Creative Zen 20GB

[MonsterNet.Org]

Creative Zen 20GB Review

Introduction

Some time after the launch of the Zen Micro, Creative silently released a new player into the market. Unlike the huge publicity over the Zen Micro, this new player crept into stores almost unnoticed. In fact, there were a lot of rumours spreading on the Internet. Some, judging it by the size, said this new player was called the Zen Macro (Micro - Small; Macro - Big; Get it?). But it goes to show you shouldn't trust everything you read on the Internet. This mysterious new player is called the Creative Zen. Which means, without adding the brand to it, we should call it the Zen. Honestly, it sounds too weird, and for our sanity, we refer to it as the Zen 20GB for this review.

Package Contents

The Zen 20GB being the big brother of the Zen Micro, even the packaging is similar to the Zen Micro's, just bigger.

Opening the box really gave me a sense of déjà vu.

The package contents are very similar to the Zen Micro's, except, of course, everything is in black, and larger. Also, instead of a flimsy satin pouch, Creative included a tougher velvet one. The wired remote is missing, and is instead available as an optional accessory.

Full review

[matt]

Thank you for your reviews of the Zen 20GB and Zen Micro. They were very helpful.

One thing I noticed with the Zen 20GB is that it doesn't show the bitrate in the 'View Details' screen unless the file is playing. It works for both WMA and MP3.

Even if the file is on the 'Now Playing' screen (but not actually playing), the bitrate will not show.

Might explain the lack of bitrate information described in the Zen Micro review.

[zenguy]

do you know when the zen 20gb will be available in the US?

[MonsterNet.Org]

do you know when the zen 20gb will be available in the US?

As far as I know, Creative does not intend to sell the Zen 20GB outside of Asia.

However, you may wish to check out http://l.monsternet.org/a114 and http://l.monsternet.org/a1bd

I believe they ship to US.

[jimmy]

Can the apparantly removable cover which is not meant to be removed actually be removed to replace the battery if it buggers up? or would the player have to be sent back to the facotry or something?

[matt]

Can the apparantly removable cover which is not meant to be removed actually be removed to replace the battery if it buggers up? or would the player have to be sent back to the facotry or something?

Well now that my player is long out of warranty, I've been wanting to crack open the cover on the back and see exactly what's accessible. Unfortunately I can't find the right tool to do this, but I'll keep searching and will post back once the mystery door has been opened!