The Creative Zen V Plus is a tiny Flash-memory portable multimedia player that handles music, photos and video, and it has an FM tuner and a voice recorder thrown in to boot. There is even a line-in jack for recording directly from a CD player or other audio source. The diminutive Zen V Plus is available in 1GB, 2GB, 4GB and 8GB models. We tested the 4GB version and found this matchbox-size device to be filled with big features.

Creative offers the Zen V Plus in several color schemes, and our review sample was a catchy black with blue trim. This slick -- and by slick, we mean slippery -- device has a bright 1-1/2-inch OLED display that dominates the front panel. Centered under the display is a small thumb-type five-way joystick, flanked by a play/pause control and a return button. The headphone jack is located on the top of the player, along with the USB 2.0 port, the line-in jack and a small pinhole microphone for the voice recorder. The left side of the player is home to the power switch/lock and a reset button, while the right side has volume controls and a record button. On the bottom of the player is a loop for attaching the included lanyard.

Although the Zen V Plus is very small and easily fits in your palm, we did not like the plastic case. It was very slippery in our hands, and it quickly accumulated fingerprints. The joystick did not help matters. The unit was very difficult to control, and several times we chose the wrong option when clicking through the onscreen menu. Both adults and teenagers testing the Zen V Plus found it to be clumsy to operate.

Installation of the included Creative software on a PC was straightforward. After restarting our computer, we attached the Zen V Plus via the included USB cable, loaded some music and video content and then allowed the player to charge. Creative offers a Zen Power Adapter (available separately) that allows quick charging without a computer connection.

Playback of music is simple -- just turn on the Zen V Plus and hit the play button. While a song is playing, clicking the joystick cycles through album art, the current playlist and back to current-song details. Pushing the joystick right or left navigates forward or backward through the songs in the currently selected album or playlist.

In addition to MP3 files and compatibility with subscription music services, the Zen V Plus supports AVI video and JPEG photos. The screen is bright and clear, although it inevitably washes out in direct sunlight. You have your choice of screen color themes with fun names like "earth," "cool," "peace" and "dawn." The menu is easily configurable, and you can select one of your photos to serve as the background.

The Zen V Plus includes many extras, including the FM tuner, a date and time display, the voice recorder and the ability to partition a portion of the memory for data storage. Creative makes great portable media players, and although the Zen V Plus is hampered by poor controls, it still packs tons of features into a pocket-size device at a great price.


Pros:  Large memory (up to 8GB) for a very compact unit, video playback, lots of useful features
Cons:  Thumbstick controller is difficult to use, plastic body is slippery

Warranty
90 days, labor; 1 year, parts