I found out about this new gadget on Creative's website and was blown away! Its supposedly not available in North America yet (according to Creative) but I was able to get it online and under msrp from Digitally Unique. Basically after you take a look at creative's site and check out reviews like this, you will forget all about silly iPods that play QuickTime videos.
I've had the unit for a few days now and, so far, theres not much this thing cant do. It plays video, plays audio (including subscription drm), views photos, tunes fm radio, has a built in PIM that syncs with outlook, supports compact flash (and other with adapter), has A/V out (via cable or opt. dock), and has a stereo voice recorder. So, not only does it have the guts, but the looks to boot. it measures 124.2 x 74.4 x 20.1mm and is encased in black or white magnesium, packs a 3.7 inch 640x480 high res screen, and supports accessories like the optional dock, ir remote, and CF adapter... iPod what??
The video...It played all of my DivX, Xvid, and Windows movie files with no problem. There was no chop and any of the bit rates and resolutions I tested, and they all stretched or shrunk to fit on the screen. Really very impressive, so much so that you have to see to believe. The only issue I ran into was the lack of QuickTime support, shocking right ;). If you do have a lot of QuickTime or non DivX or Xvid mpeg 4 files, then you can opt to convert them, which I found rather painless when re-encoding a few of the vidcasts I listen to. DVD video may be an issue as well too, if thats your thing... the unit supports mpeg2 but not VOB files directly, so you have to convert those as well if you want them to play on the zen...I would re-encode anyway due to the sheer size, this thing only has 30gm after all ;)
The music...This is really a no-brainer for Creative. All of their players that I've owned have played music beautifully. The noticeable differences with this player, coming from the Zen Xtra, are the beefier headphone amp (which drove my Sennheiser HD 580's with no problem) and the much improved navigational interface. I've loaded up about 15 gigs of songs thus far both from my private collection and from the Yahoo! Music Engine subscription service with no difficulty, every thing plays and sounds great, as you would expect.
The photos...This is by far the best mobile solution for viewing photos. I could actually see photo enthusiasts buying the vision just for this feature; its ability to organize by folder, its thumbnail viewer, its slideshow and custom slideshow abilities, its composite video output, and most of all, its support for importing your photos (and videos) right off the cameras memory card are second to none. Basically, I'm now able to take my entire digital photo library with me wherever I go! Very cool feature...
The rest...The FM radio support is awesome and is of more use that i though it would be. Sometimes it just nice to let someone else be the dj for a change...The voice recorder works well and has a nice visual line level on the screen, though I'm not sure how much I'll use that feature. Its just cool to have when you need it...The personal organizer is really a nice touch too, its great having the ability to take my calendar and especially my contacts with me. And finally, the battery holds out 13 hours listening to music (with hold button on) and 4.5 watching video, on the standard battery. There is extra beefy battery available as an accessory that bumps those numbers to 26 hours for music and 9 hours for video! I'm sure it will add some bulk but thats really negligible its worth it when longevity is the key.
