Review of the Creative Zen W Mp3 Player

The first thing you'll probably notice about this player is its awesome widescreen. How big is it? Well, it's 4.3 inches wide diagonally, and capable of displaying about 262,000 colors (same as Zen M). For those of you who now own a Zen M, to illustrate how big the screen is on the Zen W: You can lay an entire Zen M on the Zen W, and the entire area of the Zen M is about the size of the screen of the Zen W. For you PSP owners out there, the Zen W screen is exactly the same resolution and size as the screen on the PSP. Although, the PSP screen is actually more advanced and can display over 16 million colors. Though both of these screens are much better than the screen on the video Ipods (which is only 320 x 240, and only display 65,000 colors). The screen on the Zen W does the job very well, and you can adjust the brightness levels. Even at 50% brightness, it's adequate. Though it outshines the Zen M in screen size, I noticed that it's not quite as sharp and the colors are not as vivid as on the Zen M. Also, I noticed that while playing Divx video, the Zen W doesn't play the video as smoothly as on a computer. The video frame-rate seems to look jerkier and less smooth. However, the pre-installed videos looked fine in Xvid, so this may only apply to Divx videos. Some other pretty sweet features about the player are it's built in FM radio, voice recorder, custom sound equalizer, built in speaker, and Compact Flash slot. The built-in speaker can get surprisingly loud and is adequate for watching videos but don't expect it to be like a stereo. It's sounds quite tinny and is only a single speaker. One huge improvement over the Zen M is that you no longer need to carry a stupid adapter to charge or upload songs or media. The mini-usb power, and A/V out ports are already built in to this player. Also the magnesium casing seems much sturdier than the Zen M's plastic casing... and probably not as prone to scratches. The thing looks and feels very solidly built. The interface is also simple and easy to figure out and very similar to the Zen M interface.

The only big difference is that the Zen W uses buttons instead of the touch thumb-pad on the Zen M. I think they should have tried to integrate the thumb-pad somehow because it worked so well on the Zen M. In this respect, the Zen W buttons seem like a step backward in progress. However, I do like the fact that they made all the buttons on the right side so you can effectively use the player with only your right hand.

The built in Compact Flash slot is also a very cool idea. You can backup your compact flash or microdrive photos onto the player with the slot. The only thing is that you can't use the compact flash as a secondary hard-drive, so basically you can't just slip a compact flash card with video on it and watch it straight from the card. You must import it onto the player first before you can play the media. You can't play mp3s or browse photos straight from the CF card either. All the files must be imported onto the hard-drive of the Zen W first. This seems pretty lame to me because you're not using the slot to it's full potential. Hopefully there will be firmware upgrades that will let you do this in the future. Another thing about the player that needs to be improved is its thickness. The second thing you'll notice, after seeing the large screen, is how thick this thing is. I mean it's barely pocketable. So it's not quite as portable as the Zen M. How thick is it you ask? Well, it's nearly an inch thick, a little less thick than a PSP. If they could cut the thickness in half, it would make this player much more portable. Here's a quick run-down on Pros and Cons.

The main pros are that it has an awesome screen to display a lot of colors. Movies look better than on an Ipod. It has a built in usb port, power and audio/video out port. Built very studily with a solid feel. Has the extras of a cell phone such as FM radio, organizer calender, voice recorder, it also plays Xvid and Divx files. It has a removable battery and even an optional wireless remote if you so desire.

Cons include it being pretty thick (almost an inch). Its frame-rate is a bit jerky. Screen isn't as sharp looking and colors are more vibrant on the Zen M. However, you may not even notice the difference between players. There is no video line-in for video recording. It would be great if they had this built in and you could record from any video source.

In conclusion, this player packs a lot of punch for the money. And almost everything it does, it does very well. If you love movies and music like I do, you will definitely enjoy this device. It's very impressive and looks and feels sturdy. The biggest flaw/turn-offs to me is its thickness. A device made for portability should be more portable. In a world where other mp3 competitors are sizing down their players, creative seems to be sizing theirs up. If they could somehow cut the thickness of this player to half while not sacrificing any of it's other features, it would be perfect. Still with its minor imperfections, this player is still worth every penny and outshines its competitors. If you value portability over video capability, I'd go for the Zen M. The Zen M still plays video but on a smaller screen and it's cheaper also.