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"Pretty Cool" on by failurebydesign421
Pros: attractive design, big screen
Cons: who knows really, it's not out yet
Summary: I own an iPod and I'm also a fan of Creative, so this has nothing to do with any bias. I think the design on this looks incredible. Does it look like an iPod? Undeniably yes, but that doesn't make it a bad player right off the bat. I think it's a shame that all these Apple fanactics are driving the customer rating down on a product they could not have possibly even personally tested yet. As far as Creative ripping off Apple, let's not forget that the interface (artist>album>song etc.) used by Apple and some other mp3 players was created, and now pattented, by Creative. Everyone in the game copies features from each other back and forth and that's just how business works and, from a consumer standpoint, it's good. It just means that we're eventually getting products that combine the best of everything out there. I have faith in Creative and if it's anything like their past products then it'll be great. People should rate and buy these things not because they are die hard loyalists to one brand name or the other, but based on which player is better and suits their needs best. If it takes an iPod like design for Creative to catch some eyes and make people look deeper to realize Apple isn't the only game in town, then so be it.
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"Great product that potentially smashes the ipod." on by benchase
Pros: Screen, looks, touchpad > Scrollwheel, battery life, subscription content
Cons: uhh, i dunno. i guess you could say you dont have itunes' video content.
Summary: Somehow, I'm not surprised that all you ipod lovers are rating this low just because you are ashamed that another company has come up with a product that can challenge apple's effective monopoly on the market. Here we have a product that is not a knockoff. It has a different control device, different colors, and operates on the same basic principles of Creative's original Vision... need I remind you all that that came out before the ipod? This has a brighter screen, better colors, and better battery life. Simply because another company chose to put out an upright video player as well, following the suit of Archos & Cowon as well as Apple, is not a big deal. As a matter of fact, Iriver did it a long time ago as well. Apple, here, is the copycat... creative is just changing their line to suit the niches of the market. In case you don't recall... creative had a PVP out long before apple.
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"Creative? YES" on by cervantes101
Pros: Most everything
Cons: Ipod kids that don't know what they are talking about
Summary: Creative has done video players for awhile now. If anything Ipod took the Idea. I don't see anything wrong with the navigation pad either. It does not steal anything from Ipod. Different design. Maybe Creative made it touch because it makes navigation good? Bottom line is it is a great product. Oh, and all the people who rate things bad because they like another product....please...don't
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"I bought one! and I have not regretted" on by speeddevil
Pros: Way better screen with richer colours, better sound, more comfortable to hold, more support for DIVX, XVID, Zoom in, Radio, recording for classes
Cons: no direct content from Creative
Summary: I can see many Apple employees here too or if they are not, these people must be brainwashed suckers who came here to bash only.
I bought 1 of these, and I am posting after having played with it. Unlike Ipod supporters whiners, I zoom whenever I like on my pictures, I see more colours, more definitions... not some washed out screen.. I hear better sound too. Oh and errmm, I can even output to a TV at much better resolution to enjoy with my girlfriend.
You may think you dun need a radio, for me, it is simple, when I felt like it, I CAN listen to it, I have a choice... Kick ass product really. Period.Updated
How can this be a rip off???
It is more powerful mind you... I see better screen, better colours and get to choose from so many services! I get larger video output, better codec support. Ipod is truly a rip off.
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"For Power Users, Only" on by Popaganda-Designs
Pros: Looks good, very customizable, full EQ, DRM compatible, decent headphones, wonderfull screen, FM tuner, MIC recorting, supports slew of video formats
Cons: No removable battery, sometimes tough to use, freezes, converting is slow w/ built in software
Summary: I bought my Vision:M for $299.99, a typical price. I got it home charged it and was very impressed with it. I signed up with Rhapsody to Go and was impressed with all the music I could load on it for $14.99.
Features: One thing I really enjoyed was the great EQ, I enjoy a lot of different music so I set up a generally warm sound with EQ. The EQ is very responsive and does the job well with a good number of customizable settings, as well as quite a few pre-programmed settings.
The vision:m has a MIC, although I never used it, and an FM tuner. Which begs the question why use an FM tuner when you have 30 gigs of music?
The built in video converting software is decent but unethically slow, I recommend using Riverpast Video Cleaner if you're willing to shell out more money.
I;m a customizing freak so I really liked features like setting any of your photos as the background, and having a number menu styles to pick from.
Controls: I found the controls very easy to use. And in fact I found it faster to browse a 1500+ song library faster on this than an iPod. The thing is, the Creative Vision:M will actually detect how fast you flick you're thumb past the touch strip so the faster you move your thumb the more items it will fly through rather than if you moved it slow. I found the controls a lot more satisfying to use than even an iPod. It may sound like I'm a raging Creative fanatic but just continue reading because the negatives are at the bottom.
Looks: Aesthetically this is a really good looking player, there are nice clean lines and the glowing buttons are great for night use. All though it is thick a power user who is going for features dosent care. One my favorite touches though is the fonts, the fonts are clean and easy to read and are nicely anti-aliased, so your text doesn't look like it could cut you open.
Creative really hit the mark on the screen, its wicked bright, even at 50%. And the colors are deep enough to swim in, the screen has twice as many colors as the iPod 5g, and best of all there is no dominating blue shades on the screen.
I detected no system noise in between songs. And the player sounds great. But it's expected by now that the packaged headphones are rubbish, but much better than the iPod's. I used a set of JVC's in ear phones that perform surprisingly well for $20.
Amazingly the little Vision:M *actually* handled a 720p video I had from E3. I was astounded at the amount of power this player has. One great feature with the video is if you're willing to shell out $20 you can get a cord that will hook up to your Television set.
Although the battery is rated for a good 14 hours that is not the case if you're a law abiding citizen and you're using any subscription services. It seems that opening up DRM protected files takes an extra omph from the processor and in reality I only got a good 8 to 10 hours out of the battery.
The player is quite thick, in fact its really thick, but I wasn't to bothered by that. What did bother me was how badly the black scratched. After a good two days of the player being used (most of the time the player was housed in the leather case it came with) it looked like I took a Dremel tool to it. Point in case, this thing scratches easily, and might drive you up a wall.
Creative needs to get it's act together when it comes to RMA's. Last time I had to send my Zen Micro into the RMA department it took a good 24 days to get my player back. And after a month that one failed with a different problem. If you do buy the Vision:M find a place like Best Buy that will do all the RMA work for you.
Syncing the player was a dream, when it worked. After installing the WMP 11 beta I had problems syncing the player, and I spent a good hour figuring out what was wrong. Apparently WMP 11 had deleted a service that I needed, so I had to reinstall. Although this is not Creative's fault, it is however, what most people are going to sync with and should be aware of it.
I had some random freezes that where really irritating, and I had to search my house for a paper clip to restart the player. Also I found if I paused a video and went to photos or something and came back the audio would be out of sync.
Finally the player stopped working after a short 21 days. I browsed the Creative forum and even wrote an angry letter at Creative and shook my fist at them, and received no reply. Needless to say after browsing the forums, I found this was an extremely isolated event, and the problem could have even been me.
Bottom line: if your looking for a player that does it all and you want to be able to milk that subscription service for all its worth this is a great player for you. However if your looking for a player that will just work and will be easy to use this may not be the thing. Although there are always going to be problems with mp3 players. If your not a power user but you're still highly considering this player go down to your local Best Buy, or Circuit City, and see if they will step up and be you're RMA department. I really liked this player but I was preaty turned off to it when it was my second Creative player to break.
Another thing to consider is that Creative is reporting losses of $112 million. That's not good. Part of these losses are definitely in the fact that Apple has a firm grip on the mp3 player market. The Creative Zen Vision:M is clearly a better player in terms of numbers, but people have the mind set that the Creative will always be a copy cat (even though Creative released juke boxes a good 3+ years before Apple released the iPod). Throw away your opinions, go down to Best Buy and seriously consider this product.
And a note for buyers don't let a sales person try to talk to you into a product be it iPod, or even Creative. Formulate your own opinions based on facts, not on opinions be it James Kim or mine.
Creative Zen Vision:M user reviews (30GB, green)
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