Test: Creative Zen V plus

Creative Zen V plus er en rigtig god afspiller, der uden tvivl kan anbefales. Afspilleren gør det rigtig godt på næsten alle punkter og der er meget få negative sider.

Lydsiden skal fremhæves for afspilleren klarer opgaven rigtig godt. Lydbilledet er meget detaljeret og samtidig er lyden dynamisk og fyldig. De medfølgende ørepropper er desuden af bedre kvalitet end man ellers ser og det er klart et plus.

Understøttelse af både fotos og video er over det forventede og køber man en udgave med plads nok er der ingen begrænsninger for at bruge afspilleren som billedunderholdning i kortere perioder. Den lille skærm klarer jobbet godt og OLED-standardens fordele træder hurtigt i karakter.

Muligheden for at bruge Zen V plus som diktafon eller lagringsmedie tæller yderliegre og det samme gør den indbyggede FM-radio. Man kunne dog ønske sig eksempelvis RDS-funktion, så man automatisk får det bedste signal, men her er konkurrenterne ikke bedre.

Creatives software er blevet meget bedre indenfor den seneste tid og man har kun tilbage at ønske at Creative får ryddet op og samlet funktionaliteterne i et enkelt program. At der installeres 6-7 forskellige programmer virker ikke helt gennemtænkt og her har Creative stadigvæk noget at lære.

Batteritiden var i vores tests over det opgivede for afspilleren og man savner blot at opladning foregik lidt hurtigere. Nogle vil savne opladning via netstik, men dette kan altså løses via en tur i Creatives netbutik.

Zen V plus er en oplagt succes, men har også en stor konkurrent i Apples iPod nano, som netop er kommet i anden generation. Nano'en vinder uden tvivl på design, men også integrationen med iTunes og det bedre batteri trækker fra. Zen V plus kan til gengæld bryste sig den indbyggede radio, de bedre høretelefoner og en lidt lavere pris. Umiddelbart ser nano ud til at vinde alene på sit design og sin coolness-faktor, men har du mod på at være anderledes er Zen V plus klart anbefalelsesværdig.

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UK Summary

The Creative Zen V plus is an excellent media-player, which I can whole-heartedly recommend to anyone. In almost every aspect the player performs extraordinary, and generally has very few downsides.

The first feature to commend is the audio quality. The sound is rich, detailed and dynamic. The enclosed ear speakers are of decidedly better build than what is most often experienced with portable music players.

Support for both photographs and video exceeds my expectations, and acquiring a unit with adequate disk space, enables no limit of video-entertainment, albeit potentially for only a fairly short period of time. The small screen performs well, and the benefits of OLED-technology are quickly visualized.

Features such as dictaphone, general storage media and FM-radio further merits high remarks. RDS-functionality would be appreciated, but this feature isn't offered by the units competitors either.

Creative software really has improved a lot lately, but further clean-up and combining functions into a single tool would make the software truly world-class. Having to install 6-7 applications to enable all functions does not seem too well thought out, leaving room for improvement from Creative.

The battery-life of the unit we received surpassed what has been advertised. Faster recharge would be appreciated though. Some consumers would probably miss the option of recharging from a power outlet. This problem is solvable by visiting your local Creative net shop though.

Zen V is an obvious success, but it faces a serious challenge none the less, as the Apple iPod nano 2nd generation has just been released. From a visual standpoint, the nano would win hands down, and iTune-integration and better battery-life further separates the two. The Zen V plus does sport some advantages against the nano though, such as FM-radio, better ear speakers and slightly lower price. The Zen V is the dark horse of the race between the two media players, but if you do not mind swimming ever so slightly upstream, the Zen V plus is definitely recommendable.