Creative Zen V plus 8Gb Review

Overall Rating

Very good sound quality, especially with Equalisers
Size - very small and lightweight
Good looks
Very reliable software
Easy to use

Terrible screen - tiny, impossible to see in sunlight
Feels a bit cheap and plasticky

I bought the Creative Zen V plus 8Gb to replace my Zen Micro and refused to fork out so much cash for the over rated iPod Nano or Classic. I was impressed at first with the size. Unboxing it I was astonished at just how small and light it was. It's perfect to slip into your pocket while your walking along, and, after owning my Zen for over year, still shows few signs of wear and tear, with almost no scratches at all.

I also found the sound quality to be very good. I would say it is on a par with the Zen Micro in terms of sound quality, which had a very good sound quality indeed. This, when buying an MP3 player, should be the deciding factor - the sound quality.

The screen leaves a lot to be desired. I would have liked to have known that getting videos on this player would be a very irritating process. The player only take AVI formats, which doubles the size of the file while still reducing the resolution to fit onto the miniscule screen. The video capabilities of this player are poor, but video is not what this player was designed for. If you want video, I recommend the Creative Zen or an iPod classic. The OLED screen of this player is impossible to see in sunlight, and the resolution is poor, and the tiny size does not help matters.

The battery life is quoted at around 5 hours. I found my V plus as being capable of running for nearly double that. I have managed to still find it going for a month of very heavy use on just one charge.

However, it does feel a bit cheap and plasticy. This is not down to bad build quality, I have found my player to be working perfectly after a year after being dropped many times and even stepped on. The casing creaks when you push buttons, and the plastic casing makes it feel a bit like a toy. But you will quickly get used to this.

Other features such as a microphone and radio come in as handy bonuses, and the software never ceases to impress me with it's ease of use. I do warn you, however, that you have to pay for the MP3 codec, so if you have an older version of the Creative software that you keep it and use it for the MP3 codec for ripping CDs.

Aside from these one or two let downs, I highly recommend that you buy this player. It is definitely worth every penny.