Excellent small audio/video player with lots of features

I got this player to use while running or biking, since my 30GB Zen Vision M is a little too bulky to use for those activities. I got the 1 GB Black/Orange model, although the other models are identical except for storage size.

This player truly amazes me with the number of features it can fit into such a small frame (imagine something the size of a box of matches). It plays various audio formats (WMA, MP3, WAV, Audible), supports photo viewing/zoom/pan/slideshows/, features custom wallpaper setting (any photo on the player can be used as the wallpaper), has an FM Tuner with 32 Presets, supports both voice and line-in recording, and has support for videos at 12 Frames Per Second. Also, the screen can be rotated in 1 of 4 ways, so left-handed people can use the player comfortably.

Some of those features aren't even found in full size, hard drive based players costing 4 times as much, but the Zen V Plus really packs everything into a svelte package.

The joystick-based interface works very well, and the graphical interface is very similar to those from the larger Zen Vision M or iPod video...essentially, very clear and easy to nagivate. The player has dedicated volume buttons on the right side. There are play/pause and back buttons next to the joystick, and holding down the back button for 1 second will open up a menu that shows what the user can do in that particular screen.

Audio quality was excellent through my Shure E2C in-canal earbuds, with well defined lows and clear highs. The Zen V Plus has a 5 level equalizer for customizing the sound and also many preset EQ settings. It also supports smart volume leveling, bass boost, and user controlled volume limiting.

Video quality was also quite good, considering the size of the screen, and videos did not stutter much even though they played at 12 FPS. In my opinion, the Zen V Plus is perfect for watching short cartoons or video clips. For full-length movies, however, I would suggest a full-sized player such as the Zen Vision M.

Overall, battery life was excellent for a player with a color screen...I got about 19 hours of audio playback at moderate volume. I have yet to test battery life while watching videos, but from online testing it's around 5-6 hours.

The included software is good and uncluttered, and transfer times were relatively fast over USB 2.0 (taking about 20 seconds for an average album).