Creative Zen V (as a Line-In Recorder) Review

Finally got this review done. Basically I got the Creative Zen V to record sermons at church via direct line-in when connected to a mixer. There are not many line-in recorders these days; Creative had quite a few devices that allow this but they have seem to stopped making them (possibly due to the hiss in the recordings?). Got a good deal at ~B$100 for 2 of them (1GB model, including shipping). Check out the video review

Details of the Creative Zen V

• Capacity: 1GB / 2GB
• Audio Support: MP3, WMA, IMA ADPCM, WMA DRM
• Weight: 43.5g
• Battery Life: Up to 15 hours for continuous audio playback
• In-built battery (charges via USB)
• Voice & Line-In recording supported

• Line-in recording: 160kb/s, stereo 44.1KHz WMA (66.2MB for 76 min)
• Microphone recording: 32kb/s, mono, 8KHz WAV (5.9MB for 25.5 min)
• Monitor recording via

• Visual level meters
• Headphone output

Mini-USB connection and connects as an MTP device

• Windows: no issues
• Linux: depends on distro but works in recent version of Ubuntu
• OS X: not supported natively, requires 3rd party application: e.g. XNJB

Main Issues:

• Buzz/Hiss in line-in recorded audio (check out the video 4:07)
• Takes relatively long to switch on (~15 seconds)
• Records to WMA (may need conversion)
• Possible permanent dimming of screen after extended use (several months)