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Creative ZEN Vision:M 30GB Black MP3 Player (2.5" LCD, Hard Drive, 4 Hours Video, 14 Hours Audio - MPN: 70PF169000001)
Description: ZEN Vision:M is the fusion of music, photos and video into one compact player. Enjoy up to 15,000 songs, watch up to 120 hours of video, share tens of thousands of photos with your family and friends, and do it all in style. Scroll along th.... Read More Description: ZEN Vision:M is the fusion of music, photos and video into one compact player. Enjoy up to 15,000 songs, watch up to 120 hours of video, share tens of thousands of photos with your family and friends, and do it all in style. Scroll along the intuitive Vertical Touch Pad and watch the dazzling 2.5" color screen burst to life. Rich, vibrant photos, album art, and menus come alive in a stunning high resolution 262,144 color screen. Navigate through your music, photos and video collection with remarkable ease using the patented ZEN user interface.
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| Date Reviewed: 08/22/2006 |
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Strengths: Long battery life, you can actually finish a whole movie!
High resolution screen.
Ability to use different file types, both audio and video.
FM tuner.
Somewhat customizeable UI/background/colors.
Weaknesses: Long battery life requires a larger battery, and the battery isn't easily replaceable. The size isn't as appealing as the iPod.
It doesn't seem as "hip" as the iPod.
Accessories for zen pales in comparison to the iPod.
Summary: I've had the player for almost year now and I still love my zen.
The jist of things:
Functionality wise and quality I feel the zen is above the iPod.
Accessory wise, zen is seriously lacking compared to the iPod. Even after this long it is still hard to find any accessories.
It really depends on what you desire. I use almost every aspect of the zen, from the FM tuner (which sometimes has a bit of trouble getting a signal because it doesn't have an extended antenna), video for movies, pictures for the backgrounds, and obviously music.
The zen does have a few issues that make it from perfect. The syncing software provided is just alright and the music is organized by the id3 tags, so if your music is only organized by folder structures then this can be a bit of a hassle. I also didn't like the white back on the black model, I'd really have preferred all black. The weight and size can be a bit cumbersome. Really all the negatives are nitpicky and aren't a big issue to me.
Would I buy Zen over the iPod if I had to choose again? thats a definate yes.
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| Date Reviewed: 04/18/2007 |
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Strengths: See below.
Weaknesses: See below.
Summary: Strengths: -Easy to transfer files to and from, whether it is audio, video, pictures, or data stored for back up and transportation. -Requires no proprietary software (like iTunes) -Long battery life. -EXCELLENT screen quality, sharpness and color. -Plays just about every video format, and will convert any others to the format it needs automatically. -Great built in equalizer and volume control. -Can record voice and FM radio. Weaknesses -Smooth surfaces can be easily scratched. -Player freezes once in a while, but reboots easily and without loss of data. -Scrolling touchpad can be overly sensitive and clicked unintentionally. -Requires proprietary adapter to use wall and car chargers. I have no regrets about buying this MP3 player. The flexibility, battery life, screen quality and fact that I can plug it into any computer without it requiring its own software to be used make it a much better choice than the iPod Video. You can literally copy your files, plug it into your friends computer, and share any of the data you saved to the device. You can even customize the wall paper behind the menus. The downsides to the player are even easily compensated for. To combat the easily scratched surfaces, you can purchase a case, or clear laminate "armor" from someone like invisibleshield.com or the silicone second skin. If the player freezes, press the reset button and it takes just a minute or so to reboot. You can adjust the sensitivity of the touch pad, but even at its lowest it takes some getting used to avoid the accidental clicking. As far as the charging adapters are concerned, a lot of the 3rd party chargers you can buy online or at the store come with the adapter built in, so if you get one of those, you only need the adapter to hook the player up to the computer with the usb cable. Overall, you cannot go wrong with the Creative Zen Vision:M. It is absolutely the best player with its features for the value, and the screen and sounds quality are superb.
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| Date Reviewed: 04/04/2006 |
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Strengths: High quality audio and video. Large storage space.
Weaknesses: Non-replaceable battery. Surface scratched easily. Weak FM tuner reception. Bulky charger.
Summary: 2006-04-13 14:43:17 The player is compact yet feels solid; the supplied charger could be made smaller and lighter (all these chargers can add up to a lot of backpack/carry-on weight during travel). The vertical scrolling pad is a bit too sensitive and takes some getting-use-to to avoid accidental sound volume blasts. The audio is crystal clear, tonally somewhat bright typical of digital reproduction. The FM tuner has 32 presets, a number an order of magnitude more than I would ever need given that the tuner appears to be able to pull in good signals from only half a dozen local stations. The video picture is very sharp, the color amazingly vibrant.
The player comes with a thick multi-lingual manual which contains very little useful information but I found lots of how-to info on the various Discussion Forums on the Internet. The earbud foam cover of the supplied earphones has the habit of popping off unnoticed and is a pain to search for. Overall the Creative ZVM is a very nice media player.
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| Date Reviewed: 04/06/2006 |
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Strengths: FM radio, great sound quality, 30gb, size of player is just right, easy to use, great color screen
Weaknesses: wish batter life was more than 14hrs
Summary: I replaced my 1gb Creative Zen Nano plus with this player. This device has more of everything. Great vivid color LCD screen, a whopping 30gb of storage, great size for holding as my nano plus had too small of buttons for an adult male hand, great sound quality, fm radio. This device has a great user interface and beats the IPOD cold-- regarding wealth of features, overall portability and price. Just wish the batter life was more than 14hrs on a charge. Would be great if it was 20hr battery life or more. (the cowon iaudio XL5 20gb player [35hr battery!] is the only other awesome player that I would also consier).
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| Date Reviewed: 04/03/2006 |
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Strengths: Perfect sound and video quality, good battery life
Weaknesses: None
Summary: Its price is great and it works very well. This MP3 player has amazing sound, and has an amazing menu, and navigation. The quality of the video playback is just awesome. 30 GB capacity is more than enough for regular user.
As for battery power, I use it for about 2 hours at work and about 1 hours at the gym each day, and I have to power it every several days. Not a big deal at all.
Overall You can not go wrong with this Creative Zen Vision:M. It gives a great package for the money that you spend.
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| Date Reviewed: 05/13/2007 |
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Strengths: Withstands numerous concrete falls!
Weaknesses: A couple of songs might switch around names but that is it. The body, not the screen scratches easily. Do not put on a silicon skin..they do not work!!
Summary: I cannot live without my Creative Zen!!!! Forget Ipod!!! My sister hates her Ipod after seeing Creative. The screen on the zen lets you put a wallpaper much like a pc. The headphones might look little and cheap but they are far from it!! The sound is incredible. I love being able to watch movies and videos with ease. Once you get used to the controls, navigating is a breezee. You can download so many different kind of files and have room for text documents if u so desire. My works hard..sometimes 15 hour days!! It got stuck on me 2 times in 6 months...all you do is drive a needle in the tiny hole on the bottom and voila! It restarts again like a computer. And yes I dropped it so many times and it works to perfection! Creative Labs also has their own software and site for downloading podcasts if you want and its free!!!
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| Date Reviewed: 03/04/2006 |
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Strengths: the video and the sound quality is real nice
Weaknesses: cost Av cable and scroll
Summary: i am in love with this new PVP. i was about to buy a Ipod but i didnt want to be a trend follower but a trend setter and belive me i have convinsed many peole to buy this player and they all thank me
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| Date Reviewed: 01/13/2006 |
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Strengths: Beautiful and simple design, super easy to use, plays everything and connects to everything
Weaknesses: None so far!
Summary: I'm not sure now is exactly the time to call the Zen Vision:M an "iPod Killer". A bit early for that perhaps? Lets revisit later this year. However I would certainly call it an awesome iPod alternative and competitor. In fact I just bought my very own Vision:M two days ago! Found it online for $309. I must say I'm only just beginning to figure out what all this beast can do. I can say the video looks amazing and the sound quality is brilliant. I do know by intelligently choosing the Zen, not only do I have a gorgeous, super easy to use PMP with many more features than iPod, and I most importantly have -far- more supported AV formats and -many- more choices for online music, videos, movies, and subscriptions. iPod users get -very- little to choose from. Only what Apple force feeds them. One or two choices maybe? Gosh I'm sorry about your luck iLemmings! ;-)
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| Date Reviewed: 01/24/2006 |
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Strengths: This is hands down the No. 1 competitor to the iPod, things that significantly boost its value over the iPod:
1. beautiful screen (320x240),
2. support of open formats (DivX, WMV, Xvid, MPG1, MPG2)
Weaknesses: 1. Non-replaceable battery (like the iPod)
2. Creative Tech support leaves a lot to be desired
3. Thicker than the iPod
4. Lack of accessories or 3rd party products
Summary: This product is very well positioned to be the No.1 competitive threat to the iPod, it has better battery life (4 hours) and a much better screen(242,000 colors), built in FM radio with 32 presets, a built in mic, a beautiful screen which supports 320x240 resolution and the most impt thing is that it supports OPEN formats vs. Apple's proprietary H.2341 codec. I can't wait to download some video on this and go right up to the Apple store and sneer at him after he laughed at me when I inquired if the iPod supported divX (a format he laughed off as saying is "only for pirates" -- ever heard of amateur home video or student films?).
The potential pitfalls I see for this are namely 3:
1. the battery -- why the hell they had to copy Apple and NOT make this battery replaceable is beyond me. Apple charges $50 as part of a battery replacement program, Creative may have to do the same (either that or pricegrabber may have to look for some 3rd parties who do this for Creative! ;-))
2. Creative tech support. I previously owned a Creative Nomad Jukebox 3 (the first mp3 player out LONG before the iPod). It was bulky and a bit heavy, but the biggest gripe I had about it was the lack of tech support from Creative. Drivers and Firmware were never updated promptly (especially when Windows XP came out), will this be the case when Windows Vista comes out as well?
Apple has the advantage, thru its stores and computers of completely integrating the iPod to work, Creative needs to overcome this to really reach the mass market.
3. Third party support for add-ons/accessories
Again lack of standardization and homogenization as in iPod is what kills all of its competitors. Microsoft is working to solve this problem but is at least 6 months away. Can pricegrabber help here????
I hope that this review proves useful.
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| Date Reviewed: 03/30/2006 |
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Strengths: Excellent list navigation, Ability to play lots of formats for both music and video, Various extra features over Ipod (radio, recorder)
Weaknesses: Case is easily scratched, Extra buttons for menu navigation, Extra adapter to sync/recharge, Not as slick as Ipod
Summary: Just before I went to my 24 hour flight to Asia I loaded this device with 13 GB of music and 8 GB of videos. This device exceeded all my expectations, on 1 full charge it can play about 2 movies or hours of music. Yes, you can watch movies on this device! I ended watching 5 movies on this whole trip. Also depending on how you compress your movies you can use the whole screen or settle with the black bands above and below the movie. During my 1 hour layover in Japan I was able to recharge the system to about 75% and watch another movie before landing in Taiwan.
The music playback quality was excellent and the supplied earbuds were pretty good too. I have not really used the radio feature, voice recording nor the photo storage ability.
Unfortunately, during this trip I managed to scratch up the corners of this device :( I suggest getting a case for it. One item that I found annoying was the adapter that you need to use to sync or recharge the device. Although the system is not as slick as the ipod series, its pretty damm cool.
88% of People (7/8) found this review helpful. Was this review helpful or unhelpful for you?
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| Date Reviewed: 04/21/2006 |
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Strengths: FM Radio, Easy to use, Great sound quality, plenty of storage
Weaknesses: n/a
Summary: I like this MP3 player as it has so many features, is easy to use, vivid & easy to read color display, big enough to handle yet light enough to carry, FM Radio, and plenty of storage 30GB! I highly reccommend this player.
86% of People (6/7) found this review helpful. Was this review helpful or unhelpful for you?
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| Date Reviewed: 01/23/2006 |
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Strengths: Beautiful design, great sound quality, easy interface, awesome software.
Weaknesses: Accessories not currently available on a wide scale.
Summary: I was traumatized after purchasing inferior products from Olympus & iRiver. It took me a few months to get over these experiences but I am glad that I waited. This player is awesome. I have used the ipod and must say that I like this one much more. In short, you get more for your money witout having to deal with the quaqmire called itunes.
Great job Creative!
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| Date Reviewed: 06/23/2006 |
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Strengths: Video/LCD, FM, Size, Everything
Weaknesses: None so far
Summary: I been researching for a couple of weeks either the Ipod VIdeo but since its itunes prop right away NO, then it was iAUDIO X5L vs Zen VIsion:M .. the X5l is too big and thick, but has good battery life, in the other line ZVM has the best video overall of all players, decent battery, size and look. So I went with it, I did a rush me 2days delivery $313 from PCConnection great.
When I opened the small box, I'm like wow is this it? SO SMALL lol. I couldnt believe it. I put some 300 songs and 4 videos right away and a few minutes later done, then made sure it was charged good while I read the manual and then I left to work. I like my stuff to sound clear and loud :)
I was trying to go to the next track so many times and I couldnt figure it out, until I did lol after I came out of work. I customized my EQ.
I cant be more happy
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| Date Reviewed: 04/15/2006 |
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Strengths: Bright Screen, FM Radio Tuner, High Quality Audio & Video Playback, Long Battery Life, Support of Open Formats, Voice Recorder with Build-in Microphone.
Weaknesses: Lack of Accessories, Non-Removable Battery, Alittle bit bigger than the iPod 5G.
Summary: Overall, I have to say I'm extremely happy with my purchase of this awesome media player, only a few negative about this player as mention in the weaknesses part of the review, if Creative have figure out a practical way to add/make a removable battery for this player, this would have been the overwhelming winner over the Apple iPod 5G but there are so many strengths about this player which make the lack of the removable battery so little, so on any given day of the week I would say 9 out of 10 times I would pick the Vision M over the iPod 5G.
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| Date Reviewed: 03/02/2006 |
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Strengths: The right size for you hand, doesn't feel like it will break. The colors in the screen are great.Voice Recorder and the radio I really wanted that in the device. Comes in many colors.
Weaknesses: will need a protection shield or case which they all do
Summary: I just love my zvm, I have not had any problems with it. i sounds great and great to look at. i have added tv shows movies mp3's and music videos and never once did it stumble. I love showing it off, you should see there faces. I would truly get another when the size of the gigs gets bigger.
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