Creative Zen Vision:M Review

Wacky — 20 January 2006

Anything but iPod has posted their Creative Zen Vision:M review. The Creative Zen Vision:M is the blatant iPod video ripoff announced last month. I’m not saying all PMPs are iPod Video ripoffs… but come on… look at the thing!

Anything but iPod concluded:

I have one major problem with the Zen Vision:M. It is not the proprietary dock connection, nor is it the non-removable battery. I can live with that. It is also not the proprietary video cable, even though that is substantially frustrating. It is, however, the fact that I am not able to simply plug it in without drivers and drop music onto it. In other words, it is not UMS compliant. I am forced to install software and I am restricted to using Windows XP. By making an MP3 player UMS compliant, you open it up to all operating systems and you give the user the freedom and ease of transferring and managing their media.

The Zen Vision:M is an impressive personal media player. It is well deserving of the Best of Show and Best Portable Audio & Video device awards it recently won at 2006 CES. The greatest appeal of the Vision:M is its ability to playback the majority of popular video files (especially DivX and XviD), which saves you a lot of time by not having to convert all of your video. Audio and video is top notch on the player as well as on the TV. The battery allows you to get in a full movie or two while on the go. Even though the user interface can be a bit slow at times it is still extremely easy to navigate. I would definitely recommend this to anyone who is looking for a hard drive based digital audio player. The Zen Vision:M is everything the video iPod is and then some.

For the full review, head on over to Anything but iPod.

About Author

Christen Costa

Grew up back East, got sick of the cold and headed West. Since I was small I have been pushing buttons - both electronic and human. With an insatiable need for tech I thought "why not start a blog focusing on technology, and use my dislikes and likes to post on gadgets."

Jim

I just bought a Vision M. A friend of mine had bought a video iPod a month earlier. He let borrow it for day and I wasn’t too impressed. Also, I thought the video iPod felt strange in my hand, too thin. The problem with the Vision M is that I couldn’t find one in a store to try it out. After reading a report on CNET, I took a chance and ordered a Vision M. I was impressed as soon as I turned it on. The display with its bright colors clearly set it apart from the iPod. The Vision M felt comfortable in my hand and loading it with movies was easy. Battery life is awsome, I watched two movies back to back on a single charge. I know I made the right choice.
AJ

I bought a Vision:M recently and have been very impressed with how easy it is to use and the picture quality with video playback. My only gripe is that I have not found an easy way to put videos onto it. There is no DVD ripping software on the supplied CD, and the one I have downloaded from the internet takes hours, and sometimes has a diagonal green stripe across the picture. Presumably an anticopy protection feature.
Creative’s forum isn’t much help as they say the Vision:M for your ‘personal’ videos not for copies of DVD films, even if these are owned by you, as this is breach of copyright. As I bought this to watch films whilst commuting, I am disappointed as I feel the advertising blurb is not clear on this point.
Still a great little machine though, for the odd DVD that burns with no problems.
Bryan P

I dont know about you but what else can you do with an mp3 player. should they have made it circular?? as far as im concerned if they had put a wheel there then yes it’d look more like an Ipod but otherwise did apple patent the colour white or something. Last time i knew they didnt :)

It looks good. though really im not sure i would want a white player though. the other colours tempt me more. This mp3 player would be perfect if i could not only listen to music but plug my camera into it and transfer my photos onto it instead of having a computer nearby. it would be the the perfect travel companion anywhere! ahhhhhhhh!
Hector

I’ll give you the fact the ipod has the whole sexy/chic thing going on. And for many people, what the ipod can offer is perfect for them. HOWEVER, please note that Creative began or at least helped start the digital audio player revolution with their zen jukebox, The ipod came after. Moreover, apparently Creative owns the patent to the interface that the ipod uses, except Apple (wisely) used a wheel to its advantage. So for those who keep calling any white-colored mp3 player with a touch sensitive input an ipod ripoff, get your facts straight.
As to other reasons why the vision m is not a ripoff is it’s screen displays oh about 4Xs the color that the ipod can handle, not to mention the plethora of video codecs it can handle instead of just mp4/aac, the fact that it can play videos as double the resolution with the same frame speed as the ipod, the fact that the battery lasts longer, that it includes an FM radio (ya know, if the ipod had this i might have considered it – hey i like to be informed and that means listening to npr in the mornings and i dont like the ipods solution which includes yet another add on dongle that just f’s up the simplicity for which it’s known for) as well as voice and FM recording, context menus that let you always get to the volume (with the ipod, if a song comes on too loud and you’re looking at a pic or doing god knows what, you have to navigate all the way back to the now playing screen), a shortcut button, do i have to go on with the difference???? and what i don’t get is, when people talk about value and how much things cost, why is it no one considers that with an ipod you almost have to pay for everything you put on there from itunes???? again, if you have the right tastes that fit in with what itunes can offer, the ipod may be for you, but for others it’s just not the case.
Adam

It’s just the flat out greatest.
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