Editorial Review
Zen V Package includes ZEN V Player; Earphones; Lanyard; Drawstring Pouch; USB Cable; Line-in Cable; Installation CD; Quick Start Guide Zen is a discipline deriving joy from deep, meditative concentration. Creative Zen is an MP3 player that lets you derive pleasure forom whatever you do. The ZEN V player was designed for people like you?those who walk a step or two ahead of the pack. So don't be surprised when people take notice of your cool, colorful music and photo player. Tell them you carry up to 500 songs with you. Show them just a handful of the photos you've stored on the pocket sized powerhouse. And tell them there's even more but they'll have to get their own. ZEN V is ideal for your next jog on the trail or trip to the gym. At under 2 ounces, the Zen V from Creative is a digital-media player for everytime and anytime that can go anywhere and everywhere. Direct CD recording Syncs contacts, calendar and tasks Built-in voice recorder Skip free playback Plays music, ZENCast, and audiobooks Alarm and clock Customizable main menu 8 EQ settings (Acoustic, classical, disco, jazz, new age, pop, rock and vocal) Organizer - Syncs with and views Microsoft Outlook® Contacts, Calendar&Tasks Audio Playback Format - MP3 - WMA - WAV and Audible JPEG Photo Format Battery Life - Up to 15 hours continuous playtime / Built-in, rechargeable Li-ion battery Unit Dimensions - Size WxHxD - 2.7 x 1.7 x 0.6 / Weight - 1.55 ounces Creative Bundled Software - Creative MediaSource Player/Organizer Use Creative MediaSource Player/Organizer to import music into your computer and transfer it to ZEN V. Creative MediaSource Player/Organizer is your digital music center for playing, creating, organizing and transferring digital music. / ZEN Media Explorer ZEN Media Explorer offers you the ease of managing music tracks and data files in ZEN V, in a Windows Explorer environment / Window
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Customer Reviews
Good for me 
2007-12-16
This player has been working fine for me. I only use it for about 1 hour, M-F, on the way home from work. I had to buy new headphones because the ones that came with it hurt my ears, otherwise, no complaints.
Very good if... 2007-12-07
I had one of these for about a year before my little brother yanked it down from the desk and righit onto hard wood, it still worked, but the screen died, and i didnt feel like replacing it, so i just got something else. But like I said, if youve ever used an iPod or iTunes, you know that their very easy to use, and Creative isnt quite as good but their catching up. Now they may be harder to use (for the first week until you get used to them) but Creative PACKS this thing with tons of extra stuff, im too lazy to list them, but i would definately buy this over an iPod nano if you know how to work, and figure out how to use things well, but if you just want something siple to use, and iPod might be better, but if you just want to play music (and not use the extra features on the Zen V) then its a pretty simple music player.
Three week lifespan 
2007-12-04
I had some concerns proir to purchasing this after reading reviews on the Amazon, NewEgg and other websites. It appears you've got a 50-50 chance of getting a good one. I took a chance and got the lemon. I lost all confidence when I finally got though to the RCA techies, and their response was "yeah, these have issues, not really sure why".
Having to carry around a toothpick to reboot this everytime it freezes is not my idea of a quality product. Not that I use this often, maybe an hour a day, if that but when the backlight gave out, it was time to send back. Kudos to Amazon's return policy and I'll take the refund to purchase something else.
Great player for the money 
2007-11-27
This a a great player for a new user. Once I learned how to navigate, I've had very few problems. The screen shows more than other players of equal size.
This device supports books from Audible, which is my primary use, although I have some albums and pictures. This little 1GB can hold a large book, six albums, and about 20 pictures. The screen shows the length of a downloaded book, how much time you've listened to and how much time is left. You can use the joystick to move forward and back within the book. This device is also supported by my public library, and I can download some books for free.
If you shut down the player while a book is playing the unit will usually return to where you left off, and the bookmarking feature offers additional protection. The unit has frozen several times when I was attempting to navigate too fast, but I've discovered that the earring post I'm always wearing becomes a great way to reset the player.
It is incredible to have an entire book in my purse! Great little player for the money.
none 2007-10-03
dont waste your money on an ipod. the zen is really easy to use and i use limewire to download music so i didnt spend any extra money on buying music. The battery lasts a long time too which is nice, once you charge it completely the first time you only have to charge it about once every week and a half, depending on how often you use it. Its also really small and light it almost disappears in your hand, but the screen looks awesome for such a small device. Also, fyi creative actually sued apple in 2006 for infringement of the zen patent, the case was settled for $612 million
simply awesome! 2008-05-06
Very happy with price, quality, function, and shipping arrival. This was a gift to my 17y old niece and she loves it.
Product failure 2008-04-13
I wanted to like this product based on cost vs Ipod. I did but experienced occasional lockups which were corrected by reseting the unit. After 14 months product failed - dead. Simply unacceptable for a mass produced consumer product. Don't waste your money as I believe I have. I will be contacting Creative to try and get a partial credit/refund.
Outstanding portable recorder... with one major flaw. 2008-02-09
If you have old tapes and records you would like to be able to archive, put into your computer or other MP3 player, and/or burn CD copies of, this is the the portable media player/ recorder for you...but it has one MAJOR flaw*
A line in jack (odd 2.5mm, but adaptable) is a very rare thing on a portable media player/ recorder, and this has one...add to that it's VU meters and it's close to perfect for making digital copies of any audio source including your old analog recordings. That's right it actually has a line in jack AND VU meters..how sweet is that? With an adapter ( Audio Adapter - Rca - Mini-phone Stereo 3.5 Mm (m) ) you can jack it right in to your stereo system..with the included 2.5mm to 3.5mm cable you can jack into anything with a standard stereo 3.5mm headphone/ output jack.
Recoding is encoded at 128 or 160Kbps WMA..ok so it.s not high end top notch audio, but it's just fine for cassettes,LPs, 45s, radio, and yes even your old 8-track cartridges. 320 Kbps would have been better, but 160 is adequate.
It also has a built in mono microphone that makes decent sounding recordings.
..and yes it'll play your audio files, and display pictures too... just like everything else, bla, bla ,bla. Nothing new there.
Audio output is not very loud, but it does have a real user adjustable five band equalizer.
Battery life is about 9-12 hrs...Uh... battery..battery...WHERE'S THE BATTERY?
* THE BATTERY IS NOT USER REPLACEABLE. IMHO that's inexcusable. When it goes dead on you and you're away from home you're sunk. Likewise when it'll no longer hold a charge. The only way to replace the battery is to literally pry the case apart or have it replaced by a technician!
As a recorder I'd give it an 8/10.
As a portable media player I'd give it 2/10 because of the battery issue alone...where it not for that I'd say 7/10.. sounds good for what it is, but I wish it had more output power.
Love it! 2007-12-28
I love my Creative Zen. I have downloaded a bunch of music easily and have been enjoying it since I recieved it. I highly recommend it as a more affordable version of the Ipod.
bad design, bad quality 2007-12-17
We bought this for my daughter for Christmas last year, and she took excellent care of it. In March the joystick controller split in two. It seems like this is pretty common problem, but Creative would not fix it. I ended up buying another broken one and replacing the joystick myself. But in Sept. the screen backlight died. I am really disapointed in both the customer service and quality of this product and will not buy another Creative product again
