Creative Zen Vision:M gives the iPod a run for its money

I own this model and am VERY happy with it's performance. It's absolutely amazing that I cannot hear ANY of this wonderfully manufactured recording from an ipod fanatic when I use the "record" function in a quiet room.

The gentleman referenced to writes this on the page referenced: "If you have a Zen Vision M and can confirm that yours does not have this problem please e-mail me at mthemaniac@attglobal.net Please confirm yours does not have the problem first by verifying it with a dead silence track."

I'm here to tell you if you feel like emailing and not getting a response, like I have, go for it!

This is a great mp3 PLUS player. Gotta have subscription capability because I don't want to pay for the hundreds of new tunes I listen to each and every month. I download my schedule from Outlook, transfer files on part of the drive, use the voice recording and enjoy the high fidelity.

I use an off the shelf fm modulator, purchased for under $20 to play it in the car and connect it to friends' audio systems.

You can get this for $319 @ buydig (including shipping).

As with all mp3 players, I'd definitely lose the earbuds, cuz the ones included ALL suck. Yes, even iPod's ....

by crescentdave (See profile) - January 11, 2006 12:23 AM PST

No question in terms of features, screen quality, and sound, the Vision:M is tops. If you haven't seen the difference between Apple's poor screen quality and the rich and virant screen on the VM check out this flickr page: http://www.flickr.com/photos/28169020@N00/

The support for video is more than Apple will ever have, and the battery life for video is more than double the ipod.

The features put this player in another dimension
-Album Art mode, lets you navigate via album art covers
-Album of the day
-FM Radio and recorder
-Interchangeable themes and wallpapers

Can ipods do any of this? NO. Stop being restricted and buying into the ipod fad and get a player thats actually better in just about every way.

by ssjmichael (See profile) - January 7, 2006 10:36 PM PST

On the creative site it says it regonizes mpeg-1, mpeg-2 and
mpeg4-sp......what is the differnece between mpeg4-sp and how
do i convert my mpeg4 movies to mpeg4-sp?

by Spacemase13 (See profile) - January 7, 2006 11:20 AM PST

Though the Vision:M boasts "up to 97db" signal-to-noise ratio under the same freqency response as the iPod, there's seems to be a fudemental problem with its sound fidelity, as illustrated here.

http://www.mfk-projects.com/mp3_players.htm

I want to love this product so badly, but I have to know this problem is fixed before I'll buy one. A swappable battery like the zen micro would be great, too.

by offercompleted_com (See profile) - January 7, 2006 5:11 AM PST

higher bitrates of the same filetype will always mean lower battery life. so 128kbps WMA will be worse than 64kbps WMA.

by zip22 (See profile) - January 7, 2006 1:12 AM PST

WMA at the sam bitrate is not better than MP3
http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=21904

the reason the battery life is different is because the processor is doing something different. often WMA at lower bitrates is easier on the processors, but apparently for the processor in the vision:m its much worse. higher bitrates will always mean lower battery life because the hard drive has to spin-up more.

by zip22 (See profile) - January 7, 2006 1:10 AM PST

umm yeah i already knew that. but guess what wma 64 actaully doesnt sound as good as mp3 at 128. now at the same bit rate wma sounds better than mp3. also if quality of songs doesnt effect it than why does different audio formats effect it.

by dark_zero64 (See profile) - January 6, 2006 6:29 AM PST

That other guy is right! (sorry, CNET page wouldn't come up when I tried to reply) I haven't been able to figure out why so many reviewers get so worked up about FM tuners and voice recorders on their MP3 players. I have a MP3 player so I DON'T have to listen to FM radio. And if I really need to record voices I can use my cell phone or buy a voice recorder that will actually do more of what I want it for.

And while I'm on it, why does everyone get so down on the iPod Shuffle for not having a screen? I know what I loaded onto my Shuffle so why do I need a little screen, eating up battery life, telling me what I already know. And no, I'm not an Apple lover. It was simply the smallest MP3 player I could get, which is what I wanted.

by forkboy (See profile) - January 5, 2006 6:28 PM PST

You can fit more WMA 64 Kbps on the hard drive space as MP3 128
Kbps because the files are smaller, but you do not lose audio
quality. Hard drive space is finite. The smaller the files you are
trying to fit on the unit, the more you can fit on the unit. Higher
quality encoded files should not reduce battery life at all. The
battery on the Vision:M does not appear to be replacable, but you
can get the regular Vision for that.

by CG-TG (See profile) - January 5, 2006 5:50 PM PST

The iPod interface and usability alone eliminates the possibility of an iPod Killer product, but based on this first look, it sure looks like Creative has finally offered a comparible.

Having choices is a good thing, and the Vision M offers us a choice besides the iPod. I find it funny that the same Apple fanboys who continuously bash Microsoft for their 'dominance' in the computing world blindly tout the merits of the iPod, the digital music world's version of the PC.

by rgs1218 (See profile) - January 5, 2006 5:29 PM PST