows that I downloaded from my XP MCE machine had the colors goofed up. It was sort of like watching the film negative of the TV show. I suspect that's something that will get fixed in a software update (and is not a significant issue for my friend since he doesn't care about TV content).
My friend really wants to load DVD movies for long plane trips (he owns them and doesn't want to pay for them again to download them to his Zen). So this is where I went to work.
My first attempt to load a movie was using a product called "DVD To Pocket PC" by Makayama. It is suppose to convert DVD's directly to wma files for Pocket PC's and is suppose to work for the Zen. I tried the trial version and was initially unsuccessful (presumably because XP SR2 was installed). I ended up trying it on a non XP SR2 machine and it worked well. Since the application is fairly turnkey, it's probably a good choice for moving content from DVD's you own to your Zen.
Next I tried Dr. Divx. This application can convert unencrypted DVD's to Divx avi files. This worked for me (though it took a few tries to get the hang of it), however it's not nearly as turnkey as "DVD To Pocket PC". Also, Divx conversion takes awhile (somewhere between 2-4 hours for a full length movie). Be sure to use one of the portable formats because the Zen has a limited bit rate it can support. I had a little trouble getting the aspect ratio right, but a few tries resolved this too. Once the movie is converted then you must go to Windows Media Player 10, put it in a "play list" and sync it with the Zen. This takes awhile, but is worth the wait. The movies look and play great.
Having used it for a day or so I have a wish list of features that the Zen doesn't have (nothing here is a killer problem, but would make a good product even better).
* It needs parental control - I'd like to protect some content from my kids. Currently there is no way to do this.
* I'd like visualization plug-ins when listening to music.
* Since it's used during travel, a travel alarm clock feature would be very nice.
Pros:
* The player sounds good, the UI is great, and the size is very convenient, and the features are fantastic.
Cons:
* It's a bit pricey
* Moving TV content was only partially successful from my XP MCE machine (though I suspect this will get fixed), moving content is very time consuming and is probably something you want to do over night.
* It's not really a direct replacement for an iPod (it's too darn big). Though that's not really a fair criticism of the Zen because it's not intended to directly replace the iPod
All in all, this is an impressive product, even considering this is V1.0 of the software management (WMP 10), and the hardware, and the firmware.
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22 Mobile multimedia whizzardary!!
I have only had this PMC for one week (bought it in S'pore at their launch in COMEX Exhibition); and it's just really grown on me - amazing that it has now stored practically all my video files (on my PC nearly 70 GB!) and on the Zen taken only 5 GB hard disc space and I am in the process of loading my pics collection of nearly 2000. The quality is superb on the TFT screen despite the compression but when you project the video files via the AV connection to the TV be prepared for the loss of resolution (I expected it but it is still watchable). The sound quality is second to none (5 stars to Creative Technology). I travel a fair bit and keeping occupied with music, movies, (and books!) will be no doubt provided by the PMC (the battery pack lasts 8 hours!). I have successfully recorded one TV documentary programme which awaits me in my next flight abroad! We just had our holiday in the Far East and the photos loaded had been shared with friends at work.
However I am a bit puzzled why the Windows Media Player 10 does not store on the PMC itself as it would add functionality & versatility to this mobile player and a cradle with the USB lead (like those that comes with PDA) would also help when one is synchronising with the PC. I am trying to find out whether it would store and project my powerpoint presentations. Otherwise so far I am happy with it and would recommend it if you are into multimedia whizzardary!!
