Review of Creative Zen Sleek

[Suhit Gupta]

http://www.trustedreviews.com/article.aspx?art=1991

"One almost has to feel sorry for Creative. It’s been trying right from the outset of MP3 players to compete with Apple. In fact, if memory serves, it beat Apple to the punch by introducing the original hard disk jukebox, around a year before the iPod was launched. But ever since the small white monolith appeared, Creative’s been chasing the market. In an attempt to win the fight it has tried beat Apple players on a feature by feature basis without as much thought going into design. And while Apple focuses on around three players at any one time, Creative seems to have about 87, which just shows that the company is as confused as we are."



So true. Anyways, this review is about the new Zen Sleek. It is a strong 20GB audio player contender. It’s lighter than an iPod and the iRiver H10, despite the fact that it integrates a microphone and FM tuner and can record from both (iRiver has both features). It looks so much like an iPod mini though lacks an easy to use menu system from what I can see. So if you want 20GB in a small form factor then this is for you, otherwise, keep looking.

[Suhit Gupta]

http://www.trustedreviews.com/article.aspx?art=1991

"One almost has to feel sorry for Creative. It’s been trying right from the outset of MP3 players to compete with Apple. In fact, if memory serves, it beat Apple to the punch by introducing the original hard disk jukebox, around a year before the iPod was launched. But ever since the small white monolith appeared, Creative’s been chasing the market. In an attempt to win the fight it has tried beat Apple players on a feature by feature basis without as much thought going into design. And while Apple focuses on around three players at any one time, Creative seems to have about 87, which just shows that the company is as confused as we are."



So true. Anyways, this review is about the new Zen Sleek. It is a strong 20GB audio player contender. It’s lighter than an iPod and the iRiver H10, despite the fact that it integrates a microphone and FM tuner and can record from both (iRiver has both features). It looks so much like an iPod mini though lacks an easy to use menu system from what I can see. So if you want 20GB in a small form factor then this is for you, otherwise, keep looking.

[jmulder]

I find it ironic that Suhit commented on the poor menu interface when Creative patented the menu interface most MP3 players (including the iPod) use.

I do agree, however, that Creative should be looking to winnow their offerings a little. A couple of RAM-based players, a couple of HD-based players, and a video player should be enough. It seems that Creative is throwing any new design they have against the wall to see if it sticks, without understanding the potential they've created for product confusion.

[mcsouth]

Man, this is certainly pushing some nice buttons for me, but it still has a few niggles......why doesn't it have the color screen from the new Zen Micro? Why can't it charge over USB? What about different case colors, again like the Micro?

99% of my music is encoded as WMA's, and I have no desire to go through the hassle of ripping to a different format just to suit an iPod (as nice as they are ), so I have been looking for a player that had the right combination of features AND could handle DRM'd WMA's (since I have some of those as well). I almost bought one of the 5GB Zen Micros, but with the announcement of the 6GB units, and now the color units, I've been waiting for the price to fall on the 5GB units. Now the sleek shows up, and I'll admit that the extra capacity has me wondering.

Now why couldn't I get an orange Zen Sleek with a color screen????

[Suhit Gupta]

Originally Posted by jmulder

I find it ironic that Suhit commented on the poor menu interface when Creative patented the menu interface most MP3 players (including the iPod) use.

While that is true, the interface is just not intuitive. I played with it super briefly a month or so ago in New York and while it was easy to go up and down in the menu, it was harder to go forward and backwards on a screen.

Suhit