Published in Reviews

Creative Zen V plus 8GB OLED sells for ¬100

by on07 December 2007

Index



The media software which is included in the retail box will really help you organize your music from folders to playlists and this will be very useful to make and organize your music. It will also transcode the video for you with just a click of a mouse. Depending on file size, the transcoding can take a long time. The bad thing about this small device is that it takes 10 seconds to boot while iPod Nano turns on almost instantly. I hope that Creative can fix this with the next generation of Zen players. The good thing is that it boots in a few seconds from a sleep mode.

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It can play music for about 15 hours and we are happy with the battery life, but again, iPod Nano can play significantly longer.

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We like the fact that Zen V Plus can play video and that the video really looks sweet. The screen is too small for watching a movie on it, but you can definitely watch some short videos and enjoy your underground or train ride and kill some time. The other nice feature is the FM radio, so that if you got bored with your music you will be able to enjoy the local radio stations. The reception is good, and depending on where you are the scanning time is acceptable. Of course, FM is something the iPod Nano lacks.

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It is really easy to use this device as a dictaphone and it will be enough to record hours of audio on it. You can start the audio recording with a touch of a button. It will be good for students who want to record a whole course and for journalists at a press conference or simply to spy on your friends and catch what they're talking about when you go to the bathroom. It is as easy as it can be: you just press the button, it starts recording, and it goes on until you run out of battery or space.

There is a small line in out so you can connect your MP3 player to another device and record the sound directly.

Conclusion

The Creative Zen V Pro will play video, MP3, WMA and radio for up to 15 hours, and the 8GB space will be enough for a lot of music and small video files. It can act as a USB storage device and it is small and nicely designed. With a price of around €100 it really looks attractive for just about anyone.

Thanks to its small size and super bright OLED display, this feature-packed player is definitely something that you should consider and if you thinkg you don’t need the whole 8GB you can simply go for the 4GB model and save some money. Even the 4GB ones one will be enough for most users.

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We would like to see it boot a bit faster and play even longer, but I guess that is what the next model Zen will be all about.

It is a tempting alternative to the iPod Nano and if you are not into Apple, you should really consider this one. Thanks to its affordable price we think it deserves our Top Value award.

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Last modified on 10 December 2007
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