What can I say about the Creative Zen Portable Media Center? How about, I almost wet myself when I got this little gadget for Christmas, I was so excited. But enough of my bodily functions, lets talk about this nifty thing and why everyone should own one.
Look
The first thing that anyone ... Read review
Advantages: Style, excellent screen, long battery life, big storage - ipod eat your heart out Disadvantages: Bit bulky, small buttons
...can I say about the Creative Zen Portable Media Center? How about, I almost wet myself when I got this little gadget for Christmas, I was so excited. But enough of my bodily functions, lets talk about this nifty thing and why everyone should own one.
Look
The first thing that anyone would notice is the look – a little cool black box, which comes with its own funky little black case. How could anyone want for anything ... ...is where I thought the Creative Zen PMC would fall short, but I was surprisingly wrong. The PMC compresses video files so small that up to 85 hours of movies or recorded TV programmes can be stored on the hard disk. The only issues I have with this, is that it can take ages to transfer these files onto the PMC. But a trade off I can live with.
Compatible video files:
• Windows Media and Photo Story files (.wmv, .asf) ... more
What can I say about the Creative Zen Portable Media Center? How about, I almost wet myself when I got this little gadget for Christmas, I was so excited. But enough of my bodily functions, lets talk about this nifty thing and why everyone should own one.
Look
The first thing that anyone would notice is the look – a little cool black box, which comes with its own funky little black case. How could anyone want for anything more? I must admit, I’m completely shallow when it comes to cool looking gadgets.
Storage Capacity
Enough of the complete shallowness, what’s probably one of the more important features of the Portable Media Center (PMC) is the huge storage capacity, coming in at 20 GB. I must admit though, I would have preferred something close to 40 GB, but it seems that 20 GB is more than enough. I was surprised how much video could be stored on 20 GB.
Screen
The 3.8 inch TFT LCD screen is well cool. It is backlit for excellent picture quality for something so small. The resolution of the thing is 320 x 240, doesn’t sound impressive but I found it to be more than enough.
Onboard sound
This feature of the PMC I found to be a really nice touch. It has it own inbuilt speaker, which produces a really nice sound. I found it to be good for in-car entertainment. Of course you can use the headphones that comes with it – really good quality ones too.
Video
This is where I thought the Creative Zen PMC would fall short, but I was surprisingly wrong. The PMC compresses video files so small that up to 85 hours of movies or recorded TV programmes can be stored on the hard disk. The only issues I have with this, is that it can take ages to transfer these files onto the PMC. But a trade off I can live with.
Compatible video files:
• Windows Media and Photo Story files (.wmv, .asf) at a resolution higher than 320 x 240 pixels and/or at a bit rate higher than 800kbps • Microsoft Recorded TV Show file (.dvr-ms) • MPEG movie file (.mpeg, .mpg, mpe, .m1v, .mp2v, .mpeg2)(4) • Windows Video file (.avi)(4) • Windows Audio file (.wav)
Music
The PMC can store up to 9,000 songs in a variety of formats: • Windows Media Audio files (.wma) • MP3 audio files (.mp3) • Windows Audio Files (.wav)
What’s even cooler is that capacity to download music licences, brilliant for playing downloaded ‘rented’ music from sites like Napster.
Battery
I was well impressed with the battery, it can be changed – yay! Fully rechargeable and can provide up to 22 hours audio playtime or up to 7 hours of continuous video playback. Extra batteries are also quite cheap, brilliant for when you’re on that long haul flight and the in-flight films are rubbish.
Operating System
Comes complete with the Windows Mobile operating system, which functions fantastically and looks a lot like the Windows Media Center. It makes the synchronisation with any windows pc totally painless.
Well, I think I’ve gushed enough about this wonderful gadget. Obviously there are a number of features that could be improved, most importantly of which are the small buttons, which can be a pain in the backside sometimes. If that’s the calibre of the bad points of the PMC, then what are you waiting for, go buy one…
Advantages: Ability to play music, videos, pictures and recorded tv anywhere! Disadvantages: Quite large, and not extremely easy to synchronise
I was bought one of these for Christmas 2004, and broke it, and was replaced for free around 2-3 months ago, so I have the most recent version:
The Zen PMC wont come cheaply, but it's recommended for people who are looking to put a lot of money in to recieve a generally high quality video player as well as just music.
One drawback I've noticed is that it isn't like Ipods or Micro Zens in size, it's a lot heavier, and the need for a video playback ... ...everyday use, if it be on the way to work, school or wherever. It's more for the longer car journeys or holidays, or simply to impress friends!
However, it does have 20gb memory, so most people will find it hard to be at a loss for space. It uses the synchronise feature in Windows media player, selecting which artists you like from your library. However I never really used that feature of Windows Media player, so if you don't either, then you may ...
StupidMike 17.09.2005
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Creative Zen Portable Media Center 20 GB
Product Information for "Creative Zen Portable Media Center 20 GB" »
Video
Video Playback Formats
WMV
Video Playback Modes
Play
Power adapter
Type
Power adapter
System requirements
Operating System
MS Windows XP
Peripheral(s)
CD-ROM
System Requirements Details
Windows XP - Pentium II - 233 MHz - RAM 64 MB - HD 100 MB
Manufacturer's product description
The Creative Zen Portable Media Center is the ultimate portable player for audio and visual entertainment. Watch up to 85 hours of video, listen to over 9,000 songs and view tens of thousands of photos. Its intuitive Microsoft interface offers familiar, fast and easy access to all your favorite digital media and gives you the freedom to take it with you anywhere. Watch it, listen to it, share it or show it off - As the flag ship of the Zen family of portable media products, the Zen Portable Media Center truly delivers an unparalleled audiovisual experience for people on the go. Movies, TV, music and photos can be enjoyed on the Zen's bright 3.8-inch color screen, through high quality headphones or its built-in speaker. You can even connect your Zen to external entertainment systems to share digital media with friends and family. This powerhouse entertainment player is housed in a compact and sleek design that is truly mobile. The Creative Zen Portable Media Center's rechargeable Li-Ion battery is removable, which means you can carry a spare battery and have many more hours of digital entertainment at your fingertips. Plus, Zen connects to your computer with a USB 2.0 port, giving you high-speed transfer for all your media. Zen supports all popular audio, video and picture formats including MP3, WMA, WMV and JPG. And, because it supports Windows Media Audio with DRM, the Zen Portable Media Center works will all popular download music services. You now have all your home entertainment wherever you go - experience the new wave of digital entertainment with Zen.
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