- 29
- Oct
Tag : mp3 video, 30 gb, creative zen, player black, vision m
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 Company : Creative List Price : $249.99 Amazon Price : $255.00 Used Price : $159.99 Average customer review :  |
Features
- 30 GB multimedia device holds tens of thousands of photos, up to 120 hours of videos, or 15,000 songs
- 2.5-inch, high definition LCD screen features a 320×240 resolution and hundreds of thousands of colors
- Supports many video formats, such as AVI, DivX 4 and 53, XviD4, MPEG-1, -2, -SP, WMV9, and Motion-JPEG
- Integrated FM radio and recorder, voice recorder
- Measures 4.1 x 2.4 x 0.7 inches and weighs 5.7 ounces
Product Description
The Zen Vision: M 30GB Multimedia Center makes it easy to carry all your digital files around - and navigate them more simply. You’ll be able to enjoy thousands of photo and audio files — or even video files, thanks to the great-looking 2.5″ LCD screen. Its 320×240 resolution and 262,144 color display will makes photos look almost as good as the real thing, even in bright sunlight. The TV-out jack lets you store complete movies or TV shows and connect them to a TV for easy sharing with your friends. The Zen Vision will even turn your slideshows into attention-grabbing multimedia; share your collections of baby photos by adding a backdrop of your favorite music to the slideshow, directly from the player. The bigger, backlit Vertical Scroll navigation tool is smoother and helps to improve selection accuracy. It’s the one-stop device for all your digital entertainment needs. The built-in Personal Organizer lets you transfer your calendar, contacts and task list from Microsoft Outlook — you’ll never forget all your important anniversaries and appointments Repeat, resume, and random play Audio Playback Format - MP3 WMA and WAV / Photo Format - JPEG (GIF, TIFF, PNG and BMP) / Video Playback Format - MPEG1/2/4-SP, WMV9, Motion-JPEG, compatible DivX 4,5 and XviD Programmable sleep and wake timers Customizable main menu Also functions as an external hard drive for data and file transfer 8 EQ settings (Acoustic, classical, disco, jazz, new age, pop, rock and vocal) Rechargeable Li-ion battery plays up to 14 hours of continuous audio playback and up to 4 hours of continuous video playback Size - WxHxD - 4.1 x 2.4 x 0.7 / Weight - 5.7 oz PC requirements - Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 1 or 2
Customer reviews
Just Bought My 2nd One
Sort of good news/bad news kind of thing. My old Zen had started to be hard to get to connect to recharge–it was taking multiple attempts before it was recognized by computer. Turns out it was the cable that went bad, not the player itself, but I didn’t learn that until the new one came and I tried out the new cable. So if any of you are having that problem, try the (much cheaper) cable first.
But, I researched all the players all over again, as I was annoyed that the Zen had apparently broken after a year and a half. I’d not been at all careful with it–wearing it bouncing around on the lawn mower for hours every weekend etc.–but I still thought it should have lasted longer. But, when I looked at the others, none of them had all the features I valued–great screen, bookmarks, FM radio and option of using the player as a USB drive of up to 16GB capacity. So I ended up buying another one because they really are great players. Now my wife has inherited the old one that really was never broken, and everyone won! I still recommend the Zen very highly.
Too good to last 
My first Zen Vision M was immediately shipped back because it wouldn’t turn on (so that didn’t signal good things to come). The new one I got worked beautifully for 4 months, but it just died. First, the sound went out. It continued to play, but the sound didn’t work on my headphones or speakers. Half an hour later, the screen went black. An hour later, it shut down completely and my computer won’t even recognize it. Attempts to contact customer service and get web support has been painful and arduous. Their website is ironically faulty and they deliberately hide customer service contact information such as numbers and addresses so you just want to give up. It’s great while it lasts, but the company does not know how to run a business and is cheap when it comes to customer satisfaction. Such behavior is reflected in their product.
Great MP3 Player 
I took this player to Iraq with me and was able to fit all my songs and pictures on it. Was nice having a bit of home with me.
Zen Nano Plus 
This was my first experience with an MP3. I purchased it mainly to listen to recorded books. After years of carrying around shoe boxes full of books on tape to listen to, while I drive truck cross country, it was hard for me to believe that this small 1 gig device was capable of holding 10 or more books. It is how ever rather difficult to locate your book of choice if you have several books downloaded. Also difficult to bookmark or find your spot if you loose it. This is a great device to listen to one book at a time while lying in bed or ridding on a plane or just sitting around.
Creative’s instructions are terrible and unless you have had previous experience operating other MP3’s this isn’t a good starter unit.
I have since purchased two larger units, a Sand disk E250 and a Creative Zen version M.
Both of these units are much easier to operate and you can see all your titles and easily select your choice from a list.
Creative’s Zen Mp3 players will down load all formats, from the library as well as Audible books formats from private companies. The Sand disk E series will only download the Library wwwv format. The E series Sandisk units are the easiest to operate and would be a better first choice pick.
Too many flaws to love
If you’re a fellow Apple-loather and looking for a viable alternative…this, sadly, is not it. The software is the first problem. It crashes frequently and sometimes fails to rip the last song on the CD for no discernable reason. It often fails to convert video files to a format it can understand. Every time you attempt to synch it will try to install Microsoft Outlook on your PC. Simply plugging your Zen into the PC will result in the Zen searching folders for any multimedia it finds and adding it to your player.
The player itself has a battery life that decreases noticeably with time. Recharging the player is also a pain since Creative requires you to plug a special widget into the device before it will accept a USB cable. Unless you carry the widget around with you, you’re out of luck when you’re out of power.
The unit also crashes too frequently for comfort, either by freezing up (which necessitates finding a paper clip and using the reset hole at the bottom of the unit) or by simply going black. In either case, the player then “rebuilds” itself which takes perhaps 20-30 minutes. The interface responds erratically to finger input, and I often find myself being asked to rate songs when all I wanted to do was go back to the previous screen. The “random selection” function is also far less random than one would expect.
I’m already out of space on my Zen and will not be buying another one.
