Creative Zen Mozaic 2 GB MP3 Player (Black)

Recently, my 7yo son was prone to stealing my or my wife's cell phones to play music. I bought a Creative Zen Mozaic 4 GB MP3 player for him as a holiday gift to alleviate the problem.Upon receiving the device, I immediately hooked it up with the attached USB cable to the computer to charge it. The USB charging/interface cable is very short and I wonder if that is going to lead to it bending/failing in time as the Zen is basically hanging by it from the USB port on my computer while connected (there isn't any convenient way to support it). A longer cord would have provided allowed resting the Zen on top of the computer, but it's a minor nitpick. I'm pretty sure the cord can be replaced with a longer one as the connector (to the Zen) looks to be a standard size for digital cameras and things.After the Zen was charged, I set out to load it up with some of my son's favorite songs. I managed to do this via Windows Media Player. I was not successful using the Zen supplied software. At some point I did something wrong and the Zen froze up (stopped working). I think I unplugged the device without unsynching/disconnecting the USB connection via Windows first. I had to follow the troubleshooting instructions on the Creative Website to reboot/reset the Zen and everything worked fine afterwards.The 4GB Zen can hold more songs than my son needs. He figured out how to navigate the menu system to play his songs without any help. It's simple enough I suppose!Battery life has been excellent. He plays it a *lot* through the speaker (no headphones) and it can go almost a week between re-charging.I chose the Zen specifically because of the speaker. I didn't want my son damaging his ears playing music too loud with headphones. The external speaker produces decent audio. No one is going to confuse it with hi fidelity stereo, but it's better than the speaker in either my or my wife's cell phones. It's perfectly adequate for singing along and enjoying a favorite tune.After reading about it's plastic casing, I was worried that it might be a bit too cheaply made to satisfy the demands of a 7yo owner, but it's holding up very well. Overall, the Zen exceeded my expectations for the price.

After being a CD player holdout for the last however many years, I finally decided to get an mp3 player (CD player went missing, and I couldn't find another one like it). In this short period of time, I've had three so far, and this Mozaic is definitely my fave. The funny story is, I'd actually gotten it for my mom, and got a fancy pants little Sony for myself because it had a pretty screen and I thought i'd put videos on mine. However, when I got them both out of the box, charged up, and started fiddling around with them, I found that I MUCH preferred the Mozaic. It fits really well in your hand, and has a great finish that doesn't get covered in fingerprints. It's unique for those who don't want somethign too "iPody" but it also has great sound and some cool features. Some people get annoyed by push-button operation but personally, the touchpads and wheels confuse me, so I really like the buttons on this device.I decided to return my Sony for a Creative, but they sold out really fast in my neighborhood so I ended up ordering mine from Amazon.The included headphones are just the basic groadie ones that companies include so they can say "this comes with everything you need." Never stick with the in-package headphones. I dont even use them because they never fit me, due to the shape/size of my ear. The headphones I have aren't special -- just $10 at the store, and this device sounds great.I like that you can customize your menu, it has time, date, calendar, events and stuff like that, which will make it handy for keeping track of my classes, plus I really don't need more than a 2 GB harddrive. If I decide I need more harddrive, I will probably just upgrade to a higher capacity Mozaic. It also has a great radio and voice recorder and the resolution for photos is pretty good, too. Haven't added any videos yet, so I can't review that feature, but after avoiding mp3 players forEVER, I'm really glad to have found this one. It's unique and fun, inexpensive, nice to look at, but it also is a quality device that has more to it than just its looks.

After some experience with mp3 players and iPods, I'd say spend a little more $ to get a better-quality product that will last longer (especially with AppleCare's automatic 1-year warranty). I got this mp3 player about two months ago, and the screen no longer works - I didn't drop it (to my knowledge), and consider that I took pretty good care of it. It's just not the same quality and durability that you'd get with an Apple product.

As soon as I received, I charged the unit. I saw the menu display while charging so everything seemed fine. Then after fully charging (instructions say at least 3 hours), I unplugged the USB cable and clicked the power on button. Nothing happened. I repeatedly clicked it and nothing. No display light or anything. I then plugged the USB cable back in to see if it would do anything while connected to computer. Nothing. The unit was dead.I am attempting to send it back now for a refund. Amazon's return service is down. I've tried the web page and to reach them by email and by phone. All three methods have given me an error saying Amazon return service and customer service was down. You'd think the email would at least have been sent.Ugh! Now I dislike the unit and Amazon.