Customer Reviews
LITTLE ZEN STONE PLAYER 
2008-01-07
This little player was the perfect gift for our seven year old grand daughter. The price was right, and we loaded it with lots of her favorite songs. We love the fact that we could set the volumm at a reasonable level, and hopefully, protect her hearing. This is a super product for a child. Thanks !
works great! 
2008-01-07
Got this for my daughter. Easy to load songs onto. Charges with usb, so no need to buy tons of batteries. Decent headphones. Worth the money! Cute pink color.
Give it to kids and don't feel like a bad parent. 2007-12-27
With a 6 year old wanting to keep up with classmates this is a wonderful little MP3/WMA player with a great volume limiter. Fill it with Hannah and High School Musical and let them go. Also great for digital children's books.
Creative Zen Stone 1GB - Nice starter or spare MP3 2007-11-17
The Creative Zen Stone 1GB is a nice value in starter MP3 players. It has the same capacity as the iPod Shuffle at $40. For $20 more, you can get the 2GB Stone Plus which also has a screen, FM Tuner, voice recording and more.
Pros -
+ good stereo sound
+ nice capacity for a decent price
+ light-weight
+ simple design with more color options
+ Nice format compatibility (MP3, WMA, Audible)
+ USB 1.1 and 2.0 connectivity
+ Can be used as a USB drive / mass storage
+ Can sync music with drag & drop or via Creative software
Cons
- below-average battery life of 10 hours or less
- software issues - Creative software is buggy
- DRM song transfer issues with some firmware versions
- not expandable from 1GB (no SD card slot)
- no FM tuner or voice recording
- larger than the 2nd and 3rd generation iPod shuffles
- for just $20 more you get the 2GB Stone Plus with added features
Creative's Zen Stone line was meant to be the upgrade to the Zen nano, aka Muvo mini. The 1GB Zen Stone is decent but not perfect. It suffers from quality issues and is really ideal for specific uses. I love the new Sandisk Sansa's. The Sansa Express has the advantage that you can plug it directly into your USB port without a cable. SanDisk Sansa Express 2 GB MP3 Player (Black) Still, the Creative Zen Stone feels nicer in the hand. It's not as sleek as the Sansa Express nor as cool as an iPod shuffle or iPod nano. But it is priced very attractively. It's good for a starter, workout unit, or gift for a kid.
The Creative Zen Stone is lighter than the competition, but is still larger than the new iPod Shuffle 2nd and 3rd generations. The controls are an improvement from the Zen nano days. While I didn't mind the toggle wheel, it has been replaced by intuitive buttons for the standard functions (select, play, pause, forward or reverse). There's a headphone jack and a USB port.
Another change from the Zen nano days is the Lithium Ion battery, which gives you about 10 hours if your lucky. This burns out faster than the old battery operated unit, but is more convenient.
The sound is nice, and it comes through in stereo. As usual, you will hear complaints about the earbuds, which most people replace.
The Zen Stone Plus is the only larger option at 2GB. For those needing more space, you will have to explore the Creative Zen, Sandisk Sansa or new iPod Nano. All of those units have higher price tags.
Creative Zen 4 GB (Black)
Creative Zen 8 GB (Black)
Creative Zen 16 GB (Black)
Sandisk SDMX4-4096 Sansa e260 4 GB MP3 Player with SD Expansion Slot
SanDisk SDMX4-8192 Sansa e280 8 GB MP3 Player (Black)
Apple 4 GB iPod nano AAC/MP3 Player Silver (3rd Generation)
Apple 8 GB iPod nano AAC/MP3 Player Black (3rd Generation)
The price isn't a give-away, and the plastic case could be more durable. Creative has fixed some of the software issues. Still, this is a nice starter unit that can last you a while. Check it out. Enjoy!!!
i used to love all things pink, but this just sucks 
2007-09-05
After charging all night, I attempted to turn this mp3 player on and no luck. I heard nothing. Since there is no screen or noise, I had no idea what was wrong. I thought maybe there was no music on it, but then I reconnected to my computer and it was preloaded with several songs. Then I went to the creative zen website to try to find more information and nothing helped. Therefore I sent the player back.
I must concur with those who never got it to work 2008-07-02
I have the black one, and this thing has been a frustration from the beginning. I have never got it to work. My PC recognizes it, but gives me an I/O error. Media Player refuses to recognize it. I have never got it to play, and can't figure out why. Now it does not turn on at all, and I figure it is a dead battery. It could be my problem, but with nothing but a blinking light to go by - how can you tell what is the problem?
Junk. 2008-06-05
I see from other reviews that it might just be the quality of the pink one (as they say, get the black one? or just save the extra for the iPod Shuffle). Anyways, it worked nicely just about long enough for the general warranty to run out. Since then it's had major issues with the connection between the earbud jack and the player. Sometimes pressing it in *really* hard helps. Sometimes it needs to be at a certain angle. My kid sister had a different brand of cheap mp3 player for a while and experienced similar problems.
Also, the lowest volume setting is still kinda loud in a totally silent environment. I found this ironic considering the rabid "protect your ears" warnings that came with the documentation. And when you turn it down beyond the lowest setting, the sound cuts out completely, which can be confusing the first time it happens.
Moral of the story: you get what you pay for. Save for something nicer. Or at the very least, don't get this color.
1 GB MP3 2008-05-19
Simple to use, and the inexpensive price on this Creative Zen trumps the cost that is added to other manufacturers who mass advertise to sell their product. This internal battery 1 GB MPS is perfect for my active lifestyle. I take it everywhere. The software is simple - like drag and drop, easy to change tracks. I'm very happy -
Great Buy for Price 2008-04-03
I got the Pink one for Christmas. It worked perfectly. The headphones that came with it had EXCELLENT quality. This was a very good mp3 player for the price. The battery life on mine was about 15-20 hours depending on the length of songs. Only thing I didn't like about it was no screen! So i have since got one with a screen!
poor quality mp3 player :-( 2008-02-26
I bought this pink zenstone from Target for a very good price, and was ecstatic about the simplicity of the design...and the small size.Until I took it home, charged it on my computer (which took almost 3 hours). The songs downloaded with ease, and needed no software (which was a great bonus), but when I played it, the battery died after 5 minutes! :-( I took it back to Target,got store credit and paid alot more for a Sony mp3 walkman, which was well worth the extra money!This zenstone is a great concept, but the quality needs to be greatly improved.
