Creative Zen V 4 GB Portable Media Player

Posted Sep 11th, 2006 by Chief Gadgeteer

Yep, we’ve certainly featured our share of iPods and (tons of) iPod accessories, but we hardly wanted to be biased. The latest Zen media player from Creative is stiff competition for Apple. The Zen V 4GB has a number of cool features under its very small belt at a price that would make Apple execs cringe. For starters, the Zen V fits in your palm, weighs in at less than 2 ounces, and includes a 1.5″ OLED screen that displays photos, menus and album art in full color. Ok, that’s all fine, but what else? How about the ability to support subscription services, synchronization with MS Outlook, a built-in microphone to let you record voice memos or lectures, and one of the best features: the ability to record directly from an audio source to the Zen without the need to rip it first to your PC. Oh yeah, this thing can run for 15 hours on a single charge.

Features:

1.5-inch OLED
Supports subscription services and pay-per-download music
Direct CD Recording function
Automatic track detection separates each song for you
Personal Organizer with sync with Microsoft Outlook
built-in microphone to double as a voice recorder
skip-free playback
calendar & tasks
Plays music, ZENCast & audiobooks
Alarm & clock
Customizable main menu
8 EQ settings (Acoustic, classical, disco, jazz, new age, pop, rock & vocal)
Audio Playback Format - MP3 - WMA - WAV
JPEG Photo Format
Battery Life - Up to 15 hours continuous playtime / Built-in, rechargeable Li-ion battery
Unit Dimensions - Size WxHxD - 2.7 x 1.7 x 0.6 / Weight - 1.55 ounces
Software: Creative MediaSource Player/Organizer to import music into your computer and transfer it to ZEN V. Creative MediaSource Player/Organizer is your digital music center for playing, creating, organizing and transferring digital music.
ZEN Media Explorer offers you the ease of managing music tracks and data files in ZEN V, in a Windows Explorer environment