Unprotected MP3′s do run from the SD card slot, but they are not integrated with the units software for playlists. So, you have to manual browse folders on the SD card and play one song at a time (no queuing or creating a play list). The moment you navigate away from the song playing on the SD card to look at the list of other songs, the playing stops. So there is no browsing through your songs on the SD card while playing a song. It works, but the SD interface is sloppy.

I talked to Amazon about the issue with the Unboxed videos not playing on the SD card and they said they Unboxed player has to transfer the files to the device. If the SD memory showed up as part of the core memory, than there would be no problem. Also, they said if the unit allowed you to copy/cut from the core memory and move/paste it to the SD memory from the device, this would allow the videos to play. I could not get a response from Creative on this issue after 2 days of phone calls and emails.

I so much wanted this device to be great, and it is so close but the SD card limitations make it really nothing more than an 8GB flash players. I need more room than that. I recommend reading the forums on Creative to see the list of complaints about this very problem. Creative has come out and said they plan NO firmware updates to better integrate the SD card with the core memory or core software to allow protected video or audible to play from the SD memory. It is a slick, small device that has so much potential, but the SD limitations make it useless for a user with a large video and audible library. If you only have unprotected audio, than this device will work for you. Thanks to Amazon’s generous return policy, this item is on its way back for a refund since it did not work as advertised. People are also reporting the Napstet to Go does not work on the SD card slot as well, but I do not have this service to confirm it

I gave it 3 stars, instead of 2 because it does work with the core memory, looks good, is small and lite; but I am very disappointed in what I feel is deceptive advertising from Creative where they hide the limitations and imply that the SD care will offer you an endless media library while working with these paid services. .

Got my Creative Zen this week, and have been nothing but impressed. It is a sleek, solidly built player. The #1 thing to me is audio quality, and the Zen is a Ten there. I’ve been using an iAudio U2, and it sounded great; way better than my daughter’s Nano. This is just as good if not better.

What I was looking for in a player: First, good sound. Second, good battery life. Third, a nice screen for video and photos. I was tempted by the iAudio 7, because of that great battery life and my knowledge of their sound quality. But they’re irrelevant in terms of video. The Clix is highly thought of by the techie sites, but it is weak in terms of space (still waiting on the 8 GB) and display (2.2 inches vs. the 2.5 of the Zen). So as a confirmed Apple apostate, when I saw the Zen, with its awesome audio, brilliant video, and SD slot, I knew it was “the one”.

It seems a little odd to me that a player can claim to “support” multiple video formats, yet I have to convert almost all of them. And the Zen software seems to convert everything to WMV. But I guess that is just the normal fallout of all these format wars. I have yet to find a video or audio format (including audiobooks .aa, which I haven’t seen mentioned as specifically suppported) that I can’t (eventually) get on the Zen. And the bottom line: the video looks vivid, the audio sounds awesome.

I synched up with Windows Media Player, cuz I’m used to it. It mostly worked, but there was some weirdness; songs that appeared under an artist, correctly, didn’t appear under that artist’s album. I assume that synching with the Zen Media Explorer would work better. But with the ability to drag-and-drop, or even delete and create folders, directly from Windows Explorer, these glitches are easily fixed.

The key to me is the SDHC slot. With SD cards gaining in capacity and dropping in price, this seems like the future to me. I’m betting the next generation iPod will jump on this bandwagon. I’ve seen complaints about the SD-card implementation, which sees the card as sort-of a separate device. But I actually like browsing on the card BETTER than elsewhere, because I can structure things there like I want. If you know how to create a folder, and drag things into it, you won’t have a problem. Just keep it simple: a Music and a Videos folder, and only WMA/V and MP3. I can see monster “playlists” of video and music, organized by cheap, tiny SD cards. The ultimate in modular expandability.

It is a bit slow to boot up, but that is minor, to me. The battery life is average. But it’s easy for the Cowon iAudio 7, with a screen half the Zen’s size, to have that awesome battery life. A brilliant, color-rich screen like the Zen possesses must come with a cost.

In sum: This is an awesome player–well-built, feature-packed, with unlimited SD capacity.

P.S. Works great so far with Amazon Unbox. The video is very good, the audio has a little crackle-and-pop; but overall, not bad at all, and easy to load. (No conversion necessary, although Unbox doesn’t yet list the Creative Zen as an approved player.) However, the .amzn files aren’t recognized on the Zen’s SD card–easily worked around.