Go Play AV: Portable Audio, Video, Media and Game Players

CNET has reviewed the Creative Zen V and given it a 8/10, slightly less than the Creative Zen V Plus:

The good: The Creative Zen V offers a cute, pocket-friendly design without sacrificing screen real estate, and the vivid OLED display is viewable from any angle. The player packs in some nice features, such as voice and line-in recording, photo playback, and compatibility with subscription WMA tracks. Oh, and the sound quality is great, too.

The bad: The Creative Zen V’s joystick is really small and has a cheap feel to it, and we wish Creative had included all the buttons found on the Vision:M. The screen is difficult to see in bright sunlight, and there’s no UMS support. Also, you don’t get the FM radio and video playback found on the Plus version.

The bottom line: The Creative Zen V is a good choice for anyone looking for a compact flash MP3 player with recording features and great sound quality. However, the more feature-filled Zen V Plus is a better value.

The big brother, Zen V Plus is a portable media player with video playback, as well as an FM tuner.

Read complete article: Creative Zen V (4GB, black) Reviews. MP3 players Reviews by CNET.

Technorati Tags: creative zen, mp3 player, portable audio, portable entertainment, creative zen v

cNet have reviewed the Creative Zen V Plus portable media player, giving it an excellent, 8.3/10:

The good: The Creative Zen V Plus offers a cute, pocket-friendly design without sacrificing screen real estate, and the vivid OLED display is viewable from any angle. The player is packed to the gills with features, including an FM radio, voice and line-in recording, photo and video playback, and compatibility with subscription WMA tracks. Oh, and the sound quality and battery life are great too.

The bad: The Creative Zen V Plus’s joystick is really small and has a cheap feel to it, and we wish Creative had included all the buttons found on the Vision:M. The screen is difficult to see in bright sunlight, and there’s no UMS support.

The bottom line: The Creative Zen V Plus is a superb choice for anyone looking for a compact and feature-filled flash MP3 player with great sound quality. If you’re looking for a more sophisticated design (or have large thumbs), check out the iRiver Clix instead.

Lookup on Amazon:

“Creative Zen V 2 GB Portable Media Player (Black/Green)” (Creative Labs)

Read complete article: Creative Zen V Plus (2GB, white) Reviews. MP3 players Reviews by CNET.

Technorati Tags: Creative, creative zen, mp3 player, portable audio, portable entertainment

cNet provides a review of the Creative Zen Nano Plus (1GB) MP3 player, giving it a 7.3/10:

The good: Plenty of cool color options; ultracompact design; comes with a belt clip, a case, and an armband; impressive, but not great, sound and recording quality; supports DRM-protected songs; includes FM, voice, and line-in recording features.

The bad: Small LCD; no true playlist support.

The bottom line: If you’re looking for a feature-packed flash player but you don’t want to spend a ton to get one, Creative’s Zen Nano Plus is the device for you.

Read complete article: Creative Zen Nano Plus (1GB, Gray) Reviews. MP3 players Reviews by CNET.

Lookup on Amazon: “Creative Zen Nano 1 GB MP3 Player Grey” (Creative Labs)

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PC Magazine have reviewed the Creative Zen Vision:M and also found it to be a worthy iPod alternative, giving it 4.5/5:

Bottom line: The Zen Vision:M is our new favorite iPod alternative and should appeal to lots of people, but we have a feeling it’s still not going to sway the iPod-loving masses.

Pros: Good design. Excellent screen. Very good audio and video quality. Broad feature set.

Cons: Short battery life. Requires a dongle to sync, charge, and output to TV

Read complete article: Creative Zen Vision:M review by PC Magazine

Lookup on Amazon:

“Creative Zen Vision: M 30 GB MP3 and Video Player Black” (Creative Labs)

Technorati Tags: creative zen vision M, digital audio player, mp3 player, personal video player, portable audio, portable entertainment, portable media player, portable video

TrustedReviews provide a review of the Creative Zen Vision:M and liek everyone else, are quite impressed:

ou’ve got to hand it to Creative. Or at least feel sorry for it. No sooner had it helped create the portable digital media player market with its Zen Jukebox, when Apple swept in relatively late in the game to sweep up all the plaudits with its iPod, the latest version of which I’ll be looking at tomorrow. To add insult to injury, it turns out that Creative even owns the patent on the interface that Apple used to such good effect - only Apple slapped a nifty wheel on the front of its device and the rest, as they say, is history. The sales figures speak for themselves.

The Zen Vision: M is the best media player Creative has yet released and as such, demands attention. The quality of its display is its biggest asset over the fifth generation iPod, and it offers navigation innovations such as a shortcut button. It’s still not as stylish as Apple’s player or quite as effortless to use, but its the best case yet presented on why you should consider a media player other than an iPod.

Read complete article: TrustedReviews - The UK’s Premier Source for IT Reviews & News

Lookup on Amazon:

“Creative Zen Vision: M 30 GB MP3 and Video Player Black” (Creative Labs)

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Anything But iPod report that Creative have a podcast distribution portal for their Zen Vision players

Creative has fashioned a portal for their two video player, the Zen Vision and the newly released Zen Vision:M. The site indexes a lot of the popular video and audio podcasts. Additionally they have released a beta version of a software program they are calling ZENCast Organizer. This program will automatically fill up your MP3 player with new content as you subscribe.

Read complete article: ZENCast – Free Video and Auido Podcasts

Technorati Tags: portable entertainment, portable media player, zencast

PC Magazine have reviewed the Creative Zen Sleek MP3 player - not Creative’s best effort visually:

Bottom line: The Creative Zen Sleek is a solid, no-frills 20GB hard drive player, and worth a look if you find it at a good price.

Pros: Good audio quality. Easy to use. Sturdy shell. Works with online music services.

Cons: Voice recording quality isn’t great. No line-in capability. Occasional lag when performing some actions. Battery life isn’t stellar.

The Creative Zen Sleek ($220 street), an industrial-looking 20GB MP3 player encased in silver-colored brushed aluminum, is roughly the size of a fourth-generation 20GB iPod but has a slightly wider screen. As with the Zen Micro, you control it with a touch strip surrounded by five clearly labeled buttons. Sound quality is very good, the interface is reasonably easy to use, the player is compatible with online subscription and download services, and you get a few handy extras. Assuming you can find the player for a decent price, don’t use a Mac, and aren’t into looking at tiny photos, it’s worth a look

Industrial design isn’t Creative’s strength, and the Sleek lives up to that. Interesting too, that PC magazine, have marked down recording as an issue, as they did with the Cowon A2’s video recording, which seems a bit harsh given these things are players first and foremost.

Read complete article: Creative Zen Sleek Review by PC Magazine

Lookup on Amazon: “Creative Zen Sleek 20 GB MP3 Player” (Creative Labs)

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Creative’s new Zen Vision:M has been favorably reviewed by cNet, receiving an excellent 8.2/10:

The good: Fast transfer speed; wide video codec support; brilliant screen; improved vertical scroll.
The bad: Stiff keys; bothersome sync adapter; thicker than the iPod.
The bottom line: There is a lot going for the Zen Vision: M, and true to form, Creative has just created yet another iPod killer to take on the incumbent

That last little bit is interesting “…yet another iPod killer…” I’m not sure how serious they are being. Ti kill the iPod you have to kill the iTunes Music Store too. This player is is not going to do that.

Read complete article: Creative Zen Vision: M (30GB) - Review : Music & Play - CNET Asia

Technorati Tags: creative zen vision M, portable audio, portable entertainment, portable media player, portable video

Hey what’s this look like? Creative have released a competitor to the fifth generation, video enabled iPod, called the Creative Zen Vision:M portable media player

Creative is finally releasing their answer to the latest Apple iPod video with the new Zen Vision:M Portable Media Player. With the Zen Vision:M, you’ll get 30 GB of storage space for music, photo and video playback. The Zen Vision:M measures 62mm X 104mm X 19mm and weighs 166g. It’s approximately the size of the new iPod although it’s roughly twice as thick as the iPod.

For video playback, the Zen Vision:M supports WMV9, DivX, XviD, and MPEG1/2/4 file formats. For audio playback the Vision:M supports MP3/WMA/WMA DRM file formats. The portable media player sports a 2.5 inch color screen capable of displaying 262K colors. In typical Creative fashion, you’ll get an integrated FM tuner, voice recording, and FM recording.

An iPod killer? We could answer flippantly but will bite our tongue. It comes in green, white and black.

Read complete article: Creative Zen Vision:M Portable Media Player : MobileWhack.com

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Creative’s Zen Micro Photo has been reviewed by cNet who, altho giving it 8.3, still seemed a little disappointed:

The good: The Creative Zen Micro Photo features a bright, colorful OLED that’s viewable from any angle, and it’s available in a choice of 10 body colors. This MP3 player also includes useful extra features such as a user-replaceable battery, a voice recorder, a photo viewer, an FM tuner, and an onboard calendar and task manager that syncs with Microsoft Outlook. The Zen Micro Photo is also out-of-the-box compatible with Janus (Windows Media DRM 10) and offers excellent sound quality.

The bad: Unfortunately, the Creative Zen Micro Photo doesn’t let you listen to music and browse photos simultaneously, and album art is not supported at this time. The touch pad on this device can take some getting used to.

The bottom line: The Creative Zen Micro Photo is an excellent full-featured MP3 player and, for its size, a decent photo viewer; it just doesn’t combine the two effectively.

It might also be a decent player if it hadn’t taken such a beating from the ugly stick.

Read source article: Creative Zen Micro Photo (8GB, light blue) Reviews. MP3 players Reviews by CNET.

Lookup on Amazon: “Creative Zen Micro Photo 8 GB MP3 Player Titanium Grey” (Creative Labs)

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