Creative Zen Vision:M
CES 2006: When I saw first the Creative Zen Vision:M (30GB) online in December, I thought it was a pretty sweet-looking piece of equipment. It's even better in person.
Sure, it's quite a bit heftier than the Apple iPod -- 18 mm is thick compared with the iPod's scant 10 mm waist -- but this extra girth actually makes the Zen Vision:M feel solid and comfortable in the hand. And the 2.5-inch screen is absolutely gorgeous, brightly displaying 262,144 colours; the iPod is capable of displaying about 65,000.
Plus, if you're looking for extra features such as a voice recorder, subscription music, video support and an FM tuner and recorder, the Vision:M delivers. This media powerhouse also supports album art and simultaneous photo viewing and music playback -- something we yearned for in the Creative Zen Micro Photo -- as well as WMV 9, MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, and Motion-JPEG videos.
We wish the rated battery life for video were more than four hours, but at least that's better than two (ahem, iPod). Like most Creative players, the Vision:M syncs with Microsoft Outlook contacts, calendar, and tasks.
