Creative Zen VISION:M - Similar to IPOD Video $310 shipped after FC

The screen on the Zen is vastly superior to the one on the ipod. I still love my ipod video though, because it's just so darned small!

I'm no Apple fanboy, but I owned an original, and I recently purchased a 60 gig video. They both have their pros and cons. The 60 gig gets 4 hours of video battery life as well. Since it displays video, the extra $100 is well worth double the space, as well as being more pocketable than the Zen. If history serves as a good backdrop, the ipod will hold its resale value far better than the creative.

With that in mind, the creative trumps the ipod in sound quality. No doubt about it. As they are both primarily music players, this is a pretty big factor. There aren't as many accessories (yet), but they tend to be cheaper than ipod accessories. I'd give more feedback, but I've yet to handle one of these.

I think lousygolfer is quite hasty in denouncing every detractor of the product as an ipod fanboy. As a previous owner of Creative mp3 players, I know that they usually release their products with a less polished firmware than that of apple. While this is definitely a product that will challenge the ipod, as a previous fan of Creative's offerings, I am disappointed in their surrender to the "ipod look." They've had great designs in the past, but this one seems to be a white flag announcing their acknowledgement of Apple as the winner of the mp3 player design wars.

Truth be told, the PMP that intrigues me most right now is the iRiver U10. As much as my H10 disappointed the heck out of me, a 30 GB U10 will almost certainly part me from several hundred dollars. One must give iRiver kudos for injecting innovation into the PMP world.

another apple is better or worse than creative/iriver/msft argument.


i would wait for prices to stabilize because unless this is a big seller it should come down to around $280ish.

cirrus said: Well here's the problem with this player. Did you notice that the audio battery life is suspiciously lower than the iPod's even though the ipod is thinner?
But for some reason the video life is longer right?

Well that's because it doesn't support H.264 videos. Yes right now the fact that it supports DiVX and Xvid is great and all, but the future is H.264-it's just a better codec. Which happens to require more processing oomph-which is why the ipod's video playback life is so lousy.

Also, I don't know about you guys but who the heck has that many 320x240 DiVX or XVid videos just sitting around? You'd end up converting them to a 320x240 video anyways, so you could just convert over to H.264, making this supposed advantage a non-advantage. And if you didn't bother to convert them to 320x240 even if they played right they'd waste a ton of space on your player which is fairly stupid.

But yes if you must be all rebellious and insist that you are not a sheep by wasting money on a product that obviously knocked off the look of the ipod yet does not support the latest video codec, then yay for you. You're oh so different and unique, completely unlike all the other different and unique people who all go and buy Creative Labs players just because they're not ipods

BTW this post might sound more bitter than it should be in the context of this thread but I was just reading Engadget lol

If you're watching on a screen that small why would you need a better codec in h.264? The difference would be negligible.

Does the iPods have radio yet? I myself have an iriver H320, and couldn't be happier. Ive had my mp3 player for about a year now. I got it for 215 around january, and with this price I would say iRiver was ahead of the game. I remember when every1 else had monochrome screens with no video, pictures, radio, in line recording, voice recording, and still paid about 300 for their units. Now though, I see the iPod video, and wish my iriver was that size, and then I would love it forever. I still love it though.

I would personally chose the zen, just because I like all the other features, and to not be part of this "whats XXXbrand, they copied iPOD! I want iPOD!!! iPod rules everyone!"

cirrus said: Well here's the problem with this player. Did you notice that the audio battery life is suspiciously lower than the iPod's even though the ipod is thinner?
But for some reason the video life is longer right?

Well that's because it doesn't support H.264 videos. Yes right now the fact that it supports DiVX and Xvid is great and all, but the future is H.264-it's just a better codec. Which happens to require more processing oomph-which is why the ipod's video playback life is so lousy.

Also, I don't know about you guys but who the heck has that many 320x240 DiVX or XVid videos just sitting around? You'd end up converting them to a 320x240 video anyways, so you could just convert over to H.264, making this supposed advantage a non-advantage. And if you didn't bother to convert them to 320x240 even if they played right they'd waste a ton of space on your player which is fairly stupid.

But yes if you must be all rebellious and insist that you are not a sheep by wasting money on a product that obviously knocked off the look of the ipod yet does not support the latest video codec, then yay for you. You're oh so different and unique, completely unlike all the other different and unique people who all go and buy Creative Labs players just because they're not ipods

BTW this post might sound more bitter than it should be in the context of this thread but I was just reading Engadget lolI thought the review said that the player didn't have any problems with high res xvid and divx files.

drupha said:
I think lousygolfer is quite hasty in denouncing every detractor of the product as an ipod fanboy.

Given how new this Creative unit is, I very, very seriously doubt the several people who gave this thread a red rating were doing so based on personal experience with this PMP. If you have read any other threads regarding these sorts of devices (e.g. the Cowon-iAudio X5 - iPod Killer thread) you will see that there are many iPod fans who can accurately be called rabid who took as much offense at people calling another MP-3 player an "iPod killer" as a typical person would upon hearing someone disparaging his/her mother's virtue. I'm sure the Creative has some problems too and I'm not saying iPods are bad devices by any means. My comment is that there are a fair number of iPod devotees out there whose product loyalty has become excessive and irrational.

From my personal experience Creative Players have great resale values. I have sold two different Creative players on eBay. First, a Creative Zen Xtra 30gb, that I bought new and used for a couple months and basically broke even on the deal. Second, a 6 month old Creative Zen Touch 40gb, that I actually turned a small profit on.

Thanks everyone for their input on the two players. You have me scared now with the non-support for H.264 codec. Could this be added later with a firmware upgrade?

Anyway I just really needed a new gadget to fool around with so I bought it. I will be selling my Creative Zen Touch 40gb on eBay as long as this zen vision m is to my liking. Yes, this is my second Zen Toouch. The first one I mentioned above I sold because I bought that crappy Sony Vaio Pocket. I hated the sony so I sold it and went back to the zen touch

They have this at Dell so I'm waiting for the next discount/stackable coupon combination FW'ers can pull out to get this under $300 shipped.

http://www.creative.com/products/product.asp?category=210&subcategory=211&product=12985

Does anyone know about the Creative Zen Vision original widescreen? I'd love to have a nice widescreen portable media player.Link

I just got mine today. I must say it is really impressive. Everything about it is awesome: the menu system, button layout, screen, and the size (yeah it's thicker than the ipod but it feels much more comfortable than my old zen touch in my hand).

I transfered a Xvid movie over to it in about a minute and it played right away. The sound and video were perfect. The viewing angle is a little weird but it seems perfect now after watching it long enough. Like it said in the review the viewing angle isn't really 45 degrees, its more like 60. I would definately recommend this baby so far.

johzpark said: Does the iPods have radio yet? I myself have an iriver H320, and couldn't be happier. Ive had my mp3 player for about a year now. I got it for 215 around january, and with this price I would say iRiver was ahead of the game. I remember when every1 else had monochrome screens with no video, pictures, radio, in line recording, voice recording, and still paid about 300 for their units. Now though, I see the iPod video, and wish my iriver was that size, and then I would love it forever. I still love it though.

I would personally chose the zen, just because I like all the other features, and to not be part of this "whats XXXbrand, they copied iPOD! I want iPOD!!! iPod rules everyone!"

Heck yeah, Iriver H320 rocks. It did stuff like radio, mic, video waaay before anyone else, and was dirt cheap too. I also like the folder method better as it makes more sense, instead of the OS's attempt to make everything by artist, album, song.

I purchased mine through Buy.com....on friday it was 312.50 plus shipping and 10% ($15 limit) coupon came out to $303.67 minus 2% fc. Now they are on sale for 308.99 even hotter deal after 10% and FC. The only thing that sucks they are on back order, so if you in no rush, this deal is hot.

I bought one from Amazon because of the divx and xvid support. I also bought a 3.5mm male to 3 rca cable so I can plug into the tv and watch videos on tv. I like the features, the look as well. I have a ipod nano so I dont want another ipod

The Vision:M is a decent player, and certainly outclasses the 5g Ipod, but if video is a priority, one should take a look at either the Cowon A2 or the Archos AV500. Both are vastly superior to the ZVM, offering 4" widescreens, the ability to record from tv/dvd, and STILL better battery lives than the ZVM.

btw ... the vision m won "best in show" at ces over the weekend.

Tripp1269 said: zeppelin77 said: btw ... the vision m won "best in show" at ces over the weekend.apple wasn't there.
What would apple be showing that would've beaten the vision m from winning best of show fanboy?

hkfeet said: I bought one from Amazon because of the divx and xvid support. I also bought a 3.5mm male to 3 rca cable so I can plug into the tv and watch videos on tv. I like the features, the look as well. I have a ipod nano so I dont want another ipod

Do you know for sure that the video cable will work? I thought you might have to buy a Creative brand cable.

I have been a creative fun and have owned a couple of players (a tx, a muvo 2 and a zen micro). The truth is, while creative players are usually loaded with more features and better sound/visual qualities, the quality of their softwares and firmwares is horrible.

I suggest ppl check out their support forum first before buying this player. A clear understanding of what kind of problems other people are having would be very helpful for deciding if this player is for you.

link to the forum