Creative ZEN Vision:M 30 GB MP3 and Video Player (Black)

I'll start this out by saying that I've never used an iPod. Ok, so I tinkered around with one for all of 30 seconds once, but I couldn't figure it out, so it doesn't really count. So, with that in mind, this review won't be full of the normal iPod comparisons. I will say that I'm generally anti-Apple, which is the reasoning behind my lack of i-experience. That's quite alright, however, and it doesn't detract at all from the wonderful player that is the Creative Zen. I got the Creative Zen Vision: M in the mail a couple weeks ago, and have yet to use all of the features (specifically, I haven't used the coax cables to watch video on my television, or the FM radio), so I'll leave out those things. What I have used, however, which is almost everything, I've been incredibly impressed with. While I haven't used an iPod before, I have used other MP3 players, and they would invariably grow unstable the more I loaded, deleted, and reloaded files onto them. Not the Creative Zen. Maybe it's because I bought it after it had been out for a while and Creative has had ample opportunity to tweak the firmware and whatnot, or maybe it just had a solid operating system to begin with. Either way, I have yet to experience a crash, freeze, loss of any data, or any other technical snafu. That alone is a huge plus in my book. I got the 30G version (though did debate on the 60G size...for only $70 more, it's a hard bargain to pass up), and after uploading every music file I have, along with a large number of videos, I still have 10G of free space. I do realize, however, that space is more a matter of individual need and preference. Speaking for me, the 30G size is more than enough. Now, as for the interface itself, as I said, it's a dream. It runs smoothly and intuitively, and, for those of you who are more hands-on (as I am), you can edit nearly every bit of info of every individual file using the included software. This works well for those who have more of a hodge-podge music collection (and for those who have aquired their music through less-than-legal means, since the ID3 tags of downloaded music can be sketchy, at times...but I wouldn't know anything about that). A couple small touches that I really like, that I've been told are not common among other players (though I could be wrong), are the abilities to delete files directly from the player, instead of using the computer interface, and the ability to build playlists on the go, or rather, to build a new Now Playing list every time, if you want. Normally, with other players, if I wanted to play 10 different songs by 10 different artists, I would've had to play a song, go into the player once it was over, select the next song through the menu, listen to it, go into the player, etc, etc, repeat until my fingers were tired. With the Creative Zen, you can simply build up your Now Playing list and let it go, just like the Ronco Set-It-And-Forget-It. Really, it's pretty similar to Windows Media Player, which I use religiously, and because of which, I can appreciate all the more. Speaking of WMP, I really like the fact that it's possible to upload files either through that, or through the Media Explorer software that's included with the Zen. The WMP interface is for those who are less hands-on and who would rather just make a few clicks and have their player fill up with their music, while the Media Explorer program is a drag-and-drop interface that's slightly more involved. I've used them both, and prefer the drag-and-drop method, though that's one of those things that'll come down to particular preference or need. One thing some might say is a downside is the fact that the Zen is a little big and heavy. I will admit that, to do much on it requires two hands: one to hold the player, and the other to navigate the buttons. Some might like that less than others...personally, it doesn't really bother me, since I don't mind taking a few seconds to focus on whatever I'm doing in the player. The controls do take some getting used to, and, at first, it's easy to hit Select on the slide bar instead of Up or Down, but once you get a handle on it, it's pretty easy and intuitive. Another thing that others have mentioned is it's easy to get the player dirty or scuffed. I ordered a skin for it, along with a screen protector, since the included bag is kind of a joke, if you ask me. It reminds me of a biblically-themed money satchel, and doesn't have any clips or anything. But, from what I've seen, the included accessories in most players are pretty substandard. I haven't even tried the included ear buds, mainly because I hate that style of headset, so I can't say how well they sound. From what I understand, Creative used to include a wall charger for the player, but they don't anymore. I ordered one of those, as well, from a vendor on Amazon, since I don't really want to have to plug the Zen into my system for 6 hours every time I want to charge it. So, the included accessories kind of suck, but, as I said, that seems to pretty much be par for the course. A couple more things: the video display on the Zen really has to be seen to really get how vibrant and crisp it is. I was absolutely blown away the first time I watched a video on it. It's renewed my interest in music videos overall, which is the best compliment I can give it, and with the 10G of free space I still have, it'll take a while to fill it up. Granted, the screen is pretty small, in comparison to, say, a TV screen, but if your eyes are even moderately strong, you won't have any problems. One of these days, I plan on uploading an entire movie or two onto it, just for the novelty of it. The picture display works wonderfully, too. Before I got the Zen, I never really thought I would use an MP3 player to watch videos or show off pictures. I realized I was wrong, however, this past weekend during a hospital stay, where I found myself whipping it out to show off some vacation pictures to my nurses. They were all quite impressed....with the pics themselves, and with the display on the player. I suppose the picture display is one of those things that's cool to have, and if you do have it, you'll use it as the occasion rises, but if it's not there, it's not a big deal. I've never been able to show off vacation pics to random people before, and never really thought much about it, but now that I can, it's pretty nifty to be able to. Ahh, and before I forget, the battery life of the player has been pretty impressive, so far, though I haven't used it for hours on end. I lean more towards the Turn-It-On-For-An-Hour-At-A-Time-Several-Times-A-Day mode of usage, and at that rate, I only have to charge it every few days. Even watching video and looking at pictures only moderately drains it. I imagine that watching a feature-length film would take the battery down pretty far, but I have yet to get around to that. So, with that, I'll make a brief list of little things I dig about the Zen, along with the few cons I've found... - you can set your own background picture, as well as customize the display in a bunch of other ways - the interface is so similar to WMP - the level at which you can work with your own files - the stability of the software - battery life - the beautiful display Cons... - included accessories suck - it attracts dust like a magic wand - the controls take a bit to get a good feel for - this is less of a player issue, rather than an included-software issue, but I have yet to successfully use the Video Conversion software. I'm not sure why, but every time I try, it fails. Maybe it's the files that I'm trying to work with, or maybe it's the software itself...I don't know. I'll keep working with it, though. Then again, out of everything I've tried to load onto the Zen, only two things have required a conversion, though I'm not exactly sure why, so it's not that big a deal. - it's a tiny bit big With that, I'll round this out by saying that if you're in the market for a very well rounded, stable MP3 player that can also play back amazingly vivid videos and pictures, get the Creative Zen. For the price, it really can't be beat.

I was choosing between the Ipod video or Zen Vision M (ZVM). Frankly, I really didn't care whatsoever about which player I bought - Ipod or ZVM; I just wanted the "better" one (Toshiba Gigabeat S was out of the question due to reliability problems and short battery life). Now that I have the ZVM, here are the reasons why I bought the ZVM over the Ipod. The ZVM has: *Longer battery life - ZVM video lasts about 4 hours - which is twice as much as Ipod. As a result, I don't have to worry about the player running out of juice at the end of a movie like with the Ipod video. Also, it's just nicer to have longer battery life. *Digital camera storage - The ZVM can directly store my photos from my digital camera so that I don't need to bring along a computer to store my photos when I travel - just plug my camera to the ZVM, download photos, then erase my camera's card to take more pictures. *Hard drive capabilities - The ZVM acts like a hard drive. Just plug to a computer and download what you need. For example, I can go to my friend's computer and copy all the music/video/etc files I like with drag-and-drop ease. Also, I can now store very large PowerPoint files on the ZVM so that my work presentations have a better bang - and I get better results. *Multiple file format support - The ZVM plays a lot of video file format's that I already have such as divx, xvid and WMA. This is not a major issue to me however because even with an Ipod, video/audio conversion is not a big deal - just an extra step. *Software ease-of-use: With the ZVM, I don't have to rely on iTunes to get files loaded onto the player. Itunes program isn't bad, but sometimes I think it is a little cumbersome. Currently, I just use Windows Media Player and/or the regular Windows XP Explorer interface. *Better screen: The ZVM has a better screen than the video Ipod. For example, the ZVM has 260+k of colors vs. 65k on the Ipod. The difference is readily seen with the ZVM having more vibrant colors and a less washed-out appearance. *Accessory support: For $25.00, Amazon.com sells a combo that includes an AC adaptor, car charger adaptor, direct USB cable (no need for included ZVM dongle), and a battery pack (uses 4-AA batteries) for those long flights. *Cheaper: The ZVM is priced much less than the Ipod. *FM Radio: Despite a large library of songs, it's nice to be able to hear fresh music over the radio. *Recording capability: The ZVM can record FM radio. But for me, I like the fact that I can put my BlackBerry on speakerphone and then use the ZVM to record the conversation for business legal and future reference. *Short-cut key and easy navigation: The short-cut key is great; I have mine set to the microphone record function. I haven't had any problems with the ZVM's navigation on screen. *Multiple subscription service support: Although I haven't used them all, I hear the music subscription support is great. For example, I heard that with Yahoo (at least for your 1st month), you can pay $15 and download all the music you want. What a deal. *Customizable EQ: The ZVM has preset EQs also, but I prefer to set the EQ my way. Despite these features that the ZVM has, there are a few shortcomings. For example, I wish the ZVM was thinner for the amount of hard drive space it has. I purchased the 30GB simply because it was thinner than the 60GB, although I'd prefer 60GBs. When the thin 60GB comes out, I'll be buying that and ebaying my 30GB. I've found that the thickness of the 30GB is the max thickness I would want to have in one of these media players. However, with the 30GB ZVM, I don't mind the extra thickness over the Ipod - probably because I don't notice the difference. Maybe it's because the difference is marginal or that the 30GB Ipod and 30GB ZVM weigh the same. If I could choose one word for the ZVM, it would be - versatile. I'm not a Creative fanboy or anything. I just like the features the ZVM has. If in the future, the Ipod has all the above features and remains thin with 60+ or more GB, I'd would be buying the Ipod. For now however, I'm more than satisfied with the ZVM. It's a great all-around media player.

I'll try and avoid philosphical discussions of the iPod and competition. I don't know why iPod users seem to need to bash products that they've never seen or touched, but they seem to. I was looking to replace my Zen Touch 20 GB. I was almost going to buy the black iPod video 60 GB. I went with this instead. I only wish that it had a 60 GB model. They've made improvements over the Zen Touch. The buttons on the front are better, the navigation is better, and the USB cable charges the thing as well, the external power supply isn't required (although it is supplied!). The iPod charges $30 for their AC charger, but this one is included, kinda. The only bad thing about that is they both plug in to an external dongle. The dongle plugs into the Zen Vision, and both the AC adapter and the USB plug into the dongle. I'd like to leave my USB plug at home, and the AC adapter at work so that I always have power somewhere, but I have to remember to bring the dongle with me everywhere I go, or buy another one or buy a docking station. Kinda irritating. In addition to that, there is a noticeable lack of accessories for the Creative player. If that bothers you. So as for the un-avoidable comparison to the iPod... It's slightly less than once heavier than the 30GB iPod. Not a big deal to me. It's dimentions are identical to the iPod from the front, but it's a little bit thicker. Extra space to house the FM receiver, recorder, and more battery life I suppose, not a big deal for me. It's very stylish, solid, good looking machine. So is the iPod. However, the video iPod that I was playing with actually had a bit of a sharp edge where the plastic front met the metal back, which completely ruined the asthetics for me. The Vision also has a screen with more colors and brighter images. It just looks better. But most of all, the great thing about the Vision is the fact that I don't have to use iTunes. The iPod and iTunes are a great combination for those who aren't the most computer saavy. But the Vision works with creative's iTunes equivilent just fine, in addition to windows Media Player 10, in addition to the windows file system directly, akin to a mass storage device. So with a little knowledge, you have many more options. I like that. OK, so even more most of all was my real test. One morning, I wanted to watch a 15 minute segment of a local new show on the train. I was hoping to be able to plug it in to the TV and record it directly, like some other products on the market do. I wasn't. However, I was able to record it on tivo, transfer that video to my computer, and using Windows Media Player convert, resize and transfer to the Vision in one step. All in all, it took about 30 minutes, but only because tivo is really slow. If I had tried to do that with the iPod, I would have had to transfer the video from tivo, find some sort of software to convert it to a format that QuickTime Pro can play, then convert and save it in the right size/format for the iPod, and then transfer it to the player. I never did it with the new show recording because I didn't know how to get it into Quicktime, but I did take a 5 minute MOV file that I already had and converted it to iPod format and that alone took forever. It's this lack of flexibility that killed the iPod for me. The Vision will take many different formats without converting, the iPod will only take a very specific format. That's bad in my book. Now if you only EVER plan on buying video from iTunes, then that won't be a problem for you. The rest is just a pain in the butt. I can't make that committment. So that did it. I love the thing, although I'm still kinda getting used to it. I'm not anti iPod, but the iPod just isn't for me. I'm above it. Creative has been making these things for a long long time, and although apple has come along with a very good product for the masses, it isn't the end-all be-all. Apple has, however, motivated some of the Asian players again, and there's nothing wrong with a little healthy competition.

I have owned this product for about four months now, so I have had a really good chance to break it in. I love it. Honestly, the only real drawback is that it's kind of bulky. Bulkier than an Ipod and heavier as well. It's cool though, because I have a clip I can use to put on my belt or pocket, or I can actaully just take the clip off and put in my shorts pocket. I also bought the neoprene skin along with car charger and wall charger. The adapter you use to plug into the computer is a little different since it comes with it's own special adapter to do this with. I was having issues with the player for a while when trying to use my Yahoo Music Unlimited to Go subscription. When I would try to download, the computer kept screwing up and freezing. Songs would only download 70 percent of the time which was incredibly annoying. BUT once I did the update for Yahoo Music Engine and updated to the latest firmware on the player by going to the manufacturer website, everything is absolutely pristeen!! I have 3099 songs on it as of today and I cannot get enough of it! I listen in the car mostly and at home as well. I look the look of the player because it does not look like everything else on the market it would seem. I do not have any videos on it as of yet, but the player comes with some demos installed. I gotta say the display is wonderful. Great color! I never thought I could watch someting on a screen so small and enjoy it, but it's actually kind of cool. Perfect for riding on the bus and listening or watching a video. The sound quality is very good as well. It comes with an equilizer option where you can customize it to your particular liking or set it to the common options of rock, jazz, classical, pop, etc., just like the Ipod. Just remember, if you do the custom EQ option, bass can distort the sound if you do not set it correctly. Sound is different in the car as opposed to a home receiver. I have seen many complaints about it's navigation wheel but I disagree. At first, when you are just a novice on the player, navigating can get frustrating because the button is sensitive and you tend to scroll down and press on the wrong link constantly. Oh, you can change the settings for the button sensitivity by the way. I set mine to low on day 2. Yes, once I was but a student, NOW I AM THE MASTER! Now scrolling is something I can almost do in my sleep. I have playlists, tons of albums, and never a bad moment listening anymore. By the way, creating playlists is another downside on the player. The instructions on how to do this don't make any sense and when I tried to use them, it did not work as I wanted it to. So now, I just create the playlist on the computer in using Yahoo Music Jukebox and it's a lot easier that way. I really like the DJ option as well, since it will just play every song on my player randomly. This is great when you stock you player with nothing but the tracks you love. One remaining annoyance though is that when you download tracks from Yahoo Music Jukebox to the player, they don't stay in the order they were on the album for some reason. You have to go and change them around in the player (which I do using Windows). Would call the manufacturer about that, but once the first sixty days are up, no more free customer service calls. It then becomes, I think, $12.99 per incident. The forum on the website is extensive, but for someone like me, it's a bit opaque and hard to navigate if you don't know exactly how to word what you are looking for. I have not had any problems with the harddrive freezing or crashing. No hardware problems at all, especially since I did the firmware update. The cool thing is that you go to the site and it can tell you all the available updates for your player and lists them with recommendation factors. Sweet. Battery power seems fine since full charge probably lasts 10 hours or so. Features are many, almost too many to go into every single detail but some are calendar, organizer, most popular song play, rarely heard song play, yet to be rated song play, artist lookup, etc. Probably the coolest feature of the Zen Vision M is the shortcut button. You can set it to go to a popular selection like rating screen, equilizer, whatever. That is pretty damn sweet if you ask me. So all in all, I definitely think this is a great option vs. the Ipod. Not to mention, the fact that I got the player, the neoprene skin (which absolutely rocks by the way), and the chargers all for less than the cost of a comparable Ipod. AND I still get 50 bucks back in the rebate deal that came with it. Absolutely awesome! After rebate, my entire purchase ended up costing me less than $200 dollars! That's right, I got a 30 GB mp3 player and accessories, both necessary and optional, for less than $200 bucks. I am in the catbird seat with this one. I definitely recommend the Zen Vision M.

To be fair, before trashing this manufacturer completely, I purchased a 60 gig Creative Zen Vision M a few months ago and was/am very pleased. Easy to use, great picture quality, and have raved about it. So much so, that my wife wanted one in white. After not finding one and calling US sales and learning there were no plans to sell the 60 gig in the US in white(?), she opted for the 30 gig. First it took a couple of weeks and an email complaint to have it shipped. Then the unit did not work - it would not power on, recognize a USB port or charge. We returned it to Amazon (great service by them) and had a second unit in a couple of days but it had the SAME PROBLEMS. By this point I felt that I should go through Creative for help - not Amazon's fault, why should they continue to pay for shipping etc. Here is my warning - terrible customer/tech service. To start, their website, when it worked, was not user friendly or helpful. Secondly, you can't find a number to call when you click the 'contact us' button. Finally, even if you click the 'send an email' button, you get sent around in circles to 'list your problem' and never get to send an email for help. So, I opened the literature in the box, found a number, had to pay for the call and I ended up with a tech guy in Singapore. Though he was very nice - he did not solve or even seem to understand the problems. As my 60 works just fine through my computer, my USB ports are not an issue, yet he continued to tell to disconnect them and reconnect them. Then he told me to do the reset - great, but one itty bitty problem - to do the reset the battery has to be charged...it charges through the USB port...which it won't recognize and therefore won't charge. Hmmm.... Finally, he said I should update the firmware...once again that pesky little issue with NO USB CONNECTIVITY. So, they did not solve my issue. His suggestion, send it back. OK, do you want my address for the call tag? No, you (the customer) have to pay to ship it. WHAT? I requested that someone from customer service in the US call me. I got a call from Singapore by a friendly lady who informed to try all the same things I had already tried. The really frustating part was that she was even reading my case file from the previous call and KNEW that those things did not work. She then told me that they would be happy to take back the Zen and run a diagnostic on it and either replace it or fix it and ship it back, BUT I had to pay the freight both ways. I hit the roof - and have requested a manager to call me on Monday. I'll let you know if that even happens and what transpires if it does. So, as my wife is really wanting her MP3 player, I did another return on Amazon tonight. Only to get an email that they will now NOT send me a third unit (can't blame them really) because there is possibly a widespread problem with these units. They are telling me to wait a couple of weeks and order again. Oh, how happy this makes my wife who was so excited about it FOUR WEEKS AGO when I ordered AND still doesn't have an MP3 player that works. SO, suggestion - wait for a while or save yourself the potential frustration and buy something else. Maybe their help and customer concern will get the message. I want to return my 60 gig to Creative and have them buy all the accessories we purchased. I want to get all my money back and go iPod at this point. Which is sad because my not being a fan of the proprietary nature of iTunes etc. was the whole reason I chose the Zen in the first place. But at this point it seems the lesser of two evils because the help and customer service at Creative has me boiling. Good luck. UPDATE : MAY 1, 2007 : Creative did have a manager call. He was polite, but not helpful in resolving the problem. In fact, they deny that there is a widespread problem, it must be my bad luck to receive two units with 100% dead batteries. So, my wife gave up and purchased a 30 gig iPod today. She seems happy.

I consider myself well versed with MP3 players (i've owned an ipod and creative products), software, and features and after much research and questions, i decided to go with Creative for a second time and am very glad i did! This is truly a feature packed MP3 player that's simple to use for anyone, and offers plenty of goodies for your money. I've read some folks who are high on the ipod horse, however, i prefer not to be told where i have to buy my music and once i realized that the only way to purchase music for my ipod was to buy it at itunes, i felt like i was forced back into the apple store long after i had purchased my ipod. Unless you pirate your music, the only place you can buy music is at itunes... the apple money machine continues to roll on. When you buy an ipod, apple has you where they want you. The Creative Zen Vision M takes the personal music player to another level by expanding on the basics of an ipod photo and gives you so much more freedom then you thought was possible. The physical size of this unit is about 4" tall x 2 1/2" wide x 3/4" thick, making it slighty thicker then the ipod photo and weighing in slightly more. When you hold this in your hands, you can feel the quality. The buttons are located in easy to use areas and the backlights are vibrant and have a soft "click" when pressed. The screen is incredible! Believe the hype! The color is bright and crisp and truly makes other named mp3 players look black and white! The numbers don't lie... check out the specs and see for yourself! The unit includes a USB 2.0 cable, A/C adapter (yes, ipod users, you heard that right... it doesn't cost more), software, headphones (that acutally sound halfway decent), and a carry pouch. I admit, the pouch is a bit goofy and useless... creative really needs to stop doing the pouch thing. You can purchase some great accesories including A/V Cables, leather case, dock, wired remote, and other goodies. Setup is a breeze with this player, installing the drivers and software was real simple. Once the drivers are installed, you can decide weather you'd like to use windows media player 10 or the creative managing software. The included software is feature loaded with video compression software, mp3 encoding, photo management, and other goodies. Transfering music is as easy as dragging and dropping as is importing photos and downloading movies to the player. Learning how to use this player is half the fun! Another great feature with this unit is the "plays for sure" technology. This player is compatable with many of your music membership services like napster, rhapsody, or (my personal choice) virgin digital (best price per month). Or, get this, you're actually FREE to decide where you'd like to buy music from, and no matter where you get it, it will actually play on the player! How about that! you can shop around for the best price on your favorite music!!! You can even listen to your favorite radio station (news, talk shows, music) and college students will love the built in voice recorder for classes and organizing those recordings is a snap on your computer! Creative is also working on the video content portion of their content and currently allows anyone to create and upload their own "Zencasts" to their website and share with others. I understand that Encore is about to release video content for creative users with more on the way! Audiophiles will love the sound quality and the features to tweek the sound to your liking. The battery seems to last about 12 hours for me before completely dying and charging time takes just a shade under two hours. I haven't noticed the unit getting warm with normal use at the office or during trips to and from. You should however be prepared for the co-workers and their questions and envy... two guys at the office decided to order one shortly after seeing mine. This player is truly the best kept secret in a world that's seemingly dominated by a carefully marketed toy that scratches if you breath on it. IF you're looking for the real deal, with flexability, and is truly feature loaded then look no further! Creative has a real winner on their hands!

Just received by Creative Zen 30GB today (I'm very excited). I just unpacked the unit and it looks very sleek (I purchased the black one). It's a little bit taller than my palm. The first thing I had to do was upgrade my QuickTime as versions 7.01 and 7.02 interfere with the Zen. That upgrade on line was easy enough. Next, I plugged in the until to charge it up. It has to charge for 2 hours. During this process I had to power it up and down. During that I was able to see a very crisp and clean screen. I'm looking forward to watching videos. I purchased this product mainly to watch videos while working out, on the train, etc. Anyway, installation was a breeze--popped in the setup disk and it walked me through the entire install without a problem. The unit comes with a felt bag to store the unit--for the price, it would have been nicer to receive a more protective cover. I think if I drop it in this bag, the unit will suffer damage. So, the first thing I must do is go out and purchase a better cover for the unit. I should have ordered it when I ordered the unit. WARNING-I thought this was interesting (and scary) on the second page of the instructions it states "THE CORDS INCLUDED WITH THIS PRODUCT MAY CONTAIN CHEMICALS KNOWN TO THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA TO CAUSE CANCER AND BIRTH DEFECTS OR OTHER REPRODUCTIVE HARM. Wash hands after handling"--what the heck is that!!! California is wacky, but I decided I was going to wash my hands anyway--I don't know if this is common to all electronics, but I don't understand why they would use accessories that require this disclosure...Anyway, you now know before you buy that this is in there. Back to the install. The directions say that versions 7.01 and 7.02 of Quicktime will halt your Creative installation, but version 7.03 has fixed this problem. I could only download 7.04 at apple.com, and it appears that my creative installation halted. However, I x'd out of it and it asked me if I wanted to reboot in order for my computer to accept changes. I did that and it seems to be working. I have my unit plugged into the USB (docked) and I am attempting to copy a video from my external hardrive to the unit. The directions are a bit skimpy on how to do this. However, I dragged and dropped the file and hit the conversion button. It walked me through the conversion, which was pretty simple. I keep getting a busy message requiring me to hit the swich button. If you get it, just hit it and it will continue with the transfer. My first transfer of 1.12 gb was pretty quick (only a couple of minutes). My second download, about the same size, (in "good quality"--you have a choice--the better quality probably taking a bit longer) was done in around 2 minutes--not bad for a full movie. OKAY--I undocked the unit and hit menu button, found videos and saw that my transferred movies were there--AWESOME AND EASY. My headphones are in and they are comfortable plug ins (with little cushions on the outside--unlike my ipod). I turned on my movie (Chronicles of Riddick--I know, not the best, but some good special effects to test the unit). The picture is crisp, clear and excellent...I'm loving it. The sound is awesome, a bit too loud, but I haven't found the volume button. So, in less than a 1/2 hour I'm up and running watching movies on my Creative Zen. I am totally digging it. I will continue to test the unit and learn how to fully utilize it, but for now--this is a five star for me (I am so excited about being able to copy my movies to this unit!!!!)

I've had the Creative Zen Vision:M for about 6 months now. I admit that when I received it in the mail and started using it I immediately fell in love. It was much better than the Ipod to me (and still is) and it was so easy to use. I primarily was using it as an audio player when I traveled and worked out at the gym and I had not one single problem with it. So let's start with the good: -The screen is bright and colorful and easy to view -The touchstrip control takes some getting used to, but it's much easier than other players on the market -The sound quality is excellent with various EQ settings including a Custom setting which many other players lack -Easy to transfer music whether you drag and drop or use the included Zen software -Great battery life Lately I've been reading reviews all over the web praising this player and showering it with various accolades. I've become convinced that the reason for this is reviewers only used it for a short amount of time and never had the opportunity to run into any problems. The player has locked up on me a couple of times...forcing me to do a reset. My data was retained, but I shouldn't have to worry about the player locking up when I want to use it. The biggest issue, which I recently discovered, is a slowdown in playback. I went to Creative's website and research the issue. This is what I found: "Audio quality of MP3 or other compressed files are primarily determined by its recorded bit rate, measured in kilobits per second (Kbps). The higher the number, the higher the audio quality, and the more space necessary for recording and storage. If you experience any distortion with an MP3 player, please verify that the bit rate of your MP3 files. When the bit rate is too low (less than 64kbps), the audio quality will be low because of lack of audio data; when the bit rate is too high or it is beyond the supported range of an MP3 player, the playback will be dragging and slow. To improve the audio quality, it is recommended that you encode these files again with an reasonable bit rate, for example, 128 kbps." If I pay $200+ for an MP3 player, it should play my MP3s no matter what quality they are encoded at. This is truly unacceptable. I think it's also a matter of storage space. When you start getting close to 30GB of data, the player has a much harder time processing the data properly. The site doesn't indicate that however and it's just my theory. If I had known in advance about this problem, I would have never bought the player. I used to have all my MP3s at 128kbps...until I started noticing the difference in quality. Now I don't have any MP3s at a quality less than 256kbps. I used to have them at 320kbps, but had to bump it down to maximize space. Other issues: -Touchstrip is sensitive and you end up selecting menu items you didn't mean to. The sensitivity can be adjusted, but it's still a pain -Startup tends to be slow when you have a large amount of data stored -Occasionally when a new track starts, you'll get an annoying buzz in playback. Restarting the track will eliminate it, but it shouldn't happen in the first place -If the player has been off for a while, it will return you to the last selection when you turn it on again. However when you try to go back one step, it takes you all the way back to the start screen as opposed to say an artist's folder. More of annoyance than a problem. All in all the Creative Zen Vision:M is a good player, but it's hampered by problems that an PVP should not have. I can't imagine what kind of issues I would have if I were using it to watch videos. There is a new 60GB model (only available in Black right now), but it's thicker and costs more than other 60GB models. I've been doing lots of research and plan on moving on to something better in the near future. If you don't plan on storing lots of music, then this player may be right for you. If you like taking all your available music with you, then I would choose something a bit more stable.