Quick Reviews!

There are a few negative reviews here, whether or not they are by people who have used this new Ipod or not does not matter. Those of you who have used one in the past will know the pros and cons, and this is probably Apple's best yet. I'm not a huge fan of thin styled phones, ipod's etc, and this is easily one of the smallest, but it looks good, and as most people think 'smaller is better', then they should be very pleased. The price is also nice and competetive, especially considering the video playback, and memory capacity. It is also simple to use, and easy to set up.

The new video playback feature works well even with a small screen, as the pixel level is high. So, everything you see will be clear as you could want it to be. You may need to convert file types in order to play your videos, but this can be done easily enough online. The battery is strong- up to 5 hours of film or 24 hours of music. The new Cover Flow feature which lets you flick through your album covers so you can choose what you listen to is nice enough, though hardly essential or exciting. There are also other extras such as games, calendar, stop watch, world times, to distract you for a while, as well as a setting to check how much space is left.

There are a few games built in to the Ipod to pass the time if you're sick of staring out the bus window, Music Quiz being interesting enough, and solitaire the old favaourite. Obviously, the pink colour has been picked as a cynical ploy to get a lot of women and girls buying, and the shade of pink is gorgeous and stylish enough to show off. The most important thing is sound quality, and it is just as good as ever, improved if anything. You can easily tune out from the outside world of coughs and chat on the bus using this. The click wheel is slightly too sensitive, meaning you scroll past the song you want, and that is about the only fault I can find here. So for a simple, sleek, high quality iPod with plenty of space, this is the one you want. And it's hot pink.

BRILLIANT

I bought this product about a month ago and It's TINY ant extremly thin. The sound quality is great and it can store loads of songs and it is a extremly good value. I would recommend this to anyone looking for a cheap mp3 player.

Speaker great, FM radio poor

The main reason I bought the Creative Zen Stone Plus with built in speaker(pink) was the radio and that built in speaker. The radio is a waste of time though. Reception is very poor even though I live in an area with a very strong FM signal. All the other radios in the house have crystal clear FM reception (including the FM radio on my partners Sony Ericsson K750i mobile phone). If you have the patience and can put up with very loud static while you shuffle about the room seeking that elusive hot spot, you might eventually find one. Don't move though or you'll lose it. No good then for listening while walking the dog. I wondered if my player was faulty and contacted the Creative Support Team two days after purchasing it to discuss. After some rather stilted and weird email communication from them (they didn't read my email properly regarding the problem nor did they actually answer any of my queries) I took it back to the store and they happily exchanged it for another one. The reception on the new one is slightly better but not by much. I have decided to live with it (even though i am not happy and have since noticed that somebody else has notified of the same problem on the Creative web site user discussion forum) because I really love that speaker...it really is fun! Obviously it's a thin sound but never harsh. Music or spoken word you find yourself getting totally immersed in the listening because somehow, despite its size it manages to deliver real ambience. It's loud enough too in most environments as long as it's less than an arms length away which is fair enough. The microphone is ok for recording as long as the source is right next to the mic. Anything else it doesn't pick up. No good for recording lectures as I have seen bandied about by the manufacturers! As you might have read elsewhere, the way files and menus are managed on the Zen Stones is not ideal. However, as far as i know no other player has this built in speaker so there's no other option if you want this feature. Supplied software is excellent and easy to use, the player feels gorgeous tucked in your hand as so small and screen very clear. Creative should sort that radio out though because it really is not acceptable. I have had to take this into consideration with my rating.

Sony Forever iPod Never!

Ipods suck. They break easily (like very easy. They die just as soon as you start using them) and are extremely tricky to use! An apple is a fruit you eat and it is not a company. Buy a Sony instead. If you buy a Sony, you know full well that you are buying from a true elecrtonics company who knows about them not a wannabe company. Here are a few tips to get you started on that path to owning a true MP3 Player.

Step 1. Use a great big anville to drop onto your ipod

Step 2. Smile to yourself as it's blown to smitherines. Then rip up the earphones (sound quality is not good)

Step 3. Finally throw in the bin where it truly belongs.

Step 4. Look on the internet or browse the High Street for that little gem you so ultimately deserve.

Step 5. Choose and purchase it.

Step 6. Go home and start getting it ready for use and you're away!

I would personally recommend you get a Sony WALKMAN NWZA-828KB with 8GB memory, 36hrs battery life and Wireless Bluetooth headphones.

Buy from a genuine electronics genius and not a wannabe like Apple. The iPods are also victims of forgery. Don't buy!! I cannot stress that statement long enough to get through to you Apple-obsessed lunatics that you MUST simply stay away from Apple and go for Sony. I mean Apple don't have a clue what they're talking about when it comes to MP3 Players. If you ask them anything they'll reply,"Ummm...what?"

Let me spell it out for you:

Sony=company
Apple=fruit
iPod=?

So there's your lessons for today. Thank you.

Finally iPods are fake. They're not even genuine are they? The answer is no they are not. Wouldn't you rather have your music on a top-notch quality WALKMAN rather than a wimpy iPod? Of course you would. Please see the Sony review for more information. You teenagers deserve more than this cheap crap.

Stylish and Functional

Bought one of these despite the large quantity of negative feedback on Amazon and was relieved when it lived up to my high expectations. I searched high and low for a docking station for my ipod that had a radio as well as the conventional ipod dock, there were very few to choose from.
Originally I bought the Pure Digital model which has a DAB radio but when I got this home and tried it the sound quality was very poor so it went back. JBL have an excellent reputation for high quality sound reproduction and when I heard this model in the shop it was by far and away the best I heard.
In response to other feedback:
The AM/FM radio works fine on mine, there is minimal interference and mine is located in my kitchen where there is a significant amount of electric cabling etc. The radio tunes in single digits now so no need to change setting for europe to get 97.9, 97.8 etc.
The only downsides I have found are the plastic adapters which you switch according to which ipod you have. My ipod is a nano and the adaptor for the nano doesn't fit my ipod so I have used one of the larger adapters which works fine.
As another review said supporting the back of the unit whilst changing tracks etc will stop damage to the connection between the two.
If you intend to use your JBL on time as a clock radio the backlight is very bright but locating mine in my kitchen this isn't a problem.
Apart from those minor drawbacks this is a fantastic piece of kit, you could confidently replace most mid range home stereos with one of these.

Great little gadget

Bought this to use for singing rehearsals and lessons.

Whilst it's not Abbey Road, it's perfectly good enough to capture two guitars and three voices to see what needs changing/fixing.

Singing teacher and other members of the group are now getting one after hearing mine.

Admirable.

Think Twice!

The hard drive failed on my 30gb video IPOD after 17 months. Apple told me it would be cheaper to buy a new IPOD than get Apple to repair it. The most expensive paperweight I have ever bought! Think twice before you buy one, electrical goods that cost this much should last for longer than 12-18 months.

Zen player-bad news

If you want a poorly constructed and delicate player which takes ages to navigate through the menus and has a short battery life this is the player for you!!! Trust me buy a more expensive mp3 player as although this is cheap, its cheap for a reason as it is the most annoying piece of junk i have ever owned and has now stopped working for me completely now(which is a blessing as it gave me the incentive to buy something decent ha ha)

Flawed but fascinating - iPlayer permitting

This is a simple-looking device that actually needs be assessed from several different angles. It's not perfect, but what it makes possible is enough to excuse its shortcomings.

For me, the killer feature of the WM-201 - and what made me choose it over a similarly-priced DAB radio - is its ability to stream programmes from the BBC Listen Again site. There's loads of good stuff on Radio 4 and BBC 7, much of which I miss while I'm out at work. This allows me to listen while I'm cooking Sunday lunch - and means there's always an alternative to Quote Unquote, which has to be a good thing.
It can also receive just about anything you can get over DAB, and a whole lot more - my favourites are the genre-specific music stations from the US, many of which use higher-quality streams than the BBC and sound fantastic. (Finding these through the built-in regional lists, though, is a needle-in-haystack job; it's well worth getting to know the on-line Reciva site, on which you can build a personal set of pre-sets to download to the WM-201.)

Which brings me on to sound quality. The WM-201 can occasionally sound a little `boxy' - but then it is a box, not a ten-grand separates system, and it's wedged into a rather tight corner of my kitchen. It's generally perfectly pleasant, though - and a minor adjustment of the bass is usually enough to optimize the sound for a particular genre or recording. It also copes well with input from an iPod on a dock.

Time I considered those shortcomings. The first one is not specific to the WM-201 but applies to Internet radio in general - it's only as good as the feed it gets from your Internet connection. Until recently, this was very good, but the advent of the BBC iPlayer (if we believe what we read) has increased the load on the contended local connections to the ISPs' networks. The WM-201 copes with this in two ways: reducing the bit rate, with progressive degradation of sound quality; and stopping altogether until it has refilled its buffer. Both of these are annoying with speech radio, and make music programmes unlistenable - to the extent that, if I just want to listen to the Six O'Clock News on Radio 4, I use the old Sony FM portable that the WM-201 was intended to replace. An integrated FM tuner would be a useful feature if Roberts ever makes a WM-202!
The second gripe concerns the user interface. The WM-201 looks very sleek with its single control knob. The knob feels good too - nicely weighted and with a subtle click action between selections. But as a device to control such a sophisticated machine, it's not really enough - I wouldn't mind sacrificing a little sleekness for separate input selectors and a dedicated volume control. You get some of this on the remote, but that has horrible, clacky membrane bubbles for buttons and really isn't up to the standard of the rest of the kit.

These gripes seem a bit churlish, though, considering what the WM-201 can do - a bit like wishing for massage seats in an Apollo spacecraft. Much of what's good - and bad - about it is also true of other Wi-Fi radios like the Tangent Quattro. I've not tried the others, but the Roberts scores well on looks, quality and sound, and I'm very pleased with my choice.

Wise To Upgrade

I was not sure I got such a great deal with a 1 G iPod, so I returned it and for $50 more got the same thing only with twice the memory (2 G). Because I still feel the ear buds are `tinny' sounding and inconvenient, I bought a nice lightweight pair of snug headphones. Solved that problem. As for the small size problem, I ended up leaving it in my jeans and washing it! Guess what! It still works, which is a major kudos to Apple from a PC person. So, I purchased a protecting case, which makes it a little larger. Now, I also get 500 songs instead of less than 250. You'll still need to buy a magnifying glass to read the serial number, but this idiot found out that the number is on the outside of the box! Lessons can be learned!

Excellent feature set

This player is great value, considering its 16GB memory and ability to add more through a micro SD card. But the clincher for me was the FM radio and ability to record from it, and I can report that it works well. Many players, notably those beginning with i, don't even have a radio, let alone with record facilities. The only irritation on the View is that there is no direct access to the radio from the main menu, it's under "More". But I can live with that.

This is a great-value player. Just don't imagine you're going to use the supplied headphones.

Poor FM radio, great speaker

The main reason I bought the Creative Zen Stone Plus with built in speaker(pink) was the radio and that built in speaker. The radio is a waste of time though. Reception is very poor even though I live in an area with a very strong FM signal. All the other radios in the house have crystal clear FM reception (including the FM radio on my partners Sony Ericsson K750i mobile phone). If you have the patience and can put up with very loud static while you shuffle about the room seeking that elusive hot spot, you might eventually find one. Don't move though or you'll lose it. No good then for listening while walking the dog. I wondered if my player was faulty and contacted the Creative Support Team two days after purchasing it to discuss. After some rather stilted and weird email communication from them (they didn't read my email properly regarding the problem nor did they actually answer any of my queries) I took it back to the store and they happily exchanged it for another one. The reception on the new one is slightly better but not by much. I have decided to live with it (even though i am not happy and have since noticed that somebody else has notified of the same problem on the Creative web site user discussion forum) because I really love that speaker...it really is fun! Obviously it's a thin sound but never harsh. Music or spoken word you find yourself getting totally immersed in the listening because somehow, despite its size it manages to deliver real ambience. The microphone is ok for recording as long as the source is right next to the mic. Anything else it doesn't pick up. No good for recording lectures as I have seen bandied about by the manufacturers! As you might have read elsewhere, the way files and menus are managed on the Zen Stones is not ideal. However, as far as i know no other player has this built in speaker so there's no other option if you want this feature. Supplied software is excellent and easy to use, the player feels gorgeous tucked in your hand as so small and screen very clear. Creative should sort that radio out though because it really is not acceptable. I have had to take this into consideration with my rating.

Great mp4 player

This samsung mp4 player is great. It works fine with vist and xp. It comes with music software and software to convert videos and photos.The touch buttons work very well, you can change the menu style, background, and font. It has bluetooth built in. It comes neatly presented in a box like an ipods. Very clear screen. It charges quickly and has lots of battery life.
Contents:
Samsung mp4 player
Good earphones
Usb cable
manual
Software CD

I think its a great MP4 player and i advise you to buy one. I hope this review was helpful.

Fit for purpose

Bought this as a reserve player for when my 20gb one needs charging, it's a Creative so I bought with confidence and it does the trick without fuss and for me is ideal.
What more do you want? It has no display, but that is evident and I don't need one - shame other's don't actually have the savvy to check out what they are buying first then slagging it off when they themselves are at fault for being so stupid.