iPod Video Vs Creative Zen Vision:M

By saxondale.
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Grand Master

xxdesmus

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Just for a history lesson, Creative had a mp3 player on the market far before the ipod. They also designed the hierarchy interface you are currently using on your ipod. So much for innovation. In case you didn't know, it called "marketing" not "innovation". Creative, Iaudio, Rio, Archos, Iriver step away from the norm far more then ipod. They have been marketing the same player for about 5 years now.

The Zen is a few mm bigger then the G4. Yet you don't call the G4 "fat"?

Well said. and yes...beware of all the Apple/iPod fan-boys...they are everywhere these days. :whistle:

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Grand Master

xxdesmus

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I got bought mine from Singapore :woot: ...should be here in a week or so :woot: ...sure I paid slightly more than it would cost straight from Creative, but I'll likely have this way before it's in stores *knock on wood*

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Bitey

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I got bought mine from Singapore :woot: ...should be here in a week or so :woot: ...sure I paid slightly more than it would cost straight from Creative, but I'll likely have this way before it's in stores *knock on wood*

You ******! Did you get it off ebay?

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3284lmm

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I'm waiting for it to become available at Best Buy retailers, i've talked to a Rep from Best Buy who told me they aren't allowed to sell the Vision:m until they have permission, so the guy who bough his in Portland is one lucky son of a bitch :angry:

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.Ryan

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Thank you bitey, one of the few people on neowin to actually understand

I agree, BITEY IS SWEET :woot: :woot: :woot: :woot: :woot: :woot: :woot: :woot: :woot: :woot: :woot: :woot: :woot: :woot: :woot: :woot: :woot: :woot: :woot: :woot: :woot: :woot: THX 4 hep :D :D :D :D :D :yes: :yes: :yes:

help*****^^^

A little more help,

Does anyone no if this will be available at Circiut City in the fist weeks of January?

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Grand Master

SojIrOu

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hmm anyone wants me to airmail it to them from singapore? :laugh:

just read the review and man the screen and features is much better than the ipod video but i just couldn't help myself from getting the ipod video cause of the way it looks and i bought it before or just around the time the vision:m was announced.

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shawn

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I got bought mine from Singapore :woot: ...should be here in a week or so :woot: ...sure I paid slightly more than it would cost straight from Creative, but I'll likely have this way before it's in stores *knock on wood*

Yay...nice to see so many people liking Creative.... As you can see I'm from Singapore so who wants me to airmail them??

hmm anyone wants me to airmail it to them from singapore? :laugh:

just read the review and man the screen and features is much better than the ipod video but i just couldn't help myself from getting the ipod video cause of the way it looks and i bought it before or just around the time the vision:m was announced.

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realmccoy

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I just bought a Ipod Video and looked very close at the Vision M, but the Ipod won me over . Here are the key items that helped me to make the desicions

1. Review with fellow Ipod users

2. Intergration with car/entertainment stereo systems

3. Accessories

4. Warranty

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Grand Master

imtoomuch

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I bought a 30GB iPod in November and based on this review I wouldn't trade in my iPod for this thing.

Things that worry me:

-"Video hiccups every 10-15 minutes due to buffering"

-"somewhat awkward control designs"

-"Oddly, the LCD lost half of its clarity when viewing straight at 45-degree angles"

-"My only complaint is the Podcast integration, or lack thereof."

-You need the dock connector to charge and sync it - "Creative has offloaded the mini-USB 2.0 port, DC-in and video out to a dock connector; without it, you can't charge or sync."

-"The pictures, however, are scaled, but not digitally resampled to fit on the 320x240. I saw a lot of jagged lines as a result..."

Plus (these are soley my opinion)

-It's ugly.

-It's too thick.

-The interface is cluttered at times

-Creative is known for creating crappy software.

-Doesn't, and most likely never will, have the third party support that the iPod does

-And lastly the price: "$329.99"

It does have some cool features, like the ability to change theme color and add a "wallpaper" and DivX support, but overall it seems like the quality isn't quite there.

Edited by imtoomuch
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Bitey

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I bought a 30GB iPod in November and based on this review I wouldn't trade in my iPod for this thing.

Things that worry me:

-"Video hiccups every 10-15 minutes due to buffering"

-"somewhat awkward control designs"

-"Oddly, the LCD lost half of its clarity when viewing straight at 45-degree angles"

-"My only complaint is the Podcast integration, or lack thereof."

-You need the dock connector to charge and sync it - "Creative has offloaded the mini-USB 2.0 port, DC-in and video out to a dock connector; without it, you can't charge or sync."

-"The pictures, however, are scaled, but not digitally resampled to fit on the 320x240. I saw a lot of jagged lines as a result..."

Plus (these are soley my opinion)

-It's ugly.

-It's too thick.

-Creative is known for creating crappy software.

-Doesn't, and most likely never will, have the third party support that the iPod does

-And lastly the price: "$329.99"

It does have some cool features, like the ability to change theme color and add a "wallpaper" and DivX support, but overall it seems like the quality isn't quite there.

- Controls are very subjective. Most reviews said this is the best creative controls yet. I dislike the click wheel, I am hardly going to list that as a con for the ipod.

- That is BS about the dock. You do not need a dock to sync or charge it. In fact, it comes with a AC adapter, in wheres the ipod does not.

- The hiccups occur at 1000+ bitrates, and will be fixed with a easy an update

-Read any of the other reviews. They all claim that the ipod screen is inferior with it's 56k color and lack od codec support. The guy at EverythingUSB isn't too bright, no other reviewers found that problem.

- The rest of the top information is totally unconformed. Most of the reviews did not state that, and you got that info from a guy on dapreview.com.

- It is a few mm thicker then the G4, yet the G4 is somehow "not fat". The G5 in my opinion doesn't fit well into the hand.

-With Creative you can use a variety of differnet programs. The Creative software is VASTLY improved with drag-and-drop support among other things. You can also use WMP and other services.

- Accessories that should have been included with the ipod are hardly a pro. The ipod doesn't even have FM or a AC charger. Most of the other "accessories" like car chargers/fm transmitters can be used with any type of mp3 player.

- Podcast were not invented by Apple. Any mp3 player can use them.

- Price, factor the FM and AC adapter that come free, the Zen comes out much cheaper.

I love watching you pick through reviews/ipod fanboys on dapreview to find these little negatives. The other funny thing is that you include no facts/specs(Battery Life, Screen Resoultion, TV out, Colors). What you have is called Buyer's Remorse- and you have lot of it.

Further discredit for the picture problem(cnet)-

Performance

"

Since the Zen Vision: M can play both 320 x 240-pixel and 640 x 480-pixel resolution videos, it is capable of outputting to a large external display such as projectors and LCD TVs without any glitches. The Vision: M also lived up to its video format support claims in our lab tests.

However, movies like Kung Fu Hustle did not cut it when viewed under bright sunlight. Reflections from the plastic coating rendered the video a muted dark shade. Animation films fared better due to the emphasis on brighter colors. The Incredibles were perfectly viewable under the same lighting conditions though it's not as brilliant as under room lighting. Pictures also fared well, displaying detailed resolution and a brightness that few portable devices on the market can match. Transfer speed was a scorching 8MB per second. In our battery life test, using 240MB worth of MP3 files played in a loop, the Vision: M scored 15 hours which was slightly above Creative's 14-hour estimate.

For video, the Vision: M clocked in at 4 hours 11 minutes. Our video battery test was timed with two WMV files (320 x 240-pixel) played back to back. As the Vision: M does not support a Repeat function for video playback, the second video file had to be manually activated once the first video ends.

The Vision: M's FM reception was very good. Using the auto scan function in our test location within a high-rise building downtown, the unit managed to capture all the stations within the FM spectrum. The same virtual keyboard mentioned earlier can also be used to rename every one of the 32 preset stations.

In terms of audio, the Zen Vision: M certainly delivered the goods when it came to the base line. The low end was tight and powerful enough without the need to activate the bass booster. For the mids and highs, there was detailed articulation though we felt the sound was a little too clean at times"

Reviews-

Even Cnet gave it Editor's Choice, and they are super pro-ipod.

Register-

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/12/08/pr...w_zen_vision-m/

Mp3Gen(Translated French)-

http://www.dapreview.net/comment.php?comment.news.2707

Clubic.com(Translated French) Head on IPOD v. Zen Vision-

http://216.239.39.104/translate_c?hl=en&u=...n-vision-m.html

impress.com(Translated to English,Japan)-

http://translate.google.com/translate?u=ht...Flanguage_tools

Cnet Asia(English)-

http://asia.cnet.com/reviews/portable_av/0...9097200p,00.htm

Edited by Bitey
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3284lmm

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response to imtoomuch:

ohh imtoomuch, you are teribbly missinformed :no:

1) The hiccuping problem could have simply been from an unsupported file type in divx, it was only reported once.

2) So your point is moving your hands in circular motions is more natural then moving your hand up in down, also don't forget the extra buttons on the (submenu & favorite button) allows you to navigate more efficently and allow you to access more while browsing songs such as search functions etc.

3) I won't be watching my vids at a 45degree angle :blink: where did you get to see he vision:m in person anyways? I'd like to know. Also don't forget that the screen has 4 times the colors as the ipod g5.

4) Podcasts work with any mp3 player, just retag all your podcasts so they'll all end up in the same directory.

5) Whats so bad about this? It makes life easier using a universal cable, much easier then carrying a **** load of proprietary connectors.

6) The vision:m allows zooming, all fixed.

"Plus (these are soley my opinion)"

1) While you may think its ugly, it probably won't scratch as bad as the ipod 5g, just looking at it funny will put a scratch in it. I'd rather have my player looking brand new through its life span than having it look "used" within the first five minutes of purchase :pinch:

2) Its only 4mm thicker than the ipod 4g, I didn't hear all the trendy hip people calling the ipod 4g....

3) Your referring to media source right? I actually like media source but... Creative give people the option to use Windows media player 10, media explorer and any 3rd party plug ins or software (incuding i-tunes via plugin)

4) :whistle:

5) The extra $30 is justified look at what all it comes with:

Earphones

Power Adapter with 1 Interchangeable Plug

Sync Adapter

USB Mini-B Cable

Pouch

Installation CD

Quick Start Guide

The ipod doesn't come with a sync adapter or a wall charger which alone is $30

Nice job err... researching, i'll make sure to consult you next time I go out to purchase a dap :no: :unsure:

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3284lmm

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No I didn't, this is excellent news though. I can't wait to see what Cnet North America gives the Vision:m though, I was very surprised when they gave the Zen Micro Photo the editors choice award as they tend to favor the ipod. Did anyone see when Cnet openly accused Creative of blatantly ripping off the ipod 5g earlier this month? I was surprised to see so many people rise to Creatives defense; of course you know Cnet took that discussion forum down rather quickley :D

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Grand Master

saxondale.

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Bitey, seriously, love you, ha, iv been trying to put my points over to iPod fanboys when i got my iRiver, but man i was out numbered. Now, people like you can back me up. Finally, someone who understands.

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.Ryan

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To Bitey and Saxondale, :D :D

I WAS an Ipod Fan-boy because of the design and it just looked totally sweet but the review that saxondale put up just changed my mind. I was going to buy an ipod video 2 nights ago at Cirtiut City but im glad they were out of stock :laugh: Now Im waiting for them to get the Zen Vision: M in. Cleary ( to all Ipod fans ) this is SO MUCH better!

Thx

ps: Does anyone no when this will go on sale at Circuit City? :unsure: :rolleyes:

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Grand Master

saxondale.

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Best thing to do is email them and ask when they will have them in stock.

You might want to wait till i do my review, because for all i know, i could hate the damn thing (very unlikely :p ) and tell you to stay way away from it

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