Vision:Mmmm (Creative Zen Vision:M 30 GB)

Member Name: il_cacciatore

Product:	Creative Zen Vision:M 30 GB
Date:	09/01/07 (2202 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Screen quality, music quality, style and quality of build.

Disadvantages: Non-removable battery, old firmware and software bundled together - but not a major problem.

The Creative Zen Vision:M is an MP3 player by Creative. It was released in August 2006. It is available in 30GB or 60GB options and is available in a range of colours: Black, white, pink, blue and green. I chose the white because I think it looks the best as all the rest of the cabling and back of the vision:m itself is white - had to pay £4.00 extra to get it in white. I also chose the 30GB option as I don't believe I would be able to fill the larger 60GB one, though I might be proved wrong but is a lot more expensive anyway.

=== PACKAGING ===

The Zen Vision M comes in a box together with:

A protective slip
The charging adapter
USB multi-function cable
Head-phones
Instruction manual
Software CD
Customer Support Services slip
Creative family of products poster.

The box itself is stylish and illustrates some of the key features of the Zen Vision:M as well as the player itself. The Vision:M is packaged in a protective plastic cover and is surrounded by padding which would make damage very unlikely during transit/storage.

== INSTRUCTIONS ===

The instructions come in all sorts of different languages (18 to be exact). Though they are somewhat lacking in detail.

=== PROTECTIVE SLIP ===

The protective slip feels like the chamois material you wipe the car down with after you've cleaned it and those a quite expensive to buy so this isn't a cheap slip - It feels like quality. Don't see a reason with this to buy another cover for it because this should keep the scratches at bay.

=== SOFTWARE CD ===

The Software comes with good graphics, is easy to use and is quick to install. It gives you the option to install the software from: Creative Vision:M, Windows Media Player 10, Creative Media Source, Audible manager and Adobe Reader - It also has the instructions and Customer Support Services details.

I have found that most of the software on the disc is out of date and you must download the updated software from http://www.creative.com/support to resolve any incompatibility issues with WMP11 (WMP10 is bundled with the CD and causes incompatibility issues with Creative media explorer should you upgrade Windows Media Player) They really should have bundled a CD more up to date than this.

When you restart your computer the product wishes to register your details with Creative. It was quick and easy, you enter the serial number and the date of purchase, your particulars this then enables you to get product software and driver updates from Creative.

The creative media explorer I find is better than Windows Media player as it is easier to operate. I really don't like media player at the best of times and don't use it for much normally so will be darned if I'll use it for the zen. Tried using Media player and synchronized my entire hard drive media to the zen by accident so decided not to use it again cause it took ages to remove all the useless images/wav files I uploaded.

=== SUPPORT ===

In the first 60 days you have the 'getting started' telephone support. Warranty Service telephone support is valid within the warranty period (1 year) and also email support. Web-based support is available throughout the life of the product. So appears there is a good product support given by Creative. As I have just bought it I cannot vouch for it's use as I haven't had to ask for support yet.

=== THE VISION:M ===

It has a 2.5" colour screen high-definition 320 by 240 resolution and 262,144 colours. It supports a wide range of formats in contrast with the iPod Video including: DivX, XviD, MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG4-SP and WMV. The vision M comes with some photographs on it and the quality is something you wouldn't believe I was shocked to how good it was. With a cable that isn't included, you may plug it into a television and watch a film that you have stored on it's hard disk, another excellent feature.

You can store up to 120 hours of movies but it'll only play 4 hours per charge. Movie playback works flawlessly for me, I read when I was deciding to purchase it that it stalls every 15 mins to buffer the video but it doesn't seem to do that with mine, maybe it depends on the overall length of the file as I've only tried half hour TV episodes. The screen has quite a wide viewing angle but seems to be best viewed from above, the picture quality is better from that angle.

Creative claim that it'll hold 15,000 songs but will play 14 hours per one charge. The sound quality is phenomenal, its crystal clear but I guess this will depend on the quality of the MP3s but so far so good.

The Zen has 6 buttons and a touch pad that enables you to navigate throughout the features - and one slider on/off button on the top. The touch pad is sensitive and takes some getting used to. It operates something like a laptop mouse pad. I've now gotten used to its operation as I was originally trying to use it directionally but it operates by scrolling up and down.

The radio quality is again: very good. Can't fault it, again this will depend on the quality of the reception though walking about the house it does occasionally go quiet then loud again with interference - I read that it uses the headphone wires as the aerial which might explain things. The volume can go pretty loud but not insanely which suits me fine because I value my hearing.

It is possible to use a section of the vision:m's hard drive for data storage something like a mass storage device which could come in handy for some but perhaps not me as I own a USB flash drive already.

Synchronizing files with the vision:m may not be really, really fast but it isn't what you would call slow - Its restricted in speed as it uses a USB cable.

It also incorporates a microphone which produces high quality sound recordings. Could potentially see this becoming useful for university as a Dictaphone.

It may not be very durable against scratches but it doesn't feel like it will fall apart in my hands as it is well made. The protective slip should keep it protected but I feel the screen is vulnerable to damage should it not be kept in it.

=== THE BATTERY ===

One of the major draw backs in my mind is the non-removable battery. It is rechargeable yes but all batteries have an end to their charge holding capabilities and they will eventually need replacing. I have done a bit of research on this before I bought the player and had found out from an internet forum that it costs from Creative £98.00 for them to replace the battery and recondition the unit - but this info never came from Creative themselves. After spending £169.00 on the player and you have to pay another £100 to have the battery replaced is a bit ridiculous. Though saying that, my friend had a similar Creative product and he had it for 3 years before the charging circuit failed, he didn't notice any change in the battery ability - so I gave it the benefit of the doubt. Probably the time the battery goes a newer and better thing will be available and the warranty will be expired.

=== COMPARED WITH IPOD ===

If your anything like me you'll compare it against its competition. The Apple i Pod Video is the most notable one. I'll attempt to compare it against the iPod in brief. Firstly the both have the same size of screen, the both play music and video, they both come in multiple colours and they both have a 30GB hard disk. The iPod is slimmer compared with the vision:m but thats where the advantages stop in my mind. The Zen can play more types of videos and sound formats, it has a radio and microphone perhaps the screen is of a better quality. For these reasons I chose the vision:m. If you prefer fashion to function then the iPod is probably for you because after all: its an iPod.

=== ACCESSORIES ===

There are a number of accessories available including: Wired remote, FM adapter (to tune it into car stereo), Video cable (to play video on your tv), leather pouch, docking station, car charger. As for third party accessories I haven't seen any advertised.

=== FIRMWARE UPGRADING ===

The vision:m is firmware upgradeable and mine had an old version of the firmware so I decided to try and upgrade it to the newest version v1.61.01e. So opened up the instruction manual and done like it said, put the switch to the left, insert pin into reset hole, let go and select 'upgrade firmware' option. double-clicked on the software upgrade and it came up *zen not found* when it was indeed plugged in. Got worried at this point because I had an essentially useless, very expensive player without any firmware on it. So done like the manual says, if that doesn't work format the disc. I did like so to no avail. Really worried at this point. I done like my instincts told me: I went straight to Google. This is a known problem amongst users, they say to try the update on a computer without media player 11 installed on it and without any creative software. I went to my other PC and the update went without a problem to my relief! But lost all the MP3s in the process. But at least its working again. At this point haven't noticed any change with the firmware.

=== ALBUM ART ===

Adding album art would not work for me. What your supposed to do is open Creative media explorer> Browse files then simply drag and drop but however I could not get the album art to function. Again this is supposed to be due to me having WMP11 and not 10 like Creative planned for. It is fixed when you upgrade the software and/or firmware from the Creative website - don't know what the problem was attributed to because I upgraded the software and the firmware before trying it again but all I know is it works. Adding album art allows you to view the cover of the CD while it is playing an MP3 from that CD.

=== CONCLUSION ===

Its a very well made quality functional mp3 player and I'm glad I purchased it. It could have done with a removable battery and it might have been packaged with a mains power charger as this could potentially be a problem if your going to be away from a computer for a long time - but they are available separately. I feel that it represents value for money as I had paid £169.99 from Amazon.co.uk and should get a free docking station worth £29.99 as I bought it in a promotional period (from the 15th Nov 06 and 15th Jan 07). I've seen them selling at £189.99 in PC World. Firmware upgrade can be worrying, if it doesn't work for whatever reason stopped it working for me. Creative could have bundled an up to date software CD but didn't.

Still happy. Recommended. ©il_cacciatore07

Summary: Vision:M is so good. Better than iPod Video!

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