I-Who? Meet the Zen Nano Plus
This is a review of my new portable MP3 player, the Creative Zen Nano Plus 1GB, an excellent alternative to the Apple iPod Nano.
The Apple iPod Nano has been gaining a lot of hype recently, both positive and negative. I’m not one to buy into hype, and I tend to look for practical over extravagent. The Creative Zen Nano Plus targets just such an audience. Though I still think that the iPod Nano is an good choice for typical consumers, its feature set and high price point make a technical savvy user such as myself look elsewhere.
My primary interest in a hardware MP3 player is to use it as a portable device while driving to and from work in the car. I want to wake up every morning, put the latest Audiobook, Podcasts, or language learning MP3s on it, and head off to deal with the rest of my busy day.
As a Linux user, my requirements are a little more stringent than most MP3 users. Any hardware purchase that I make must work in Linux. And by work, I don’t mean third-party hacks by volunteer developers, I mean actual, honest to god, standard support without any proprietary hooks or extensions.
To this end, the Zen Nano supports a standardized USB mass storage interface. Simply plug your Zen into the USB port, and copy your MP3 files over just as you would for any other hard drive. The Zen Nano even supports folders to organize your files, though they aren’t hierarchical. Though the iPod also supports USB storage, its obfuscated storage format pretty much necessitates the use of the iTunes software, unsupported on Linux without tools like WINE. Strike one against the iPod Nano.
Though the Zen Nano gets only 12 hours of continuous playtime, compared to the 14 hours with the iPod Nano, the use of a standard AAA alkaline battery is a huge win for me. Battery technology has come a long way in recent years, and it’s nice to be able to use devices that take advantage of it. With devices like the 15-Minute Rayovac Battery Charger for NiMH AAA batteries, which allow for up to 500 charges, this one is a definite no-brainer. As an electrical engineer, I’ve taken courses on power systems, and let me tell you: like all chemical batteries, the iPod Nano batteries will eventually fail on you, and they are not user-serviceable. Strike two against the iPod Nano.
It would be nice if the Zen Nano had more than 1 GB or storage, but otherwise, feature for feature, it beats the iPod Nano hands down. In addition to its backlit screen, the Zen Nano offers a FM tuner, a FM recorder, a voice recorder with built-in microphone, and a built-in mp3 encoder with line-in. Many of these features are available on the iPod, but with the Zen, these items are all packed into one little unit. Strike three against the iPod Nano.
Lately, the Apple iPod series has also gotten a lot of negative press about failing batteries and shoddy workmanship, especially with respect to the iPod Nano. While I’m sure that many of these reports have been greatly exaggerated, it has still left me with a bad impression.
The Zen Nano targets a different consumer market than the iPod Nano. But if you’re looking for a tiny, durable MP3 player that gets the job done without any fluff, look no further than this excellent purchase. (9/10)
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Dude, iTunes rules.
Titus, you forgot to mention that it supports Plays For Sure, a great way to tell if a device can work with most online audio stores — except iTunes, because Apple won’t let Microsoft implement FairPlay. Sure, there’s great Linux support, but they also have the best Windows support.
Michael, that’s a good point. The Creative Zen is effectively cross-platform. As far as Plays For Sure, however, it will only work if using the Creative Zen software, as the USB Mass Storage device does not handle DRM.
You mentioned you use it for audio books and Podcasts. Does it have the ability to resume mid-track after being shut off? I am looking for a MP3 player for the same purposes, and this is the one feature I am having difficulty finding in the lower-priced flash units.
Hi Marc. Yes, it will. If you turn it off and on, it will resume from where you left off, even mid-track. Let me know if you have any other questions about the device, and I’ll be able to help you.
Manual trackback: iPod Killers Abound.
Found a Zen Nano Plus 512 Mb on sale and picked it up. So far, I’m very happy with it. Works with Win98SE-XP and Linux just fine, and the resume function works great as well. Thanks for the review and additional info.
Thanks for the review, Titus, but I do have a couple of questions about the device. First of all, I get the impression from the manual and some reviews that the device does MP3 encoding for line-in, but doesn’t for voice recordings and radio recordings (uses WAV instead). Is this correct?
Also, does the player show the track name you’re playing – the manual doesn’t seem to mention it. If so, does it just display the filename or take the info from the ID3 tag?
Philip, yes that sounds correct. The WAV format is used for recordings. Also, the MP3 player does indeed show the track name that you are playing. It uses the ID3 tag, if it is available.
Anybody tried the line-in encoding/ripping? I don’t know what algorithm they’re using, but the quality is terrible, even at 160 bitrate. The high frequencies and sibilants (“s”, “f” etc) are distorted. Varying the input signal level makes no difference. You might not notice it with headbanger music, but try it with James Taylor or Norah Jones type stuff. It’s not listenable.
Otherwise, playback of stuff encoded/ripped on computer is great. However, I bought this thing hoping for a one-step way to convert my analog audio (tapes, LPs, etc) to mp3s, and it’s useless for that purpose.
The Zen is available, by reservation, at some Argos stores for $49.99. Just got one, and your review is very informative, thanks.
Great review! Now I now that it works with Linux as a usual USB memory stick. This little player will be a Christmas present to myself.
I have concerns about the Rayovac 15-minute charger you mention in the article. I think that people who are thinking of getting that unit should at least consider a 15-min charger made by Energizer. One major advantage of that charger is that it would charge any brand of AA and AAA batteries, not just one particular, overpriced brand.
I just got a zen nano plus and it is definitely better than any ipod. But I do have a slight problem. I organized my folders on the creative media source organizer. Under music I created 9 folders with 5 or less artists in each of the 9 folders. After I did this most of my songs disappeared.
I now have 13 songs and 5 folders on my zen nano although it still says that I am using about 200 mb used. So i seems as if the songs are hidden one my zen nano.
Hopefully you can help me with this problem even though it is very specific and maybe confusing.
Odd. I just picked up a Zen Nano myself and have been listening to some MP3s and some Audible.com content. The odd part is that the resume quit working and I can’t sort out why. On the first half of one of my books from Audible it was fine, but on the second half it starts at the beginning of the track everytime I turn it back on. Anyone else run into that? Other than that, great little player!
Some one said the line-in recording to MP3 was terrible, making it useless to rip music from tape etc. I do not agree. It is sensitive to the level of the player feeding it, and too much does distort. But by adjusting the output level of the feed device correctly — to where I do not hear distortion monitoring through headphones connected to the Nano while recording — I get clean recordings. I am taking opera off old tapes and jazz off cds and the results are good for me.
I also say sound recording is terrible – high frequencies are very bad, even at 160KBps. I don’t know how they managed to get their encoding to be so bad. Okay, so I listen through an HD 540 Sennheiser, I’m aged 38 years old and it seems my ears are more sensitive than many others. This is a good point. And MP3 brings a potential risk of bad sounding recordings anyway. Sorry to say that, but encoding quality is NOT GOOD. FULL STOP.
Does the Nano Plus make decent recordings for studying purposes? I am searching for a reasonably priced device to record my university lectures on and a device with a USB connection is great. Am I better off searching for a different device? I really have fallen in love with the Nano Plus though.
I also have this unit. It is pretty easy to use. There is no need for any iTunes software or any music management software to load your music. Very durable too. Your review is on the money. I have tried recording using the line-in, the microphone, and FM recording — all i can say is the quality is just average. But for the price you pay it’s worth itanyway. I do have one question. What good brand of headphones is best for the Nano Plus? I tried a couple and they didn’t rock my world.
Bought the Nano Plus 1GB. Tested the microphone recording. The result is as same as the real voice — perfect. Like Rogar Hagan said, without controlled input, any recording device will give distorded output. I have not tried the line-in input yet. I like the Custom Equalizer feature. It allows fine tuning to your hearing! Some said the included ear-buds are uncomfortable. Yes, but they sound better than my Sony headphones!?. FM Scan/Presets are great. It will even let you do manual tunning. This is a true plug-and-play USB flash. I love it so far.
I heard that the Creative Zen Nano Plus comes with with bad ear phones. Is this true?
Thanks for the review. I purchased my Zen Nano this past weekend and I had not taken the time to review different brands and models. I felt the price was GREAT ($69.99 @ WalMart), so I bought it. I feel better about my purchase. Thanks again!
Concerning the earbuds, although the Zen Nano Plus is an excellent player, Creative should be sued because the earbuds are too big, fall out, and are therefore non-functional. Creative would lose a “class action” suit hands down, and definitely would not go to trial. Either a rebate or replacement would be offered. This is a fact!
I’m getting great results on line-in from my cassettes and analog minidiscs. As an earlier poster said, you have to experiment with the output level and I have several amp/preamp with headphone output jacks so I switched around for the best results. I have the iPod Nano and I like this just as much. Sounds great, easy to drag&drop files, pop in an AAA battery and you’re good to go!
Just a fast question. Two years ago I bought a similar player from Creative (Muvo series),
which not only shares the same shape but most of the reviewed pluses against the iPod. Well, in a quiet room, I noticied that when the backlight is on there is a “buzz” noise. Creative alleged that this was due its firmware but all upgrades were not able to cut (completely) this noise.
Have someone noticied anything similar on this Zen series?
Great Unit! I have used it over 40 days in constant use. Sound quality is superb. Once you get the hang of it the controls and menus are easy to use. You have to piece together the instructions from various places. Microphone recording is only okay. Line-in MP3 encoding in synch mode starts the song perfectly, but cuts a few bits off the end. Manual mode solves this. The encoding sounds slightly brighter than my normal rip using MusicMatch. Gives the music a mild sense of urgency. Ear bud sound quality is average on the good side. Clip the cord to keep them from pulling out. The overly large foam covers get baggy and are easily lost. I found the MediaSource Organizer somewhat buggy on a Windows 98 system but usable. Zen Nano Media Explorer allows custom sorting of files. For a simpler solution Cut and Paste couldn’t be easier. I purchased Zen Nano Blue for $62 from New Egg and couldn’t be happier — well, maybe a little more money and a little more memory!
First entry into digital recording and very impressed with this unit. Tiny, portable, cute with easy to use software. Excellent sound quality when quality earphones substituted. 1 GB adequate for most but I will need double that. Screen very small with mysterious menu symbols. I would like to able to see album names on a master file instead of scrolling through the entire collection. Website is useless and online help is not interested in helping me have my unit play tracks in order. Selecting ‘normal’ in the play mode doesn’t work. Flimsy battery cover won’t survive. I use rechargeable batteries on a slow charge for long life. MP3 is the future of music. Last time I travelled with a dozen CD’s and player weighing down my case. Now I can put my collection in a pocket. Wow!
I own a Creative Zen Nano, and I don’t regret buying any other models at all. My favorite feature is that it is about the same size as a flash keydrive. I can listen to my music, and plug it in to my computer. I have Torpark, OOo Portable, and Uniform Server on it, so I can do work from anywhere with an Internet connection.
I bought a car charger for my Zen Nano because it said that you could listen to music through your car radio while the battery was charging, but I can’t figure out how it works. Has anybody out there figured this out?
Yes, the line-in recording is useless. The high-end distortion is overwhelming. I am recording from the headphone jack of a small mixer, and when I listen to output from that same jack thru high-quality headphones, there is no distortion. The distortion is definitely the fault of the Zen Nano Plus software and/or hardware. Otherwise it’s a nice little MP3 player. But it’s a real shame that the line-in recording and encoding is so bad — that was the primary reason that I chose this device.
Just curious – years ago I bought a Creative MP3 jukebox – that thing is/was great but bulky. However, the best feature it had was the ability to playback at variable speeds without changes in tone (so for example I could play a talk radio show back at 1.2x or 1.4x speed and the voices would be clear and not sound like Micky Mouse). I still think this is the coolest feature ever, and have never seen the technology since in any other player or even in Windows software based players. Does the Zen Nano have this capability?
Just bought my wife the Nano Plus for X-mas, and although I’m very computer savvy, it took me 8 hours to get my XP laptop to fully recognize the unit. Turns out to be a conflict with older Iomega driver software. The website and support was useless. Plus it was only after I discovered this site was I able to find the CD manual to explain the icons. Now all that’s over and we are busy ripping CD’s and encoding MP3’s. We are quite happy with the Zen Nano Plus. A great little unit.
Hey Titus, thanks for the review! I’ve got a question to you (and any other commentor): How fast does the Nano scroll through tracks lists? I’ve bought a LG FM-12, which is really nice, but it takes like 1.5 second to scroll from one song to the other. Very annoying!
Hello! Great info here! I’d really like to purchase the Zen Nano Plus 1GB, but I keep hearing conflicting things about it working with Win 98 (plain old Windows 98, NOT SE). Doesn’t one have to install a driver for the computer to recognize the Nano on USB? If so, Creative doesn’t supply a driver compatible with Win 98, nor do they offer any support for Win 98 — so I’m afraid that this unit won’t work with my Win98 computer. Any advice?
I noticed that the latest firmware removes FM recording. If I buy a Nano and it has this release (or later), can I download/install the earlier firmware that allows FM recording?
Thank you for this review, it is very helpful to who — like me– wants a cheap, functional, and Linux compatible MP3 player! Thanks again, Amber.
Just bought two more Zen Nanos on Buy.com — after rebate I’ll pay only $30.00! An incredible deal! My only issue is that I seem to be limited to 18 folders. Anyone else finding the same issue? The only reference in the manual that was partially relevant was that it was limited to three subfolders off the root? So I’m guessing that the player itself can only recognize 18 folders while the Creative Organizer software can recognize more than 18. Can anyone verify this?
I have the same issue as the last contributor, James. The maximum number of folders shown in my menu was 19 and they were all directly under the root. When connected to a computer all show and are available/accessible but as a player I will have access to only 18 arbitrary folders…