A worthy choice for a cheaper MP3 player. (Creative Zen V Plus 1 GB)

Member Name: Krondonian

Product:	Creative Zen V Plus 1 GB
Date:	13/05/09 (12 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Superior sound quality, price and reliabilty.

Disadvantages: Overly small input nub, superfluous video function.

Creative's Zen V Plus is a robust, quality, personal MP3 player. The feature list is suitably impressive too for the low price tag.

The most important aspect of any MP3 player is of course the audio quality, and the V Plus excels. The pre-packaged earphones are of typically low standard for bundles, yet perfectly useable when listening to music or speech when commuting or in busy areas. I frequently listen with Sennheiser HD415 headphones (good quality budget headphones) and this really served to demonstrate the excellent audio capacity- especially in the bass, which is usually lacking in audio players of the V Plus' price bracket.

As mentioned earlier, it is a formidably robust player too. I have personally used it on a daily basis (wherein it has survived frequent dropping, rain and general damage) for well over a year and it has barely a scratch on it- despite being bought refurbished. Perfect for listening whilst exercising.

The menu and user interface is slightly less impressive, with many options hidden behind others and somewhat ugly designs. Despite this, the menu subsections can be customised to have your preferred options on the front page (such as clock, random play all, et cetera) as per your taste. Your own album art can also be applied when listening.

In terms of general ease of use, the V Plus excels too. Despite the clunky and unnecessary software bundled with it, the player is easily recognised in Windows XP, Vista and 2000 (those which I have used first hand), and can have audio transferred from Media Player, or simply copied directly onto the Zen.

My advice as to whether this is a good purchase however is not to simply buy based on its excellent overall quality. The main points of to consider are as follows:
-The 1GB storage is becoming increasingly diminutive in comparison to other players. If you want more than 200 files, or have high quality audio, this will quickly run out.
-The video function is all but useless on such a tiny screen, especially considering the lack of video format support.
-The main input is via a very small nub. This can be frustrating to use, and not recommended for those with large/sore fingers, if you get annoyed by fiddly things.

Overall, if I were to choose again I would have picked up a standard V (not the Plus model), with 2GB of storage. However, if you know that 1GB is all you require, or if you require an FM Radio function, this is a fantastic offer for the price.

As for purchasing, I strongly recommend Creative's own refurbished deals. Mine was very cheap, promptly arrived, and was in perfect condition with new headphones. Everything but the (lack of) box was identical to the full priced version. It is now (May/09) on Creative's site for £19.99.

Hope this helps any prospective buyers!

Summary: Ensure you need the added features of the Plus, and that 1GB is big enough. If so; buy!

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