Creative Zen Vision:M 30GB
Introduction
For the past few years, Apple has repeatedly won the race to release a better Digital Audio Player (DAP). The hard disk-based iPods were still smaller than any of Creative's Zen Jukeboxes. The Zen Touch would have been a worthy competitor to the iPod, if it had just been a little smaller.
When the iPod mini was released, it was the hottest thing on the planet. Creative's chubby little Zen Micro wasn't enough to topple Apple's hold on the DAP market. Shortly after Creative released the Zen Neeon, it was made obselete by the iPod nano.
Creative's breakthrough came with the Zen Vision. It had twice the resolution of most Portable Media Players (PMP) in the market, yet was smaller. It supported various popular video formats, and had a reasonable battery life. Basically, this was a long awaited victory for Creative.
Riding on the success of the Zen Vision, Creative shrunk it down and created the Zen Vision:M. The first thing you might notice is the name. This is probably the first time Creative has used a single letter to denote a new generation of players. Maybe they got tired of the naming wars with Apple, or maybe they just ran out of names. However, it isn't too hard to fill in the word yourself. By putting this player as part of the Zen Vision family, the Zen Vision:M carries all the expectations of the Zen Vision, and more.
The problem now is how to classify the Zen Vision:M. Is it a DAP, or a PMP? It definitely looks like a DAP. But unlike the 5th Generation iPod (iPod 5G a.k.a. video iPod) or the iAudio X5, which are DAPs that happen to play videos as well, the Zen Vision:M is serious when it comes to video. The official word from Creative, however, is that the Zen Vision:M is a DAP.
Package Contents
The colour of the box indicates the colour of the player. In this case, Creative sent me a black player.
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The clean, almost all-black design is a change from the past packaging designs of previous players, and is sure to stand out in the store shelves.
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As usual, the back of the box shows the details about the Zen Vision:M.
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While the bottom of the box shows the various colours available, and it is as if Creative is taunting those of us living outside USA (all five colours are available in USA, while Europe will see only the black and white versions, and Asia will see the black, white and green).
Inside the box is a familiar sight.
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Flip open the cover, and you can see the Zen Vision:M nestled in a bed of sponge.
If you look closely, you will notice that Creative thoughtfully included quick instructions on how to use the touch-pad. The bundled earphones are the now-familiar EP-480 earphones, which Creative has been bundling with their DAP players for a long time.
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Below the sponge lies the leather pouch as well as the installation CD and manuals packaged into a neat little box.
The box at the bottom contains the USB cable, sync adapter and AC adapter plugs.
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Here, you see the Universal AC adapter.
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Here is a shot of everything in the box.
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Although it was a nice touch to include both two-pin and three-pin plugs, I could not believe that Creative failed to include AV cables.