Finding the Zen in your music

Boy Toys by Ding

Tata came up with a car that took the world by storm, in the form of the Nano. They plan to bring automotive convenience to the masses, in the form of a small, affordable and easy to use bundle of joy. In many ways, what we're looking at today is the Tata Nano of the Digital Music Player world: The Creative Zen V Plus. It too is a small, affordable and easy to use bundle of joy. The specific model is the Zen V Plus 2GB in black.

Creative is almost synonymous with computer audio. And it shows here. The packaged ear-bud headset which comes with the Zen delivers exceptional audio quality, and bass notes are rendered beautifully. Despite their large size, the headset sits comfortably, and does a good job at cutting out the sounds from the background.

The display is an OLED screen, unlike the LCD screens we see in most players. This means incredibly low power consumption and long life, but at the expense of image quality. This is not complemented by the fact that the pixels of the Zen V Plus are quite large. Despite this, the screen is clear and easy to see, even in bright light conditions, where some LCD screens just disappear out of sight.

Usability is one of the fortes of the Zen. It's extremely easy to use, and the 5 way Joystick is just that: a joy. The operating system might need a bit of getting used to, but after you're able to find your way around the various settings and menus and functions, they power packed in this little diamond of an MP3 player can be unleashed. One my favorite features is the ability to just drag and drop music, instead of using software such as iTunes. This means if I see some songs I like at a friends computer, it's just a matter of plugging the Zen in, and copying the song off.

Battery life is exceptional, offering over 15 hours of playback once fully charged. Charging itself is a snap, as the device is charged whenever it's plugged into the computer for data transfer. So, wrapping up, it's a handy, economical, great sounding, extremely cute music player. And with Creative's years of experience in the digital music industry virtually guarantees a great personal music experience. Get one. Because you won't be disappointed.