Home > Consumer Reviews > Creative Zen Stone Plus 2 GB MP3 Player (Red)

The Creative Zen Stone Plus 2GB doubles the size of the iPod Shuffle and adds a monochrome screen for viewing track names and settings. Add in the functionality of a built-in FM tuner and voice recorder at $65 and you have a great value.

Pros -
+ good stereo sound
+ nice capacity for a decent price
+ light-weight
+ FM tuner with 32 presets ( though it's just average )
+ voice recording
+ simple design (no more click wheel!) with more color options
+ great navigation and sorting features
+ Nice format compatibility (MP3, WAV, 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
+ Nice extras like stopwatch function

Cons
- average battery life of 10 hours (OLED screen sucks the battery)
- mediocre backlight ( but it can be disabled )
- some DRM song transfer issues with some firmware versions
- not expandable - few size options 1GB and 2GB
- Creative software is buggy
- larger than the 2nd and 3rd generation iPod shuffles

Creative's Zen Stone line was meant to be the upgrade to the Zen nano, aka Muvo mini. Unfortunately, the 1GB Zen Stone had some quality issues. With the new 2GB Zen Stone Plus, Creative has tried to improve on previous models and compete with the Sandisk Sansas.

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 and doesn't have all the cool cache' of an iPod shuffle or iPod nano. But it is priced very attractively and has some NICE features. It's good for a starter, workout unit, or gift for a kid.

The Creative Zen Stone Plus is lighter than the competition, but is still larger than the new iPod Shuffle 2nd and 3rd generations. Unlike the shuffle, you can actually see your track names! The OLED screen is perfect for a player this size but does suck more power and shorten the battery life.

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 While I didn't mind the toggle wheel, it has been replaced by intuitive buttons for the standard functions (select, up, down, play, pause, forward or reverse). There's a headphone jack, microphone hole, 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 is less versatile than the old battery operated unit, but more convenient.

What about sound? The sound is great, and it comes through in pure stereo. As usual, you will hear complaints about the earbuds. Most people replace their standard earbuds so I won't hold that against Creative.

The Zen Stone doesn't have larger storage options. 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)

This unit is ideal as a player and not for those who primarily want to use it for recording. The built-in microphone is nice for short reminders.

The price isn't a give-away, and the plastic case could be more durable. Still, this is a nice starter unit that can last you a while. Check it out. Enjoy!!!

I was enjoying the player immensely when after only 7 weeks it just stopped working. Since it was past 30 days i could not return it via amazon.com and had to call Creative directly. Their customer service staff were insulting. I explained what was wrong and told I needed to "troubleshoot" over the phone. When I said to Arnold, the rep, "there is an on/off switch, when I press it nothing happens, what exactly do you think we can troubleshoot?" his response was, that perhaps I wasn't charging the unit correctly. Now if it had only been 2 or 3 days I would have seen the logic in this, but after 7 weeks this was a ridiculous suggestion. I was then directed to a web site to request RNA. The website did not work. I searched the entire Creative web site and found only one place were a text email could be sent. After sending email to this link, I was finally provided an RNA and am still waiting to receive the player back. I would most definitely not recommend this or any Creative product.

When I received this item, I thought it was cool, small enough to carry anywhere and durable so I could listen for hours. Well, I was in for a rude awakening; when I tried to play back my downloaded songs, after about 1 hour of play the battery was already at two bars, then after 2 hours down to one. Needs constant charging. Also, shuffled songs keep playing over and over, making you sick of hearing the songs. I'm not surprised though, how could such a small unit possess longevity and good sequence. Nice try Creative Zen - but no cigar!

I purchased these for two of my children. For the price, I think they are a great value, but the earbuds must be upgraded. I have a pair of $8 Sony earbuds that sound much better than the garbage that comes standard with these. The sound levels all blended together, produced static, and sounded muffled. That rant out of the way, upgrade the headphones, and this is really a nice little mp3 player. The equalizer works nice and this unit really does produce nice sound. I like it better than the ipod shuffle just because of the equalizer settings and the LCD display that allows you to see what song is playing, artist info... That being said, the LCD display does drain battery life a little quicker.
I bought $10 headphones for these, and still came in $20 cheaper than the shuffle, and there are some pretty decent inexpensive earbuds out there.
If the battery life was a bit longer, and they came with better earphones, I would have given this a full 5 stars. I am very happy, however, and my wife and I are considering picking one of these up for ourselves.

I picked up this device expecting a great alternative to an iPod Shuffle after having fallen in love with the Creative Vision M. After a couple of hours playing around with this, I was really disappointed in my purchase. This turned out to be the most problematic Mp3 player I've owned.

The most annoying thing about this MP3 player is the laggy interface. If a song is being played and you try to click through the menus, there is literally a 3-5 second lag time before the screen updates. Before it even has a chance to update, the menu would sometimes time-out and go back to the "now playing" screen, and you will have to start all over again. The latest firmware update doesn't resolve this issue and the only solution I can think of is to pause your music before you go into a menu.

If you press the next button really fast to skip through a bunch of tracks, the device would lag up, taking 3-5 seconds to go through each single track. It would forget how many times you pressed the button after a certain number of presses. For example, pressing the next button 20 times at 0.5 second intervals might only result in 10 tracks skipped after approximately 30-50 seconds of lag time.

Another big problem is poor battery life. You can only get about 8 hours from a single charge. Also, if you fully charge the device and just leave it turned off and unplugged, the battery would drain itself out completely within a week. I thought the clock was responsible for this but even after disabling it, I experience the same problem.

I don't think it's worth mentioning the positives since these three problems I've mentioned cripple the device so severely. I am surprised that Creative allowed their name to be placed on such a horrible product.

I highly recommend that you stay away from this Mp3 player and instead, consider the Sandisk Sansa Clip which is an excellent alternative.