A few months ago I decided that I would join the ever expanding mp3 market and after looking around at what was available I came across this gorgeous looking player! Now the retail price of this was around £180 at the time which is fairly expensive compared to some of the bog standard players that are available but you definitely get what you pay for.

Looks: Creative decided to redesign their Zen model to improve its looks and reduce its bulkiness and have definitely ticked both of these boxes. Everything from the colour scheme & button configuration has been improved and overall the unit looks very sleek!

Screen – The screen is 1.7 inches and has a resolution of 160 x 128 pixels. The resolution helps to provide clear readable text and has sufficient room to display the following: battery level, track number, track name/album & artist along with track length which is displayed as a progression bar + timers.

The improve visibility in dark conditions a blue backlight can be enabled which isn’t overly bright helping to save on battery consumption but provides sufficient support.

Buttons – Fitting in with the new sleek look for Zen the buttons have been redesigned and fit in well with the overall look. Along with the standard hold button to stop unwanted selections there are 7 other buttons available: play/pause, up/down, skip back/skip forward, main menu & quick menu. To aid you in the dark again the blue backlight shines through they keys which looks really good!

Size & Weight – Compared to others on the market this unit is fairly large but easily fits in your trouser pockets but is probably better off in a coat pocket.

Dimensions: 59 x 101 x 17 mm
Weight: 157g

Usability:
Menus – Navigation of the menus is fairly easy when you get used to it, obviously there is a learning curve but after a few days of playing around on it you’ll be fine. The menus categorise your songs by artist, albums or all tracks which is useful depending on what mood of playback you’re after.

Software – The software supplied on the CD to transfer music over to your Zen is straight forward to use but again there is a learning curve. It helps to provide support so even if you’re not confident with computers you will be fine. It gives you the option to label up your tracks quickly and easily which was a very useful feature because some of my sounds were just known as track 1 which is not helpful when you have loads with the same name!

Storage:
HDD Size – The built in hard drive is capable of storing up to 20 GBs or the equivalent of around 4000 MP3s which are 5 MB each. The hard drive itself is fairly silent and does not suffer from extreme heat so the unit does not get overly warm. When holding the unit you can sometimes feel the hard drive spinning around but it does not vibrate. Transferring tracks over to your Zen using the supplied software is extremely quick. I timed most of the tracks taking 1-2 seconds to copy across so even if you plan to fill the unit it will not take much time. Please note that to maximise the speed you require a USB 2.0 port but this is not necessary as all USB products are backwards compatible.

Sound Quality:
I have tried the unit with two different sets of headphones and the sound quality is really good! Although it does depend on the quality of the music you are transferring over to the unit. I would advise investing in a really good pair of earphones if you are fussy about extreme quality but for the average user the supplied headphones are sufficient.

The supported sound formats are: MP3: Up to 320 kbps WAV: Up to 48 kHz, 16-bit, Stereo/Mono WMA: Up to 320 kbps WMA. The unit is also capable of recording sound but I have not used this feature so cannot comment on it.

Battery life:
The battery included is very impressive supposedly capable of playing music for around 19 hours before needing to be recharged. I usually find that I need to charge once a week but I do listen every day while I travel.

Features:
Basic features are Playback, sound recorder (using built in microphone) & radio.

What’s included in the box along with the Zen Sleek?
1 x Earphones (fairly decent but you might want to upgrade)
1 x Power adaptor which doubles up as the PC USB cable
1 x Pouch (to prevent scratches, high quality)
1 x CD (containing all the necessary PC software)

Overall:
I am extremely impressed with this unit! I believe it was definitely worth the investment and cannot fault this on any level. If you are looking for a good alternative to the iPods then this is a top contender. The looks and design are of a very high standard, you will not be disappointed.