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Creative Zen 2GB MP3 player for $56.99 shipped

konakona

konakona

Diamond Member
snipped from techbargains:

Creative ZEN 2GB MP3 Player (Flash Drive Based, FM Tuner, Voice Recorder) $56.99 Free Shipping, Feb. 13 11 AM

newegg has the Creative ZEN 2GB MP3 Player, featuring a flash drive for reduced music skipping, increased durability, and longer battery time, 2.5" display, movie viewing capability, FM tuner, and voice recorder for a low $56.99 with $5 off Coupon Code: zen5 (Exp 2/29). Free 3 Day Shipping. Tax in CA, NJ, PR, TN.
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linky here
Since I had lost my el-cheapo sansa, I have been eyeing on several mp3 players.
EEE could have gotten the job done for stationary use with a power source, but a little too bulky for working out and such.

I was this close from getting this from buy.com with GCO. Good thing I didn't - egg has it nearly $10 cheaper even with GCO taken into account ($74.99-$10 = $64.99).

Reviews are overwhelmingly positive, and I have always liked creative mp3 players.
 
I saw this on a different site for a bit more, and still thought it was a phenomenal value. Any owners here that can mention any shortcomings before I buy one?
 
I have had a 4GB ZEN since last fall. It was pretty buggy at first and would crash when playing videos, but recent firmware upgrades have fixed that (I haven't had a one crash since I upgraded the firmware).

The battery life is excellent. The sound quality is excellent. It will play Xvid and WMV videos, but only to a max resolution of 320x240, so most video files wlll still have to be reencoded. It takes regular SD cards, so the 2GB limit shouldn't be a big problem. I believe that it treats files on the SD card in a different way than the internal memory, so some of the playback features (i.e. search by artist, etc) are not available to files stored on the SD Card. This issue may be addressed in future firmwares. Lastly the screen has slight flicker (sort of like an interlaced CRT display), however it is not noticeable during video playback.

For this price, it is great deal. A light, full featured mediaplayer, with great battery life.
 
Originally posted by: ofacto
I have had a 4GB ZEN since last fall. It was pretty buggy at first and would crash when playing videos, but recent firmware upgrades have fixed that (I haven't had a one crash since I upgraded the firmware).

The battery life is excellent. The sound quality is excellent. It will play Xvid and WMV videos, but only to a max resolution of 320x240, so most video files wlll still have to be reencoded. It takes regular SD cards, so the 2GB limit shouldn't be a big problem. I believe that it treats files on the SD card in a different way than the internal memory, so some of the playback features (i.e. search by artist, etc) are not available to files stored on the SD Card. This issue may be addressed in future firmwares. Lastly the screen has slight flicker (sort of like an interlaced CRT display), however it is not noticeable during video playback.

For this price, it is great deal. A light, full featured mediaplayer, with great battery life.
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great, I was debating whether I should get this or a chaper SD-able sansa. glad I went with the better one for a tad bit more money 🙂
 
Originally posted by: konakona

great, I was debating whether I should get this or a chaper SD-able sansa. glad I went with the better one for a tad bit more money 🙂
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The original Sansa e200 series can only use microSD which are more expensive and easier to lose than standard SD cards, I can get a 4GB SD card for the same price as a 2GB MicroSD (around $20 on sale), so the cost kind of evens out between the 2 players.

Also the Sansa is not very good for watching videos (smaller screen, and it only supports motionJPEG as its video codec)
 
As ofacto mentioned the biggest downside IMO is that the SD card doesn't integrated with the media library. Hopefully this is something that can be remedied with future firmware updates, though. I've been eying these players as well, overall they seem to be excellent. But if I ever got one it'd have to be 4GB or 8GB. 😉
 
Lack of integration for SD really kills this for me, if it's addressed in future upgrades this would be hot as hell for me. Still an excellent deal.
 
It's not a big deal if you just want to use the SD for video, but I agree if you need to integrate music it's a big downside. It seems like such an easy issue to resolve, though, I don't know why it wouldn't be addressed in a firmware update.

This is why I'd personally go for 4GB or 8GB internal memory. Should be plenty for my music, and then a 4GB or 8GB SD should be more than adequate for video. Just in case the SD integration thing isn't fixed.
 

I have the 8GB model, and I love it. I had the Sansa View, and the audio quality was very average and thin sounding. The Zen is excellent. The Zen also has a better screen with no or minimal screen door effect. My copy of the Zen has never crashed, and battery life is excellent. I would say it's one of the best flash based players in the market.
 
I'm still using a Zen Vision: M, but I'm thinking about getting this when mine does eventually die. Hopefully there will be something new out by then, though. Can anyone say 60gb flash players for $200?
 
Originally posted by: frostedflakes
It's not a big deal if you just want to use the SD for video, but I agree if you need to integrate music it's a big downside. It seems like such an easy issue to resolve, though, I don't know why it wouldn't be addressed in a firmware update.

This is why I'd personally go for 4GB or 8GB internal memory. Should be plenty for my music, and then a 4GB or 8GB SD should be more than adequate for video. Just in case the SD integration thing isn't fixed.
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heh, doesnt faze me at all either way, my music gets sorted well in a very accessible manner on the hdd anyway. I would rather not rely on tag metadata to forcefully re-sort it (and hence thereby destroying the existing efficient sortng scheme). Guess I am kinda lucky in a way 😀
 
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