Creative Zen Stone 1 GB MP3 Player (Red)
See it at Amazon.com for $29.99Average Customer Rating
(4.0 out of 5)
Amazon Customer Reviews
Most Helpful First | Newest First (4 out of 5)The best digital audio value out there
In the week or so I've had my Zen Stone, I've been very impressed.
PROS
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1. It's cheap. Darn cheap. Why buy an iPod Shuffle when you can get this? Sure, it doesn't have a clip, but it's so light that you could let the thing dangle from your headphone cord if you wanted to.
2. It doesn't require any software. That's right, plug it in and use it, just like a USB flash drive, by dragging and dropping MP3s or non-PlaysForSure WMAs right into the right directories. You can even change the order in which the player plays the songs by modifying the folder tree, just like the old days. For anyone tired of bloated software (iTunes? Zune?), this player's for you.
3. Sound quality is good, and the player puts out an acceptably loud signal.
4. EXTREMELY durable. Although the finish is very scratchable, the player itself seems indestructible. I accidentally closed the player in my car door and it still works. Not bad.
5. Wholly acceptable headphones. Better than the iPod standard headphones in my opinion, in fact, but still worth replacing if you value higher quality music.
CONS
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1. Annoying LED that flashes every two or three seconds when it's playing a song. It can light up a small room.
2. A weird bug. I've had the thing randomly shut down while playing two specific tracks of mine. When I removed them, I no longer had a problem. Weird.
I can't give it a five because of the problems I've had, but I'd give it a 4.5 if I could.
EDIT: New firmware has been released to reduce the glacially slow ~10 second startup time to around ~3 seconds, comparable with a shuffle. Awesome.
(2 out of 5)Creative Zen Stone 1GB - Nice starter or spare MP3
The Creative Zen Stone 1GB is a nice value in starter MP3 players. It has the same capacity as the iPod Shuffle at $40. For $20 more, you can get the 2GB Stone Plus which also has a screen, FM Tuner, voice recording and more.
Pros -
+ good stereo sound
+ nice capacity for a decent price
+ light-weight
+ simple design with more color options
+ Nice format compatibility (MP3, WMA, Audible)
+ USB 1.1 and 2.0 connectivity
+ Can be used as a USB drive / mass storage
+ Can sync music with drag & drop or via Creative software
Cons
- below-average battery life of 10 hours or less
- software issues - Creative software is buggy
- DRM song transfer issues with some firmware versions
- not expandable from 1GB (no SD card slot)
- no FM tuner or voice recording
- larger than the 2nd and 3rd generation iPod shuffles
- for just $20 more you get the 2GB Stone Plus with added features
Creative's Zen Stone line was meant to be the upgrade to the Zen nano, aka Muvo mini. The 1GB Zen Stone is decent but not perfect. It suffers from quality issues and is really ideal for specific uses. I love the new Sandisk Sansa's. The Sansa Express has the advantage that you can plug it directly into your USB port without a cable. SanDisk Sansa Express 2 GB MP3 Player (Black) Still, the Creative Zen Stone feels nicer in the hand. It's not as sleek as the Sansa Express nor as cool as an iPod shuffle or iPod nano. But it is priced very attractively. It's good for a starter, workout unit, or gift for a kid.
The Creative Zen Stone is lighter than the competition, but is still larger than the new iPod Shuffle 2nd and 3rd generations. The controls are an improvement from the Zen nano days. While I didn't mind the toggle wheel, it has been replaced by intuitive buttons for the standard functions (select, play, pause, forward or reverse). There's a headphone jack and a USB port.
Another change from the Zen nano days is the Lithium Ion battery, which gives you about 10 hours if your lucky. This burns out faster than the old battery operated unit, but is more convenient.
The sound is nice, and it comes through in stereo. As usual, you will hear complaints about the earbuds, which most people replace.
The Zen Stone Plus is the only larger option at 2GB. For those needing more space, you will have to explore the Creative Zen, Sandisk Sansa or new iPod Nano. All of those units have higher price tags.
Creative Zen 4 GB (Black)
Creative Zen 8 GB (Black)
Creative Zen 16 GB (Black)
Sandisk SDMX4-4096 Sansa e260 4 GB MP3 Player with SD Expansion Slot
SanDisk SDMX4-8192 Sansa e280 8 GB MP3 Player (Black)
Apple 4 GB iPod nano AAC/MP3 Player Silver (3rd Generation)
Apple 8 GB iPod nano AAC/MP3 Player Black (3rd Generation)
The price isn't a give-away, and the plastic case could be more durable. Creative has fixed some of the software issues. Still, this is a nice starter unit that can last you a while. Check it out. Enjoy!!!
(4 out of 5)Nifty Device, with some room for improvement.
My iPod died and I wanted a cheap replacement while I wait for the next generation of iPods to hit the market. I've also wanted a smaller, flash-based mp3 player for awhile, to for activities where my iPod was either too bulky or in danger of getting scuffed or broken.
What I like:
-Love the design, it's tiny and nice looking. I don't miss having a display. I almost bought the larger version with the display but decided this version was more aesthetically pleasing and really covered the bases I needed. I wish it came with a clip though. Third party options are available, but how hard would it have been to just put a clip on it to begin with?
-You don't need to install any software, you can just drag and drop files right into it, and put them in folders if you wish. It will play just what is in a certain folder unless you press the button to advance to the next folder, or have it on shuffle mode.
-It does what it's supposed to do, and is very simple. This is the kind of mp3 player you can give to your parents or any tech-phobe and they should be able to figure out how to operate it pretty easily.
What I dislike:
-There really needs to be a hold button. Twice now I have come back to find the device with a dead battery. Both times I am 100% positive I did not leave it on. It must have gotten bumped while on my desk or something and turned itself on. This is extremely irritating as I usually notice it's dead when I'm not near a computer to plug it in and where I was depending on the device to provide some entertainment. A hold button that locks the device in "off" mode would solve this issue easily.
-The only way you can charge it, without buying an adapter, is through your USB port. This normally wouldn't be an issue for me, but right now I'm moving between houses and don't have my computer set up, so this has been a big drag. Because of this, I had planned to use this device mostly with my work computer, but that has caused issues that are explained below.
-I wish the shuffle feature stayed within a folder, instead of choosing songs from random folders. To me, the whole point of organizing the music into folders it to divide up genres so you can listen to what you are in the mood for. And with a device with a small amount of memory, you are mostly going to listen on shuffle mode so you don't get bored. I like to listen to loud, fast music for certain activities, and softer stuff for others. It sucks that when you put the device on shuffle you may go from one extreme to another. I wish there was a toggle to either let the shuffle mode roam over all the folders, or stay inside the one you are in.
-My biggest issue with this device, and the reason I knocked it down a star is that it will not work at all on my computer at the office. The device shows up in My Computer, but when you click on it, windows hangs. I'm using XP Service Pack 2. The stone also comes up in the device manager, and I have uninstalled it and reinstalled it several times, installed the optional driver/software from Zen, and read all the support documentation on Creative's website and cannot find any suggestions that get this device to work on this computer. I have plugged it into three other computers and it has worked fine. I am pretty savvy when it comes to computers and have used all kinds of different USB devices on my office computer w/no problem. I cannot for the life of me figure out why it refuses to work on this computer. Even just having it plugged in to charge will cause the OS to randomly lock up and sometimes crash so I have to reboot. And if I reboot with the device plugged in, windows won't even load, like there's a new master disk plugged in. It is really annoying, and frankly disappointing, because I purchased the device solely to use with this computer.
Overall though, it's a good little player and I don't regret the purchase. There are just a few things that I think could be smoother. But for the price it's a great deal. With the exception of my isolated computer issue with it, it's extremely simple to use. A lot of these smaller flash mp3 players are ridiculously too complicated to use - it's like they are trying to make up for not being an iPod by having all these different "features" and "modes". But really you just want to click play and get going. Creative did a good job with the design and ease of use, they just need to work out a few kinks.
(5 out of 5)Great Little Player
I bought the Stone to supplement my 60 gig Ipod. This is great to take on long walks or jogs or anyplace you just want some specific music/words but don't want to carry the larger player. I also bought some accessories so this player is very easy to carry around. You can clip it to your pocket or get the key chain holder or the arm band holder. The sound is great and it's very easy to add and remove songs. This is truly great for active people who don't want to carry their full featured player around at certain times.
(5 out of 5)excellent player for the money
easy of use, lightweight and simple interface make this player a good contender against the apple analog. I did a little research before buying this puppy, so I can't relate on a comment about the supplied earbuds. I will however mention that the supplied USB cable is only about 3 inches long, so bear this in mind for data transfer and charging if you use the included cable. transfer rates and charging were very good, and I do suggest updating the firmware on your Zen Stone to the latest version since it improves the effiency of charging. once you take the player out of the box, Creative suggests you charge the player right away. I did so in under an hour, then I updated the firmware. once this was completed, I used Creative Media Lite to begin file transfer, and I noticed that my player was once again charging itself. with the stock version of firmware, it had been charged to 100%, but after updating, the device realized it was actually only 85% and continued charging itself to the correct level.
while some people will complain about the load time from startup taking a couple of seconds, this is a small sacrifice for a very good budget 1 GB MP3 player. I had stayed out of buying MP3 players because the price had been too intimidating, but it just got entirely too cumbersome to lug around a CD player anymore. I was quite shocked to see how small this player really is... just a tad larger than a box of matches. so far I have had no problems with it, it is a solid little device and a good deal at the current price.