Today we take a look at Creative’s latest offerings – the Creative Zen Neoon 2 MP3 player. This one is a successor to the Creative Zen Neeon. The sample we’ve received from Creative is the 1GB model. The swirling spiral theme on the box is also seen in the MP3 player which will be shown later. Inside the cardboard packaging is a neat little white box. The upper layer has your accessories while the bottom layer holds your Zen Neeon 2 MP3 player in a styrofoam pack. Creative’s packaging is undoubtedly simple and sleek.

• Creative Zen Neeon 2
• Installation CD
• Users Guide
• Punk-Rock Stik-On Cover
• Line-in recording cable
• Neck Strap
• Leather Drawstring pouch
• Earphones
• USB Cable

Looking by the content list above, you can see that there are certainly a lot of accessories bundled along. As the successor of the Creative Zen Neeon, the Neeon 2 brings more to the table such as its smaller size, lighter weight and a larger 1.5 inch CSTN screen. The Zen Neeon 2 also supports the ability to view photos and play videos. A few other improvements are a new LiOn polymer battery and Flash based memory which results in excellent battery lifespan. The Zen Neeon 2 has dimensions of 81 x 42 x 12.5 mm and weighs around 50 grams.

The Zen Neeon 2 feels light and smooth to the touch with a glossy plastic front cover and a matte back plate. Fingerprints are easy to get onto the cover and the CSTN screen which can be a bit of a nuisance. A 3-way rocket switch is used to operate the Zen Neeon 2. While this limits a lot of functionality, the user interface remembers your last made selection so it works out all right. Apart from that, the rocket switch controls are finicky at best and may take a while to get used to.

Standard buttons include volume control, recording, play/pause and a locking mechanism. Also included is a 3.5”mm headphone jack, 2.5” mm line-in jack and an integrated microphone. The USB 2.0 connection enables you to transfer your media as well as charge your MP3 player so this will be bad news for those who plan to spend a holiday or such away from a computer.

The CSTN display is bright in color and detail but suffers from heavy backlighting when viewed from a different angle. However, it’s easier for fingerprints and other natural substances to get on to the screen which makes cleaning a tedious job.

Taking a closer look at the Neeon 2, the User Interface seems fairly snappy and you have the usual selections such as Music, FM Radio, Microphone, Photos, Videos etc. Looking into the System configuration, there are fairly a number of options to customize your player such as Custom EQs, modify Display settings and even change layouts (Themes and Wallpapers).

To most modern MP3 player users today 1 GB or 4 GB may not seem like a lot but considering the Zen Neeon 2’s size, it should work out for those looking for a small and convenient player. You also have a “Set Bookmark” option that works similar to a playlist. Play your favorite song and hit the Set Bookmark function to add it to a Bookmark list. You can save up to 10 Bookmarks using this function.

Music files are sorted according to file names so users should use separate folders for their albums. Searching for specific songs in long lists can be tiresome so this should be another reason to use folders.

Songs and videos played sound good with the bundled Creative earphones. Users who are looking for better quality sound should think of upgrading towards better end earphones such as the Koss SportaPro. While the level of audio quality and volume controls may not compare to a higher end player such as an iPod, the Zen Neeon 2 still manages to sound good with average mids and unrealistic bass. Turning off Bass Boost helps for a better experience with songs in the rock and metal genre.

The Zen Neeon 2 can be connected directly to your PC without any additional software required. Windows detects it as a removable hard drive and you can start transferring files. Using the Zen Neeon 2 Video Converter, video clips can be converted to DIB format which will result in a 128 x 96 pixels resolution and 15 fps playback setting. Now, the only gripe is that converted videos have 2x the size of the original one because the player isn’t powerful enough to play compressed videos- you really don’t want to watch your DVD on it. Instead, the Neeon is good for photos and maybe videos taken from your mobile phone.

The Zen Neeon 2, it is clearly targeted to the younger generation and towards those that will be spending ample time with the player. For the user who will be constantly on the move, this player will be more than sufficient with around 20 hours of audio playtime and 8 hours of video playtime. Audio is undoubtedly the main point in the Zen Neeon 2. Add to that FM Radio and Line-in recording and you’ve got a great listening experience.