Creative Zen 20 GB Portable Media Center Review

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(More customer reviews)I've had a few days to play with a Zen Portable Media Center because a friend of mine, who's the owner, had trouble getting content loaded. The Creative support folks were friendly, but clueless on this very newly released product. Since I'm his technology guru, he asked me to show him how to get it working.

The Zen is about the size of a paperback novel. It's small but is too large to carry in your pocket. It comes in a nice case the folds nicely into a simple stand. This let's you set the Zen on a table or airline tray-table while using it.

My first impression when I turn it on is that UI is a clone from XP Media Center Edition (which is Microsoft's Media Center PC OS). I own a couple of XP Media Center PC's so found the UI very familiar and intuitive. However, my first reaction was the navigation and play back controls were reversed. I've had a couple of other folks who played with the Zen make the same comment. Perhaps the UI control layout was designed by a lefty (I'm right handed) or perhaps they were XBox users (many XBox games use the left thumb for naviagation).It's a minor nit in any case.

To load content on the Zen you must load Windows Media Player 10 which was just released from Microsoft. Clearly Microsoft wants to get into the content management market and is trying to "one up" the iPod and iTunes by supporting not only audio but video.

However Windows Media Player 10 was where my friend had difficulty. He was not able to figure out the new quirks of the substantially changed Windows Media Player UI. To load new content you must have the Zen plugged in, be in the Sync tab, and then create "play lists" of video, audio and picture contents that you want synced. Once the "play list" is created then the content can be synced to the Zen. It's not hard, but it's a bit of a stretch to call that a play list.

Once you've start the sync process you can prepare to wait... and wait... and wait some more. TV shows saved in XP MCE can be added to the "play list" and synced, however they must be converted to a WMA file that is compatible with the Zen. This takes about the same amount of time as the play time of the show. A half hour show takes about a half hour to convert and download, an hour show takes an hour and so on. Also, TV shows that I downloaded from my XP MCE machine had the colors goofed up. It was sort of like watching the film negative of the TV show. I suspect that's something that will get fixed in a software update (and is not a significant issue for my friend since he doesn't care about TV content).

My friend really wants to load DVD movies for long plane trips (he owns them and doesn't want to pay for them again to download them to his Zen). So this is where I went to work.

My first attempt to load a movie was using a product called "DVD To Pocket PC" by Makayama. It is suppose to convert DVD's directly to wma files for Pocket PC's and is suppose to work for the Zen. I tried the trial version and was initially unsuccessful (presumably because XP SR2 was installed). I ended up trying it on a non XP SR2 machine and it worked well. Since the application is fairly turnkey, it's probably a good choice for moving content from DVD's you own to your Zen.

Next I tried Dr. Divx. This application can convert unencrypted DVD's to Divx avi files. This worked for me (though it took a few tries to get the hang of it), however it's not nearly as turnkey as "DVD To Pocket PC". Also, Divx conversion takes awhile (somewhere between 2-4 hours for a full length movie). Be sure to use one of the portable formats because the Zen has a limited bit rate it can support. I had a little trouble getting the aspect ratio right, but a few tries resolved this too. Once the movie is converted then you must go to Windows Media Player 10, put it in a "play list" and sync it with the Zen. This takes awhile, but is worth the wait. The movies look and play great.

Having used it for a day or so I have a wish list of features that the Zen doesn't have (nothing here is a killer problem, but would make a good product even better).
*It needs parental control - I'd like to protect some content from my kids. Currently there is no way to do this.
*I'd like visualization plug-ins when listening to music.
*Since it's used during travel, a travel alarm clock feature would be very nice.

Pros:
*The player sounds good, the UI is great, and the size is very convenient, and the features are fantastic.

Cons:
*It's a bit pricey
*Moving TV content was only partially successful from my XP MCE machine (though I suspect this will get fixed), moving content is very time consuming and is probably something you want to do over night.
*It's not really a direct replacement for an iPod (it's too darn big). Though that's not really a fair criticism of the Zen because it's not intended to directly replace the iPod

All in all, this is an impressive product, even considering this is V1.0 of the software management (WMP 10), and the hardware, and the firmware.
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Product Description:

Product Name: Zen Portable Media Center
Marketing Information:
Creative Zen Portable Media Center puts all your favorite videos, music, and photos at your fingertips wherever you are. Take digital entertainment from your PC with you on the go, including recorded TV shows, videos, home movies, music, and photos.Product Type: Digital Multimedia Device
Product Features: Audio Player
Product Features: Video Player
Product Features: Photo Viewer
Storage

Storage Media: Hard Drive (Integrated)
Storage Capacity: 20GB Hard Drive
Display & Graphics

Display Screen: 3.8" TFT Color LCD 76800 Pixels
Display Features:
Backlit LCD
Image Formats: JPEG
Audio

Playback Duration: Up to 9000 Song(s) @ 64Kbps WMA
Audio Formats: WMA
Audio Formats: MP3
Audio Formats: WAV
Video

Video Storage: 85 Hour(s)@ 500Kbps
Video Formats: WMV
Video Formats: ASF
Video Formats: AVI
Video Formats: MPEG
Video Formats: DVR-MS
Camera

Camera Type: Not Applicable
Optical Zoom: Not Applicable
Digital Zoom: Not Applicable
Interfaces/Ports

Interfaces/Ports: 1 x USB 2.0 USB
Interfaces/Ports: 1 x A/V Out
Physical Characteristics

Dimensions: 3.18" Height x 5.67" Width x 1.06" Depth
Weight: 12 oz- With Battery
Warranty

Standard Warranty: 1 Year(s) Limited

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