Money to burn, Creative Zen Vision:M, should I buy it?

Scott Salisbury

Scott Salisbury

Scott Salisbury

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Joined
26 Jan 2005
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Newcastle, UK
Hey all,

My mate has just informed me of this the new Creative Zen Vision 30GB and even more happy that its currently on OcUK :D

I have been wanting to buy a decent MP3 player for ages but haven't been following the market and didn't even realise these things can play video now (at an acceptable quality), which looks interesting.

I know there are alternative products, one of them being iPod.

Does anybody own one of these? I've never owned an iPod of any sort and always considered them more of a fashion accessory than anything else, but with that said, they are nice players and easy to use but I know very little about them for comparison.

Important stuff:
- Storage and compatibility
- Speed
- Quality

Not so important:
- Battery life
- Physical weight/size
- Ease of use
- Cost

Thanks in advance,
Scott.
 
Hmm its not very lively in this forum is it? :(

Anyway I decided to bite the bullet and just order it. I had a look at some of the iPod alternatives but I was still unsure.

Everyone at uni has an ipod so I want to be a bit different.

I'm hoping it will come tomorow, hope I made a good choice :)
 
I'm now going to get a player as well and am 99% certain that I'll be ordering the VM tomorrow, as there's nothing better out there, especially for the video capability, which I will use a bit.
 
Ah cheers for the replies.

Yeah I just went for it. It arrived yesturday and I took it to work for the ultimate test and oh my god it is one amazing piece of kit.

I've threw on 4 seasons of the simpsons and some family guy so I can watch it when it gets quiet at work :D

Video quality is 10/10, smooth and clean. Sound quality is 9.5/10.

Very impressed.
 
I always go for the flash-type players for the following reasons:

- No HDD therefore faster seek and track change times
- No HDD therefore less things to go wrong
- No HDD therefore no skipping when you go jogging
- No HDD therefore unit smaller and easier to use in gym / plane / bed / train / store etc etc
- No HDD therefore generally much better battery life. My Sony has 30 hrs and it's the size of a USB pen drive. 3 minutes charge gives 3 hrs battery life
- Modern flash technology provides more than enough space. How often are you going to go somewhere where you'll get bored of more than 2Gb of music? And even if you do, 30Gb is just ridiculous imo.

As you might guess I don't like the HDD MP3 players! The Sony flash MP3 players really are fantastic. Check this beauty out http://productimages.sony-europe.com/IM_NW-E000B.jpg
 
if <4gb is good for you then flash is good for you. if it isnt then you're out of luck, arent you?

personally, and many other people can tell you this, ive never had a problem with a harddrive player skipping. why would they? they buffer the track then shut down the hdd for the duration.

personally, 5-6gb is the sweet range for me.
 
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Scott Salisbury said:
Ah cheers for the replies.

Yeah I just went for it. It arrived yesturday and I took it to work for the ultimate test and oh my god it is one amazing piece of kit.

I've threw on 4 seasons of the simpsons and some family guy so I can watch it when it gets quiet at work :D

Video quality is 10/10, smooth and clean. Sound quality is 9.5/10.

Very impressed.
Click to expand...

That's good news, mine is turning up on Monday. :)
 
Does the Creative Zen Vision come with a remote?

I like to put MP3's in my pocket and leave them there whilst listening to music, not wanting to keep taking them out to change track...And yeah I do change tracks a lot!
 
andybtsn said:
Does the Creative Zen Vision come with a remote?

I like to put MP3's in my pocket and leave them there whilst listening to music, not wanting to keep taking them out to change track...And yeah I do change tracks a lot!
Click to expand...

No but I got a Zen remote from Creatives site for £10 - works well - you can even change between mp3 and radio with it.

Also those this the VM - its a must to get latests US firmware (do not use the versions ending with "e") - Id say it improves sound quality by 50%
 
I'm also considering this player, since the iRiver U10 has poor capacities and larger storage options don't seem to be happening.

Currently got an ultra reliable iriver H10 6gb which is brilliant, but I want something with video capabilities too. Radio and voice recording are essential to me too so the Vision:M is perfect for me.
 
aye the remotes pretty handy and can be had for under £10 the US firmware also removes the volume leveling which is pretty handy.

Check out the forum here for loadsa other info and stuff.
 
Scott Salisbury said:
What version of firmware? I'm on the forum of that site and I can download 1.30 or 1.40. Or will either do?
Click to expand...

Get this one, those are older firmwares for backup purposes.

And you remove the volume cap by doing this:

How to remove European Volume Cap

1| Download the latest American firmware update.
2| Detach the Zen Vision:M player from your computer, and ensure that the unit is off.
3| Slide the Power switch towards the Power icon and hold the switch in the Power On position.
4| Push the end of a pin-like object (for example, a straightened paper clip) into the reset hole, press gently and remove.
5| Release the Power switch when the Creative logo appears. The Recovery Mode appears and has these options:
* Clean Up (Performs a disk scan on the player's hard disk, it will not affect music files)
* Format All (Formats the players hard disk - Note: all contents will be lost)
* Reload Firmware (Reloads the Operating System on the Zen. Select this option ONLY if there is a firmware available to reload.)
* Reboot (Reboots the device).
6| Select reload firmware
7| Once done connect the player to your pc and run the American firmware upgrade
8| Leave it to do this and reboot, then rebuild, and voila all done
smile.gif
Click to expand...
 
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