Sure, Apple iPods dominate the MP3 player market, but don't write off rivals such as Creative. The new Creative Zen V Plus is a very strong offering that could cut significantly into Apple's slice of the flash-based MP3 player pie. Available in several color configurations and memory capacities (up to 4GB), the Zen V Plus offers way more features than the Apple iPod nano—including video playback, FM radio, and voice/line-in recording—in a very cute, less-expensive package. It joins the SanDisk Sansa e200 series and the iriver Clix as excellent iPod nano alternatives, but as with the others, there's room for improvement. Creative also has a stripped-down version called simply the Zen V, which lacks video playback and FM radio. Pricing for the Zen V Plus is $129.99 (1GB), $169.99 (2GB), and $229.99 (4GB), and the Zen V is $119.99 (1GB), $149.99 (2GB), and $199.99 (4GB). They are currently scheduled to ship in August.

At first glance, the Zen V Plus looks like a combination of an iPod (thanks to a purely decorative ring in the center that looks like a scroll wheel) and a Tamagotchi. Measuring 1.7 by 2.7 by 0.6 inches and weighing 1.5 ounces, it isn't as tall as the iPod nano, but it's a little more than twice as thick. The rounded back, complete with the same ripple as that of the Zen Vision and Zen Vision:M, feels remarkably comfortable in the hand. The backlit Play/Pause and Back buttons on front, along with the very precise pushable joystick, are very easy to operate with one hand, and there are dedicated Volume and Record buttons on the right side. A combination Power/Hold switch graces the right side of the device, and the mini-USB 2.0 port, 3.5mm headphone jack, 2.5mm line-in jack, and pinhole microphone are along the top. On the left side, there's a small pinhole reset button. The 1.5-inch, 128- by 128-pixel color OLED screen and the plastic shell seem very resistant to scratches, at least they did in my few days of testing.

Color-scheme offerings aren't as varied as for the Zen MicroPhoto and are tied to the memory capacity: The 1GB model comes in white or black with orange trim; the 2GB comes in white or black with green trim, and the 4GB comes only in black with blue trim.

The Zen V Plus is easy to navigate and operate with one hand, though some users have noted that the pushable joystick is very tiny. The device's interface is sluggish at times (the player often asks you to "Please wait . . . "), but for the most part it is responsive. The menus are very straightforward. For instance, holding the Back button for a second or so invokes contextual menus for functions such as setting a photo as the player's wallpaper and setting bookmarks, depending on which mode you're in. The toughest part about using the Zen V Plus is scrolling through long lists of songs or artists, because there's no scrolling acceleration or power-scroll feature. You can search by letter or keyword by entering text via the joystick, though. One nice touch is that you can rotate the screen's orientation 90, 180, or 270 degrees.

The Zen V Plus syncs with Windows Media Player 10, but only for music and pictures. To convert and transfer video, you must use the included Creative Video Converter. The Creative Media Explorer software can also grab your Microsoft Outlook contacts, calendars, and tasks and transfer them to the player's Organizer. Some people find this very handy, though I'd prefer if you could edit these items directly on the device...

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Specs---

Player Type: Flash MP3 Player Radio: Yes Recording, Voice: Yes Recording, Line In: Yes Audio Battery Life: 18.17 Hr Storage Capacity: 4 GB Dimensions: 1.7 x 2.7 x 0.6 inches Weight: 1.5 oz Video Recording: No Screen Resolution: 128 x 128 pixels Music: 4 Out of 5 Notes: $229.99 (4GB); $169.99 (2GB)

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-- Edited by chintan9 at 16:25, 2006-09-28