creative zen vision m - mini review

[monster]

I finally gave up on my ihp-120 and bought a 30G ZVM last week. I thought I'd share my impressions. Bear in mind, i'm using it primarily as a music player

The player
It's a beautiful thing, the screen is gorgeous and watching videos is a pleasure. the glossy black finish shows up every fingerprint, scratch and dust though. I think a silicone case is the way to go with one of these, i can't seem to find one in New Zealand (that isn't $50 or more!). Battery life seems ok, nothing spectacular.

Music transfer
The latest firmware 1.60.01 allows you to use windows explorer to transfer all of your music. No proprietary software required (except the drivers to operate it as a MTP). Hence, you can share music with other PCs, as long as they have windows media player 10+ installed, you can simply drag and drop music and it'll play. This means you can keep your existing music library folder structure (though the player navigates using the id3 tags).

having said that, sync with mediamonkey is a breeze. highly recommended piece of software - it does virtually anything you want, and the website support forums are excellent.

Sound quality
I was initially disappointed with the ZVM sound quality, until someone on epiZENter.net recommended that i set the graphic equalizer to -6 across the board. it drastically improved the sound quality, even if you then increase the 80Hz slider up to +8 or so. it is a shame it doesn't have a properly low bass boost on the EQ (say 40-50Hz) - when you turn up the 80Hz its a little bit "thick" sounding for my liking. FYI i'm using sennheiser PX-100s. In summary, the sound quality is very good, though not quite up to iriver H100 standards, IMHO.

Interface
The slider interface is basically a touchpad (like on a laptop). its a bit too sensitive, especially as you have to tap it to operate the player. sensitivity adjustments are pretty useless. But you get the hang of it after some practice, and the whole interface is quite intuitive after a while (did i just contradict myself?). You can create playlists on the fly, which is a big improvement on the H100's ability to only cue up one song. The DJ functions are excellent too (most popular, rarely heard etc)

Data transfer
The ZVM will also operate as a removable disk - allowing you to transfer data between any computer/gadget capable of reading a FAT32 drive. you select what capacity of disk you want (0.5Gb to 16Gb), and it will re-partition to suit. you can even change the capacity on the fly, without losing the data you've already stored. The ZVM database can't see any music/photos/videos you've put on the removable disk though - you'd need to put them on the MTP part of the player to see them.

It works fine with macally syncbox, which means you can download from a flash card or camera without needing a computer. I understand the forthcoming 60Gb ZVM will be able to act as a USB host, making the syncbox unnecessary.

Other stuff
You can record off the built in FM radio, though i haven't tried this yet.

If you have videos you want to move to the player, the creative software will reformat them if required. i've used this a couple of times, it seem to work ok (though it takes ages).

Charging the player (either with the AC adapter or via USB) requires the little white dongle thing, which seems like something you'd lose down the back of your car seat. why can't they just put the USB/DC-in ports on the player itself?

Overall, i'm very happy with the player. My poor old ihp-120 has been relegated to portable hard drive duties! FYI, it was a fantastic player, but the sound quality gradually deteriorated (first the headphone out, then the line out). I understand from reading other posts that it's probably something to do with earth-ing the philips sound chip. i understand it's replaceable, but when it comes to delicate electronics i'm all thumbs!

any questions, feel free to reply!

Mark

[itsmeguys]

Thanks for this. Good review. I'm in love with my ZVM

[Clix]

If you want a great way to protect your Zen from scratches, probably too late now, but look up Best Skin Ever! It's a film you put over your player and it's from the same stuff they put on helicopter blades, it's almost bullet proof! It doesn't make the player any bigger and keeps the nice shinny black finish without traping dust and stuff underneith like the silicone cases do! It cost $7.50 US

[monster]

hey, thanks for the tip clix! i've ordered a couple of cases, will see how long it takes for them to get to auckland! i don't have any serious scratches yet, touch wood

[monster]

just received the skins - i applied them last night. they look pretty good, although as murphy's law would have it, the only bubble i got was under the corner of the screen! luckily i ordered two sets of covers

[saints]

Hey Monster, can you post a pic of your zvm with the skin, thanks

[monster]

The skins actually get a lot better 2-4 days after application. the bubbles have completely disappeared and it seems to have smoothed out a bit. because the player is black it still shows fingerprints, but who cares.

Here's some photos, i actually think they make the skins look worse than they actually are. i highly recommend the best skins ever, they're relatively cheap and make the player grippier and more resistant to scratches. the downside is they don't really protect the corners (as you can't really put the skins around compound curves). and the cover for the back was a little bit too long, so i trimmed it with my scissors at the last minute, which looks a little bit rough.

[Grooveless]

I'm waiting for my ZVM from the states.

Its been a long time since i've had a player coz my h-120 conked out a while back and since i'm in the philippines, I've no way to get it repaired.

thanx for the review.

[Renfrewbhoy]

Very good review -thanks, as I think it could be my next player, especially if it can transfer on UMS mode. (No problems like I get with the H20 being recognised.)

[peterj]

I got a Vision:M a few weeks back when my ihp-120 started to die. So far I'm reasonably happy though I can't seem to get the sound I got from the ihp. Maybe it's just what you get used to. Been using Sennheiser px200 headphones for a while so I've got some cx3000 canal phones on order.
I also have the BSE (Best Skins Ever) and it's quite impressive. The one thing I really miss is rockbox though I've heard that it's being considered.

[Grooveless]

^ Yep, the ihp-120 had crisper sound than my ZVM.

But watching videos is just awesome. I thought it would be hard to watch on such a small screen but was I wrong.

Hope I'll be able to buy them BSE's soon coz I'm starting to get scratches on my ZVM now. The polished finish is just not for rugged users like me. This is one the things I miss about my ihp-120.

[.Nishin7.-]

wow. something that's good from creative~

[gorcorps]

um... creatives last few have been pretty good, especially the flash ones

The ZVM replaced my h120 for xmas, and the h120 did have better sound quality in general. The Zen is still better than the ipod and sandisk SQ and the 5 band EQ is nice. I watch scrubs a lot on my Zen and it's fantastic

[vdamiani]

Hi Monster,
did the "Best Skin Ever" protective skin prevent from slipperings?
One of the good things about thouse Silicone skins is that the player wouldn't go to the ground when someone touches it when on a slippering surface!

[lumaom]

[quote=monster;519087]Other stuff
You can record off the built in FM radio, though i haven't tried this yet.

Don't try. It doesn't work. Just for that, I prefer my iRiver H320. Not to mention ROCKBOX! My original H320 went swimming with me one day. I purchased a Creative Vision M (60GB). Beautiful device, but my heart belongs to iRiver so I got a used H320, installed Rockbox and now I use my Creative as a spare. But if you got the FM radio recording working, please shout!

[Davo69]

Originally Posted by lumaom

But if you got the FM radio recording working, please shout!

Probably unable without completely rewriting the firmware... Creative removed this function for "licensing issues", which really sucks.

There are, however, people attempting to port rockbox to the vision m, and this would add fm recording, along with all the other features i'm missing from my dead h320