Customer Reviews
Great for women... but what about men? 
2007-03-30
Prior to my Zen V Plus, I had a Creative MuVo TX FM which came with an armband and belt clip in the box. It was a very comfortable and easy to use until it was stolen. As a replacement, I thought I would upgrade to the Zen. Unfortunately the armband for the Zen V Plus had to be purchased separately; I chose to go with the Creative branded band based on my previous experience. To my surprise, the Creative armband is too small for me. Now, I'm 6'2", but I'm not much of a weight lifter, so my biceps are only 14". However, the available strap length is less than that, so I cannot get a comfortable fit. It fits too tightly and tends to pops open as I try to secure it due to lack of slack. I looked online and found that the average male bicep is 13" in circumference - about the same as the armband's strap. As previous reviewers have stated, the included silicon skin is nice, but it seems that this unit was designed for women, children, and smaller than average men. So guys, unless you have a 12" bicep or smaller, I would look elsewhere for an armband to use while you work out.
Excellent Product! 
2007-03-22
I'm VERY happy with this armband / belt clip / skin for this player. The skin is easy to put on and get off, is well made, and obviously a perfect fit. I'm not about to test it, but I imagine the skin would do a decent job of protecting the unit if one should drop it. It also protects the unit from scratches and dings. I do, however, wish the skin came with a screen protector of some sort.
The belt clip is very secure. Fantastic.
The armband is an armband. Not much to say there, but the beltclip attaches to the armband, making it easy to take the player on and off of it (in case you go from cardio to weights or whatever and want to switch). I do agree with the reviewer who said that someone with exceptionally large arms may have a problem fitting into this. I'm a pretty big guy and this is not a problem for me.
I'm a runner and truly love this armband.
Product Has Bugs, Customer Service Won't Help!!! 
2007-03-06
I purchased the 8GB Creative Zen V Plus player during the first week in February. I am returning it and this is why:
The package arrived from Amazon. I loaded up the software on my computer, then hooked up the player through the usb cord. I let it charge for 6 hours like the instructions state. Then I proceeded to load some of my music onto the player. So after the music was loaded, I disconnected the player from the usb cable and started to listen to the music. The sound quality was good, the player is easy to navigate in the menus, etc... The problem was about half the music I uploaded was not on the player. I could see the folder and menu option for the artist or genre but the actual file was not there. So I plugged the player back into the usb cord, and pulled up the file location on the player through the computer. The file was there and I could play it just fine through Windows Media Player. I tried to access it again through the player and it was not there. Then I accessed through the computer just fine.
All my songs, all 4,500 of them, are in MP3 format from 56kps for my audio books to 192kps for the songs I ripped from cd's. The player just wouldn't read about half my songs. There was really no rhyme or reason on whish songs it would recognize. I would load an entire album of 15 songs and I could only play 6 or 7 tracks. This happened with my entire music collection.
So I thought maybe the firmware was out of date so I uploaded all the updates from creative which did include a firmware update. It did not solve the problem. I then uploaded some of the same songs that would not play on the Zen V Plus onto my 3 year old Rio and original Ipod Shuffle and they played just fine. I was frustrated at this point so I called the Creative Customer Service. It is strange because they do not post the number for there company anywhere on there website and now I understand why. They have the worst customer service/tech department of any computer/electronic company I have ever spoke with. After three calls, never speaking to someone who I could fully understand as English was definitely not a first language, more like a 3rd or 4th language, I arrived nowhere. They kept telling me they were emailing document to me on how to resolve the problem. No email ever came, checked the junk folder and every other possible place. So I tried a fourth call. This guy basically called me stupid from what I could understand, saying "I can't believe you Americans" and then mumbled something in another language. I asked for a supervisor. He told me that he would escalate my call and someone would call me in 2-3 days. Then he hung up.
I was really amazed that a company would treat its customers in this nature. They really have to respect for there customers and do not want to help them in any way. So I am returning the Creative Zen V Plus player and I also don't plan on buying anything from Creative again.
By the way, after all this, the problem never was fixed.
Also, when doing research on this product, I came across a couple articles and reviews that stated this player would play DIVX files. This is not true. This player will not play any files without being converted first. I took an AVI video that was 100MB and it converted it into a 1.2GB file. The format they use is absolutely a waste of space. If you want to upload an entire movie on MPEG or AVI format, it will end up taking the entire 8GB of space if not more. I converted the movie Cars for my son on a short road trip thinking I could have my music plus his movie. I was wrong, the movie took up 7.1GB after being converted.
I would not recommend this product to anyone. As much as I don't like the IPod, I would recommend it over the Zen V Plus because: 1. It plays all my music 2. They have a customer service/tech support that helps you and cares about its customers.
I hope this helps anyone looking at this player.
Jeff
Good for the gym. 
2007-01-29
The armband seems to be well built, but unfortunately isn't stretchy. It will definitely last a long time.
awesome 2007-01-18
I bought the armband so I could take my Zen running with me and it has been so convenient. The Skin protects the Zen so I'm not concerned about anything getting on it. It also has a belt clip for everyday use. I love it!
Amazon's gaslight on the subject 2008-03-16
Oh the item that is NOW shown as what you will receive with this order is fantastic. The armband is nice and comfortable, although a bit wider than I would like. But I didn't really even buy the thing for the armband OR the silicone holder. I bought it and considered it a bargain because supposedly, according to the TWO SEPARATE user-offered images for the product(s) contained within this particular order, you ALSO got a LEATHER holder. I remember that the comments/feedback/reviews from the customers were negative on this additional part of the order, however I felt their reasoning for the negativity was a bit uncalled for, as they were complaining that though they liked the silicone casing, the armband and the beltclip, the leather case that WAS included at the time of my own order, didn't allow them to be able to SEE the screen on their zens. Now I receive my order WITHOUT this leather holder, send a letter to amazon concerning this as an item sent missing products advertised, they send me ANOTHER zen order exactly like the last one, that meaning it still does not include the advertised leather holder that was apparently included in the original advertisement with the image of it. I kept it, thinking they realised they had falsely advertised a product they had no way of including in that order price, but then they begin sending ME email saying I have x amount of days to return the product last sent or be billed for it as well. I sent them back a SECOND explanation for my dissatisfaction, citing my claim that the product advertised was not included in the original order, nor the second order, which I DIDN'T order at all, but inquired when they might ship me the REST of my original order. Then I decide to come back to amazon's site to find the proof of my claim, through the url to the product item listing on amazon.com, and NOW I find that mysteriously, the product that I have been inquiring about that is yet not included in my order has completely disappeared. I believe it was a amazon prime item, as I belong to that on here, and I do not think it was a 3rd party item actually. I am going to double check on that, but I do recall it coming w/in the two day's time and being included as part of the customer reviews available after the product advertisement and listing here on amazon.com. In otherwords, great product, but not everything I had ordered. If you ever saw the original item advertised that included the image of the leather holder for the zen V on amazon.com, please, provide the url for this. I am going to check the archives of online conversations with collegues, because I recall asking their advice on purchasing this, to get a second opinion on the deal it seemed to be when including the leather case, and if I find it there, I will post the url here in this review section. Otherwise, I remain a dissastisfied customer, not because what I received is not very nice, because it is, but because what I received was not all that was originally advertised.
it's ok 
2008-02-09
the armband was not great, keep falling off my arm, it should have been elastic in order to keep it in place. The beltclip was far more useful.
Armband for Zen V mp3 2007-06-08
This armband really comes in handy when I'm working out at the gym. It has a flap to secure the cord so it doen't interfere with my workout. It looks good and I'm glad I ordered it.
Product nice, BUT! 2007-06-02
The arm band was not big enough...i have 17 inch biceps, and it does not even come close to fitting...the belt clip is nice though and the skin is nice, but if you want it for the band, hope you have small arms
It is a bit small 2007-05-20
The quality of the band is very nice. The band is too small though. It does not fit all the way around my arm. I bought mainly for the belt clip, so I do not feel the purchase was a complete loss.
