Creative Zen Vision: W Reviewer's Comments
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The “TopTenREVIEWS Bronze Award” goes to one of our favorite MP3 companies- Creative Technology. The Creative Zen products consistently do well in our reviews, and even though they are loaded with features, they are constantly living in the shadow of the iPod.
The ZEN Vision: W is a great transition device further blurring the lines between MP3 player and portable media player. This hefty, yet sleek device includes an FM radio, removable disk space and extremely compatible video format options.
The only thing truly holding this player back is it’s price verses storage size, with a $399 price tag we expected more than 60 GB of storage. Especially, since the iPod Classic is about $50 cheaper and has 100GB more space. We feel the average consumer is willing to sacrifice a few features for more memory.Creative Zen Vision: W Screenshots. Click to Enlarge
Features:
This is one device you will never want to leave home without. In addition to it’s music, picture and video features, the Vision: W can transmit and record FM radio, act as an external hard drive, record voice and organize your life with the calendar, alarm clock and sleep timer features. We also loved that the Vision: W has an external storage slot, giving you the opportunity of adding more storage space to your portable player.
The included A/V cables enable you to share your videos and pictures with friends and family on a television. And although it doesn’t include the ability to record line-in audio or video we found that with so much additional material available online including compatible downloads and services, that the lack of this feature didn’t hinder it’s overall score.Music Formats:
The ZEN Vision: W’s music formats are pretty standard. The Creative line supports PlaysforSure technology enabling it to play songs downloaded from online stores like Napster, Rhapsody and Yahoo! music. It will play mp3, wav and protected and unprotected wma.
Picture Formats:
Technically, the ZEN Vision: W only supports jpg images; however, using their transcoder software it will also display gif, tiff and bmp images. Although effective, we felt the additional step was just one more thing people wouldn’t want to do.
Video Formats:
The selection of video formats is where the ZEN Vision: W really shines. It can play back video in standard mpeg-4, avi, xvid, divx and wmv (Windows Media Video.) Since these are fairly common video formats, it is easy to find converter software to convert your favorite home videos, DVDs and television programs enabling you to take your favorite media anywhere.
Physical Features:
Overall, the Vision: W is a large device weighing more than 10 ounces, one of the heaviest portables we reviewed. However, it includes a 4.3 inch screen that makes up for its bulky size. The battery lasts about 13 hours when in audio mode, and although this isn’t particularly impressive, the battery is interchangeable and can easily replaced with a new, charged battery. Also, the package includes a standard power adapter which cuts charge time in half to about three hours.
The box includes earphones, a power adapter, USB cable, A/V cable, a pouch and an installation CD.Help/Support:
The only thing missing from Creative’s help and support section is live chat. Otherwise, they include email and phone support, a FAQ section, PDF documentation and firmware updates.
Summary:
The ZEN Vision: W is an excellent player for those that don’t want an iPod or don’t want all of the additional features and required accessories offered in the Archos 605. We would have loved to see this portable media player take the number one spot; however, its minimal storage and bulky size literally weighed it down.
©2008 TopTenREVIEWS, Inc.
