Creative Zen Sleek Photo 20 GB Multimedia Player (Aluminum/White)
By: Creative Labs Average Rating: 3.5 Total Reviews: 82
More Information
 On: 2008-04-01
I previously had an iriver, which was very frustrating to synchronize and broke after about a year. Upgraded to this unit, which I have been extremely pleased with. I sync through Windows Media Player and it works perfectly and quickly. Sound is great, unit is pretty durable, battery life is pretty good. My only complaint is that the screen is hard to see in sunlight, which was actually a strength of the iriver. I also dislike the touchpad and was extremely frustrated with it at first (even after setting it to the least sensitive level), but grew accustomed to it after a couple of months.
I have used up the 20 GB and am now in the market for a 30 GB or larger unit. Im surprised there arent more to pick from.
 On: 2007-12-26
I have had this MP3 player since Aug. 2006. I use it at least an hour everyday. It is used mostly for listening to books that I download from my local library and speeches from my college website. I transfer and delete files all the time. It has had minimal problems with a lot of use. I would highly recommend it to anyone. It recharges fairly quickly on computer or using the electrical cord. It can be a little slow to change files, no big deal. It has taken a lot of abuse.
 On: 2007-11-11
This MP3 player worked awesome for several months! then, about a week after the warrenty ended, it wouldnt work. there about 4-5 screens it goes onto regularly on the boot process, but mine goes to the second, freezes for about 3 minutes, then goen to a malfunction page. there are choices to erase all of the memory, reload the firmware, reboot, and something else. Only the reboot works, which just brings you back to the same screen. I cant sell it now, because it doesnt work, and creative wont take it back, becuase its not warrented. I would not suggest this product to anyone!
 On: 2007-05-27
This mp3 player is okay. There are more cons then pros but it still manages to be an alright media player.
cons
1.Battery life is really bad (It usually last about 1 1/2 hours at the most)
2.Freezes up more then it should
3.Outdated model (cant buy accessories for i from creative anymore)
4.Its really compared to other mp3 players
5.Can only hold about 5,000 mp3 files
6.Creative says the battery can last about 19 hours on a full charge mine last about 1 1/2 hours
7.only a 90 day warranty(if you buy it new)
Pros
1.Can use more then one program(unlike ipods)
2.You can change the color theme
3.good audio quality
4.Doesnt cost alot of money for a mp3 player that can hold pictures and music
If you really want to get a better mp3 player get the creative zen V:plus
holds short video clips, music, photos all for about $185(8 gig)
On: 2007-05-12
We purchased this MP3 player and before a year was up we had problems with it. Sent it in to the manufacturer for repair (cost $25). It worked for less than 30 days after repair. Before we had any problems we recommended this product to a friend. They bought an identical item, and it lasted less than 6 months before it stopped working.
 On: 2007-04-10
At first when I purchased this item, I was one of the main ones stating what a gem this was and how i loved this gadget but that has changed. My player has gone capoeee. The sound is literally gone, all i get is an echo and a faint sound of the music but the lyrics are gone. i have tried troubleshooting it and doing all Creative Labs recommended but to no avail.
On: 2007-04-06
I really wish it would display the album art when it plays the music. Otherwise, it fulfilled everything else I wanted. It was inexpensive, small, good capacity, shuffles quickly, good randomization and sounds great.
On: 2007-02-15
Though iPods seem to be the most popular MP3 Player around, the Creative Zen Sleek Photo is, I think, far bettter. I was given one as a Christmas gift and absolutely love it. Despite the lack of accessories, it can be personalized greatly. There are many photos that come with it, all of which can be used as the background wallpaper for your Creative Zen. Ive downloaded many songs and podcasts onto my Zen with ease. The only thing I dislike about it is that you cannot look at pictures while listening to music, but that is not a big deal at all. It froze once, but was fixed as soon as I pressed the reset button. I really do love this product and suggest that you buy one if you are looking for a wonderful alternative to and iPod.
On: 2007-02-14
Though iPods seem to be the most popular MP3 Player around, the Creative Zen Sleek Photo is, I think, far bettter. I was given one as a Christmas gift and absolutely love it. Despite the lack of accessories, it can be personalized greatly. There are many photos that come with it, all of which can be used as the background wallpaper for your Creative Zen. Ive downloaded many songs and podcasts onto my Zen with ease. The only thing I dislike about it is that you cannot look at pictures while listening to music, but that is not a big deal at all. It froze once, but was fixed as soon as I pressed the reset button. I really do love this product and suggest that you buy one if you are looking for a wonderful alternative to and iPod.
On: 2007-01-05
This is an exelent product. The navigation in the device and required software is simple and straight forward. The screen has amazing resolution and a variety of color schemes can be used to personalize the player to your mood or personality. The battery stays charged forever and there is more space on the machine than I have been able to use. I purchased a lesser machine for the same price about a year ago and now am kicking myself for wasting the money. The value of this device is unrivaled.
On: 2007-01-03
Ive had this mp3 player since September, and I have to say, Im loving every minute of it. I dont know how I went without having an mp3 player before now. The options on it are great, I love the way it looks, and Ive just not had any problems with it at all. Though I live in fear of dropping it and ruining it, since its not a solid-state type memory. But, I knew the risk when I bought it. Being able to import your own pictures and use them as backgrounds is a nice feature as well.
On: 2006-12-26
Okay, so there have been a view reviews here that cite that the player broke. Well, Im not sure what the deal there was. The player works fine, believe me. It seems to have just been a sad and unfortunate coincidence that they recieved players with faulty hardware or manufacturing.
The player however is wonderful. Holds a very large quantity of music for a low price (might find it even lower somewhere else...). The touchpad is not the difficult to learn with, and the sensitivity can be set on "low". If you can use an iPod, you can use this MP3 player (thankfully plays WMAs and WAV files).
The software it comes with is okay. Windows Media Player, though, can sync music just as swiftly to the device as any other program. You can set date & time, calendar, sync your tasks with Microsoft Outlook, create playlists, download photos, live recordings, and mess with a bundle of audio and visual settings.
Overall, I very good portable media player. There really are no drawbacks. You get exactly what you pay for (Might want to get new headphones, or use ones you already have). THOUGH, it is SMALL and made of PLASTIC AND SMALL PARTS. So it is FRAGILE. Handle it carefully. I suggest carrying it in a case (Zen makes leather cases for the Sleek Photo Player) or put a plastic skin on it. Place it in the velvet pouch provided WHEN NOT IN USE. Use common sense.
Also, buying a service plan or replacement plan wouldnt hurt either. Note: It lacks accessories. An FM transmiter, docking station, plastic skin (available in a range of colors), and a leather slip-over case are the only ones provided by creative. If you search for Zen Sleek on amazon, a few more should show up.
On: 2006-11-17
If you are looking for a new mp3 player like i was and contiplating the ipod or creative.. i would say go for this mp3 player. Cons.. It has frozen up on me about 3 or 4 times in 2 months. Its a lot bigger than an ipod. The touch pad is not that hard to get use to the first couple days it is difficult but once you get use to it its fine. The earbuds that come with the player are very uncomfortable they are loud but uncomfortable. Buy this mp3 player you wont regret it... 20 gb is plenty of space..pros.. bigger clearer screen then an ipod way more capacity for the money. you dont have to use itunes which itunes in itself is a pain. if you are thinking about buying a really nice mp3 get this one!
On: 2006-11-15
This was a gift for my son, and he loves it. The sound is great, and it is sleek and compact. The buttons wore out far too easily though, and it needs to be sent back which is a huge annoyance, especially because it is so new.
On: 2006-11-10
The Zen arrived within 5 days which made my son very happy. He said the Creative is a very good product at a reasonable price.
On: 2006-11-10
I really have only a few observations about this that are less than stellar:
Load time is a bit long, because this is based off on an actual disk drive rather than flash memory. Not annoying to me, but some people would find it annoying. As such, boot-up time is somewhat long. However, if shut off, and turned on after a short period of time, like running into a convenience store, boot-up time is REALLY quck.
The OLED screen tends to shut off really quick. Thus assuming a full player (which, on mine right now, at just over half-full (11.8gb) is over 2000 songs), and youre tying to figure out what is playing, you have to use the touchpad or something to turn the screen on, rather than a persistent display but just turning the backlight off.
The touchpad is REALLY sensitive, and as such, youll need a "break-in" period to get the learning curve of it down.
The menus in the player tend to not be intuitive. Again, theres a learning curve here.
But, on the positive side this is a robust-as-hell MP3 player, that in my case, I can load up a massive amount of music, play everything at random, and not have to worry about a repeat for hours. Plus, even though its not natively a flashdrive, like my old Muvo TX FM, you can set aside space on it to be used as a flashdrive, which is nice. Sound quality is excellent no matter if I play it through my car stereo via a tape adapter, through my computer via Creatives interface, or just with a standar pair of headphones (albeit the quality of the headphones will be the ultimage judge of that).
Plus, at the time of purchase, it did undercut an equivalent Ipod by about $100. So if youre not overly concerned with an intuitive interface, and just want a large MP3 player to have your music on demand, Id definitly recommend this.
On: 2006-11-06
I dont believe your website said this had to be used with XP. I use 2000 so I returned it. You are still deciding whether I will get all of my gift certificate back. If I dont you wont see me here again!
On: 2006-10-28
I got this for my birthday, after my Creative Muvo died (id had it less than a year). So far its been great.
Some things i liked:
~Holds a lot of music (a large upgrade from the 512mb of the Muvo)
~Well organized menus, easy to find everything i want
~Easy to load music: it worked with Media player, and i didnt even put the installation cd in until i realized i would have to use the other program in order to load playlists
~I found the vertical touchpad easier to handle than an I-pods circular one, though i have friends who think otherwise
~The playlist making feature within the player was nice, although confusing at first
~It has fairly good sound quality (though this isnt something i notice much. Basically it wasnt skipping or otherwise blatantly horrid sound)
~I liked being able to change the name of the mp3 player
~Charges, loads music, and turns on fast for the most part
~It is easy to select certain songs that i want to listen to, whether they are related or not (This is something common for me, to have 5 songs i really want to listen to and they arnt on the same album or same artist)
~The program it comes with makes it very easy to make my playlists in Media Player and then transfer them through the other program onto my player, the only difficulty is knowing where they are saved (generally in the my music folder with windows)
~Allows transfer from player to computer of any files, including music, which cannot be done with an Ipod (the complaint i hear the most)
Problems:
~Manuel not very detailed
~I still havnt figured out how to use the sleep timer
~The power cord configuration is confusing (you need 2 cords to charge it, because the power cord plugs into the usb cord and not directly into the player)
~It froze once when i tried to turn it on (i found a needle and stuck it in the hole by where the power plugs in and discovered it to be a reset button, so it began working shortly)
~It is barely small enough to fit in my jeans pocket, which is ok but can be uncomfortable occasionally (like when im trying to tie my shoe)
~I had it randomly skip a song from halfway through when I wasnt touching it (plugged into speakers) but after I turned the lock on it stopped doing that
~Volume cannot be adjusted through a pocket, (though songs can be skipped and paused) which is a little frustrating thanks to my bluejeans dilemna and a large variation of volume in my music (that smart volume was partly able to fix but not entirely)
~There is no feature for listening to music of a certain rating, like on an i-pod. Music is divided by Artist, Album, and Genre (and maybe something else i forgot)
~Music wont play when viewing pictures (only came up when my friend and i were listening to music and she decided she wanted to see what pictures were on it)
~I cant organize photos and other files on the player, (so once its on it can only be transferred to the computer or deleted, not moved)
For me the pros outweigh the cons, so i love this player. It was definitely worth it to not transfer all my music from Media Player to Itunes... and to be able to do everything in Media Player.
Its a great player and Id pretty much reccommend it to anyone... the only worry is that it might die like its predecessor.
On: 2006-10-17
At first I was happy with this mp3 player- good sound, easy to use, 20gb, fm radio and good value. But....quickly I realized I had made a very bad decision. Most importantly, it stopped working after only 6 months! Also dust also collects under imediately and the software lacks obvious features such as playing by artist (rather than Artist then Album).
This is the 2nd Creative mp3 player Ive owned, however I will never buy any Creative product again. My first was a Micro and it was excellent, that is until the headphone connection became unusable after only 10 months (only mono and lots of static). I thought maybe it was a fluke, but the Sleek solidifies my conclusion. CREATIVE is cheap CRAP. Do not buy.
On: 2006-10-10
i order this item and it got lost in the mail. They resend it which was fine but, as soon as i recieve it i turn on the this item and the screen turned blank. I advised not to buy this item.
On: 2006-10-05
NOTE TO EVERYONE WHOSE SCREEN HAS GONE "DEAD"!!!!!
Stick a pin in the little reset hole on the bottom of the player to reset it, no damage done! There. Im sick of seeing reviews complaining that their player has gone dead. The player isnt dead. The instruction book tells you about the reset button; read it!
There, now for the review.
This is my first MP3 player Ive owned, but my friend owns an IPod Nano that Ive used from time to time in his car. Basically, theres no significant dropoff from the Nano to the Zen Sleek Photo. The click wheel on the Nano is better than the Zens vertical touchpad, but once you get used to the pad, it works like a gem. Its a little sensitive at first, but the sensitivity can be reduced in the menu.
The battery life is outstanding. Ive used it for 8 hours straignt (Ive had it for 2 months now), and its never run out on me. It doesnt even show any signs of losing power. This is likely because the screen shuts off after a few seconds of not pressing buttons, unlike the IPod, which just dims. After all the complaints Id heard about the IPods battery life, this helped sell me on the Zen, and the claims arent lies.
The computer program is a bit slow, and that can get a little annoying, but it transfers flawlessly, and I dont use it as my default computer media player. Ive got iTunes for that.
There are a few problems Ive encountered with the player, and theyre mostly minor. The first is the dust under the screen. Mine didnt come with dust under the screen, but in time, youll find that a pretty significant amount of dust will accumulate under the screen. Its an annoyance at worst, and it doesnt really get in the way of your seeing the screen.
A second problem is occasional freezing of the device, usually, Ive found, when its disconnected from a computer or power source. This is easily fixed, however, by sticking a pin in the reset slot on the bottom of the device, and everything is as it was when you left it. I suppose theres a chance that you could lose data this way, but its frozen on me about four times since I got it and nothings gone.
The final issue is a few software quirks on the player. First of all, you cant add songs to a playlist without connecting to a computer and doing it yourself. Why not? Secondly, you cant select an artist and view all the songs by that artist; you have to select an album under the artist. You could always make a playlist for each artist, but thats a hassle, especially given how slow the computer software works. A final problem Ive encountered is the propensity of the player to select certain songs with great regularity when on shuffle. There are songs that have been played nearly 20 times on my main playlist and others that have never been played. This might be nitpicking, and it might be all in my head, but it does bug me a little.
Bottom line, however, is that this player, for under 200 bucks, is an INCREDIBLE deal. The player works fast, is fairly easy to navigate, is durable, and has long battery life. As long as you arent transferring songs every day, the slowness of the computer program shouldnt be too much of a problem, either. If youre looking for a player for not too much money, lots of space, and much longer battery life than the iPod, the Zen Sleek Photo is the way to go.
On: 2006-09-20
This is the third Creative MP3 player that I have bought. The first two were accidentally broken, no fault of the manufacturer, and I am convinced by the quality of product that Creative Labs produces.
I bought another brand of MP3 player recently, thinking that they are all the same and was disapointed that it didnt have the features that I have come to really enjoy from my previous Creative MP3 players. Needless to say, this one is the best one I have owned. It is light to carry. Small and sleek. The OLEC display is very crisp and the colors are bright and clear. I like the option of importing my own photos and producing portable slide shows.
The controls are a little sensative at first, but I have quickly gotten the hang of it. The menus make sense and the antenae for the FM radio is pretty strong. I really dont have anything bad to say about this player.
Creative Labs makes good stuff, in my opinion. You could do alot worse for the money.
On: 2006-08-30
It works pretty well until it crashes. I bought this because I heard good things about it, as well as the fact that I hate iTunes. But one day after I got it, it crashed and I couldnt turn it on and my computer told me it had "malfunctioned". I returned it and got a new one, which also crashed about a week later. Im definitely not getting another one of these.
On: 2006-08-29
This little device has problems unless you use it strictly to listen to music and and have access to a computer. Telephone service to the supporting staff for information or followups is almost a useless effort. I travel a lot and need to be sure that I have an extra power adapter along and an armband when I work out. None arer easily found by the manufacturer for this particular model. You have to cobble or get these from other MP3 players. The cable that comes with the set is cumbersome to lug around, if one wants to recharge the device in a hotelroom. So far my shopping around for these extras have been a waste of time.
Since I like to record books on this 20GB player for long trips I discovered that each cd record is mixed arbitrarily as tracks out of sequence---I have heard many chapters in both reverse and back to back order---cant get them in sync or in order nor is it possible to erase many tracks at any given time. The device is also hypersensitive to touch and, unless it is secured from sudden movements, if possible, it could shift tracks unexpectedly. The 20gigabytes piece has limited accessories which can be purchased---unlike the micro version.
Both are neat devices and worth the money, but not if it is to be used as a substitute for cds or tapes. A pity.
On: 2006-08-25
I purchased the Zen Photo as my first mp3 player. I have had it for 2 months and really enjoy it. I looked at the different mp3 players available and read several different reviews and chose this one. I have had no problems so far. I really enjoy the large storage space. The touch pad was annoyingly sensitive at first but once I learned to slide my finger along it rather than tap, it worked great. The price was another reason I chose this player.
There are a lot of great aspects to this player and it is definately worth the money. You can use the player as a removable disk to transport basically any type of file. The player allows the user to designate a certain amount of the space for this.
I would say buy it and enjoy
On: 2006-08-22
Being my first mp3 player I was worried about getting the right player for my needs and budget. This has been a great product and I have ahd no "buyers remorse". The keypad is easy to work with although a little sensitive. The downloads are quick and easy. The only problem Im having is deciding which music to put on. I thought 20 GB would be plenty, but I have used over a third and I am still in the Ds of my collection. The only problem is the 19 hour battery timee isnt just playing time. You pretty much have to recharge nightly. Which is no big deal, just a habit I have yot to form. All-in-all a great first experience and I may even need a second one for the balance of my collection.
On: 2006-08-18
This little player has met my expectations, but not gone much above it. However, being a happy person, I am perfectly content with it.
I like the look of the player, and it is pretty small. I like how you can have a photo as your background(i think), repeat songs, and the countless other features it has, including radio, photos, calendar, microphone, and can act as an extra device storage(like a floppy disk). It served my purpose, getting all my songs on, and in that sense, it passes.
Here are the cons however:
1. When i recieved the player, there were 2-3 specks of dust inside screen. Write when i took it out, I noticed this. After 2 months, the dust isnt bad, but its still there.
2. The muffs on the headphones fell off within the first month. Both of them actually fell off.
3. My player has crashed twice. Both times, it just completely freezes while operating it. You cant do anything except hit the Reset button, and choose the Reboot feature. I find this feature very handy, although I hope my player does not freeze int he future.
Overall, it passes.
On: 2006-08-16
I HIGHLY recommend this little gadget for anyone seeking a bit of storage room on a budget. Not only does this player have a fantastic battery life, huge photo/music storage, but its got a bunch of extra benefits such as FM tuner, voice recorder etc. I love this player because its compatible with so many media player types, not ONLY Itunes. Seriously, buy this! (Also buy a case since it scratches easily)
On: 2006-08-15
I chose this MP3 player because I hate itunes, so I wanted something that would let me use windows media player. I am so glad I made that choice.
The player is even nicer looking than I expected it to be, so I was happy when I opened the box. It comes with very few instructions, but you dont really need much instruction cause the thing basically does the work for you. I cant even explain how outrageously easy to use it is.
Plus, the price is clearly awesome as you can see.
On: 2006-08-09
Good alternative to ipod, though ipod navigation is better in my opinion. I havent officially tested the battery life, but i dont feel like it is as long as claimed by creative. At least 12 hours i think, which is decent. Brushed aluminum hasnt scratched yet. Its cool, but could be better. FM reception isnt the greatest. Ill prolly upgrade after I top 20 gigs.
On: 2006-08-08
I bought this on May 30, its FM radio failed on july. Each time, when I turned on automatic tuning, it will stuck and I have to reset it and continue listening to the music. Starting this month, I even could not turn it on, the only way to turn it on was to reset it. But today, even reset did not work. What a garbage product. I will buy a Apply to replace it.
On: 2006-08-07
My wife asked for an iPod for a gift. I asked, Oh, an MP3 player?. And, she replied, No, I want an iPod. Far be it for me to contradict my beloved so I bought the iPod, which she truly appreciates. After spending a couple of weeks converting our modest CD collection into MP3s, I decided to buy a MP3 player for myself. I did the requisite research and also asked our adolescent son (who knows *all*, at least that what he likes to think). He advised a Zen Creative. It not only accepts WMAs but has a built-in FM radio and voice recorder. Better yet, it was only half the price of my wifes iPod. In a word, I bought both an iPod and Creative Zen and I prefer the latter because it has more features and is half the price of its competitor. But, if you see my wife, dont let on Im gloating!
On: 2006-08-06
Dont buy this, unless you want to go through what I did! I had researched for about a month online, checking reviews and information about MP3 players. I finally had it narrowed down to either this one or the Vision:M, which has more memory but also costs about $100 more. I decided to give the Sleek Photo a try. It came, and I spent several hours loading on all of my music, making my playlists, etc. The very next morning, it wouldnt turn on!!!! I couldnt charge it, couldnt do anything. I was so upset, but I figured that maybe I just had a fluke. So I sent it back (I had to pay return shipping--make sure you check your sellers return policy if it comes from somewhere other than Amazon itself!) and I ordered another one directly from Amazon. Well, this time it worked for three days, then froze on a "please wait" screen and I was back in the same boat. I tried to reset it, but nothing worked. So I sent it back, this time at no charge to me because Amazon guarantees everything, and I am waiting for my Vision:M to arrive. Hopefully I will have better success this time.
On: 2006-08-06
I got a great deal on this player, normally 180 dollars, I got it from amazon for 120 after rebates. It was very easy to set up to your computer with the provided software. Or, if you want to you can sync your entire music library to your mp3 player with a few clicks of your mouse through windows media player.
The only problem I had was getting used to the scrolling feature. It is a little too sensitive, but if you turn the sensitivity down all the way, you can get used to it fairly quickly. You can also upload your own pictures and save them as a background screen, a neat extra feature. Very customizible playlist creator, and a good search feature is provided, search by genre, artist or track. This player automatically rearranges all your music in alpahbetical order too.
If I had to do it again I would in a heartbeat, this is a great little music player, and it is pretty small for 20GB of hard drive space, a little bigger than the size of a deck of cards.
by: Anonymous On: 2006-08-05
The creative zen sleek photo is an awesome mp3 player. It has a lot of capabilities. One of the reasons why I purchased this player and not an ipod is because the sleek has a built-in microphone while with an ipod (the regular ones, not the nano), you actually have to buy another piece in order to record something. Originally I was going to buy the 8 gb creative zen but it turned out that this was cheaper because amazon had a rebate offer so I ended up getting this one. Anyways, Im really glad I ending up getting this one because since I use it to store all my pictures, I have plenty of room to do that, have tons of music, and record as much as I want. The reason Im rating it as 4 stars is because:
-not very many choices for accessories
-uses up a lot of your battery if you play around with your pictures on the actual player (but you can still play around with them on the computer so its not so bad)
-pretty bulky for an mp3 player (but its not too bad, compared to a discman)
-tried out the alarm feature but it didnt work for me(I didnt hear anything at all but maybe the alarm is just really low)
Still, I highly recommend this product. It has not given me any trouble so far (I have had it for almost 2 months) and it is really easy to load stuff onto...my computer is not new at all and it takes less than a minute to load 2 or 3 songs. Instead of purchasing a flexiskin to protect this player from scratches, I recommend getting a Belkins sports case instead because it protects the entire thing, including the screen (the flexiskin has cutouts for the screen and touchpad). You can buy this case through amazon or buy one that comes with a cover from the creative labs website.
On: 2006-08-04
I loaded 16 gigs of my music and listened for 3 days before it completely died. It gave me an error message, and then went to a black screen. It will not charge. It will not play. But it looks cool on my desk. I took it back and wont get another.
On: 2006-08-03
This product is everything that is advertised. While it may not have the iPod recognition factor, it is definitely a viable alternative to an iPod, and I have already recommended it to my friends. I didnt want to give into the iPod craze, and the Creative Zen has met and exceeded all my expectations. While you cant watch video on it (who really needs to watch video on a 2 inch screen anyway??), loading music onto the player is a breeze once youve installed the included software on your computer. Also, unlike an iPod, the screen turns ALL THE WAY off when idle or when a song is playing, so you get hours of more battery use! A slight annoyance is that sometimes you have to reset the player by insterting a pin in a little hole when it freezes, but the Zen boots right back up in about 10 seconds with no memory lost and no harm done to the player. If youre looking for a great little mp3 player with room for thousands of songs/photos, this is an awesome choice. Highly highly recommended by this user!!
On: 2006-08-03
I loaded 16 gigs of my music and listened for 3 days before it completely died. It gave me an error message, and then went to a black screen. It will not charge. It will not play. But it looks cool on my desk. I took it back and wont get another.
On: 2006-08-03
Lots of good reviews are true.
My first one died after about 3 weeks. I returned to Amazon with little hassle.
I shopped for another one that would meet my needs better, and ended up buying another Zen Sleek Photo. Best value for a simple player with lots of storage space.
I would recommend.
On: 2006-08-01
Ive been using the unit about a month now, its pretty good, and gets to what i really want, i say, it always depends on what you want to a portable devices, doesnt play movies and/or MPEGs but i like my PDA to handle the job. i like it too having it on while biking, Hiking and just any outdoor activities in a Tropical Pacific Island where i am now.
i keep 1 star down for it doesnt come with a cradle and the battery charger port goes with the USB cable connection, you dont have to lay down your player anywhere with the USB cable connected like its pig-tail and could be good if i can just leave my USB cable to my office and use the cradle at home.
As i said, its pretty good for a 20GB price, other product are more expensive, considering you have to pay for the name.A few hang-up at first operation and few resets have been done, but it should be normal since its working good at this time, controls and audio are good too, Hope this unit last to my expectation.
On: 2006-07-31
The Zen Sleek is easy to use, and isnt part of the iPod conspiracy which forces the whole world to buy iPod-only stuff. Its far less expensive than an iPod withe quivalent features.
This unit has TONS of memory, enough for THOUSANDS of songs.
On the other hand, they arent sold all over, and your best deal may be thru the internet.
Buy one!
On: 2006-07-28
I had a Creative Zen. It was OK until it crashed. The support service was terrible. I replaced it with an Apple iPod. Why did I ever get the Creative in the first place? The Apple is SOOO much better. Its easier to use, its smaller, it sounds better, its great for organizing songs and audiobooks. The Creative would be fine if you dont care about the dumb ways the controls are set up. But good luck if you have problems with it! If you get the kind of support I got, youll probably be shopping for an Apple soon. May as well just start there. I wish I had.
On: 2006-07-25
This ZEN is awsome! Its headphones are so comfortable I can sleep with them in...and when they dont come out in the night i dont wake up with sore ears. Ive had no problems with it and its many USEFULL features make it quite nice to use. The vertical touchpad is easy to use and its wide music support allows for great flexibility. Why should you buy this over say an iPod? Simple. Creative Labs design and construction are so durable that when my friend dropped his ZEN in his pool after drying it out all he had to replace was the hardrive which was significantly cheaper than buying a new one. Also storage space. True a basic iPod can hold 30 gigs while this zen only holds 20, but since Zens are compatible with WMA formating (half the space of an MP3) it can hold twice as many songs if you use WMA formatting, which is readily available to everyone with Windows Media Player.
On: 2006-07-23
The only things that I care about when buying an mp3 player are price and reliability. I read many reviews about how the iPod is pretty much designed to last one year (battery and/or hard drive craps out and you get the frowning face on the computer), so when I saw this mp3 player had good reviews and was only $185, I jumped on it. Lucky for me, Amazon is good with returns. I charged the battery, transferred my songs, and put it to work. The touch pad was a little annoying, but I could live with it. The sound quality was great. However, after one hour of listening, the unit froze up, which brought down the sound quality by a large factor. I had to let the battery completely drain before it would reset, and then I tried again. When it came back up, the "Down" part of the touch pad barely worked, and it froze up again after about 30 minutes.
Recap:
- Froze up twice and touchpad went to [...] within 24 hours
- Software is annoying, and youll need to make sure all you mp3 id tags are set or else browsing your music is annoying
- OLED screen is nice indoors, but almost impossible to see outside
- Touch pad is irritating even when it is fully functional (why does it need a touch pad anyway? do Up/Down buttons give you cancer or something?)
Verdict: Worthless
This seems to be the going theme with mp3 players these days: make it look pretty but dont worry about reliability or longevity (longevity is a bad thing for these companies). If my old Archos Jukebox 20 hadnt finally gone out after 3 1/2 years, Id still be using that. No frills, no software, and ugly, but it passed the "Does it Work" test, which is all I really care about. Maybe Ill try the discontinued iRiver H120 or H320 now or another old Archos Jukebox next.
On: 2006-07-23
This prodeuct is an excelent buy! Great clear sound, especially with the smart sound. I turned it up all the way and absolutely no distortion!! I love that it has an optional background. You can put pictures in it and set them as your background. Everything is perfect about except that after about 3 weeks my fm radio stopped working!! also every now and then it will skip a little bit. It will be playing a song and it will be almost at the end and then will start playing something in the begining of the song. But that is very rare. I also dont like that you need both the USB and the addaptor cords to charge it. But It has amazing battery life! All and all I deffinately reccomend this product.
On: 2006-07-22
If you want a music player which has good sound quality, easy to use and good software interface, then this is the one for you. The display is not as good as an iPod, but the sound quality is really good. The software is better than what iPod has got. It a good deal for $185
On: 2006-07-19
I was looking for the most storage I could find for the lowest price. I knew that this was an older model, but for the features and the storage you simply cant come close to this player for the price that amazon was selling it for. If you have a large collection of music and you want a good entry model into the world of mp3 players then dont hesitate to purchase the creative zen sleek. The good stuff: Sound quality, music tags, ease of navigation through all your music. I didnt really buy it for the photo option, but if you need it its there. Stuff that I didnt expect: Its a little slow, but that may be because I have 15 out of 20 gigs used up. I have not had it skip once yet and Ive bounced it around quite a bit on bike rides and such. One complaint I have is that transfers from coumputer to mp3 player are a little sketchy. I have had it lock up on me two or three times and I havent transferred files too many more times than that, but you just hit the reset button and wait 5 minutes or so and its back to where it was. I havent used it for extended periods so I cant really comment on the battery life. In conclusion, the features and price (if you can get it for around $150) simply can not be beat, so if your looking for an entry model into the world of mp3 players go for it you wont be sorry.
On: 2006-07-18
I do not have the new Zen Sleek Photo, but I assume they are very similiar. I have had my Sleek (the one I have now) for almost a year. Why do I say the one I have now? About a month after I got my first one, I dropped it on the tile floor in Kmart. Regardless of the huge drop from my hand to the ground, it still started up. Thank god. But now I had to constantly pound on the Sleek to get the touch pad to work in the middle, and the two of the buttons (the back menu and the folder menu buttons) werent working, which are key to using it. I took it back to Best Buy, and they gladly replaced it for me.
With my second Sleek, I have had absolutely no problems. The software isnt the best but isnt the worst (I hate iTunes with a passion and it is most of the reason I went looking for something besides iPod). Personally I do all of my music playing, ripping, etc, on Windows Media Player, and then just put it all into Creative Media Source and sync my player. WMP doesnt seem to sync well with the Sleek, it tends to delete songs off my Sleek that I dont want deleted and it doubles up songs if there are two copies of the song on WMP. Ive had no trouble with either program that came with the Sleek, either the Media Source or the PlaysForSure program.
As for looks, the Sleek is what it says it is..SLEEK. Very sleek. Too sleek. I bought a skin for it on ebay and its wonderful. I havent had my Sleek out of its skin since I got it. The fact that the charging cord is attached to the USB cord doesnt really bother me, though it was irritating at first. The charging port on the Sleek is huge, but whatever. I dont ever move my cord from next to my laptop, so its no biggie for me. For someone who travels constantly, I wouldnt suggest this cord..thought there is a cradle sort of thing Ive seen on some websites.
I used to hate iPods as well, but after playing with my best friends video iPod, I do admit, they are pretty and have a good design. But I dont mind the vertical touch pad on the Sleek, and I do like the buttons surrounding it. But the only iPod I would pay money for is a video iPod, and my Sleek was 150 dollars less when my family couldnt afford an expensive iPod. For for the price (and my mp3 players age), I love my Sleek. Ive had absolutely no problems with it, when I hear constant problems about iPods, from people I know. And I can avoid iTunes (=DDD). Im not sure if I would trade my Sleek for a video iPod though..my Sleek has been way too good for me for the last year.
On: 2006-07-17
Once I got past the fact that the Sleek Photo (SP) does not arrange music by filename (which is how I arrange it on the PC) I was pretty happy with it. The SP arranges by tag info so I was forced to clean up the tags on a lot of my files. Very time consuming, but it probably needed to be done anyway.
Still getting used to the touch pad, but being able to arrange the menu the way you want it helps a lot.
I use it mostly for music as opposed to photos and use it connected to my car stereo more than with earbuds. It handles the chore quite well and the battery life is great (at least 10 hours at full volume).
Downside? Either long recharge time (by USB connection) or you have to have the sync cable attached and use the AC charger (takes less than 2 hours on AC if the battery is empty). I would have preferred to be able to use the AC charger without the sync cable. Would also have liked some sort of padded case for it to carry it/protect it in the car.
The software is very useful, particularly to rip CDs to the SP, the hard drive or both. However, the SP must be connected to be able to use any of the accompanying software.
Overall, it fits my needs very well and is a tremendous amount of space for the money
On: 2006-07-16
This MP3 player is good value for money: 20GB, nice design, excellent sound quality.
However, there are several irritating problems. 1. Dust behind the screen, straight out of the box. 2. Picture quality isnt great (This is the Zen Sleek Photo, after all). 3. The big problem: It crashes occasionally, (blank screen, no signs of life, wont charge OR all the lights on, no response, wont turn off). The first time this happened, I thought it was dead and would have to be returned to Amazon. In fact, it needed to be reset by inserting a pin or paperclip into the hole beside the USB socket. This is not explained adequately in the manual, and I had to check the Creative website to find this out. It seems to crash when it has been connected to my computer via USB.
Despite this extremely irritating problem, I dont regret buying the Zen Sleek Photo. It sounds great, and the capacity is fantastic for the price.
On: 2006-07-14
First, the good: This is an excellent MP3 Player. I hear nuances in the music from this player that Ive never heard before from CDs that Ive played for years! I love the 20 GB (well, actually 19.05 GB) as I can put virtually all of my favorite music in this little machine and have it with me anywhere!
BUT ... It hangs up unexpectedly when attempting to sync it. Once all that was needed was a simple reset, but most recently it required a full re-format of the drive and consequent reloading of all the music. It only took about 1/2 hour, but it was still a hassle.
But the biggest irritation, I think, is the woeful inadequacy of the Owners Manual. It barely acknowledges the reset button but doesnt mention it anywhere except the "overview diagram". I had to e-mail tech support to find out that it is the key to fixing the hang-ups mentioned above, and such info should be in the owners manual.
Overall I think its still a very good deal. Just be prepared to spend time working with it.
On: 2006-07-14
After a lot of research and review, i bought this product for my friend and he was happy with the item. The features of this product are good but when it comes to accessibility and handy, I would not recommend this product becasue its bulky and keys to access Menus are not good. After few tries, i got irritated with the product.
If i have to recommend someone for an MP3 player with all features except photo and video, it would be mobiBlu. I personally dont like watching photos and videos in a small screen.
On: 2006-07-14
Yes it is really good enough with this money...I have only 2 negative thoughts about it...First, it works only with Windows XP and I really cant understand why it is so...Second, The main menu touchpad is very sensitive and sometimes it is hard to enter the submenus...Besides these negatives, it has a lot of positive feature...Thank You Amazon....
On: 2006-07-14
I like alot about it. Holds alot of music. Battery life seems good. My only issues are the controls. Im used to Apples click wheel, and I found the controls on the Creative Zen to be frustrating. Its also a bit heavy. But all in all a good buy for the price.
by: gravitino On: 2006-07-13
Almost two years after buying a 20GB iRiver to store my favourite music, I decided to buy another 20GB player for two reasons -- firstly to store all my audiobooks, and secondly to see how the technology had evolved over time.
Im very pleased with this machine so far. Unlike my music, which I recorded at top quality, I recorded all the audiobooks at lowest quality, which works out at about 25MB per CD, in practice. For spoken word, this quality is fine. It is astonishing to store about £2,000-worth of CDs on the machine (i.e. about 150 audiobooks) and well over a thousand photos, and still have only used up about half of the disk.
And the really wonderful thing for any traveller is the obvious fact that the machine doesnt get any heavier with all this content!
One bonus: Ive seen several trade descriptions of this product which dont even mention the built-in FM radio. This radio gets reliably better reception than either my iRiver or a pocket DAB from Perstel that I probably shouldnt have bought.
Heartily recommended.
On: 2006-07-13
Our family now owns two iPods (a mini and a nano) and two Creative Zens (a Sleek and a Vision:M). While the iPods were easier to set up and use out of the box, the Zens support more formats and integrate easily with a lot of different music library management programs. In addition, I think the sound from the Zens (dont use the included headphones) is much better. In the future, I will avoid the hype and stick with Zen players.
On: 2006-07-10
Could have been great, but a couple of serious but silly shortcomings -
1) Charging the device off the supplied AC adapter requires a special purpose USB cable to which the adapter plugs in. Means that when I am travelling, I now have to carry an additional cable for me to lose!
2) The creative explorer software did not load on my win2K machine - with a very cryptic message saying about the OS not being supported. There isnt even a README file on the CD>
3) In use the device is still clunky - if you want to change the graphic eq for example, you have to go through a couple of button clicks/scrolls. When using the radio, you cannot adjust the equalizer while the music is playing which I find astonishing. YOu have to stop the radio and then adjust the equalizer!. At least it has an user adjustable equalizer.
4) Radio does not seem to have a selectable mono/stereo switch. You will be stuck on listening to multipath distortion. The radio quality is pretty good, but the sensitivity sucks.
5) You cannot use an external microphone - except through maybe the docking port at the bottom - but a mic that works through a port at the bottom will also cost 10 times as much with all the connector and cabling and besides, this mike wont work anywhere else.
7) At its brightest, the OLED screen is not that bright. Its like any other TFT screen, possibly a tad worse except for viewing angle - as if that matters on a small screen.
8) Limited compatibility and peripherals as compared to the iPod.
9) The adapter could have been much smaller. However, this adapter will also power the creative Travelsound - a bonus if you happen to have their excellent portable speakers.
10) You need to load yet another software on the computer - since the device wont work via win explorer for music and photo upload/download purposes.
11) The device appears quite sturdy, but the port at the bottom which you have to use all the time for charging - is fragile.
Other comments -
1) The touch pad works quite well - and its sensitivity can be set. I wonder why people complain about it being "too sensitive" when one can adjust it perfectly.
2) The device otherwise is well designed and I do like it. However, the clunky cable arrangement for charging, fragile port, and software problems lead me to take 2 stars away from something that would otherwise deserve all 5.
Update - I returned this and got the Toshiba Gigabeat F40 (40 GB version). See the Gigabeat review for a comparison..
On: 2006-07-07
This is my 4th MP3 player, and my second from Creative. I bought another brand and was extremely disapointed, so I did alot of research and comparing before I bought this one.
-Number one selling point is price per Gigabyte. I couldnt find anything that compared in this area.
-Second, I like the size. Ive got a Zen Touch, and I have found that it is a bit too bulky. They scaled this down very well while keeping a decent sized screen.
-I love that it is multifunctional. Keeps music and photo files, and has a good enough display that you can actually look at a photo on it. Additionally it will sync with Outlook, so it can be a backup for all of your phone numbers addresses and appointments, and again the display is good enough to actually view these things.
-I bought another MP3 player (later returned it) and one of my complaints was that it didnt come with a manual. This player comes with a manual, but it is so easy and intuative to use, that the manual is not needed. I havent opened it yet, and have had no problems.
-FM radio is a nice bonus compared to my Zen Touch as well.
-All in all, this is a great product, and I would recommend it to anybody who is looking for a fairly large capacity MP3 player at an affordable price.
On: 2006-07-05
Ive been very happy with the Zen Sleek. It was easy to set up and its easy to add music to. If you check the ID tags with the music, before you load it on, youll be able to catagorize it the way you want to. If youre loading singles and they have a designated album, you will have a list of many albums in the album catagory. You can change this with the ID tags. The sound is great. It seems to hold its charge. I used it on a long drive and there was no problem. It still had plenty of charge left on it. The software it comes with is easy to use. Ive never used an IPod, so I cant compare the two. Once youve loaded up the software, you can add any type of music you like. It doesnt have to come from a specific place. The controls are easy to use, also. I would recommend this player. Its a good performer and although youre laying out the cash, youre getting a little more for it.
On: 2006-07-04
I strongly recommend the Sleek Photo! The screen is large and bright, and the colors crisp (the custom wallpaper setting is really cool). The software is easy to use, its just drop-and-drag, basically. Sound quality is perfect. Many people have complained about the touch-scroll wheel, and Ill admit it takes getting used to, but youll get the hang of it in no time and youll like it. You can even adjust the sensitivity of it, so its not a problem. The photo viewing is an awesome feature, the display is awesome, there are so many great uses for it. The Sleek Photo also features date/time, a planner, alarm, voice recording, radio, radio recording... all in all its an awesome deal for a low price. Do yourself a favor and buy the Sleek Photo, you wont regret it!
On: 2006-06-30
Most people seem to be drawn to ipods for some reason, this mp3 player has so many easy to use programs in it that u constantly find. Navigation is extremely nice. U can even change the sensitivity of the touch pad. I have a few friends that use ipods and constantly have trouble with them. They are quite jealous of my zen. Its colors are very good quality along with the sound.
On most mp3s the custom eq doesnt do anything but on this it makes all the difference. I listen to everything from classical to death metal to hip hop and this player handles it perfectly. The only problem i had wasnt with the player itself but installing the program into my computer. I think the problem was my computer though. The most surprising part is the price. A 2gb ipod cost 200 and a 20 gb creative zen cost the same price. If uve been searching for a while your search is over. Buy the zen.
On: 2006-06-30
I recently purchased the Creative Zen Sleek photo mp3 player. It was a good purchase. Its moderately priced, easy to use and has a rechargeable battery similar to that of a cell phone that gives 15 or 16 hours of playback if used wisely. And with 20 GB of storage, one can take several hundred hours if music in the palm of your hand! I would venture to say it is as good a buy if not better than the ipod.
by: predictorx On: 2006-06-28
I received this product as a gift and am very happy with it.
Pros:
- 20GB Capacity
- FM radio (works very well in my experience)
- sturdy metal case
Cons (all minor, in my opinion):
- included music management software could be more user-friendly
- non-replaceable battery (although it holds a decent amount of charge)
On: 2006-06-26
As stated above, this is a good alternative to one of the Apple products for those that perfer to use Windows Media Player as their chief music listening program.
I personally switched from the disasterous Ipod Mini, and was been well satisfied with this product so far. The only major problem ive run into so far is converting files from iTunes to Windows Media Player. Almost everything plays fine, but for me many files in iTunes were in mp4 format, and I wasnt able to easily find a way to convert the files to .wma or .mp3 formats.
For those that this is a problem for, this product can be considered a 4. For those that do not have this problem, this product is a definite 5 and seriously worth considering.
On: 2006-06-26
In comparison, most commonly with the Apple Ipod with photos, i think this far exceeds the competitor. The Creative Player has many adjusting features including how sensitive the control pad is as well as the vibrant colors and premade backrounds. Another great feature is setting a photo as the backround, which personalizes this player even better. Though the Creative Player weighs more and is thicker than its competitor, it has a smaller perimeter, which is better for pockets anyways. Lastly, in comparison, Ipods tend to freeze frequently, but this creative player has not failed me once, and if it does it is programmed with a reset button on the side which will help tremendously if need be. I have and am currently enjoying every feature on this MP3 player and revel in the price differences as well between the Creative player and the Apple Ipod.
On: 2006-06-25
This is an amazing Mp3 player in everyway possible with a few minor drawbacks, but of course, every Mp3 player has their drawbacks, and this one less than all the others.
it is a bit heavy, having a nice solid feel to it. the design is pure and sleek, with easy navigation controls if you are used to the touchpad. the surface is mettalic, so its really hard to scratch, and in my opinion, it looks waaaay better than those weird looking ipods.
all the control buttons light up beautifully, and clicks easily. the touch pad can be set to low, medium, or high sensitivity. the screen is just pure amazing, the photos look better on the sleek than it does on my computer. i jumped from a 1g no-brand name mp3 player with flash memory to this one and im astonished by the difference, and regret not getting it sooner. all the functions work, including radio, microphone, calender, time, etc. you can even manually set the items on the main menu.
when you are tired of the microphone in your ear, then you can connect the player to the speakers, and let music fill the whole room.
the sound quality is great! you really feel as if the band is right besides you performing.
the software is not at all hard to use. you just open it and put songs into your sleek, then after that you can organize them into playlists.
the only thing i dont like are the wires. they are quite the opposite of the sleek, being big and stupid. there are two wires the usb and the charger and when you want to charge, you have to connect the usb cable as well.... well its worth it.
i dont think theres another 20g player with photos for under 200 bucks....... its a great deal.
i bought mine on buydig.com for 147 bucks and am very happy with it so far. i hope this review helped you decide on the perfect Mp3 player for you. (although i suggest the creative zen sleek photo)
On: 2006-06-25
Great price for so much memory. Easy to set-up. Over 1,000 songs downloaded with more room to add more.
On: 2006-06-24
Its a good buy for less than $170.
I had no issues with the player so far.
Sound quality is very good, and all the extra features like FM, voice recorder, alarm, organizer and the 20GB capacity adds its overall appeal.
The 2 cable design (1 for usb, a separate one for charge) is a bit weak.
Vertical touch pad is challenge to get used to - if you set the sensitivity of the touchpad to low, its easily usable.
On: 2006-06-22
Its not easy to install the software. And its too heavy to take to workout. I think I made a wrong choice.
On: 2006-06-20
I got this player and I was pretty excited. I hooked it up to my computer and it worked fine for two days. The third day it stopped recognizing the device. I did everything I could think of...checked out the online directions and did everything they suggested as well. Still couldnt resolve the situation. I called customer service and they wouldnt help me. Rather, they insisted on emailing me links to their website with directions to possibly fix the problem...rather than helping me fix the problem and walking me through it personally. I think this is horrible customer service. Needless to say I went back and forth, following the directions, not fixing anything, then calling back customer service to get another stupid link with more directions to follow. Finally the tech. rep. told me to reinstall my whole operating system since "that had to be the problem" I spent a whole day!!! backing up my files, and reformatting my whole computer. And guess what?? Same thing.....my computer still does not recognize the player when I plug it in. I have windows xp service pack 2 and they said this is what the player is designed to work with.
I really did not want to go with an iPod or something like that but I think Im taking this back and Im now through with Creative players. Take my advice and get something else. At least until they get this software issue sorted out. Very dissappointing player indeed.
On: 2006-06-18
When I saw this item I liked the idea having 20GB at my disposal. Some people have complained about the controls on this is kind of hard to master. I had no problems figuring out the buttons on the player itself. When I ordered this, I was really hoping it had the "drag and drop" feature like many Creative MP3 players have. This one doesnt. You have to install software to use it. Heres the problems: I tried installing it on my PC. It installed with no problem. However, the program WILL NOT recognize the device is plugged in. I went to the Creative Support sight, no contact numbers. Just a email service. Got their email back, did everything on the list. Still doesnt work. SO, I tried installing it on my laptop, the software wouldnt even install. Just gave me an error message. Once again, I have sent an email to Creative. This is the 3rd day Ive had this MP3 Player. So far, all Ive gotten out it is that I have a wonderful silver colored $180 dollar paper weight. Needless to say, if these software issues dont resolve quickly, I am returning this item and getting an MP3 player that may have less memory, but DEFINATELY has the drag and drop feature.
On: 2006-06-16
I am a former Mac user who went over to the Dark Side with the purchase of a laptop PC which I love. When it came time to finally buy an MP3 Player, I researched everything I could and I chose the Creative Zen because of the price, the capabilities and that it has a radio. The second day I had it, after downloading 35 cds, it would not turn on. I finally had to stick a pin in the reset hole and then the screen was filled with unrecognizable characters. I ended up having to download the firmware on a ONE DAY OLD machine. I figured it was "User Error" even though I did nothing wrong. Today, a full two weeks since I bought the &*^!! thing, it wont turn on again. Same problems PLUS the PC wouldnt recognize the USB connection.
I love my Toshiba Laptop and wont go back to a Mac but my next MP3 will be an iPod.
Now I hope Amazon will accept this back and give me either a refund or credit!
On: 2006-06-12
I love it. It works very easy. I just figured out how to use it and it did not take but few minutes. Easy to use and lot of memory for my songs. I found it at a great price. I am very happy with this buy. I will buy again from here. Thanks for a great product.
On: 2006-06-06
Aesthetically it looks beautiful! Its a little heavy, if youre used to the small flash player types, which Im upgrading from. I started years ago with a mini disk player and loved it, but hated how I had to "record" everything to it instead of either burning or syncing, so I went for the iRiver MP3 CD Player and used that for a couple of years. Loved it! Then I bought a 512MB Samsung Yep. It was very nice for about 6 months and then everything I put on it had an annoying clicking noise for accompaniment. So I ditched it and went big with the Zen Sleek. It took about 5 minutes to get 1500 songs on it, and I guess I still have room for about 8000 more.
Navigation is very simple. Sort through artist, album or all music, listed alphabetically. Be sure to update all you ID Tags in MP10 1st. Radio reception is very strong. Havent tried recording using the mic yet. Photos uploaded easily, but contrary to the Amazon description I havent been able to listen to music while I browse my photos yet, but thats not too important as photo viewing is just a bonus to an mp3 player anyway.
The only thing Im worried about is the screen. I wish they made a case that had a protective screen built in, but unfortunatley I cannot find that many cases, other than the leather pouch and rubber skins for this player.
Id say if youre looking for an easy to use player, with photo, radio and recording ability, this is THE PLAYER at Amazons current $169 price. Something with 20 gig 5 years ago would have cost us $2000. Its just incredibe how prices of high tech drop so fast. I always say buy the best from the last couple years and youll be very happy, or get the latest and pay twice as much.
On: 2006-06-03
Like most Creative products, the Zen Sleek Photo has excellent music reproduction abilities. I listen to a pretty broad range of music (from Bach to Miles Davis to Death Cab) and this player handles every genre beautifully. It probably even makes country music sound good, but Ill never know... The top end sound level could be higher when connected to a home stereo or car sound system (Scion), but thats a pretty minor issue. Ive also download audio-books without any trouble.
I dont have much patience for manuals, so usually just bang around with things until I figure them out. The setup, loading and controls are intuitive and the scroll bar didnt give me any problem at the preset sensitivity level.
The one BIG problem, however, is that the player seized (no music, black screen) when I paused the fourth song I listened to. I could (barely) hear the hard drive when I held it up to my ear, and the power button was illuminated, it was still "on". I let the battery drain completely, recharged it and it seemed to be back to normal. Everything I had loaded onto the player was still there. After a week of using the player extensively, it just happened again. This time, it happened when I turned it on. Weird. Amazon was very good about getting another player to me (2nd day), and Im hoping that this ones problem is merely an anomoly.
On: 2006-06-02
I used to carry a mp3 based CD player with just 700mb of space on each CD and I didnt like the idea of creating more than one CD and changing between them all the time. I was looking for a portable hard drive based mp3 player with substantial storage space. I was firts enamoured by the looks of the Apple Ipod but after some extensive research, I found out that Ipod was all about design and sleekness and nothing else. Then I chanced on Zen sleek photo and it had good reviews and good features.
Well I am happy to say that I have made the right choice. I got this player last evening from Walmart and I have installed it and loaded all of my songs into it (I have about 2.5gb of songs and abt 500mb of photos). The player is working like a dream right now. Great sound quality, the photos look good on the player (though not as good as when looked on a PC but fine for a player like this). The navigation takes some time getting used to, but I have got used to it within an hour of using the player (may be its due to my speed). I love the way you can sync ur files to and from the player. I can now use it as a portable storage drive. AWESOME!
I suggest everyone to buy this player if youre looking for a cheap player that can play good music and can act as a portable storage drive!
On: 2006-05-30
I was very excited when I bought the Zen Sleek Photo; the screen is bright, the music sounds excellent. Unfortunately, navigation is horrible. The touch pad design causes constant false selections, sometimes interrupting (and basically deleting from the playlist) the music you are already playing. I cant imagine a test panel NOT complaining about this abysmal design. I guess Creative just did not listen. Then, to boot, the unit crashed after 10 days of owning it. My computer no longer recognizes it, and the screen is black. I am currently in the process of returning it. Please, save yourself the hassle (and shipping costs) and buy something else.
On: 2006-05-30
My father got me an iPod nano (2gb) for Christmas. It was decent, although as a music lover I felt restricted by the fact that I could only have 500 songs. Then in May, someone at school stole it, partly because of my own stupidity.
Well, to say the least, I was very disappointed, but my uncle who works at Wal-Mart was so moved by compassion that he bought me the Zen Sleek Photo at Walmart with his employee discount.
First of all, big props to this player for being the SAME PRICE AS THE iPod nano with 10 TIMES MORE STORAGE. And then I find out that it has microphone and FM radio?? And that albums, artists, and genres are nicely organized? And that photos look great? And that I can change the backgrounds? Incredible.
My one complaint was that setting up the software was a bit of a struggle, there are two programs you can use for updating, one for novices and one for advanced, and I actually found the novice one a bit more complicated than the advanced haha. But this really is a great alternative if your thinking of dropping $200 on an iPod nano.
On: 2006-05-28
I have had this player for a couple of weeks, so I feel Ive used it and familiarized myself with the controls enough to write a review. This is my second MP3 player. I already own a CD based player made by IRiver that is excellent. I bought that player in 2002 and I have not had any problems whatsoever. By 2006 with the market saturated by the more portable hard drive and flash memory based players, I decided to make the switch to something more portable that could also hold a substantial amount of music.
Ive always been of the line of thinking that it is a ridiculous thing to carry ones entire record collection with them. My collection however, is quite large. The 20-gigabyte hard drive the Zen Sleek Photo is equipped with was surprisingly a comfortable fit. I used to carry a CD wallet full of Data CDs formatted for my old player but now Ive transferred most of the songs on those discs to the Zen player. The portability of this player is one of its best features. It is small, light and well designed. All of the hard drive based MP3 players currently on the market are made for casual use, but it does seem that this player can stand up to constant use better than its counterpart the Ipod.
The Zens controls are awkward at first, but it does not take long to get used to the vertical touchpad. The touchpads sensitivity can be modified by accessing the player options through the main menu. Once songs, albums and playlist have been loaded, its a breeze scrolling through the various names to access any song (or group of songs) thats wanted. One of the drawbacks of its scaled down simplistic control system is the inability to make playlists, edit or change the order of songs directly from the player. If you want to make any revisions to track information or even change the sequence of a playlist, you must rely on the software that comes bundled.
The software, while its easy to use, is a taxing application when its loaded onto a computer. If you have a newer system with a processor in the 1.5 to 2-gig category you should be fine. If you are like me however (with a processor of less than 1 gig), then it can be a little sluggish. Running this program is similar to starting Musicmatchs jukebox application. Once the program is running, navigating through it is simple. Even those who are novices to this type of technology will find a user friendly environment that makes it easy to access the content on the computer hard drive, load the player and put it to use.
Another one of the players best features is its battery. This is the thing that is the most dramatic improvement compared to my last player. A 2 hour charge will last at least 12 hours (it lists as 15-20). When I put this in contrast with my other players 4 hour battery time it is significant because once I charge the new player, I generally dont have to charge it again until the next day. The feature that turns the backlight off when it is not in use probably contributes to the long battery life. File types also factor into the equation. MP3s are the easiest to play, while WMA and WAV files are a little more demanding on the battery.
The sound quality is superb. The player has an extensive EQ system that allows users to choose a preset (ranging from hip hop to classical) or customize their own settings. The smart sound feature will take all of the distortion out of songs encoded at high ranges and keeps the songs at a general levelness as far as loudness is concerned. This feature does affect the sound quality a little bit, but it can be side stepped almost entirely by turning the volume up a few notches. The headphones included are of average quality. The phones get the job done nicely and are a comfortable fit. I do wish that the padding that covers the ear buds were of a little more quality. Ill probably be in need of new padding (or new headphones) in a month or two.
The photo viewer shows crisp (miniature) replications of the photos loaded onto it. The quality drop when loaded onto the player is noticeable but not drastic. As a portable viewer, it is a good feature to have and it is the main reason for the players color display. The ability to partition a section of the hard drive for storage is also a useful tool. At the moment I just have 512 megabytes set aside to use for school work but you have the option of up to 16 gigabytes.
Overall, the ZEN Sleek Photo is an excellent MP3 player, with great features (microphone, FM radio, limited organizer, photo viewer, drive storage). It does have a few functionality issues but these dont warrant any great complaints and usually just require a tad more patience. Ive enjoyed using this player and I would recommend the Zen Sleek Photo to anyone looking to buy a quality player of this class.
Design * * * *1/2 stars
Functionality/ease of use * * *1/2 stars
Sound quality * * * * stars
Features * * * * stars
Portability * * * * * stars
On: 2006-05-26
I started out in the MP3 world with a Rio Cali. It was ok. It was easy to use and did what it was designed to do. My husband took a new job that required a lot of flight travel so he asked is he could "borrow" my MP3 for the flights. I let him and never got it back. He offered to buy me an iPOd to replace it and I refused. I told him I wanted the Creative instead.
I was able to get this one installed on my computer easily and quickly. I love that it has a rechargable battery (my Rio went through AAAs like mad) THe color screen is awesome. I like that I can use it t transfer files from computer to computer much like a jump drive. Its just over a very versitle item.
My only negative is its a bit heavier than I would like, but thats not really an issue. I understand that you have to have the weight to get the battery life, etc.
On: 2006-05-25
I have to say, this is an awesome MP3 Player. This, however, is my first MP3 player, though I have fiddled around with my friends (she has a Toshiba Gigabeat) a few times. Even so, I find this a great player.
As opposed to the extreme frustrations my friend went through with the software on her Gigabeat, I was surprised to find that the Creative Zens software was quite easy to install and had no complications at all on my computer. It took around 10-15 minutes to install the software, mainly due to the fact it has a couple applications it has to install, and about 10-15 minutes to sync my music (nearly 1000 songs) onto the player. I was surprised to be able to get right listening to my music in a half hour!
As far as the setup on the player itself, its quite easy to use (even the scroll bar, though it takes a minute or two of playing around with to get used to.) I enjoy being able to make playlists, sort by album, artist or song name. The full-color screen makes it visually pleasing as well. The music sounds great on it, as well, though I am far from being an audiophile. Big big plus is that it supports WMAs and even WMAs that are protected. Syncing with Windows Media Player 10 was simple, too.
Overall, I am very pleased with this player and couldnt be happier with my choice of this product as my first MP3 player. Its very nice in all aspects and has more than enough space for my song collection.
On: 2006-05-13
After ordering two of the Creative Zen Sleek Photo 20 GB MP3 Player I have to say that I have been completely unsatisified with this product. I ordered this product as a 16th birthday present for my daughter. The first one did not work at all--think the charger wasnt working. The second one would charge but after installing the software we found that the software would not recognize that the device was docked/connected to the USB port. After looking over the support site at the Creative website we decided that it was too much trouble to attempt to get it working after 5 hours on the computer. We wanted a product that a teenager could use--not one that required a computer technician to get it working.
On: 2006-04-13
This is a great product. Despite what others say the touchpad is easy to use. Its fun to look at and play with. The FM radio is hella cool too.
However....
make sure your computer is up to snuff with all the updates needed, otherwise youre in for frustration. AND if you need the updates, make sure your version of Windows is legitimate, otherwise youre going to shell out another 150 bucks to make it so.
On: 2006-02-20
I just purchased this player (my third Creative Labs mp3 player), and I love it. The previous two players Ive had were a Zen Xtra and a Zen Micro, both great for the price and features. Ive never had any problems with a Creative product, and I really like them better than any of their competitors.
The Zen Sleek Photo really shows off with some of the extra features it has. The OLED screen is amazing! The picture is very clear and beautiful in all conditions except outdoors in bright sunlight. I have loaded a few pictures to it already, and they look great. I really appreciate the ability to set a photo as the background and the ability to zoom in on the pictures in viewing mode. As far as most of the other special features of the Zen Sleek, many people have summed them up better than I can under the non-photo (Zen Sleek) player. The built-in microphone, FM receiver, and sound quality top the list of things that put this over the top.
Altogether a great buy! Very recommended, the 20gb and screen make it an ideal player for those who want a great looking device that holds a lot.
|
|
