I will be returning it

First, let me say that I am anti Ipod, for 3 main reasons-- (1)I don't like Itunes; (2) I find it beyond annoying that they have 95% market share and everyone has one, plus they make all of the accessories (have you seen the sharper image catalogue?!); (3) no FM radio and I like to listen to NPR on my way to work in the morning.
So I was looking for a non-ipod mp3 player and decided on the creative after reading the reviews. My thoughts:
PROS
(1) look cool, nice compact size, I like the blue light that surrounds the player, feels very solid
(2) sounds good
(3) easy to use with windows media player

CONS
(1) biggest con and the reason I am returning it--this thing is darned near impossible to use! The touch screen is unbeleivably annooying. It is so sensitive that you cannot ever select what you want on the first try. It takes about 4-5 attempts if you want to scroll up 1 or 2 items. Anytime I get what I want on the first attempt it is pure luck. I mean how hard is it to design something that does something as basic as being able to select the song you want?? Along those same lines, you cannot listen to a song and put it in your pocket without "locking" the device---if you even breathe on the thing it will do something unexpected and unwanted.
(2) Cannot see the screen in daylight. Kind of important, no?
(3) Can't listen to radio and search for music at same time.
If I kept it longer there would probably be more to add.

Anyway, I have given up fighting with my mp3 player. There must be one that actually works as you'd expect. I will keep looking. I hope I am not forced to buy an ipod!!

Rating:


Perfect!

I have to admit, when I was first shopping around I was tempted to just settle for an ipod. Boy am I glad I didn't!!! I have had this player for about a year now and it has worked perfectly since day one! You wont find a player anywhere with this many features for this price(it's cheaper now!) I had wanted to get one in a cool color but most stores only have it in black or gray, once you see the gray in person it's nice though. I have noticed a few issues in the other reviews that might help.

*The battery works just as advertised, the screen is so bright and gorgeous that it drains, the book says to lower the contrast to the lowest you can stand, that works great but i dont like that too much, if you dont keep turning the screen on you'll get the right battery life.
*Its great that the charge cable also transfers files but something I didnt see anyone mention is that ANY DEVICE WITH A USB CONNECTION will charge this!!! I purchased the regular wall adapter and I dont use it. My stereo has usb and it will charge the Zen, mostly I just plug it into my Xbox 360 and viola! It's charged while I play music in my games. It cant get any better!!
*I noticed some people complain about freezing, maybe they are using usb 1.1 I use 2.0 and it transfers like a rocket.
*The only complaint is the you cant look at pictures while listening to music but if you plug it into a xbox 360 (which its completely compatible with) you can listen and look at photos on you HDTV they look unbelievable! you can even access your datebook and calendar on the Xbox, GENIOUS!!
Pretty much just buy this player you wont be sorry, I wasn't and I'm sorry after everything I buy :)

Rating:


good sound and navigation, some technical difficulties

Positives:
- Good sound
- Easy navigation. For those accustomed to iPods, the way that the MP3 player sorts your folders is by album, not by artist, when you look at the folder root using the provided program. However, when you're using the player itself you can search by artist, album, or track name. Especially helpful because you can search by first letter, which is a lot faster than scrolling through everything
- Radio reception and recording quality very clear

Negatives:
- Short battery life. At first the battery seemed to drain a lot faster than advertised. It is only if I keep volume at medium and keep the MP3 player on lock mode that the battery seems to last longer
- PC program and MP3 player itself freeze. The PC program takes a while to load the longer I use it (perhaps due to more files?). The MP3 player freezes often, and I've come to realize that it often happens when it undergoes a static shock - not uncommon in the winter here. Waiting for it to rebuild the library takes a while and often freezes again - to fix it I have to take out the battery and then put it back in, and then keep it still waiting for it to restart.
- Music does not play when you want to look at photos. Albeit I personally did not buy this MP3 player for its ability to store photos, it would be nice to able to hear music while looking at them.

However, for the price, you're still getting a really good MP3 player with a lot more features than an iPod.

Rating: