Creative ZEN Vision:m 60GB

...radio. It was developed by Creative Technology to rival Apple’s Ipod and to date has successfully done this. Released in late 2005 it has gone on to win many awards most of which compose of best in its category.

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Look
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This 60 GB version has a black front and a white back. The dimensions for the entire ...
...shows how much Apple sees Creative as a competitor.

After using the IPod 5G (fifth Generation) I would definitely say that the Zen is better. There is a limited nature of formats allowed on the IPod and they try to pressure you into just buying songs from ITunes. Also the look and feel of the Ipod is worse. The circular touchpad become annoying and it is very thin, too thin in my opinion. I would like to know that my player that I ... more

The Zen Vision: M is a portable media player that has the capabilities to play music, videos, photos and a radio. It was developed by Creative Technology to rival Apple’s Ipod and to date has successfully done this. Released in late 2005 it has gone on to win many awards most of which compose of best in its category.

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Look
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This 60 GB version has a black front and a white back. The dimensions for the entire device are 10.4cm x 6.2cm x 1.86cm and it weighs 163g. The display screen is a 2.5” backlit TFT LCD and has the resolution 320x240. The last fact that it is 18bit with 262, 1444 colours. Enough of the technical specs, me too. It looks sleek with its curvy edges. There are a variety of themes that you can set to change the colour of the screen and the brightness. An important and essential aspect is the size. It is large enough to watch videos but not too large that it becomes a chore to move around. Personally, I feel that it looks much better than its Ipod competitor

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Use
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The Zen Vision M is really easy to use once you know how. I felt that at the beginning touchpad was difficult due to the pressure you have to use. But once used for a while it will become much easier. To operate it you use the touchpad to scroll and select, and five other buttons. A power switch can be found on top of the player that turns it on and off as well as a hold option where the button will become inactive, this is especially useful when watching videos. There are also four other buttons located around the touchpad that allow for certain movements and processes.
- Play, pause and stop
- Go to pop-up menu
- Go back
- A process of your choice

The menus are also very basic. When you turn on the player you are greeted by a main menu, this breaks off into separate submenus for each media source and options.
- Media Library – access all your music under artist, album or genre. You can also access your playlists that can be created using the software supplied.
- Photos – does exactly as it says. You can view your photos and make slideshows. I feel that the photo quality is limited as they become resized from the initial PC size. It is still very good quality, but not as good as on a PC
- Videos – watch videos uploaded onto the player. This is one of the main features and the 60GB hard-drive allows a lot of videos to be stored.
- FM Radio – this allows you to tune into some FM radio stations. There is no external aerial needed. However, I can only ever pick up 10 stations at a maximum and I live in the centre of London. You can save up to 32 radio stations in memory.
- Microphone – This is a brilliant feature that allows you to record yourself. You can record up to 10hours and the quality is very good. The receiver is built in.
- Extras- This allows you to access an organiser, USB host and the removable disk where you can save external data, like a storage disk.
- System – This is the main options menu. You can change the date, EQ, output type etc. This is a menu that should become accustomed with as you can get the best out the player by using and manipulating the options.

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Media
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This machine is more than just you basic MP3 player, it is a complete media player with even more options than Windows Media Player. You can do almost as much as you can on your PC and the 60GB hard drive makes it as better than some computers when it comes to storage.

Playing music is probably the most used part of any media player. This 60GB model allows for up to 16 hours continuous playback of battery life. It supports 3 audio formats; MP3, WMA and WAV. The technical specs are as follows. The output volume can go up to 96DB with a distortion of <0.1%. It has a 3.5mm stereo jack for headphones. One of my favourite features or the one that allows you to the best out of the music is the EQ and volume control. You can choose to use already made EQs like rock, acoustic, vocal, etc, or you can do as what I would suggest, make you own. This allows getting the best out of the music you are listening to as different genres work best with different EQs. I would also advise turning off the ‘Volume Restrict’ volume that puts a larger limit on the volume, by turning this off you can really turn it up.

One of the features that attracted me to this brand and model is its video capabilities. I find that IPods are too particular about video and audio formats. This Zen Vision:M allows you to play a range of formats;
- AVI,
- DivX
- XviD
- MPEG-1/-2
- WMV
- Motion JPEG.

This is where Creation has an upper hand over Apple. It is more user friendly and easier for general use. The screen is a very good size for watching videos as I have earlier said and a wonderful feature is the ability to display what is playing onto a television. This is done by using the A/V out lead that plugs straight in the TVs scart or A/V sockets. This display picture is brilliant and you can use it on PAL or NTSC systems. This is an excellent feature as it doubles up as a DVD or disk as you can use it to watch a movie like you do a DVD player.

You can also use it like a photo album taking advantage of the said TV output feature. Pictures formats supported are; BMP, GIF and TIFF. Loads of photos can be stored due to the large size and since it is portable, it is easier than carrying around a photo album.

The last media or player feature that I think is brilliant is the FM radio. Although there is limited repentance (that’s just for me) it is still a great feature. It means that you can listen to the radio on the move and also helps if you get board of the music that you have stored in the hard drive.

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Software
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To put files onto the layer you can use a range of programs along with a standard USB cable (2.0). I prefer to use a program that comes with the software called the ‘Media Explorer’ that allows you to view and add files just like ordinary PC folders. This program also has a converter that works reasonably well but will not convert your exotic formats . I would advise the software called ‘CloneDVDmobile’ it is relatively cheap and works by converting DVD file formats (VOB) to AVI with the correct aspect for the Zen Vision:M. If you want to covert simple formats then use a free software called ‘Iriverter’, this can be found online.

Another program called the ‘Organiser’ allows you to select your songs that are presented in a list form that will automatically be added. You can also create playlists on this program.

I find that the software is very simple to use. You must of course have your Zen connected o the PC first. It also works on a range of operating systems, anything from Vista to Windows 98 will be acceptable. You must have Service Pack 2 or above and Windows Media Player 10 or above.

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Competition
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As I have been saying throughout this review, I feel that this Zen Vision is in competition with Apples’ Ipod, I would say the IPod Video (or 5G). Although the IPod version can come in an 80GB version, which they did to compete with the Vision:M. The 60 GB Zen Vision version came out on the 31st August 2006 and Apple replaced their 60GB version with an 80GB version on the 12th of September, 13 days later. This shows how much Apple sees Creative as a competitor.

After using the IPod 5G (fifth Generation) I would definitely say that the Zen is better. There is a limited nature of formats allowed on the IPod and they try to pressure you into just buying songs from ITunes. Also the look and feel of the Ipod is worse. The circular touchpad become annoying and it is very thin, too thin in my opinion. I would like to know that my player that I just purchased for a lot of money won’t break if I accidentally drop it.

This view is not just mine. The Vision:M has won many awards since its release. It was rated ‘Best in Show’ by CNET in January 2006 as well as coming away with ‘Best’ awards in the ‘MP3 and Portable Video’ and ‘Portable Video’ categories. These awards are not dealt out lightly and there is good reason why it won these awards.

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Overall
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The Zen Vision:M is sleek and stylish, it is definitely capable of fulfilling your expectations and needs. It has a wide range of acceptable formats, I feel that it is not too big and not too small. The battery life is very good and is very easy to use. After a while of using it, it will become second nature. It beats off it competitors to awards and its price around the £200 is very reasonable. Quite simply, a fantastic product. 

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