Creative ZEN Vision:M 30 GB MP3 and Video Player (Black)
by Creative
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List Price: Our Price: $150.00 You Save: $99.99 (40%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Category: Network Media Player See more product details |
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Creative ZEN Vision:M 30 GB MP3 and Video Player (Black)
Customer Review: player of choice
Summary: 4 Stars
I jumped on the MP3 player bandwagon 4 years ago and over the course of time have experimented with a number of different players. The Creative Zen Vision M is the first player I've purchased and kept that was not flash (solid state) based. I'm an active person who works in the sports and fitness industry and most of the high capacity players were either to big or unstable to get good use out of. The size and feel of this player is great considering how much media it will hold and it's also stable. I bike and work out with it all the time and have never heard it skip.
The one thing that attracted me most to this player was the wide variety of audio and video formats that it plays. There is free software out there to help you convert DVDs and CDs to a workable format that the player can handle. Lots of commercial DVD and CD players are now able to handle these very popular formats (Divx/mpeg4 and mp3). Converting to Divx and Mp3 is an easy, safe, and efficient way to copy, store, and view the ever growing media collection. In my opinion it's the only way to go and the Vision M is the player of choice to view it on the road. The display is bright and clear and the controls are adequate. The one thing I don't like about the display is that you must view it from a direct angle in order for it to be clear and bright.
I do not like the way Creative makes you organize your media in this player. It would be nice to have more control over the way media is structured. Your music needs to be well tagged because the player uses the tags to organize everything once in the player i.e. artist, album, genre. I would rather be able to copy music folders over and navigate thru them as they were on my computer. I like being able to see music organized based on id tags but I don't see why consumers can't have it both ways.
The battery life is great. I take it on my travels with flights as long as 12hrs with no problem. I'm usually listening to music. Video viewing takes up more battery life but you could easily sit thru 2 movies before the battery gives out. It would be nice if the battery was replaceable. Built in batteries make me nervous. Once the battery goes it's not really worth having it replaced.
The player has a small proprietary adapter that must be plugged into the bottom of it in order to connect the standard USB cable or power adapter. This is a VERY annoying feature. It would be much better if you could plug the standard cables directly into the player. I hope this changes in the future. If I saw a comparable player that let me retain my music file structure and did not require the proprietary adapter I would probably go with it.
I like creative products but my loyalty is not etched in stone. When it comes to customer satisfaction they have some work to do namely making the use of their players more convenient. All in all I must say I am very pleased with this player. For what it does, I believe it to be the best on the market at this time.
Customer Review: former iPod owner says: Blows iPod away!!
Summary: 5 Stars
As a two-year owner of an iPod, i got absolutely sick and tired of my mp3 player becoming increasingly incompatible with just about everything. The more time that passed, the more times i lost everything on the iPod and the more i found myself shaking my head.
i bought the zen vision:m about a week ago, and i have been amazed by it since it's been in my possession. i like to refer to it as an iPod without the bull****. i think the fact that people complain about its size, its menu interface and its reliability is a complete joke.
I find the size to be just right for this device, very comparable to the 20 GB iPod i have owned for the last few years. it's a solid piece of equipment (scratches easy, don't even mess around just buy a case for it. there are plenty now.) The menu interface is quite reminiscent of the ipod's (which is a good thing), with a few excellent updates. it has a feature while browsing the media library that enables you to scroll to a specific letter rather than scroll through everything...very handy for large libraries. the touchpad that for some reason people are complaining about in their reviews has given me no trouble. it's not a click wheel...so what? get over it folks. it functions almost exactly the same, except it has a rapid scroll function which comes in handy. it has three sensitivity settings, so there is really no reason to complain about its sensitivity. also a clutch addition is the shortcut button. randomize all songs? one touch. whatever you want. one touch. great stuff.
the screen itself is just what it advertises. it's awesome. i find it playing back videos at exactly the quality they should be, colors are right on. no fuzziness or lines in the video. i haven't had a compatibility problem yet, something all you iPod clowns (i can say that because i have been one myself) can't say. good luck getting a DivX video onto your ipod without going to nerdcentral.com to figure it out, and then you're still going to have a decreased quality video. apple is shooting itself in the foot by purposely not making their great product compatible. the zen vision:m is compatible with just about every music service there is...iPods don't have a chance with anything besides itunes. not to mention the zen is compatible with just about every media file you could want to put on your mp3 player.
the one complaint i have with it is that you can't play the files directly off the player when it's plugged in. however, this is on the other hand an extremely smart security measure they have taken because it prevents your files from being mistakenly deleted, which is something that EVERY iPod owner goes through at least once. it sucks, and this prevents it. i still wish i could play them through winamp though...
IF YOU WANT AN MP3 PLAYER, STOP WHAT YOURE DOING AND BUY THIS ONE NOW. YOU WILL NOT REGRET IT. meanwhile, i'm going to start an anti-apple movement...
see ya.
Customer Review: Still Playing Strong
Summary: 5 Stars
I purchased my Zen Vision M shortly after I bought one for my son for a birthday present 2 years ago. Although I've had to replace my sons twice due to mishandling, mine is still going strong. My Zen has been very reliable. I leave it in my car overnight during the winter months (western Massachusetts) and never have had any problems with the screen cracking or anything else. I have a leather case on it and have dropped it in my driveway and in my work parking garage several times. It still works. Maybe I'm lucky. I know putting it in a duffel bag or a back pack is not a wise idea, for those things tend to get thrown around without consideration as to the contents (see my son's luck with Zen). I use it everyday and update the play lists at least once a week. The touch pad is a little sensitive for my liking, even after configuring it for the least sensitive setting. But I can live with that.
Works great with Windows XP and Windows Vista. There are some software "glitches" that can be worked around if you are a little computer savvy. The software that comes with it has an "Vision M Explorer" which does seem a little slow to respond at times, so I don't use it and instead use Windows Explorer to browse and manage the folders on the player. I use Media Player to Sync or get music from My PC to the Zen and Syncing is only as fast as your computer, so don't blame Creative: it's the PC. Along those lines, the video quality of the Zen is only as good as the video quality of the video file you are trying to play. If it looks good on your Pc, there is a good bet it will look good on the Zen; if it looks grainy on your PC, don't expect something better on the Zen.
FM radio is fine. Stations I get are within 30 to 50 miles, but I don't know their wattage. I think with radio's reception is subject to where you are.
There is still plenty of space on it even with having many videos on it.
As far as the extended warranties are concerned, that is a separate review unto itself, but I will tell you READ THE FINE PRINT. Some companies like Square Trade will not cover accidental damage unless you purchase that as an added on expense. And then that type of coverage is buried in their literature on page whatever, so you never get to it before going blind or falling asleep. NEW however covered one of my son's replacements no questions asked and it had a cracked screen, however it did take over a month to get the process going (I have a review for them it was not good). However it was worth it even though it took a lot of time and frustration to get the replacement. And of course once they replaced it, the original warranty was no longer valid, so when he broke it again, I had to buy another one on EBAY where I was offered the Square Trade warranty. The warranty differences really were the only negative things I could say, and since that is not Creative's problem it gets 5 starts from me.
Customer Review: Simply A-M-A-Z-I-N-G
Summary: 4 Stars
A week ago I received my new Zen Vision M 30GB Black, and I waited to actually use it before I post a review and here it is.
This player is simply amazing, the reason I don't give it 5 stars is because I think there's not an absolute perfect man made product in this world.
Some people complaint about this player being thicker than the iPod (Not very much by the way), but keep in mind you get integrated FM Radio, Voice Recorder, Radio recorder, Longer battery life, and much, much, much, definitely much better screen resolution and image quality.
It's very simple to use, you actually can use it without installing any software on your PC, by simply drag and drop media files. Windows XP will inmediately recognize this hardware and install drivers for it.
Of course, if you want to take the full advantage of editing media files, transfer options, CD burning, etc, then your're better up using the Zen software that is bundled with the player.
Zen Vision M is also much more compatible with almost any music download web-site, and this alone is a very important feature for those who want to use monthly unlimited music download subscriptions. With iPod and Zune you are basically limited for music download to iTunes and Zunemarketplace respectively.
The only issue that stoped me from buying one of these sooner was the lack of an integrated Speaker-Docking station system (I don't like to use a lot of cables to connect speakers), but this will end soon as Creative already announced the launch of the X-Fi Z600 Sound System and the Z500 portable Playdock (Check those out). With these new adittions, there's no doubt in my mind that this is the best player in it's type all around.
If you have any worries about how good is Creative other than PC Sound Cards and accesories, remember Creative recently won a legal dispute against Apple for violating the Zen patent by using their technology on the iPod (Apple had to pay Creative US$ 100 million plus more benefits), so there's no doubt about Creative technology development. The Player operating system is very easy and intuitive to use too.
If you have used an iPod before you'll feel very familiar with it and may think is an upgraded iPod.
Finally, I will like to point out that the construction quality is superb.
2 of my buddies also bought the same player and they are also impressed.
As with any Creative product, keep in mind that marketing is not their strongest asset. It will take Creative more time than the rest of competitors to come out with more accesories and products, but one of the main reasons is that once they come out they'll be better built and tested.With the Zen Vision M family players they are right now covered in all accesories you may need, and will be soon selling the Z600 and Z500 sound systems with integrated docking and IR remote.
A very good purchase indeed.
Customer Review: Great MP3!
Summary: 5 Stars
I received the Creative Zen for Christmas and have used it every single day. I have never owned an iPod so cannot offer a comparison but will share my thoughts of the Zen based on the near-month I have owned it (in no particular order):
(1) The color is fabulous
(2) The battery life (for music) is fantastic; not as long for videos, but still decent
(3) Charging on the computer takes about 5 hours; I purchased a wall charger which does it in 2 (or less) hours; The company should include this charger but they don't.
(4) Sound and video quality is great.
(5) Accessories are very limited. I wanted to use mine while running and had a hard time finding an armband suited for the Zen. After much searching, I took a chance on the TuneBelt by Panasonic and it works very well (I have written a review for this as well, if you need more information)
(6) The earphones that come with the Zen are awful. They do not stay in the ears (I do not have any oddities with my ears -- they are very normal, which leads me to believe that most people will have the same problem). I use my old Sony Sport earphones instead.
(7) The manual is very simplistic. This is good and bad. I find that too much detail can sometimes make electronics seem overwhelming but too little can force you to figure out too much on your own. Because I was new to MP3's, it took some playing around to finally make my way around the system (it isn't difficult, but getting a grasp of ALL this little machine can do is difficult when the manual tells you so little)
(8) The default setting on the touchpad is too sensitive. It can (and for most will need to) be adjusted.
(9) I like being able to create "playlists" for my songs. While it is easy to do, one thing I dislike is that I cannot add a song from the "all tracks" list to a "playlist". If I have downloaded a song onto the Zen and it is showing in the "all tracks" list and I want to add it to an existing "playlist", I cannot do it. It seems like that would have been a very easy feature to include in the design. As it is, I have to plug the MP3 into my computer and add the song using the Zen software (even if the song is already on the MP3 in the "all tracks" listing).
(10) It has a radio tuner, giving you the option of listening to the radio if you desire. You can also record a song from the radio (I have never done this and cannot attest to the quality of these recordings but a nice feature nonetheless).
All in all, I love the Creative Zen MP3 and would definitely recommend it to anyone. The few issues of concern (the non-included wall charger, the lack of accessories, the earphones, and the playlist problem) are far out-weighed by the positives. It is a wonderful MP3 player that does so much.