Creative Zen Stone (1GB, black)

• Average user rating: 3.5 stars out of 25 reviews
• My rating: 0 stars

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• 8 stars

  Don't fall for Apple's hype

  by irfan_bugmenot on June 7, 2007

  Pros: PRICE! sleek, stylish, user friendly, 6 colors to choose from

  Cons: No clip, not very inventive

  Summary: Apple has done an amazing job convincing the world that the Ipod and anything associated is the greatest mp3 player ever made. If you're new to the mp3 market, ...

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  Summary: Apple has done an amazing job convincing the world that the Ipod and anything associated is the greatest mp3 player ever made. If you're new to the mp3 market, it is essential that you realize that the only thing Apple does better is market. In terms of the actual products, I believe quite a few companies trump Apple, and Creative does it once again with the Zen Stone.
  
  When compared to the shuffle, you're not going to notice alot of differences. Bottom line, when looking at these devices there are 5 factors that most of us care about; sound quality, user friendliness/compatibility, price, capacity and look.
  
  In terms of sound, the Zen wins by far. It has a much more rich sound, with much better bass. The headphones that come with this device are relatively comparable to the Ipod. They fit well and quality wise is really up to you. Most people are fine with the given ones(I'd say the Stone's are better), but some audiophiles won't be happy with either.
  
  If you're an avid ITunes user, you may have no problem with either device. Personally, I have always been a fan of drag and drop, which is something you can't do on the Apple products. This is the Zen Stone's best aspect in my opinion. The Stone connects to the PC thru a universal usb cord that can easily be replaced by those provided with other electronics (such as cameras and some PDAs). This allows for you to not have to depend on the one cord provided, unlike the Shuffle. You can't get any friendlier than that. The biggest flaw with this product however is the lack of a clip. You can pocket it if you want, but not having a clip could be inconvenient at times (such as workouts)
  
  Price wise, it's HALF the price of a Shuffle with equivalent capacity. There is no significant difference between the products to warrant such a ridiculous gap in price, other than the label "Apple" and the previously mentioned clip.
  
  Capacity wise, 1 GB is never enough honestly. However, if you're looking for a second, smaller device for workouts or want to get something for the kids, spending $40 for this seems far more reasonable than $100(the cost of the Shuffle).
  
  Visually the Zen Stone isn't the greatest thing in the world, but neither is the Shuffle. What you see is whatcha get.
  
  Bottom line, if you aren't hooked by the Apple marketing scheme, you can't go wrong with the Stone. If you can sacrifice the lack of a clip, you pay get a good looking, better sounding device for half the price.

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  6 out of 6 users found this user opinion helpful.

• 10 stars

  Perfect for what it is...a no frills MP3 player

  by polaris13 on July 31, 2007

  Pros: sound is great, ease of use, size and look

  Cons: no clip included

  Summary: I purchased one a few weeks ago specifically for my workouts. My full sized Zen (microphoto)was too heavy & bulky for the gym.
  
  My Stone has exceeded my expectations.
  
  ...

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  Summary: I purchased one a few weeks ago specifically for my workouts. My full sized Zen (microphoto)was too heavy & bulky for the gym.
  
  My Stone has exceeded my expectations. It looks great and sounds even better. Drag and dropping files is a breeze. I loaded it up with over 200 songs. Do you really need more than that for the gym? I think not. I set it to shuffle through my song list and its workout heaven.
  
  Battery life is pretty good and the unit charges in no time. In two hours it was fully charged via USB or with an optional charger which I purchased for my full sized Zen.
  
  I traded the included earbuds for a decent pair of Sony buds and the sound is amazing. You'll need a "skin" which runs about $10. The skin not only protects the shiny surface from scratches but included a clip. I can't even feel the unit clipped to my shorts since it weighs next to nothing. For the gym there is no better device.
  
  Unit was so good I had to get my wife one since I could never get her to return mine.
  
  In a world of "pod" people there are better alternatives. Creative is the way to go as far as I'm concerned.

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  4 out of 4 users found this user opinion helpful.

• 10 stars

  i love it!

  by bleu_tropix on September 18, 2007

  Pros: simplicity, awesome sound quality, priced perfectly

  Cons: not subscription capable, no included clip

  Summary: For $40, you can't go wrong...even if something were to go wrong you won't feel like you were ripped off =) So far so good, I picked up ...

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  Summary: For $40, you can't go wrong...even if something were to go wrong you won't feel like you were ripped off =) So far so good, I picked up my Zen Stone from CompUSA earlier today and after playing around with it for a bit, I can say that I'm indeed happy with my purchase. The Zen Stone is a lot smaller in person than from what you see in the pics and unlike what some people are saying, it is NOT twice the size of the iPod shuffle. This will be great for most but not all--I can see how some may easily misplace it.
  
  I bought the Zen Stone for workouts, I was getting tired of holding my Zen Vision:M while jogging. This is perfect for working out, using in the car, and just as an overall secondary player. I wouldn't recommend this as a primary device.
  
  The build quality seems fairly decent, it's made of shiny hard plastic. Too early to tell how durabe this will be. The sound quality is excellent, even without EQ settings, this is up to par with my Zen Vision:M. To truly appreciate the Stone's sound you MUST use other headphones. The out-of-the-box earbuds are absolutely horrible (much worse than the supplied white earbuds for the higher Zen players).
  
  Drag and drop loading is a cinch. You don't even have to use WMP or Creative Media Lite, wherever you have music files, just right-click and use the "send to" option...works just like a flash drive.
  
  It's too bad they don't supply a separate AC charger (I suppose if they did, it would cost more). Luckily, my RAZR's mini-USB charger works with this. I got a full charge in less than an hour out of the box using my RAZR's charger.
  
  All in all, a great device...perfect for what it's advertised to be: a simple, functional, base player.
  
  If you're thinking about getting one, don't hesitate! Everywhere I went was sold out. Unfortunately, most stores won't carry all the colors...mine is black, although I would've loved to get the blue or lime one!

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  2 out of 2 users found this user opinion helpful.

• 9 stars

  amazing player at a unbelievable price 9.5/10

  by demon-strative on May 12, 2007

  Pros: very small, light. comfortable. stylish. great sound quality. cheap.

  Cons: unimpressive ear piece. no screen, no recording and radio

  Summary: it is so light when i first held it up, i even wondered that is it because i havent inserted the battery pack. the shine from polish surface gives it ...

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  Summary: it is so light when i first held it up, i even wondered that is it because i havent inserted the battery pack. the shine from polish surface gives it an extraordinary look. the range of colours offered are excellent. first impression of player 10/10
  while charging the player through a usb port, transfering of songs is relatively simple, just drag and drop. the 1 gb of memory was then took up by my 200 songs. though 1 gb might be rather small, but i personally feel 200 songs is more than enough. 9/10
  plugged in the included earpiece, music wasnt as excellent. i then used my soundproof earpiece, great sound quality from tiny player. included earpiece 4/10. player's sound quality 8/10
  i then fell asleep while listening to music. when i woke up, 8-9 hours has passed, the player is still running.
  in addition, the protruding play/pause button makes easy for control in the dark. 9/10.
  overall, i feel its an excellent player for such a stunning price. buying 2 zen stone is equivilant to 1 shuffle who has similar function. the fact that it doesnt have a screen doesnt seem to be affecting me the slightest bit. 9.5/10

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  2 out of 2 users found this user opinion helpful.

• 7 stars

  Sounds good, but...

  by scooter329 on May 10, 2007

  Pros: sound quality, price

  Cons: lack of screen

  Summary: I'm just commenting on the review.
  So, someone spends 40 bucks on an mp3 player and your recommending that they should spend 6 times as much for headphones. If
  ...

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  Summary: I'm just commenting on the review.
  So, someone spends 40 bucks on an mp3 player and your recommending that they should spend 6 times as much for headphones. If somebody is buying an inexpensive mp3 player maybe you could recommend inexpensive headphones too.

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  4 out of 7 users found this user opinion helpful.

• 7 stars

  Small & Basic. Excellent Value.

  by dwalmz on May 29, 2007

  Pros: Price & Storage Capacity

  Cons: Earbuds & Rated battery life

  Summary: I just bought this unit. Not bad for the price. Small & lightweight and as basic as you can get. The supplied earbuds are horrible though. With a good set ...

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  Summary: I just bought this unit. Not bad for the price. Small & lightweight and as basic as you can get. The supplied earbuds are horrible though. With a good set of earbuds, the unit comes alive! A lanyard (not supplied) can be attached so it can be worn around the neck. 2 playback modes (repeat & shuffle) are available. Another feature allows you to skip folders which is nice since the unit has no display. I like it. For the price, it's a good value for someone just entering the mp3 player market. The rated 10 hour battery life is unacceptable these days. 15-20 hours would really make this unit desirable.

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  1 out of 1 users found this user opinion helpful.

• 6 stars

  One big glaring deficiency

  by ktreb on May 18, 2007

  Pros: Sounds good, great price

  Cons: In regular mode, plays in alphanumerical order.

  Summary: First things first. This is a good player. For the price, I wasn't expecting a lot of features. And it doesn't really have any, apart from the folder ...

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  Summary: First things first. This is a good player. For the price, I wasn't expecting a lot of features. And it doesn't really have any, apart from the folder skipping and shuffle mode. It makes a great second player (this is my 9th) for working out or if you want to carry light. I'm not so sure if it is good for beginners. I'm not an audiophile so I cannot truly judge sound quality. To my ears it sounds good with a decent set of earbuds. But I can't really say it sounds better than my 2nd generation iPod Shuffle either.
  
  So on to the glaring deficiency: in regular playback mode, it does not play back in the order that you put it on the player. For me, it's not so much of a deal-breaker but an annoyance. For others, I'm not so sure. Do other players do this? I've had 5 iPods 2 Rio players (the Rio players are long gone), and one no name throw away and they don't do this.
  
  You can put music on by the drag and drop method in Windows Explorer or use Creative Media Lite, which you download from Creative's website, along with the user's guide. Either way, everything plays in alphanumerical order unless you play in shuffle mode. The folders play back/skip in alphanumerical order as well.
  
  If you have your music arranged on your player by albums as their own folders, then everything plays in track order within the folder. I like to arrange by genre, such as My '80s or Disco Divas. I imagine most people's songs are named by track number and song title. So, the Stone will play all of the 01s in alphabetical order, then the 02s and so on. Then the 1s, the 2s, etc. Again it's more of an annoyance. I suppose you can go back in through explorer and renumber the tracks so they play back in the order you want - if you want to do that to several hundred tracks. I don't. Too much work. Would this be too frustrating for a beginner? I think it would be if they didn't download and look at the user manual.
  
  It's something that I can learn to live with. It kind of creates a shuffle like experience without having to put it on shuffle. I'm actually rediscovering music that I have long ago forgotten since I'm not mentally locked into my playlists.
  
  It does have a volume-limiting feature, but in order to access it, you must download the Creative Media Lite software. If you want to play copy-protected purchased wma tracks (supports drm9, not subscription) you must also use the software. With the software comes the actual users manual. With the player you only get the quick start guide in the package, with a short mini usb-usb cable and earbuds.

  Updated
  I should have paid more attention. My second paragraph may have been a little confusing. I meant to ask if other players do playback in the same manner as the Stone. All my other players play back in the order I put them on (the screened iPods via playlists).

  Updated
  I should have paid more attention to my second paragraph. It may be a little confusing. Sorry about that.
  
  What I meant to ask was: do other players do playback in the same manner as the Stone? My other players do not - they play back in the order that I put them on. In the case the screened iPods, they play back in the order that I have on my playlists.

  Updated
  1. It does seem to scratch somewhat easily. It ended up migrating to the bottom of my purse, mixing with my keys and scratching.
  
  2. After turning it on, it takes about 10 seconds for it to start playing.
  
  These are things that I can live with, since it is not my primary player. I'm not even going to bother getting a case.

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  1 out of 2 users found this user opinion helpful.

• 2 stars

  Terrible support

  by jakedogman on September 4, 2008

  Pros: Great aerodynamics when thrown

  Cons: Terrible support

  Summary: avoid at all costs

  Summary: avoid at all costs

• 9 stars

  Pretty Good

  by nutrumpet on May 28, 2008

  Pros: Small, good quality, Easy to use

  Cons: Little bit too easy to use...

  Summary: It's a great player. Great battery life. I really like it. I kind of wish I could make it amplify the Bass a little bit but there are no ...

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  Summary: It's a great player. Great battery life. I really like it. I kind of wish I could make it amplify the Bass a little bit but there are no options besides super basic ones. Good stuff though.

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• 9 stars

  What else do you expect ?!?!?!

  by gagunx on March 27, 2008

  Pros: Cheap, small, light, built in speaker, very good sound quality and a clip holder that comes with the case in the package.

  Cons: No hold button.

  Summary: 1GB of Creative quality product for only $30 its a good deal. I am an audiophile and with my Sony plugs ($30) this mp3 player sounds better than any of ...

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  Summary: 1GB of Creative quality product for only $30 its a good deal. I am an audiophile and with my Sony plugs ($30) this mp3 player sounds better than any of the more expensive ones. Its same as the shuffle but cheaper and without the hold button(I have never pushed any of the buttons on accident while it was in my pocket so maybe its not a big deal anyway). I love it and I definitely got what I expected.

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