The Case
Controlling the player is quite simple once you’ve adapted to its interface. The most noticeable feature here is its slider, which is surrounded by 4 backlit blue buttons. There’s a play/pause button in the top right corner, below this is a context menu which obviously has different options depending on the content you’re playing at the time. Top left is a programmable button which you can assign different functions to via the main option window, and below that there’s ‘Back’ button which takes you back one level through menu’s. I’ve set my programmable button to the ‘Most Popular Tracks’ option, so I have one touch access to my favorite tunes.
The slider is a pesky beast and I found it too sensitive even when I set its sensitivity on Low. You can run your fingers up or down on it while a track is playing to adjust the volume. While in a menu sliding up/down will allow you to navigate accordingly too. Pressing left/right on the slider’s edge during playback will allow you to skip to the previous/next track, while holding down left/right will allow you to seek backwards and forwards through the current track. Tapping the middle of the slider allows you to make a selection. I’m still adapting to the slider as I’m used to the less sensitive one that resides on my iRiver H10.
At the top of the case is a slider switch that acts as an On/Off switch and a ‘Hold’ button all in one. Slide the button left and you switch the unit on. Slide it to the right and you’ll put the player into Hold mode
The bottom of the unit houses the slot for connecting it to the PC. This is where things are a bit different. A little white dongle attaches to this slot, and then the dongle itself has 3 connections on it. A mini USB cable slot for PC connection, a 5v DC-IN socket for a mains adapter and an A/V Out socket for the A/V cable so you can watch video on a TV. Of course this means that you require the dongle at all times to be carried around, if you wish to connect it to a PC, charge it or hook it upto an external TV. If you lose the dongle then you’ll need to purchase a new one.
Luckily for me I have the dongle permanently attached to my home PC, so I can upload content to it and at the same time trickle charge the player overnight. Charging by the AC adapter is much quicker though. That’s another thing; the latest models of the Zen do NOT ship with an AC Adaptor for reasons unknown to me. So most people will opt to purchase one from Creative themselves which as expected is quite costly. You can obtain adaptors on the net which plug directly into the player itself without the need for a dongle. I bought mine off Ebay for just £8 which was a steal. I leave the adaptor in my office at work should I ever need to charge the unit quickly before traveling home.
Battery Life
Everyone wants the best battery life in their player, especially for video use and I have to state that the Zen beats the Ipod Video hands down here, with its 4hr battery life - 2 more then the iPod. However even 4hrs isn’t all that much to be honest. The Zen gives you a quoted time of 14hrs for audio use depending on what bitrate your audio content is recorded in which is the same as the iPod.
Charge times are varied. The unit trickle charges slowly from the USB port taking a rough 3hrs I would guess. Charging via the AC Adaptor however takes just 2hrs and is much quicker. The battery sadly isn’t removable and is a lithium battery type and I would have preferred to have removable batteries as I did with my iRiver H10.