Nifty little player, but not without its flaws

The Creative Zen 16GB is definitely a player that should be high on your list if you considering an MP3 player purchase. Creative is a very well respected name in the world of MP3 players, and the Zen will not change that reputation at all. The Zen comes in sizes of 4GB, 8GB, and 16 GB, and a rumored 32GB is coming soon. I have the 16GB.

First, the Zen is a flash player, as opposed to a hard drive player. This allows for a much more dependable player. Hard drive players often fail, which I have experienced myself in the past. Plus, flash players are generally more responsive and just offer a better experience.

The Zen has a very attractive color screen. The display is certainly something that will catch your eye immediately. In addition to playing music, the Zen will also allow you to store photos and watch videos as well. The screen is 2.5" wide, obviously not huge so it's not ideal for much video watching. That being said, I've watched a few videos and found the experience to be perfectly fine and even enjoyable. It's not as if you have to squint and the crystal clear screen is really enjoyable to look at.

What I think is great about this player is the user interface. Everything flows really well and makes perfect sense. While there are a few quirks, once you figure out how to get to everything it all makes perfect sense.

In short, here is what I really like about the Zen:

1. Beautiful color screen
2. Simple/intuitive user interface
3. Works flawlessly with Yahoo Music Unlimited service
4. Creative Zen Explorer software makes transferring music, video and photos a snap
5. Works flawlessly with Amazon's Unbox service as well as Audible
6. Nice "hand feel"--the Zen is small (size of a credit card), but fits perfectly in your hand and does not feel flimsy. It has a nice sturdy feel to it. But you probably should pick up a protective case.

So, what don't I like about the Zen? See below:

1. No volume controls on the player itself. You have to scroll through menus to find it. This is easily fixed however, just use the "Shortcut" key and program it to access volume controls. It's a simple process.
2. On/off switch is clumsy and it always takes me a couple of tries to flip the thing on.
3. I'm not crazy about the touch pad. If you're not looking at the player while you are touching it it's easy to press the wrong option.
4. Battery life might be an issue. It hasn't been a problem for me as I charged it up regularly but the indicator seems to dip down quicker than I would expect. Creative says it gets 25 hours but that seems impossible.
5. The player does not come with a separate charger. You charge the player when you connect it to the USB cable to transfer songs.
6. The provided USB cable is like 3 inches long. Really short!
7. Random play on the player is really poor. I frequently hear the same song twice in one day.

Another issue that many people are bringing up relates to the SD expansion slot. This is a great feature but Creative didn't really do it right. You can add more memory to the player by inserting an SD card. However, the songs/videos on the card won't be part of the library you have on your player. It's basically like a 2nd player that just happens to be attached to your Zen.

Also, one final quirk that I find annoying. When you turn the player off, it doesn't really go completely "off". You won't know it but it is basically in sleep mode. So when you turn the player back on, even if it has been like 24 hours, you'll find the player in the middle of a completely different song than the one you left off on. I do think you can "Bookmark" so that you can return to where you left off but I usually don't think to do that. It's weird and I wonder if this will be fixed in a firmware upgrade.

Overall, I really do like this player so far. I've had it about a month so far and it's a great toy. I wish it were perfect but it's definitely one you should consider.