iPod Video or Zen Vision M

I got the Zen Vision M a couple of days ago, very impressed so far.

Videos look the buisiness on it and they are really easy to get on to the player. If the video file is not one of the formats it can play, the Creative software converts it pretty quickly.

I have a couple of DVD videos on it, 2000 songs, 200+ pictures and still 18 Gb left over.

The button system is not the greatest, though the touch pad works a treat navigating up and down. It is the four generic buttons for me that are too big and bulky, they don't make accessing sub menu's easy.

Sound is great, although I have only had cheap mp3 players before. Earphones are not the best, quite big to be honest, but then that is the same for all mp3 players, always best to buy some premium ones.

No remote either, although you may be able to buy as an add on.

I think most folk would agree, if you after a good video player then the Zen Vision M is the one to chose.

Google some reviews, there are a lot about, they all compare the zen vision m to the ipod and the zen wins in all cases.
 
Scythe said:
I have album art on and if plays perfectly, no lag and video playback is perfect. My videos are encoded with Videora.
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I discovered that Videos play OK if you reset the device, seems to happen very few days.

I'm using 50/60GB on my iPod. With album art OFF, it's flawless, smooth, excellent etc. With album art on, you play a song and the iPod jams for about 5 seconds whilst it loads the album art. Annoying tbh, especaially if the volume is too high you go deaf for about 5 seconds.
 
Vegetarian said:
Im listening them thru Westone UM2's or Marantz KI Sig amp and Rega R3 floorstanders... so I dont think I have a problam there! :D

On my other mp3 players I can do the same - no distortion yet the bass is so much my UM2's are vibrating in my ears and eyes start to wobble :D

Have a look at http://forums.creative.com/creativelabs/board/message?board.id=dap&message.id=124607

No insult... but your ears are not "tuned" enough to pick up the lighter distortions. Im a trained classical musician and can hear some really bad hamonic distortions - that some people will just pick up as a warm if a bit fuzzy sound. There is some massive distortions too - try putting on some Prodigy... pump the eq up a bit and add bass boost!
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Fair enough, even if this is the case though not everyone else will be trained classical musicians, so surely it won't make that much difference? My point was that at normal levels, the distortion wasn't anything to really complain about. I also don't understand why you would want to listen to a portable MP3 player though an expensive amp and speakers, that doens't make much sense to me! However, you're right, in some tracks with the equaliser on I have noticed distortion, but listening to other peoples MP3 players, of differing makes, I've heard the same kind of thing. In the past Creative has certainly been better than the iPod in terms of sound quality, and I don't think that this has changed with the release of both video versions, which were the two that Sirrel was originally comparing.

Damn my untuned ears!

Edit: I just read the article you linked to, it certainly sounds as though some of the Visions have problems, I've never really noticed anything with mine though, certainly none link are being described. I have a pair of Shure E4c's, never tried the originally packaged earphones, and these are known to be fairly light on the bass end of the spectrum, so perhaps that may bias my opinion slightly.
 
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That's the thing isn't it? To me, some of the biggest hypocrites are those who choose not to buy an iPod "because everyone has one" and go on saying that people who buy iPods as a fashion accessory are stupid. Because what they are really doing is to follow some kind of "anti-trend", which is a trend by itself. Basically, do one or the other if you really must ;)

A-ny-way, the problem with audio kits is that they are much more subjective especially when you are past the generic stuff. It is not a case of "ooh, this card does 250FPS and that one 200FPS, hence the former is better than the later". And that makes it easier to be biased.
So really, if possible, I would go to a store and test the players. That way, end up picking a player because of your initial bias, at least you will be happy with it (and thats what really matter - more than "Oh I have an iPod, I am trendy", or "Oh I don't have an iPod, I am cool") :)

Edit @ screwi: Actually, the UM2 are not speakers. They are IEMs, just a relatively high end one.. I only use them portably, at home I still prefer proper headphones. And I also have a portable amp, granted that it makes my gear more "transportable" than truely portable... But then again, it's not really like I would be able to fit a HD MP3 player in my pocket along with my phone, money and keys in the first place ;)
 
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Sorry, it was the Rega R3 floorstanders that I was referring to as speakers! Anyway, never mind, you're right it is subjective and probably should be decided by going into a shop and testing out for yourself. But unfortunately that takes away the fun of buying something at half past two at night on the internet!
 
My mistake :)

Yea, the iPod is not known to have a strong bass, so it is true that it might not go with the E4 as well as the UM2 which I believe is bassier (I've not tried the E4 myself). That said, the iPod definitely have improved over the generations. I've heard a 2nd Gen (or was it 3rd Gen? - anyway, wasn't that impressed), and the 5G is definitely an improvement.
 
This really just proves the point where personal tastes are concerned. I went out to buy earphones that weren't too heavy on the bass, I'd had some before that were and I didn't like the way most of my music sounded, the midrange just was lost. The E4c's may be a little on the light side at times, but I prefer the overall sound this way than I had it before. This almost certainly is also reflected in my choice of MP3 player. Glad to hear iPod got their act together with the 5G though as far as sound quality is concerned, it used to be a big problem.
 
If you like Pop, dance music etc - get the iAudio - strongest bass by far.

If you like accoustic stuff go with the Creative without EQ

If you like sheep go with the iPod





BTW the iPod 5g is great. hehe
 
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