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

I've had this for over a year now, and have gotten hours and hours and hours of use out of it.

I use it only for audiobooks, as it plays the wma audiofiles that OverDrive Media uses - which is what my local library uses as their download provider for audiobooks. Listening to audiobooks has changed my commute from a chore to something enjoyable and relaxing.

A few things: I do NOT have it display the date/time. This gives it a longer battery life. I did invest in a couple of mini-usb cables, which I have in my office(s), so that I can charge it at work. You don't need the software to charge the player, just the cable. I did put on a wrist strap, mainly so I could easily find it in my purse.

I have not had issues with the creative software, but I am only using it for audio books.

For a simple, basic player for overdrive wma audio books (since I got this they now have mp3 books ... but the wma are smaller, so I still prefer them), I recommend it.

As I can't speak to the software for music, or how it plays music, I am only giving it 3 stars.

Product's pretty good. Got what I wanted & what I paid for. Only annoyance is the shuffle logic is ridiculous. Every time the player is switched to shuffle mode, it plays almost a fixed sequence of songs. Otherwise, everything else is quite good.

I was so excited with i got my Creative Zen Stone. Yes the charge life was horrible, but that was not much of a concern for me. I liked the fact that it was small and perfect for working out. Overall i thought it was a neat little gadget until it suddenly stopped working after 2 months. I attempted to turn it on one afternoon and the creative logo appeared on the screen and wouldn't go away. I could not access my music and the device would not turn off . I'm highly disappointed...i expected more from this company.

It's a great little mp3 player. It's basically a shuffle. You can make folders but that uses up more space so it's basically organization vs. amount of music. Plus definitely get a little case for it because mine got scratched up pretty quickly and I was very careful. I guess because it's such a small screen one or two little nicks are very annoying.
You can choose language, sound settings (according to genre and there's a custom setting), there's fmradio with tons of presets. It's definitely worth sixty bucks! I recommend it.

The Zen Stone Plus does all that it says in the product description. However, there are drawbacks to this device that I enjoyed with the shuffle. The first is that it doesn't come with a built in clip, which is a constant struggle in that I only use it for workouts. Having to buy a separate clip that does not firmly attach to the unit is a daily annoyance. I happened to purchase the sport pack which included the skin, clip, and armband. I haven't found a good use for the armband. The skin covers the screen making it hard to navigate.
The battery life seems to be extremely short and it since it has multiple functions, this means charging it after every workout (4 times a week).
Sometimes the on/off function is a challenge in that you have to hold the button for at least 5 seconds.
The other drawback is the short USB cord - 5 inches long.
I do enjoy the portability of the device and the sound is good. For the money and storage size, this does offer more than the shuffle including a radio, timer, stopwatch, recorder, music, and screen. But if you want more from a smaller device, I would recommend the Zen V or Zen V plus, which is in the same price range with a bigger color screen.
My overall rating is 3.5 out of 5 stars.