Reviews for Creative ZEN Vision:M 30 GB Hard Drive Portable Media Player

Awesome player

Strengths: Long battery life, you can actually finish a whole movie! High resolution screen. Ability to use different file types, both audio and video. FM tuner. Somewhat customizeable UI/background/colors.

Weakness: Long battery life requires a larger battery, and the battery isn't easily replaceable. The size isn't as appealing as the iPod. It doesn't seem as "hip" as the iPod. Accessories for zen pales in comparison to the iPod.

I've had the player for almost year now and I still love my zen.
The jist of things:
Functionality wise and quality I feel the zen is above the iPod.
Accessory wise, zen is seriously lacking compared to the iPod. Even after this long it is still hard to find any accessories.

It really depends on what you desire. I use almost every aspect of the zen, from the FM tuner (which sometimes has a bit of trouble getting a signal because it doesn't have an extended antenna), video for movies, pictures for the backgrounds, and obviously music.

The zen does have a few issues that make it from perfect. The syncing software provided is just alright and the music is organized by the id3 tags, so if your music is only organized by folder structures then this can be a bit of a hassle. I also didn't like the white back on the black model, I'd really have preferred all black. The weight and size can be a bit cumbersome. Really all the negatives are nitpicky and aren't a big issue to me.

Would I buy Zen over the iPod if I had to choose again? thats a definate yes.

100% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?

The Zen Vision:M is the best value MP3 player on the...

Strengths: See below.

Weakness: See below.

Strengths:
-Easy to transfer files to and from, whether it is audio, video, pictures, or data stored for back up and transportation.
-Requires no proprietary software (like iTunes)
-Long battery life.
-EXCELLENT screen quality, sharpness and color.
-Plays just about every video format, and will convert any others to the format it needs automatically.
-Great built in equalizer and volume control.
-Can record voice and FM radio.

Weaknesses
-Smooth surfaces can be easily scratched.
-Player freezes once in a while, but reboots easily and without loss of data.
-Scrolling touchpad can be overly sensitive and clicked unintentionally.
-Requires proprietary adapter to use wall and car chargers.

I have no regrets about buying this MP3 player. The flexibility, battery life, screen quality and fact that I can plug it into any computer without it requiring its own software to be used make it a much better choice than the iPod Video. You can literally copy your files, plug it into your friends computer, and share any of the data you saved to the device. You can even customize the wall paper behind the menus.

The downsides to the player are even easily compensated for. To combat the easily scratched surfaces, you can purchase a case, or clear laminate "armor" from someone like invisibleshield.com or the silicone second skin. If the player freezes, press the reset button and it takes just a minute or so to reboot. You can adjust the sensitivity of the touch pad, but even at its lowest it takes some getting used to avoid the accidental clicking. As far as the charging adapters are concerned, a lot of the 3rd party chargers you can buy online or at the store come with the adapter built in, so if you get one of those, you only need the adapter to hook the player up to the computer with the usb cable.

Overall, you cannot go wrong with the Creative Zen Vision:M. It is absolutely the best player with its features for the value, and the screen and sounds quality are superb.

100% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?

Very Nice Media Player

Strengths: High quality audio and video. Large storage space.

Weakness: Non-replaceable battery. Surface scratched easily. Weak FM tuner reception. Bulky charger.

The player is compact yet feels solid; the supplied charger could be made smaller and lighter (all these chargers can add up to a lot of backpack/carry-on weight during travel). The vertical scrolling pad is a bit too sensitive and takes some getting-use-to to avoid accidental sound volume blasts. The audio is crystal clear, tonally somewhat bright typical of digital reproduction. The FM tuner has 32 presets, a number an order of magnitude more than I would ever need given that the tuner appears to be able to pull in good signals from only half a dozen local stations. The video picture is very sharp, the color amazingly vibrant.

The player comes with a thick multi-lingual manual which contains very little useful information but I found lots of how-to info on the various Discussion Forums on the Internet. The earbud foam cover of the supplied earphones has the habit of popping off unnoticed and is a pain to search for. Overall the Creative ZVM is a very nice media player.

100% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?

Love it!

Strengths: Withstands numerous concrete falls!

Weakness: A couple of songs might switch around names but that is it. The body, not the screen scratches easily. Do not put on a silicon skin..they do not work!!

I cannot live without my Creative Zen!!!! Forget Ipod!!! My sister hates her Ipod after seeing Creative. The screen on the zen lets you put a wallpaper much like a pc. The headphones might look little and cheap but they are far from it!! The sound is incredible. I love being able to watch movies and videos with ease. Once you get used to the controls, navigating is a breezee. You can download so many different kind of files and have room for text documents if u so desire. My works hard..sometimes 15 hour days!! It got stuck on me 2 times in 6 months...all you do is drive a needle in the tiny hole on the bottom and voila! It restarts again like a computer. And yes I dropped it so many times and it works to perfection! Creative Labs also has their own software and site for downloading podcasts if you want and its free!!!

100% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?

Great MP3 Player!

Strengths: FM radio, great sound quality, 30gb, size of player is just right, easy to use, great color screen

Weakness: wish batter life was more than 14hrs

I replaced my 1gb Creative Zen Nano plus with this player. This device has more of everything. Great vivid color LCD screen, a whopping 30gb of storage, great size for holding as my nano plus had too small of buttons for an adult male hand, great sound quality, fm radio. This device has a great user interface and beats the IPOD cold-- regarding wealth of features, overall portability and price. Just wish the batter life was more than 14hrs on a charge. Would be great if it was 20hr battery life or more. (the cowon iaudio XL5 20gb player [35hr battery!] is the only other awesome player that I would also consier).

100% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?

Best player I have ever used

Strengths: Perfect sound and video quality, good battery life

Weakness: None

Its price is great and it works very well. This MP3 player has amazing sound, and has an amazing menu, and navigation. The quality of the video playback is just awesome. 30 GB capacity is more than enough for regular user.

As for battery power, I use it for about 2 hours at work and about 1 hours at the gym each day, and I have to power it every several days. Not a big deal at all.

Overall You can not go wrong with this Creative Zen Vision:M. It gives a great package for the money that you spend.

100% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?

Beautiful

Strengths: the video and the sound quality is real nice

Weakness: cost Av cable and scroll

i am in love with this new PVP. i was about to buy a Ipod but i didnt want to be a trend follower but a trend setter and belive me i have convinsed many peole to buy this player and they all thank me

100% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?

The iPod Killer?... Maybe?...

Strengths: Beautiful and simple design, super easy to use, plays everything and connects to everything

Weakness: None so far!

I'm not sure now is exactly the time to call the Zen Vision:M an "iPod Killer". A bit early for that perhaps? Lets revisit later this year. However I would certainly call it an awesome iPod alternative and competitor. In fact I just bought my very own Vision:M two days ago! Found it online for $309. I must say I'm only just beginning to figure out what all this beast can do. I can say the video looks amazing and the sound quality is brilliant. I do know by intelligently choosing the Zen, not only do I have a gorgeous, super easy to use PMP with many more features than iPod, and I most importantly have -far- more supported AV formats and -many- more choices for online music, videos, movies, and subscriptions. iPod users get -very- little to choose from. Only what Apple force feeds them. One or two choices maybe? Gosh I'm sorry about your luck iLemmings! ;-)

99% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?

Great Product just some small flaws

Strengths: This is hands down the No. 1 competitor to the iPod, things that significantly boost its value over the iPod: 1. beautiful screen (320x240), 2. support of open formats (DivX, WMV, Xvid, MPG1, MPG2)

Weakness: 1. Non-replaceable battery (like the iPod) 2. Creative Tech support leaves a lot to be desired 3. Thicker than the iPod 4. Lack of accessories or 3rd party products

This product is very well positioned to be the No.1 competitive threat to the iPod, it has better battery life (4 hours) and a much better screen(242,000 colors), built in FM radio with 32 presets, a built in mic, a beautiful screen which supports 320x240 resolution and the most impt thing is that it supports OPEN formats vs. Apple's proprietary H.2341 codec. I can't wait to download some video on this and go right up to the Apple store and sneer at him after he laughed at me when I inquired if the iPod supported divX (a format he laughed off as saying is "only for pirates" -- ever heard of amateur home video or student films?).

The potential pitfalls I see for this are namely 3:

1. the battery -- why the hell they had to copy Apple and NOT make this battery replaceable is beyond me. Apple charges $50 as part of a battery replacement program, Creative may have to do the same (either that or pricegrabber may have to look for some 3rd parties who do this for Creative! ;-))

2. Creative tech support. I previously owned a Creative Nomad Jukebox 3 (the first mp3 player out LONG before the iPod). It was bulky and a bit heavy, but the biggest gripe I had about it was the lack of tech support from Creative. Drivers and Firmware were never updated promptly (especially when Windows XP came out), will this be the case when Windows Vista comes out as well?
Apple has the advantage, thru its stores and computers of completely integrating the iPod to work, Creative needs to overcome this to really reach the mass market.

3. Third party support for add-ons/accessories

Again lack of standardization and homogenization as in iPod is what kills all of its competitors. Microsoft is working to solve this problem but is at least 6 months away. Can pricegrabber help here????

I hope that this review proves useful.

98% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?

Sweet Multi-Media Machine

Strengths: Excellent list navigation, Ability to play lots of formats for both music and video, Various extra features over Ipod (radio, recorder)

Weakness: Case is easily scratched, Extra buttons for menu navigation, Extra adapter to sync/recharge, Not as slick as Ipod

Just before I went to my 24 hour flight to Asia I loaded this device with 13 GB of music and 8 GB of videos. This device exceeded all my expectations, on 1 full charge it can play about 2 movies or hours of music. Yes, you can watch movies on this device! I ended watching 5 movies on this whole trip. Also depending on how you compress your movies you can use the whole screen or settle with the black bands above and below the movie. During my 1 hour layover in Japan I was able to recharge the system to about 75% and watch another movie before landing in Taiwan.

The music playback quality was excellent and the supplied earbuds were pretty good too. I have not really used the radio feature, voice recording nor the photo storage ability.

Unfortunately, during this trip I managed to scratch up the corners of this device :( I suggest getting a case for it. One item that I found annoying was the adapter that you need to use to sync or recharge the device. Although the system is not as slick as the ipod series, its pretty damm cool.

88% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?

Awesome MP3 Player & More...

Strengths: FM Radio, Easy to use, Great sound quality, plenty of storage

Weakness: n/a

I like this MP3 player as it has so many features, is easy to use, vivid & easy to read color display, big enough to handle yet light enough to carry, FM Radio, and plenty of storage 30GB! I highly reccommend this player.

86% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?

The Zen Vision :M Rocks!!!

Strengths: Beautiful design, great sound quality, easy interface, awesome software.

Weakness: Accessories not currently available on a wide scale.

I was traumatized after purchasing inferior products from Olympus & iRiver. It took me a few months to get over these experiences but I am glad that I waited. This player is awesome. I have used the ipod and must say that I like this one much more. In short, you get more for your money witout having to deal with the quaqmire called itunes.


Great job Creative!

83% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?

My favorite Player

Strengths: Video/LCD, FM, Size, Everything

Weakness: None so far

I been researching for a couple of weeks either the Ipod VIdeo but since its itunes prop right away NO, then it was iAUDIO X5L vs Zen VIsion:M .. the X5l is too big and thick, but has good battery life, in the other line ZVM has the best video overall of all players, decent battery, size and look. So I went with it, I did a rush me 2days delivery $313 from PCConnection great.

When I opened the small box, I'm like wow is this it? SO SMALL lol. I couldnt believe it. I put some 300 songs and 4 videos right away and a few minutes later done, then made sure it was charged good while I read the manual and then I left to work. I like my stuff to sound clear and loud :)

I was trying to go to the next track so many times and I couldnt figure it out, until I did lol after I came out of work. I customized my EQ.

I cant be more happy

80% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?

Creative ZEN Vision:M 30GB Media Player - Black

Strengths: Bright Screen, FM Radio Tuner, High Quality Audio & Video Playback, Long Battery Life, Support of Open Formats, Voice Recorder with Build-in Microphone.

Weakness: Lack of Accessories, Non-Removable Battery, Alittle bit bigger than the iPod 5G.

Overall, I have to say I'm extremely happy with my purchase of this awesome media player, only a few negative about this player as mention in the weaknesses part of the review, if Creative have figure out a practical way to add/make a removable battery for this player, this would have been the overwhelming winner over the Apple iPod 5G but there are so many strengths about this player which make the lack of the removable battery so little, so on any given day of the week I would say 9 out of 10 times I would pick the Vision M over the iPod 5G.

75% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?

Creative Zen Vision M (Black)

Strengths: The right size for you hand, doesn't feel like it will break. The colors in the screen are great.Voice Recorder and the radio I really wanted that in the device. Comes in many colors.

Weakness: will need a protection shield or case which they all do

I just love my zvm, I have not had any problems with it. i sounds great and great to look at. i have added tv shows movies mp3's and music videos and never once did it stumble. I love showing it off, you should see there faces. I would truly get another when the size of the gigs gets bigger.

75% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?

I love this thing!!!

Strengths: -Plays nearly all video formats with minimal reencoding (will get to the missing format in a sec) -Easy to use software, drag and drop -USB 2.0 Charging and Data transfer -Very customizable

Weakness: -Doesn't play Quicktime (must be a proprietary issue) -USB cradle needed (at times can't play and charge via USB if the system recognizes the player via software) -Proprietary peripherals

A great alternative to that other player! I love this player albeit some minor caveats, but the fact that it takes all my mp3s, most video formats, a bright, vivid screen...who could ask for anything more? Hopefully the popularity of the player rises with more peripherals developed solely for this player!

67% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?

Nice player-creative zen vision m 30G

Strengths: colour screen is fantastic, sounds great with headphones.

Weakness: hissing and distortion when played through multimedia speakers

Easy to set up. Navigation was a little bit of a battle at first, until I turn down the pad sensitivity to low. Sounds great with the earphones provided, the equalizer is a real bonus. No trouble with Creative's Media source, quite intuitive.
I had some problems when I was shopping for a 2.1 speaker set to go with it though, it sounded distorted at moderate volume, and produced hissing sounds. I checked it out on the Creative I-trigue 3400 and Harman Kardon Soundsticks II, both produced similar distortion, the shop assistant played his i Pod on the same speakers, and the sound was great. I can only assume it was a problem with my player. I've saved my files in WMA format.
Any one else had similar problems? Or any suggestions?

67% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?

Finally, Ipod Killer Arrived!!!

Strengths: Elegent Industrial Designe, fun to play with, easy to carry, and solid feature set

Weakness: None that I'm aware of

I bought this player right after it was available for sale online.

Not a single regret in any sense. In fact, I'm totally satisfied with this so-called ipod killer has to offer, and I recommended it to all of my friends who want something other than Apple's pods.

67% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?

Gooder than Great

Strengths: excelent screen with stunning color and HD technology, very customizable (background, personlization in the system menu,)vertical touch pad, with 7 function and four button (1 of them is programable)

Weakness: Not many accessories, or third party programs as of now, not very well advertised, Video doesn't quite work perfectly with all formats.

I just got a Creative Zen Vision:M and I must admit that it is far superior to the Ipod Video. I am listening to it right now and the sound quality beat compition, it might just be the headphones but I haven't got one skip or quality flaw in my 64bit rate MP3s. Another thing regards the size Ipod can go up to 60GBs this 30GB CZVM is fine for me I put most of my massive music collection and still have 14Gigs left for video. One of the reason I got it was for the compatibility with video format, but this is a little overrated in my opinion and that is my problem. I dropped some of .mpgs all of them work on my comp, but the Creative Zen Vision:M played about half of them and the ones it did play had flaws (sound cutting out, video glitches, etc.) Then I tried some .wmvs these had to go through some creative converter program first (it took an hour for 4 five MB videos) and after all that waiting they went on to my Zen Vision:M. Unfortunitely when I tried to view them they were slanted beyond recognition, with little yellow lines down them. Finally I got this program PQ DVD TO IPOD VIDEO earlier to get my old movies in Mpeg4 (which is supported by this player, well at least the box said that.) I say this because it wouldn't let me even get them onto the Zen vision this format is not supported by the player which contradicts your advertising. It didn't even give me a convert option, my friend a bit ago brought over his 5th generation Ipod Video and they worked. Overall though that is my only problem the USB 2.0 (USB2mini) is awesome (as long as I don't lose the connector.) I really hope this fantastic product goes more mainstream cause I want a case hopefully you will use this review to assist you in the purchase of the item. Don't be drawn away by the shear bulk of it bigger is better and it isn't very heavy (it still even fits in my pocket.) All those extra guts including the Radio and EQ shoots this item ahead in speed and comformability to your daily life style (plus my friend Ipoop freezes all the time!)

63% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?

Great Player

Strengths: 30GB I love the vertical touchpad. Video looks awesome. Radio is strong Music sounds great. Album art

Weakness: Figuring out the video is a bear. No accessories.

I have had my M for about a week. I paid $324 shipped so I was pleased with the price. It is an awesome player. I've had an assortment but never an IPOD. I tried a buddy's IPOD 60 and was very impressed with it. I'm just plain more independent than that and I wanted the additional video support.

I bought an Invisible Shield, spent an hour and a half applying it only to be so utterly disappointed in the finish that I plan to remove it once my Mistic case gets in.

I've been struggling with the video. My biggest want was to be able to rip DVDs into a playable format. I tried a few programs but they were quirky at best. I finally got one working but it couldn't take the security off of my DVDs leaving the picture scrambled. What has worked flawlessly for me is feeding a regular DVD player into my digital camcorder using the RCA lines and then connecting the camcorder via firewire. Using Nero capture has given me great video when set for SVCD mode. That may sound excessive but it's really quite simple. I figure out the duration of the main track, set the NERO timer, press play on the DVD, record on NERO and come back later. Video looks amazing.

Regardless, this is one heck of a player.

61% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?

All Star PMP

Strengths: All Rounder/Well Balanced Pocket Media Player - Sharpest video, FM Radio, Compatible Formats.

Weakness: Battery not detachable(Unforgivable!), Wish for a direct USB interface instead of propreitary connector, Wish AV Cable was provided,Better Support needed, Wish it has better Drag and Drop capability.

I was waiting for a product which can play video as well as audio with better clarity and quality, and to be compact in hand for travel. That day finally arrived, and I am not sorry that I jumped. Purchased it for $330.

It took me 30 minutes to figure out the navigation, without going over the accompanying manual. So the navigation was not 100% intutitive, but its ok once I figured it out. The sample media files provided were useful for assesing the unit immediately. The system freezed one time, and fortunately I was able to reset the system without losing the data. I dont think this unit is ready for rough and tough use (Try not to click on the buttons continuously faster during video play, as it might freeze the unit, which happened in my case).

Wish there is a good cover for this unit. Hope somebody is ready with the accessories. Also wish there is some instructions on the website, as to how to change the battery with ease.

60% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?

Great player, wish it was bigger

Strengths: Long battery life, great screen, better heft than the Ipods.

Weakness: Scratches easlily, only 30gb

This is a true ipod killer. While thicker and heavier the heft is welcomed. The longer battery life (i got through 3 eps of 24 no problem) is welcomed over the apple competitor. I've ordered screen protectors which are a must as this screen is a scratch magnet! The screen is also not the transreflective type that can absorb sunlight to be lit, so that's not as good as the ipod. Overall I'm impressed and looking forward to the 60gb or 80gb model. 30gb is just not enough, especially now that video is so nice!

50% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?

Awesome media player

Strengths: Battery life, looks, Superb video quality (compared to ipod), fm, voice recorder, solid tv output

Weakness: slightly higher priced than apple ipod

Hi,

I purchased this fantastic media player after a lot of research on the net. I think, my efforts are not wasted and I have now got the best media player in the world. It has got a fantastic screen ideal for wathcing movies. Whereas apple ipod doesnt even come closer to it. It has slow, jerky and too dim screen which makes watching movies a horrible experience. aisa lagta hai jaise kisi local player par movie dekh raha hoon. i tried to watch an adult film on ipod and all i could see was men and women was not at all visible. apple ipod is the worst player, infact company should stop making it from immediate effect.

the music on creative sounds amazing, do a little work on graphic equalizers and u will be amazed by the sound quality. also get some dvds ripped and load on this player, then u have a portable dvd player,

i would say, if you want to waste your money, its better if you give it to a beggar instead of buying an ipod.

ipod is having just 2 hours of battery life on music. also it sometimes gets restarted automatically & also hangs frequently. also when u connect it to a computer, the actuall memory shown is only 10 gb instead of the claimed 30 gb. so i would advise to go for a creative player

50% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?

My Zen Review

Strengths: Holds tons of music and data Nice visuals and easy to navigate (I atleast dont have that sort of problem) sturdy (I've dropped it five times since I've had it and it's still going)

Weakness: not enough accessories! or anything compatible!

I say if you want the accessories, go with i-pod. They are very pretty and have tons and tons of compatible speakers and just about anything else your little heart could desire. But after researching ALL and EVERY mp3 player, I've found the Zen M to be the best, for me anyway. Similar features with i-pod pretty much just bulkier, which means it's not fragile. I've had mine for a month or two now and it still looks/works great. No scratches on anything (i bought a case off ebay, not that leather case thing the put in the box, really...)

My only problem is the accessories. I just want a nice little speaker system with a remote, that will charge my zen. I asked the company and they directed me toward their bloody playdock which is $250. The most reasonable priced one I've found was in the UK, of course. It charges ALL mp3 players and resembles the Creative Zen Speaker dock minus the remote, made from Bose. Not on their site but do a search for Bose istation (i-station) and you'll see it.

Overall I see getting the Zen over the i-pod, personally, as getting more bang for my buck as I plan on keeping it for the next year or two. If you CAN afford to waste tons of money, get an i-pod. They are so pretty.

50% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?

ZEN Vision:M 30GB Media Player - Black (2.5", 4...

Strengths: It plays video and music. Long hours of battery life.

Weakness: N/A

I like the design and the color of the LCD of the ZEN. It also contain 30gb of space which can contain a lot of video and Music. It is also small and handleable with the hand. I try to hear the quality of the sounds and it is extremely satisfied with this ZEN. I will prefer ZEN than IPOD in my opinion.

33% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?

Creative ZEN Vision:M 30 GB Hard Drive Portable...

Strengths: ZVM has clear picture and movies Easy to load player with music & pictures

Weakness: ACCESSARIES! case & no options for a case . WEIGHT- 2 heavy for shirt pocket CHARGER not included& large-bulky as well as expensive to purchase separatly port to use to play in car or on a radio

ACCESSARIES! I've been looking everywhere including online .
2-3 companys make a case specifically for it ,but when you actually try them they don't work.All same problem -pinch the side controls down.
No charger/mount/transmitter for the car available. can only do this thru the earphone jack losing all quality & skips in &out
No radio/speaker to plug the unit into ,so all can enjoy -wearing earphones buds or whatever sucks. only thing is to plug into earphone jack & lose all quality

20% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?

Bought 2 last Christmas

Strengths: lots of storage, easy to use

Weakness: didn't last long

I purchased two of these last Christmas. One doesn’t get used much and works fine. But my 17 year old got the other and it works OK for a month or two then it starts to freeze up and eventually won’t work at all. We sent it back every two or three months and now it worked for 4 months which puts it out of the 90 day warrantee for the return. If your going to give it to a kid who takes it to school everyday then I’d look elsewhere. It has a hard drive in it and is very sensitive to being jostled. My son kept it in a case and was very carful with it and it still kept malfunctioning. The one my wife and I use works fine, but we don’t use it much. All in all I would not buy this unit again as now not even a year later it is inoperable and out of warrantee. Don’t buy it.

0% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?

Almost great

Strengths: Screen quality, value, build.

Weakness: The interface and touch pad center control are horrible. Navigation. Learning curve much longer than most.

Too bad that this IPod competitor got overly cute with the controls on this thing. Screen is clear and easy for movie watching. However, the center slide touch pad is very sensitive and is very difficult to control (even after you've figured out how to navigate). The most common functions are not at screen level and even trying to FF a song is trickier than it should be. All in all, the player is a modest attempt to be IPod-like, but fails due to it's lack of simplicity (which is kind of the beauty of the IPod). I am fairly pleased with the product, but if I could do-over, I would not purchase this again.

Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?

Creative Zen Vision:M--Awesome

Strengths: Beautiful Screen Battery Life FM Radio Radio & Voice Recorder User Interface

Weakness: Not compatible with iTunes

The only weakness is that is not compatible with iTunes. I don't necessarily consider this a weakness, but if your brother or friends all have iTunes then it is easy to transfer music onto your iPod.

The battery life and screen are AMAZING. It's like a mini HD TV in your hand. The voice AND radio recorder is VERY handy. I've been able to record many hilarious conversations without my friends noticing simply by turning on the record feature.

The Vision:M is definitely the most beautiful MP3 player on the market. Everywhere I go people ask, "What is that?". They are quickly attracted to the colorful screen and user interface. Many of my friends have left the iPod bandwagon and bought one of these.

The Vision:M leaves the iPod in the dust.

Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?

ReviewGist for Creative ZEN VISION M - 30GB - Black

Audio is Good according to 7 MP3 Player experts. -- "excellent audio and video quality"-review.zdnet.com -- "our FM recordings sounded splendid."-mp3.com -- "The VisionM sounded great,"-pcworld.com Read more to find expert opinions on more features like Interface, Battery, Image, etc.

Read Full Review

Creative Zen Vision:M | 30GB - black

Smaller and better than ever before. The ZEN VISION:M does more than play your videos, photos and music. It displays them in their true glory on a vibrant, large full-color screen. Perfect for road trips long or short, carry your entertainment in the palmof your hand. Available in a light 30GB model, take your pick from 5 dazzling colors - blue, green, pink, black and white. With the 60 GB...

Read Full Review

samsung sgh x830 - cellular phone with digital camera / digital player - gsm

Samsung Sgh X830 - Cellular Phone With Digital Camera / Digital Player - Gsm receives an overall TopTenREVIEWS score of 0.7 out of 4.00. It is ranked the #95 multimedia cell phone of all time. The overall rating represents an intelligent balance of features, value as a function of price to features, and a summary of reviews from a variety of sources. The TopTen REVIEWS' formula gives a picture of...

Read Full Review

Creative Zen Vision M

Testseek.com has collected 52 expert reviews for Creative Zen Vision M and the average expert rating is 83 of 100. The average score reflects the expert community’s view on this product. Click below and use Testseek.com to see all ratings, product awards and conclusions.

Read Full Review

Creative Zen VisionM

The VisionM has a touchpad and delivers great-looking video. However, it needs a dongle to sync files.

Read Full Review

Creative Zen Vision:M

Spec for spec, Creative’s Zen Vision:M actually gets the better of Apple’s venerable player. It’s worthy competition and the superior choice for tech-savvy users who don’t mind hunting for their own music and video. The 30GB Zen Vision:M actually has a wider range of functions, lasts longer on a charge, and offers a crisper color screen...

Read Full Review