Creative Zen Vision:M 30GB
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ZENcast
During the course of writing this review, Creative announced the launch of ZENcast. iPod users would know that iTunes allows subscribing to RSS feeds to retrieve podcasts. There are also several software on the Internet to download podcasts and transfer them to DAPs. ZENcast is somewhat different.
There are two main parts to ZENcast: the ZENcast Organizer, which is software to subscribe to and transfer podcasts to the Zen Vision or Zen Vision:M, as well as the ZENcast website itself, which is a directory of podcasts on the Internet.
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iTunes users might be familiar with the Podcasts section in the Music Store. While the idea is the same, the difference is that ZENcast can be accessed by any Internet browser, and is not restricted to iTunes per se. In addition, the ZENcast website is not restricted to Zen Vision or Zen Vision:M users. Anyone can visit the website and download podcasts. There are links to the RSS feed as well as the audio or video files themselves.
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Click for larger picture.
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So what's the point of the ZENcast Organizer? With the ZENcast Organizer installed, a big "Subscribe for free" button appears, and with a single click, adds that podcast into the ZENcast Organizer. You can then configure how often to check for new content, as well as sync options. Automatic sync ensures you get the latest content transferred to the player everytime it is connected.
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For audio podcasts, the ZENcast software creates a Motion-JPEG file containing the podcast title and summary. Pretty neat idea.
Considering the proprietory nature of iTunes' podcast directory, ZENcast is an excellent effort by Creative to make it easy for everyone, not just Zen Vision or Zen Vision:M users, to find podcasts. At the moment, while the ZENcast website is operational, I would like to see more user interactivity. For example, a rating/comment system would make it easier to separate good podcasts from the bad. Currently, other than the "What's New" and "Today's Top 10" on the front page, the rest of the podcasts are sorted into the various categories, and then alphabetically. Imagine browsing 290 podcasts at 20 podcasts per page. I doubt anyone would actually clickthrough all 15 pages.
Also, when you subscribe to video feeds, you start to see that Creative entered the podcast arena a little too late. Video feeds are usually into two formats: Quicktime, or H.264, which is part of the MPEG-4 standard. Whether the Zen Vision or Zen Vision:M can handle H.264 is besides the point. Audio is in Apple's AAC format. What this means is that Creative Sync Manager has to convert the files to WMV, which takes quite some time. iPod users, on the other hand, can transfer those files directly.
Transfer Speeds
I chose 201MB of MP3s to measure the transfer speed of the Zen Vision:M when transferring music. The Zen Vision:M took about 33 seconds, almost on par with the Zen Vision but still a little slower than the iPod, and much slower than the PMC-300.
| Device | MB Transferred/Time taken | Average write speed |
| Zen Vision:M 30GB | 201MB/33secs | ~6.1MB/s |
| Zen Vision 30GB | 201MB/31secs | ~6.5MB/s |
| PMC-300 20GB | 201MB/13secs | ~15.5MB/s |
| iPod 4G 40GB | 140MB/21secs | ~6.7MB/s |
For video, I chose a 700MB file. Again, the Zen Vision:M posts similar (but slightly better) results as the Zen Vision.
| Device | MB Transferred/Time taken | Average write speed |
| Zen Vision:M 30GB | 700MB/85secs | ~8.2MB/s |
| Zen Vision 30GB | 700MB/90secs | ~7.8MB/s |
| PMC-300 20GB | 700MB/36secs | ~19.4MB/s |
Benchmarks
The following graph shows the result of the benchmarks done using SimpliSoftware's HD Tach.
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The Zen Vision:M is represented in red, while the Zen Vision is in blue. Notice the Zen Vision:M is slightly faster than the Zen Vision for both read and write speeds.
Battery Life
Creative claims a battery life of 14 hours for MP3 files, 8 hours for WMA, and 4 hours for video.
For audio tests, the Zen Vision:M was set to volume 19, with Rock EQ on. The volume settings are so the player would output the same volume as for all our previous battery tests. Tracks are played by the album.
A 3.5mm-3.5mm audio cable was used to connect the players to the line-in of a computer, with software recording the audio input. The battery life is considered to be the time from which music starts playing till it stops (when the player switches off due to insufficient power).
For video tests, XviD format movies with resolutions ranging from 500-640 pixels in width were used. They are then played until the end. Once a movie ends, the next movie is selected and played. The battery life is considered as the sum of total playback times, up till the time when the player stops playing due to low battery.
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It seems that Creative went for a conservative figure for WMA playback. Even with the EQ, Bass Boost and Smart Volume on, the Zen Vision:M still managed 10 hours 18 minutes for WMA files. What was surprising was that neither Bass Boost or Smart Volume had a noticeable impact on battery life (whereas the Zen Micro's battery life dropped by about 30% when using Smart Volume). When put on hold, battery life jumped to 13 hours 34 minutes, nearly what Creative claimed for MP3 playback. For MP3 playback, the timings were more disappointing. Where WMA playback were 2 hours more than the claimed timing, MP3 playback was 2 hours less. The timings ranged from 12 hours 3 minutes to 12 hours 28 minutes. However, when the player was put on hold, the battery lasted an incredible 16 hours 41 minutes, way more than the 14 hours Creative claimed.
One thing to note is how the player acts. When put on hold, the display turns off after a few seconds. If the player is left playing without being put on hold, the backlight will dim, but not completely. There is still a dim backlight that makes the screen visible even in the dark. This explains the improved battery life when the player is put on hold.
Video playback was also surprising. The Zen Vision:M managed to play nearly three complete movies, a total playback time of 4 hours 43 minutes, nearly a full hour more than claimed, and much longer than the Zen Vision.