Zen Vision:M

 

I know that the leader of some crazy iPod cult who dresses his kids as iPod Minis for Halloween is reading this right now and scrawling my name onto a list of enemies of the Apple Empire, but I don't care -- the truth must be told.

Creative's previous portable multimedia player, the Zen Vision, was a great device, but suffered from its own excess. It had a gigantic LCD screen, but it didn't deliver a great picture. It came with an onboard CompactFlash card reader and a removable battery, but was bulky and heavy as a result. And it had a robust firmware package providing plenty of functionality, but it was a bit buggy and would occasionally freeze up.

The engineers behind the Zen Vision:M addressed each of these shortcomings. They wisely decided to ditch the big screen for a smaller one that's the same size as an iPod display but much brighter and capable of generating more than four times the number of colors. They realized that few people actually used the CompactFlash slot, so they gave it the chop. They ditched the removable battery, too, which may seem regrettable at first, but by the time the Zen Vision:M's powerhouse power source croaks you'll probably be ready to upgrade your player anyway.

All of these hardware changes make for a svelter, more visually attractive gizmo -- one that unabashedly copies the iPod in shape, size, and look (it comes in five colors: white, black, green, blue, and pink). Granted, it's got a little more weight and depth than the 30GB iPod it's competing with, but it still feels quite comfortable resting in the palm of your hand.

The interface has been snazzed up considerably as well. Four broad buttons and a touch panel are located under the screen. One button is used to play and pause media; another calls up the firmware menu; a third is used to move backwards in the menu scheme; and the job of the final button can be set to access whichever of the device's functions you use most. The touch pad defaults to volume control, though in the proper context it can be used to quickly scroll through menu items or lists of songs, pictures, or videos. The left and right sides of the touch pad serve as shuttle controls. All in all, the interface is just slightly less elegant than that of an iPod.

And inelegance is acceptable, given the Zen Vision:M's outstanding array of features over and above those of a standard portable multimedia gadget. It has a built-in mic and voice recorder. Outlook data can be synced with the onboard calendar. And, perhaps the best bonus of them all, the Zen Vision:M sports an FM receiver and recorder.

The firmware -- which has been updated since the original Zen Vision and is now seemingly bug-free -- allows for extensive tailoring, with customization options ranging from themes and wallpaper to touch panel sensitivity level and menu configuration.

The Zen Vision:M's one major drawback is a lack of easily accessible video content. It's simple enough for users to convert their own MPEG and WMV files to play on the device using the software that comes bundled with it, but it would be nice to be able to find TV shows and movies specifically geared for Creative's player. For the time being, users are forced to settle for a small selection of Internet newscasts and video clips. But I suspect more video services will begin offering files compatible with a wider variety of devices as the portable video market continues to grow.

The bottom line is that the $379 Cdn / $299 USD Zen Vision:M matches the iPod in most of the areas that count, falls short in only a few relatively insignificant ways, and provides plenty of innovative and useful features all its own.

Don't be blinded by Apple's billion-dollar advertising campaigns; they make a great portable media player, to be sure, but other options do exist.

Details
Reviewed: Apr. 06, 2006
Type: Digital Audio, Gear
From: Creative Labs


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