Creative Zen M is the ipod killer

I bought this mp3 player for my girlfriend who used to have a Sony Vaio (not the laptop) before. The Vaio boasted 40GB of space, but it had quite a few drawbacks. The worst, and of course, knowing Sony should not come as a surprise, was the DRM system. Even if the songs were already in mp3 format, the Sony software would convert them to a proprietary format and then take forever even with USB 2.0 to get them on the player. If your computer crashed and you had to reinstall the operating system, you were doomed. You could not get your songs off the player unless you had previously gone through the process of creating certificates which had to be validated online for the computer that you were storing the songs on. Being the more technical person, I must have ended up transferring about 40 cds on the player over 5 times, and it became very frustrating.

When the battery died on the Vaio, I decided to look for a Christmas present for her. I do a lot of research and read through a lot of reviews when it comes to buying electronics. I was interested on hard-drive based players only. I was not a fan of the iPod to begin with since everyone and their mom has it nowadays but I wanted to be thorough and give it the benefit of the doubt. My friends have iPods too so I considered that as well and in the end I decided to go for the 30GB Creative Zen M. Here are some of the pros and cons:

Pros:
*Zen M has plenty of storage space. Perhaps not 80 GBs or more like the ipod, but you can go up to 60 GB. That is a LOT of space. If you're lying down in a hospital with every bone in your body broken and you're wrapped in gauze like a mummy while watching movies on an mp3 player suspended from the ceiling for hours, chances are you will not end up using all the space. So why pay for it.

*The screen quality on the Zen (over 220k colors) is superior to that of the ipod (64k). The Zen can play MP3, WAV, WMA, ADPCM, Protected WMA (DRM) audio formats whereas the ipod can play AAC, MP3, WAV, AIFF, Audible and Apple Lossless. The Zen screen is bigger too. As far as video formats go, the Zen is amazing. It can play DivX 4, DivX 5, XviD5, MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, WMV9 and MPEG. Compare that to just being able to play MPEG-4 on the iPod. No need for transcoding either.

*With the Zen M you don't need software like iTunes. Actually, you don't need any software to transfer the files. Just plug it in a usb port and it will show up as a removable drive. It's all drag and drop from there. I have also found out to my amazement, that Windows Media Player 11 does a great job in finding the album art. I was surprised since some of the third party software I tried out, cost $ and cannot even find half the albums correctly.

*The Zen has a built in FM tuner. iPod does not.

*The Zen M has a customizable wallpaper. iPod does not.

*You can record voice on the Zen directly without the need for third party accessories as is the case with the iPod.

*You can search for songs on the Zen a bit easier than on the iPod. You do a text search or browse by first letter of the artist's name.

Cons:

*A little bit bulkier than the iPod. Whatever. More bang for the buck that way.

*The navigational pad is sensitive and takes a little bit getting used to. The iPod seems to be slightly better.

*Also, iTunes has a wider selection of downloadable music.

My girlfriend loves her new mp3 player and so do I. We love discovering new features on it. And was a bit cheaper than an iPod.

Zen Vision:M Has Outstanding Quality, Features, & Price

The Zen Vision:M 30 GB Media Player is a marvelous balance of quality and features and is an absolute bargain. It is about as thick as and a little larger than a deck of cards, and weighs about the same as a small digital camera. The screen is 2.5”, has 320x240 resolution, and supports 256K colors.

The face does smudge and scratch easily; you might want to purchase a “skin”, which is a thin, clear protective film that adheres to the face of the player and can be replaced if it becomes scratched or scuffed up.

On its bottom half, the corners act as buttons and give nice tactile feedback. The left and right edges of the scroll pad act as forward and reverse, and go faster the longer you hold them. This is very handy in audio books and films.

The player’s interface is a simple, configurable menu. In lists, there is a sidebar alphabet to help you jump to a position. Text is displayed in a large, fine, rounded font that is very easy to read.

The unit requires an external adapter or for sync, recharge, and A/V out. You can charge the unit in 6 hours using the included USB cable. A charge will last from 4 hours (video) to 14 hours (audio).

Adding files to the player requires use of the Creative Zen Vision Explorer software, which has drag and drop capability and syncing.

Audio is strong and clear. The Smart Volume balances out volume of tracks, which is nice. Bass Boost, however, gives music a muddy sound.

I like that in addition to repeat and shuffle, you can play a random album or most (or least) listened to tracks. The bookmark feature is essential for audio books. The playback display is very clean and easy to read.

In addition to WMA song purchases, the player supports subscription services, which allow you to borrow unlimited songs indefinitely while you are subscribed. The large capacity of the player maximizes the value of this service.

Photos look outstanding. The images are bright and crisp with vibrant color. The player does a great job of scaling down high-res images, and you can scale down images during transfer to save space. You can play audio files while viewing pictures, slide shows, etc., and can set any photograph as your wallpaper and set its brightness and tint for text readability.

Video files play smoothly, and even though the screen is small, the color and detail are excellent. I bought a feature film from Amazon’s Unbox service and was surprised at how good it looked. Included software will convert unsupported formats (Ipod video, for instance). The process, however, is slow.

FM reception is much better than in most players I have seen, and there is a signal strength meter. The player supports recording of FM, though a recent firmware upgrade (which I’m skipping) disables it.

The mic can pick up voices in a large room with good quality. I recorded a meeting and was even able to pick up sounds through a closed door.

The 30GB capacity is great, and you can set aside up to 16 GB for file storage.

There is also an alarm clock and Outlook calendar viewer.

I love my Vision:M player. I've got all my music, five years of photos, a feature film, numerous podcasts, 2GB of file storage, and still have 12GB left. I use mine at home, work and in between (I walk).

The Zen Vision:M is one of the finest multimedia players available. It is a joy to use and a wonder to behold. For its high quality, wealth of features, and reasonable price, this player should definitely be on your short list.

Zen M:30 Review

In its own right, the Creative Zen Vision:M is a very capable digital audio player, video player, photo viewer, FM radio, and more. Indeed, one could go on and on about how it has the right specifications to make it a constant companion for entertainment on the go. The really big news about this device, though, is that it's the first device to boast complete compatibility with Amazon Unbox, the new digital video and music download service from Amazon.com.


The Zen Vision:M has the features, ease-of-use, and power to become your constant media companion. See the Vison:M interactive demo.
Design
Let's get things out in the open. The Apple iPod is the 800-pound gorilla when it comes to the digital media player business and, unavoidably, every other device is measured against it. In most respects, the Vision:M matches up pretty well, and there are few things you may even like better. Length and width dimensions are exactly the same at 4.1 and 2.4 inches respectively. When it comes to girth, though, the iPod has the Vision:M beat; the Vision:M is .7 inches thick, while the iPod measures .4 inches. The Vision:M is slightly heavier, too. These details aside, the Vision:M feels comfortable, yet sturdy, in the hand, with curved surfaces in all the right places.

Creative takes a somewhat different approach with the Vision:M's controls, answering the iPod's Click Wheel with a vertical touch pad--which allows you to scroll up and down menus and control volume--plus four buttons that offer navigation through the user interface. The contextual menu button on the bottom right is a welcome addition, allowing you to make quick settings changes and view information about media files on the fly--functions that are more cumbersome on an iPod. Creative could have made the buttons a bit more sensitive--they require a firm press that gives an overall feeling of clunkiness to an otherwise well-designed user interface. Another annoyance is the touch pad's over-sensitivity; it's easy to make selections unintentionally, sending you on a wild ride through the user interface.

The Vision:M's screen, which measures 2.5 inches diagonally, offers sharp details, vibrant color, and excellent response with little or no video ghosting during high-action sequences. The 320 x 240 resolution is to be expected from a device this size, and although it's small, you'll likely have no trouble enjoying video while you're sitting on the subway or a flight, or in the back-seat of a car. Our only nitpick was the screen's less than stellar viewing angle, especially when compared side-by-side with a video iPod. While this can be good for maintaining privacy, the narrow viewing angle also means that friends beside you will struggle to see anything other than a black screen.

Music, Videos, Photos, and More
The Vision:M's music organization scheme is standard fare; you can browse playlists, artists, tracks, albums, and genres. Equalizer settings are robust, with a nice range of automatic settings, plus a custom equalizer that's easy to control. The music library's "DJ" function is a nice touch, allowing you to listen to your most popular tracks. It can also pull up the tunes you listen to least frequently--in case you've got some forgotten tunes lying around on the Vision:M's 30 GB hard drive. Sound quality is everything you'd expect from a top shelf digital audio player, and DRM'd Windows Media files played without a hitch.

Creative Zen Vision:M 30GB

For an ipod alternative, look no further. This mp3/video player supports all kinds of media like for instance:

Audio supported: MP3, WMA, and WAV
Video supported: MPEG, AVI, WMV9, DIVX, XVID, and motion-JPEG
Photo supported: JPEG; it can convert TIFF, GIF, BMP, and PNG to JPEG

It also comes with a built-in, that's right built-in, FM tuner. Other features include the 2.5" 262,000 color screen, the ability to set up to 16GB of the hard drive as an external hard drive.

The battery life is 14 hours for audio and 4 hours for video.

For a complete review go to http://www.anythingbutipod.com​/archives/2006/01/creative-zen​-vision-m-review.php

Still a GREAT player but not the best

I bought the player 4 weeks ago for a friend of mine and as time passes we just keep on finding more flaws in this product comparing other players such as the cowon A2 for example.
this player has some unique functions that still keeps him on top of other players. functions like a horizontal touch pad and a shortcut key that can be programed by the user to do almost any function you want... in addition the creative ZEN is capable of playing most Xvid and Divx files without any problems comparing to Ipod that cant read anything except MP4 and legal video files that cost allot of money.. but still the ZEN doesn't support video files with AC3 sound and those should be encoded to regular stereo sound system. The Cowon A2 can read all those files with no problem but he lacks in size and wight so it's your decision.
another thing is battery life time which is pretty good even for watching a few episodes of southpark while on the subway. creative says 4 hours for video, for me it lasted 3.5, and for music only 14.5, according to creative it's 16. but still battery life is really good especially for video time, comparing to the Ipod which has only 2 hours of video time. anyway I really don't understand how you can watch anything in this tiny screen (2.5"). If you're looking for a player that can answer your need of seeing movies and series everywhere, you need something like the cowon a2 which has twice the screen size and twice the battery life time in video (10 hours).
One of the most essential accessory of any mp3 player is the AC charger. Creative doesn't include an AC charger in its product package. also a tv cable that transfers the picture from the player to the tv and they also do not include a case for the player. all of those are very expensive and as I said essential in any player. those product are included in the regular pack of the Cowon A2.
another subject is browsing your music, the creative zen has a touch pad, we all know the ipod's touch wheel which is great for navigating your Ipod. well creative came with new horizontal pad that cant compit with the wheel pad but still does the work, and it's better then any joystick navigation that other players have such as the Cowon a2.
plus the zen has a search option which is pretty helpful in finding those tricky songs that you remember only one word from there name.
another advantage of the Zen is a very easy to use and beautifully GUI that basically works on browsing your files by titles such as artist name, song name, album name and such...

Advantages-
* Vibrant screen with great resolution (240*320).
* Works great with divx and xvid in almost any resolution.
* Has the ability to connect to a TV.
* Has a good battery life time
* It has a GREAT user interface.
* Touch wheel navigation and shortcut key.
* Good price
* Good weight - 163g

Disadvantages-
* The regular package contents don't include some of the essential accessories such as AC adapter and carrying case.
* cant play video files coded in AC3 (surround sound) and .ogg music files.
* Screen is a bit small for watching any real videos
* you cant take advantage of all the product capabilities without adding allot of money for cables and such.
* It cant be connected to a pc with any usb cable, it must include a special adapter that comes with the player.

In conclusion the Creative ZEN Vision:M is a great player but certainly not the best out there. it has some key features that can easily make it the best player for you.