Omega
07-10-2007, 04:48 PM
http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/TBCS_Group/imagispire/reviews%20images/creativezenvisionm%20copy.jpg
Okay. So... I got a Creative Zen Vision:M recently. Figured I'd review it.
A bit of background (about my MP3 player history). I've owned several (read: 4) iPods. A 3rd Gen, A 4th gen, and two 2nd Gen nanos (8gb & 2gb). The 3rd Gen was the best, because it was the most basic of them all (It played music. That's about it). The Zen is my Birthday present that I chose out because I was tiring of iPod tomfoolery. Honestly, That device had begun to annoy me. So I'm selling my 2gb soon.
Anywho, on to the review...
Price
Lets touch on one of the Zen's great things first – It's price. 30Gb iPod video is what, 250$? The Zen Vision:M 60gb is 260$. 10$ more and you get twice the capacity, more functionality, but a larger package. It's about 25% thicker than the Video iPod, and maybe a tad heavier (I heard a statistic that said it was 75% heavier, but I can tell you it's not, or if it is, it doesn't feel like it.)
Starting Out
I'll admit – iPods are easier to get started with. They come pre-charged (a little bit), while the Zen comes to you dead as a doorknob. Getting the Zen to sync requires installing either a small bundle of Creative software (probably just one or two apps but I installed 6 of the 8 you get) or using WMP11. I despise WMP... So I went with the Creative software. One of the downsides of starting out, however, is that you have to install the software first, then plug in the Zen, then wait for it to build up a charge and turn itself on before you can start syncing it.
As I said, iPods are easier. Install and open iTunes, hook up your iPod, give it a minute or two, and you're off. But as I also said, you can just use WMP11 to Sync the Zen.
Turning it on is easy. It has a power slider on the top of the player. Slide it to the left and hold it until you see the Zen splash screen. Or if you plug it in, it'll turn on immediately and begin charging. From there... You can get to the fun stuff.
The basics
Lets start with audio playback and menu navigation. Instead of a radial touch-wheel thing like the iPod, it has a vertical touchpad with side buttons, then four buttons on the outside. The four buttons are, clockwise, “Play/Pause”, “Menu (Not the Main Menu, but the kind of menu you get if you right click something on your computer)”, “Back (like, go back to the previous menu)”, and “Go To”, which is a programmable button (It starts out as a “random album” select button, I've made mine the “go to video menu” button).
The menu scheme is a LOT like the iPod, so anybody who's owned an iPod should be able to navigate it easily once they get a hold of the menu. Volume is adjusted by scrolling up or down on the touchpad, or hitting the “right-click-menu” button deal and selecting “Volume” (which can be done anywhere, even while looking at pictures or whatnot).
Video Playback
Of course, one of the perks of this player (and the iPod Video, Zune, etc) is the Video Playback, an with 60gigs, It's holding all of my music so far, two anime series, some assorted videos, and I'm putting two 15-minute WoW videos on it as I type this.
Video playback on the 320*240 screen is clear, but some edges may be made jaggy in the downsizing of the videos (so they fit to the screen properly). Video playback is smooth and the audio is pretty good (I don't have great headphones to judge the quality of audio right now, sorry).
If your videos aren't the proper format for the player... Well, there's no reason to worry. Unlike Apple, Creative ships the Zen with video conversion software (unless of course, Apple's started doing this too, but last time I checked, they didn't). It might be painfully slow for larger videos (taking several hours to convert a full-length video to the proper format), but hey, it works. Quality after conversion isn't as good as pre-conversion, but you've got your videos.
The Radio
Ahh. Lets say your videos or music are boring you. You want to listen to your favorite Radio station... but all you have is an iPod, and it'd run you 20$ or so to get the FM radio addon-thingy. While iPod owners are left out in the cold here, Zen owners can change over to the radio and enjoy it whenever they want. The headphones are the antenna (an interesting feature) and it'll show you your signal strength, too. It also has an autoscan feature and 32 preset slots, so you can preset all of your favorite stations.
It does not, however, have AM. As far as I know.
Photos
Yeah, I know. Portable Media players have been able to look at all your pretty jpegs for years now, right? Well how many of them can set your pretty jpegs as backgrounds? I can think of one... The Zen. You can also change the color tone (between warm, cool, sepia, and gray scale, and of course normal. Some higher-quality images (or ones with a lot of color depth) might lose their previous detail, but hey, it's media on the go, and it's not like iPods are any better in that department.
The Microphone
Ahh... Another feature iPods don't have (assuming you're not running PodZilla, but then again, that voids your warranty and this does not) is a Microphone. Need to record a memo to yourself? Select the microphone from the menu, hit the right-click-menu button and select “begin recording”. To stop recording, hit the right-click-menu button and tell it to stop. The player will, however, pick up the clicks (as the buttons, they click). Other than the fact that you have to do that to record, the Mic is pretty nifty and of decent audio quality.
Other stuff
Lets say you're tiring of a certain video or artist, and don't want it on your mp3 player anymore. With an iPod, you have to go home, dock it, and delete it that way. With a Zen, you hit the right-click-menu button and select “Delete Folder” or “Delete File”. It'll ask for confirmation (starting at “no”, you have to tell it “yes”), and then you're good to go.
Also unlike iPods, you can have folders and such. They tend to be named after where on your computer they were synced from. For instance, I synced a video from “Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya” and that's the folder it was in on my Zen. However, if you pull it from a general directory (such as my “Foldah” folder on my desktop), it'll take that name too. I'm pretty sure you can rename them, however (but I'm not that anal about organizing that I'm going to).
Also, the Zen can sync with Camcorders, external HD's and whatnot through it's USB cable. So, for instance, if your digital camera gets full and you're not near a computer, you can sync it with your Zen and get the pictures off of your Zen later. Nifty indeed.
Final words
All in all, the Zen is a nice player. I like it a lot more than I like any of the iPods I've owned and any of the iPod videos I've used. While the Battery Life estimates aren't as good as the iPod's (iPod claims 20hrs music playback, Zen claims 14, iPod claims 6.5 hours of video playback, Zen claims 4), 14 hours of audio playback and 4 of video still aren't anything to laugh at. It's a good, solid, feature-packed player that won't break the bank, and that added functionality won't void your warranty.
Pros:
-Good Battery Life
-Clear, crisp picture
-Good audio playback
-Has features the iPod doesn't (Microphone, FM Radio, etc)
-Cheaper than 60gb iPod (Also cheaper than the 80gb, obviously)
Cons:
-Kind of bulky
-Less aftermarket support (You can only really get accessories for it from Creative)
-Funky USB cable (It goes from USB-A to USB-A-mini to the Zen “Dongle”)
Rating:
8.5/10.
Link to the Zen Vision:M on Creative's site (http://creative.com/products/product.asp?category=213&subcategory=214&product=14331)
EDIT:
Oh, and if you ever want to buy a good MP3 player, steer clear of the iPod. This thing is definately better and a serious iPod killer.
Okay. So... I got a Creative Zen Vision:M recently. Figured I'd review it.
A bit of background (about my MP3 player history). I've owned several (read: 4) iPods. A 3rd Gen, A 4th gen, and two 2nd Gen nanos (8gb & 2gb). The 3rd Gen was the best, because it was the most basic of them all (It played music. That's about it). The Zen is my Birthday present that I chose out because I was tiring of iPod tomfoolery. Honestly, That device had begun to annoy me. So I'm selling my 2gb soon.
Anywho, on to the review...
Price
Lets touch on one of the Zen's great things first – It's price. 30Gb iPod video is what, 250$? The Zen Vision:M 60gb is 260$. 10$ more and you get twice the capacity, more functionality, but a larger package. It's about 25% thicker than the Video iPod, and maybe a tad heavier (I heard a statistic that said it was 75% heavier, but I can tell you it's not, or if it is, it doesn't feel like it.)
Starting Out
I'll admit – iPods are easier to get started with. They come pre-charged (a little bit), while the Zen comes to you dead as a doorknob. Getting the Zen to sync requires installing either a small bundle of Creative software (probably just one or two apps but I installed 6 of the 8 you get) or using WMP11. I despise WMP... So I went with the Creative software. One of the downsides of starting out, however, is that you have to install the software first, then plug in the Zen, then wait for it to build up a charge and turn itself on before you can start syncing it.
As I said, iPods are easier. Install and open iTunes, hook up your iPod, give it a minute or two, and you're off. But as I also said, you can just use WMP11 to Sync the Zen.
Turning it on is easy. It has a power slider on the top of the player. Slide it to the left and hold it until you see the Zen splash screen. Or if you plug it in, it'll turn on immediately and begin charging. From there... You can get to the fun stuff.
The basics
Lets start with audio playback and menu navigation. Instead of a radial touch-wheel thing like the iPod, it has a vertical touchpad with side buttons, then four buttons on the outside. The four buttons are, clockwise, “Play/Pause”, “Menu (Not the Main Menu, but the kind of menu you get if you right click something on your computer)”, “Back (like, go back to the previous menu)”, and “Go To”, which is a programmable button (It starts out as a “random album” select button, I've made mine the “go to video menu” button).
The menu scheme is a LOT like the iPod, so anybody who's owned an iPod should be able to navigate it easily once they get a hold of the menu. Volume is adjusted by scrolling up or down on the touchpad, or hitting the “right-click-menu” button deal and selecting “Volume” (which can be done anywhere, even while looking at pictures or whatnot).
Video Playback
Of course, one of the perks of this player (and the iPod Video, Zune, etc) is the Video Playback, an with 60gigs, It's holding all of my music so far, two anime series, some assorted videos, and I'm putting two 15-minute WoW videos on it as I type this.
Video playback on the 320*240 screen is clear, but some edges may be made jaggy in the downsizing of the videos (so they fit to the screen properly). Video playback is smooth and the audio is pretty good (I don't have great headphones to judge the quality of audio right now, sorry).
If your videos aren't the proper format for the player... Well, there's no reason to worry. Unlike Apple, Creative ships the Zen with video conversion software (unless of course, Apple's started doing this too, but last time I checked, they didn't). It might be painfully slow for larger videos (taking several hours to convert a full-length video to the proper format), but hey, it works. Quality after conversion isn't as good as pre-conversion, but you've got your videos.
The Radio
Ahh. Lets say your videos or music are boring you. You want to listen to your favorite Radio station... but all you have is an iPod, and it'd run you 20$ or so to get the FM radio addon-thingy. While iPod owners are left out in the cold here, Zen owners can change over to the radio and enjoy it whenever they want. The headphones are the antenna (an interesting feature) and it'll show you your signal strength, too. It also has an autoscan feature and 32 preset slots, so you can preset all of your favorite stations.
It does not, however, have AM. As far as I know.
Photos
Yeah, I know. Portable Media players have been able to look at all your pretty jpegs for years now, right? Well how many of them can set your pretty jpegs as backgrounds? I can think of one... The Zen. You can also change the color tone (between warm, cool, sepia, and gray scale, and of course normal. Some higher-quality images (or ones with a lot of color depth) might lose their previous detail, but hey, it's media on the go, and it's not like iPods are any better in that department.
The Microphone
Ahh... Another feature iPods don't have (assuming you're not running PodZilla, but then again, that voids your warranty and this does not) is a Microphone. Need to record a memo to yourself? Select the microphone from the menu, hit the right-click-menu button and select “begin recording”. To stop recording, hit the right-click-menu button and tell it to stop. The player will, however, pick up the clicks (as the buttons, they click). Other than the fact that you have to do that to record, the Mic is pretty nifty and of decent audio quality.
Other stuff
Lets say you're tiring of a certain video or artist, and don't want it on your mp3 player anymore. With an iPod, you have to go home, dock it, and delete it that way. With a Zen, you hit the right-click-menu button and select “Delete Folder” or “Delete File”. It'll ask for confirmation (starting at “no”, you have to tell it “yes”), and then you're good to go.
Also unlike iPods, you can have folders and such. They tend to be named after where on your computer they were synced from. For instance, I synced a video from “Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya” and that's the folder it was in on my Zen. However, if you pull it from a general directory (such as my “Foldah” folder on my desktop), it'll take that name too. I'm pretty sure you can rename them, however (but I'm not that anal about organizing that I'm going to).
Also, the Zen can sync with Camcorders, external HD's and whatnot through it's USB cable. So, for instance, if your digital camera gets full and you're not near a computer, you can sync it with your Zen and get the pictures off of your Zen later. Nifty indeed.
Final words
All in all, the Zen is a nice player. I like it a lot more than I like any of the iPods I've owned and any of the iPod videos I've used. While the Battery Life estimates aren't as good as the iPod's (iPod claims 20hrs music playback, Zen claims 14, iPod claims 6.5 hours of video playback, Zen claims 4), 14 hours of audio playback and 4 of video still aren't anything to laugh at. It's a good, solid, feature-packed player that won't break the bank, and that added functionality won't void your warranty.
Pros:
-Good Battery Life
-Clear, crisp picture
-Good audio playback
-Has features the iPod doesn't (Microphone, FM Radio, etc)
-Cheaper than 60gb iPod (Also cheaper than the 80gb, obviously)
Cons:
-Kind of bulky
-Less aftermarket support (You can only really get accessories for it from Creative)
-Funky USB cable (It goes from USB-A to USB-A-mini to the Zen “Dongle”)
Rating:
8.5/10.
Link to the Zen Vision:M on Creative's site (http://creative.com/products/product.asp?category=213&subcategory=214&product=14331)
EDIT:
Oh, and if you ever want to buy a good MP3 player, steer clear of the iPod. This thing is definately better and a serious iPod killer.