What's wrong with the Zen Nano pl

Question

I've been looking around for the MP3 player that will suit my needs.
The key features I need are...
. Above average sound quality.
2. Flash based.
3. Small. Can accompany me anywhere with ease.
4. User replaceable battery. (after few years, built-in battery will die. sending to service center for replacement is a pain in my country)
5. The screen that let me navigate through my music files.
I've been deciding between the iPod nano and Mobiblu DAH-500i(Currently I've not enough money for the iPod nano though.). But for some reason I just want to check creative website. My last creative product was back then...... the first generation Creative Nomad Jukebox 6GB.
And I found this one, the Zen nano & Zen nano plus. This player meets all my requirements. I quickly browse CNET and PCMAG.com for the reviews of this product. Yes, they say good things about it. But the rating is somewhat low compared to other models out there. PCmag give it 3.5/5. And Cnet doesn't even have a full review for it.(only 'preview' available.)
I'm not sure if I can think this way but after reading through the 'features' page, I think this product just simply 'SHOULD BE MORE POPULAR'. It's so perfect. It fills all the holes I have in my mind about iPod nano(no drag and drop) and DAH-500i(battery life). I'm not interest in FM radio though.
So I'm starting to wonder if there's some hidden flaws about it's Forexample, is it only compatible with AAA alkaline battery but not the rechargeable AAA Ni-MH or Ni-CD battery? This thing is build of very cheap plastic? etc...
Question # Please let me know what is the 'bad' point of Zen nano/ Zen nano plus. Because I really can't find it.
Question #2 Is there a hole on the device where I can atach a lanyard?
Thank you.

Answer 1

As said above, the N200 is the exact same (with some software exceptions and maybe the odd change) as the Nano Plus.
The plastic the player is made out of can be quite fragile (I've got a crack in the bottom of my player) - but it's not so fragile as the Ipod Nano seems to be (it's meant to be a magnet to scratches), it's a bit of a cheap plastic, but I'm not sure the extent of how fragile it is, though you can't literally snap it in half.
You will need to reload the firmware every so often, if you're lucky, it might be every few months, some have to do it every few weeks (It could be the luck of the draw, some people might have faulty products, but it is something that needs to be done). This usually is the fix for any random problem with the player (at least it's not always back to Creative for repair)
The Line in is pretty shoddy, don't use that. (They might have fixed it in the later versions of the firmware, not in .2)
The sound quality is well, as good as you can expect I suppose, it's not the worst thing in the world, but testing it against my cousin's Ipod Photo (I know it's not exactly a big comparrison), there's no or very little difference.
The battery is user changable, AAA batteries. There have been some cases with some rechargeables not working - that could just be the luck of the draw, or just a incompatability issue, like anything that uses batteries. However, most rechargeables should work with the player well. (I'm using rechargeables as well)
There is a hole for the laynard around the back of the player - yet I remember the hole on a user's player had broken. In Asia, the player is sold with the laynard, whereas in North America and Europe, it comes with an arm band and a rubber cover with a plastic belt clip.
The backlit buzz as mentioned above is also a problem, though on the Cnet Asia review for the N200, the claimed it wasn't audiable during music playback. Though how much it annoys you can depend on you, it's like some people can sleep with World War 3 outside, some can only sleep in perfect silence.
I'm sure there will be people with horror stories about the player, but there will always be people with horror stories about everything and anything.
Feel free to ask more questions if you want.
Although, saying that, the Samsung players are meant to be pretty good as well if you want to check them out.Message Edited by arcl on 09-26-2005 02:23 AM