Product Description
The Zen Nano 1GB blends fucntionality wth style, for a practical MP3 player that fits in with the latest trends. This small, stylish MP3 player holds over 500 songs -- enough to make any car ride, jog or tedious task a lot more enjoyable. Plays for up to 18 hours on a single removable AAA battery Signal-To-Noise Ratio - Up to 90dB Frequency Response - 20Hz-20KHz Harmonic Response Output -
<0.1% Dimensions(WxHxD) - 1.32 x 2.58 x 0.51 Weight - 0.8 oz (without battery)
Amazon.com Product Description
Creative's 1 GB Zen Nano is a versatile digital audio player--and recorder--that's easily pocketable for gym workouts or commutes. Weighing just a little more than an ounce (with AAA battery installed), the incredibly thin Zen Nano packs a lot of features into its small package. This version comes in gray, but it's also available in a rainbow of nine other vibrant colors.
The Zen Nano plays both MP3 and WMA digital audio files, including PlaysForSure secure WMA files from online stores and subscription services (such as Napster, Rhapsody, Wal-Mart, and MSN Music). The 1 GB of internal flash memory will store up to 32 hours of WMA files at 64 kbps or up to 16 hours of MP3 music at 128 kbps.
You can record directly from an external source (such as a CD player or cassette deck) with the line-in jack (files are recorded in MP3 format). It can also be used as a USB mass storage device, perfect for backing up important files or transferring documents from one PC to another.
The user-friendly reversible, blue backlit LCD enables both right- and left-handed users to customize the LCD orientation to your specifications. It displays song title, play time, and preset settings. Songs and EQ settings can be easily accessed and selected with one finger using the side-mounted scroller button. Transfer audio and data files in seconds via drag-and-drop and ultra-fast USB 2.0 connectivity. In addition, the Auto Synchronization feature makes it easy to transfer your favorite songs and albums from CDs through the line-in connector. It's powered by a single AAA battery that provides up to 18 hours of continuous play
What's in the Box
Zen Nano, AAA battery, USB 2.0 cable, line-in cable, earphones, neck strap, installation CD-ROM, printed QuickStart guide
Choose your music. Choose your device. Know it's going to work.
Look for the PlaysForSure logo if you're shopping for a portable music or video device and you want to make sure the digital music and video you purchase will play back on it every time. Match the PlaysForSure logo on a large selection of leading devices and online music stores. If you see the logo, you'll know your digital music will play for sure.
The PlaysForSure logo makes it easy to find digital media stores and devices that work together. Choose from a large number of digital music and video stores, including MTV's Urge, Rhapsody, Yahoo!, MSN Music, MusicMatch, MusicNow, Napster, Wal-Mart Music Downloads, and many more.
Look for the PlaysForSure logo on a wide variety of devices including portable music devices, portable video devices, digital audio receivers, Pocket PC's and Smartphones.
The checkmarks indicate if the device is capable of playing back audio and/or video that's been downloaded from an online store. Additionally some devices will be able to play back media that has been purchase through an online store that offers subscription or rentals. |
 |
Customer Reviews:
Good but..........2007-08-26
The screen is very small. But overall it was good for its price. Although I ordered a Zen Nano Plus, but Amazon sent me a NANO instead!!! which does not have a radio. Today I saw the iriver video player which was cool! it was really small and easy to use. I recommend that one instead.
No more changing tapes or cd's.......2007-03-17
I'm a bike rider. Now I can put in my ear buds, put my MP3 player in my pocket and ride for hours without changing tapes or cd's. The sound quality is equal to sitting in the theater. Thanks Creative.
Creative iPOD ... NANO ..........2007-01-25
Wish it had more volume power ... STILL IT IS AN EXCELLENT GADGET ... the sound quality is DUVINE ...
No FM radio.......2007-01-11
The MP3 player works fine but there is not FM radio in it. Beware of what they sell you. Other wise its ok.
Kind of expensive for just 1GIG.......2006-12-23
and also, doen't have radio FM ... I don't recomend.
Product Description
The Zen Nano Plus 1GB MP3/WMA Player blends functionality wth style, for a practical MP3 player that fits your life. This slim, trendy MP3 player was designed to fit perfectly in a pocket or backpack, or on your armband. Bring your favorite tunes with you everywhere, without having to lug around space-eating CDs. Frequency Response - 20Hz-20KHz Harmonic Response Output -
<0.1% Requires 1 AAA battery System Requirements - Windows 98SE to XP, Pentium 350 MHz or AMD 450 MHz processor Dimensions(WxHxD) - 1.32 x 2.58 x 0.51 Weight - 0.8 oz. (without battery)
Amazon.com Product Description
Ready for remarkably thin and powerful performance from your portable music device? The Creative Zen Nano Plus 1 GB MP3 Player is the ticket. Incredibly thin and lightweight, it's packed with the latest features to meet all your needs. Enjoy amazing, skip free, audio quality when you're listening to your MP3 and WMA music. The Nano Plus is much more than just a music player; it includes an FM tuner, voice/FM recording, and line-in encoding for direct connection and recording from any audio source. Use the Nano Plus to record music directly from your CD player, without a computer.
Of course, if you do have a computer you can transfer audio and data files in seconds with "drag-and-drop" ease -- and without software -- using the player's USB 2.0 connection. Meanwhile, the Auto Synchronization feature makes it easy to transfer your favorite songs and albums from CDs through the line-in port. Battery life is outstanding, allowing you to listen to music for up to 18 hours on a single AAA battery. Now you can keep the tunes rolling all day long, and do it in style, as the Zen Nano plus comes in ten fun, vibrant colors. The 1 GB model's flash memory can store up to 500 songs (WMA-encoding, 64 kbps).
The FM tuner lets you tune 32 stations. As mentioned, you can also record FM radio so you can catch your favorite tunes or talk shows later on. The built in microphone lets you record voice conversations -- great for those long lectures at school. You can also use the Nano Plus as a portable mini hard drive, allowing you to store data files such as photos and presentations. The unit's LCD is even reversible for left or right handed operation. Last but not least, the Zen Nano sports equalizer presets (Classical, Jazz, Pop, Rock) that make your music sound better.
What's in the Box
Zen Nano Plus, high quality earphones, AAA Battery, USB 2.0 Cable, line-in cable, quick start booklet, installation CD and neck strap.
Customer Reviews:
Better because it's cheaper.......2007-01-04
This has turned out to be one of my favorite toys. It works nicely as an mp3 player, and it's a surprisingly decent radio and voice recorder as well. I've gotten my money's worth and much more out of this. My wife has the 512 mb version, and she's just as happy with hers.
Pros: Tiny; drag-n-drop file transfer; mp3 and WMA format; replaceable battery.
Cons: Controls and interface take some figuring out; plastic body might not last forever.
problem with XP recognizing.......2006-09-03
I just recently received my Nano plus in the mail... I set it up on my work computer fine, but am having no luck on my laptop. Nice little player, but from reading some of the other reviews I gather I'm not the only one experiencing difficulty in getting Windows XP to recognize its existence...
Get an iPod nano for free instead!.......2006-08-13
Why settle for less, when you can get a brand new original iPod nano 4GB for Free! I got mine from this web site: ilikethis.info/ipod-nano
Very Good MP3 Player - but is it right for you?.......2006-08-11
[Note: When I postd this, the seller was charging a lot more than the retail price for this unit, which is just under seventy d0llars. If you order from Creative or buy at a Cambridge Soundworks store, you may be able to get a better price. Creative's site stocks all colors.]
I would have given Creative Zen Nano Plus (abbreviated "CZNP") 5 stars, except for two small deficiences: it does not have gapless playback (see #10 below), and the build quality and controls are kind of cheap (see #4 below). Assuming it lasts, it seems a very good unit for the money. Here's why I bought mine, and some questions to ask yourself when you're choosing. [Updated 8/28/2006]
0. Do I want to make a fashion statement with my MP3 player?
Some people will only buy a trendy iPod. Buying a lesser-known unit like CZNP makes a different statement, and you can choose from 10 colors. I prefer function over form, but CZNP offers some of each. I bought an orange one because it is easy to find in my black bag.
1. Do I want to play more than just sound?
The CZNP is a basic MP3 player, FM Radio, and recorder. It has a simple monochrome display and controls that make it a good choice for playing music, podcasts, and ebooks, and listening to local radio stations. It can record from the built-in mike or radio, or from a line input, which may be handy for some.
Some players can play videos, show pictures, etc, and cost a lot more because of the required color screen and larger memory. I don't need these things and prefer not to spend the money needed to get them.
Of course this player can STORE any kind of content, just like a thumb drive, but it only plays audio.
2. Will I be listening to mostly music or mostly spoken content?
When you switch off a unit while it is playing, or pause it and it turns off automatically after awhile, some units will resume at the beginning of the current track, and others (e.g. CZNP) resume exactly where you left off. If you are playing music, you usually prefer to start the song over again. For ebooks or long podcasts, I need to resume where it was turned off (like CZNP does), because it is hard to fast-advance back to where you were.
3. What kind of accessories can I get?
Creative has a set of speakers tailored to the CZNP, and there are many generic accessories that will work with it. By comparison, there are entire catalogs of accessories tailored for optimal use with an iPod (and may not work with others). I have what I need, but pine for some things available for iPod only.
The best accessory of all is a cable that has a 1/8" stereo plug (like the headphone plug) on one end, and two RCA plugs on the other. Plug one of these into the auxiliary or CD input of all the stereos you use, and you can quicly plug this in and play on the speakers. Such cables are available at Radio Shack and most places selling electronics products.
4. How convenient is it to use?
MP3 players vary considerably on how easy they are to use. The iPod is famous for ease of use, though it does not do everything I want to do. The CZNP has relatively cheap controls that work well enough, and does what I want. You don't have to be a computer whiz to use it or its software.
I have been using it while driving with reasonably good results. It is easy to pause and start it, turn it off, adjust volume, skip or repeat tracks, back up or move forward in the current track, and small enough to hold in your hand and still be able to hold onto the steering wheel.
But if you want to skip to a different album, you have to skip, wait, listen, and skip until you find the first track of the desired album. Of course there is a menu way of getting there more easily, but you can't use menus while driving.
It is small and light. About like a Bic cigarette lighter except twice as wide. So far I have found the size very convenient; I don't think I would want it any smaller. But being small, it might be easier to lose - which is why I bought an orange one.
5. How long will it last?
On Amazon, click the link "See all ... customer reviews", then look for the dropdown "Show:" and choose "Lowest review first" and click the Go button. There are a number of reports from people who had problems with their CZNP, some bad enough to throw it away. Some are real problems, others might be a lack of understanding how to use the player.
Despite these complaints, the average review is high. You'll find about the same mix of reviews for most players.
I decided to take a chance. My unit will be well-cared for. If I have a problem, I'll update this review.
6. Can the battery be replaced?
CZNP uses an AAA battery which is said to last for 15 hours and can be changed easily.
The iPod Nano has a rechargeable battery that is not designed to be replaced, which means the iPod Nano becomes landfill when the battery no longer takes a charge in a couple of years. There will be millions of iPods being thrown away simply because the owner cannot make them continue to work, which has an impact on the environment. There are now battery replacement kits for iPod, with tools and instructions, so this concern is lessened for DIY people, but most won't bother.
7. How does it sound?
The CZNP sounds very good to when when I use good earphones like Koss "The Plug", or when plugged into a stereo.
The free headphones you get with it won't give you the best sound, and you should not judge any player on how it sounds with the included headphones. Go buy quality earphones for any new player, as this will make a huge improvement in your enjoyment at relatively low cost.
8. Does the player use flash memory or hard-disk for storage?
CZNP uses flash memory. Flash memory is more expensive per MB/GB than hard disk memory, and flash memory players are smaller than hard disk players. I would not want a hard disk, which I think is too heavy and too fragile for a portable player. Get a hard disk player if you want to carry a lot of content, but make sure you have a backup. Get a flash memory player if you want to hold the content you will listen to today or this week.
9. Does the player have enough memory?
I use Highest Quality VBR, which gives me MP3s usually 200-250 KBPS, and I get about 10 hours of MP3 music. For podcasts or other material recorded at lower quality, you'll get a lot more. With that much space I can have some new or favorite albums left on the player, and have plenty of room for content that changes (like podcasts). If you don't use a computer regularly, you might want more memory, maybe even a hard disk, but 1GB is very convenient for my purposes.
10. Does the player support gapless playback between tracks?
Some albums have music that flows continously from one track to the next. Examples: Radiohead "OK Computer", Dandy Warhols, Moody Blues. The listening experience is disrupted if the tracks have a gap as the player switches from one track to another.
I don't know of any portable MP3 player that offers gapless playback (without Rockbox), though it's bound to come. The CZNP has a brief gap with no clicks, but it is still somewhat disruptive. One solution is to rip the album as one continuous track. The Rockbox open-source technology essentially replaces the firmware on your player, and it features gapless playback. It is supported on a few players, including some iPods, but not CZNP.
11. Does the player require proprietary software or hardware?
CZNP includes software, but since it also works like a USB drive, you can manage content with Explorer / Finder if you want to. All connectors are industry-standard and you can find matching cables in electronics and computer stores.
iPod can only load music using iTunes, and other players require software supplied with the unit, or with Windows. The iPod and others also use proprietary connectors, so replacing a lost cable is more expensive. I would not be happy with such restrictions. Open standards promote flexibility and interoperability. On the other hand the iPod is widely supported and it's easy to find compatible accessories.
For me, at a minimum, the player needs to look like a USB drive when I connect it to the computer, so that I can load it by dragging files to the player's file system, and the CZNP does that. I want to have a program automatically create a custom listening program of various short podcasts that play in a particular order to support Radio on Demand, and I want that to happen by simply connecting the device to the computer, with no keyboard or mouse interaction involved. I have not found such a program, and may have to write it, but I can do that if I want to. With an iPod I have no choice but to use iTunes (or replace the firmware with Rockbox). iTunes will not do what I want it to do, and there is no option to use my own or third-party software.
12. Is the player file-based or tag-based?
The CZNP is file-based: it will play songs in alphabetical order for a given folder. Naming songs with a two-digit sequence number at the beginning of the filename ensures they play in the correct order. It also has shuffle play, etc.
I had tried the SanDisk Sansa, but returned it because all content is organized and played on the basis of tags, exclusively. While my music has tags correctly set to play the way I wanted, podcasts don't use tags consistently enough to play them in a particular order that I chose. With the CZNP you can at least control the order by putting a sequence number at the beginning of each filename.
Tag-based may have some advantages over file-based (though not for my uses), but only if all of the content you want to play is properly tagged.
Bad Batch!!.......2006-04-28
There is a "bad batch" of Zen Nano Plus MP3 players. I unfortunately got one of them. I changed batteries and when I tried to play my songs that I downloaded from WalMart it kept shutting off! I e-mailed the company and they told me to run a program on the MP3. It deleted all of my songs but I had them backed up. I tried it again and it did the same thing. I called customer service and got a very helpful customer service person. He told me there was a "bad batch" of players out there that won't play the WalMart downloads if there is a new battery in them. My options are to deplete the battery first or use rechargable batteries. After 9 hours of messing around with this thing and depleting the battery I got it to work again. They said they might have a solution to the problem at the end of the summer but until then I am supposed to use low juice batteries. If you purchase this player download from another music store besides WalMart. Good luck!
Cheap Consumer Electronics:
- Creative ZEN Stone Plus 2 GB Red
- Creative Zen Vision:M 30 GB MP3 and Video Player (Green)
- Creative Zen V Plus 2 GB Portable Media Player (Black/Green)
- EASYSHARE Photo Printer 300
- Epson Stylus C44UX Inkjet Printer
- Epson Stylus C64 Inkjet Printer
- Hewlett Packard 4550N Color LaserJet Printer
- Hewlett Packard LaserJet 4050TN Laser Printer
- HL 5280DW Wireless Laser Printer Network Duplex 30 Ppm
- HP 2300DTN Inkjet Printer
Cheap Consumer Electronics List
Cheap Consumer Electronics
MP3 Players
|
Audio & Video
|
Categories
|
Electronics
|
Flash Drive-Based
|
Hard Drive-Based
|
Portable Digital Media Players
Creative Zen Nano Plus 1 GB MP3 Player (Blue)
Creative Zen Nano Plus 1 GB MP3 Player 1GB ( Pink )
Creative Zen Nano Plus 1 GB MP3 Player (Blue)
Creative Zen Nano Plus 1 GB MP3 Player Red
Mark of Fitness MF-12 Fast Flexible Tip Digital Thermometer
