Creative's new Zen Vision:M (with video)
posted December 7th 2005 1:30AM
Creative is introducing their new Zen Vision:M, an answer to Apple's
5G iPod, and what an answer it is. We know it
gets old hearing every new player get compared to Apple's flagship offering, but can you seriously blame us here? The
specs are vaguely familiar, with a 2.5-inch screen at 320x240 resolution and a 30GB hard drive, though thankfully
Creative squeezed in 4 hours of video playback, doubling Apple's endurance on at least video. (The audio playback conks
out at 11 hours.) The size of the two players is virtually identical, with the Zen Vision:M only changing it up on
thickness — at about twice the iPod's 0.43-inches. They're also forging their own path on button placement, sporting a
layout similar to that of their Zen Micro
Photo, and including a vertical scroll pad. Creative did add their usual FM tuner and voice recording niceties, and
they have a decent list of video format support, including MPEG-4, WMV, Motion JPEG, DivX, and XviD, so this $330
player could turn out to be a worthy candidate for video capable commuting buddy — if Apple's lawyers don't have
something to say about it first. Check out some closeups of interface, erm, borrowing after the jump.
[Via
Apple Brothers]
Since it doesn't support AC3, what's the alternative?
Just to Remind everyone Apple ripped off creatives GUI first, thus the lawsuit creative won against them.
So take that into account.
Umm.. Is it not 5 dollars more then the 30GB iPod?
379.99 CDN for the iPod
384.99 CDN for the Zen
Also at least the Zen comes with a AC Adaptor, damn apple tries to squeeze every buck out of you.
Alright, here's some information about that interface to calm you all. This is taken from an article about the Vision:M on the Guardian's website (that English paper)
The patented menu, which chief executive Sim Wong Hoo says Apple has appropriated ("It means we're No 1 in interfaces," he comments merrily, while making vague noises about demanding licensing fees), gives the player a familiar feel: music, playlists, artists, genres.
Uh OH Apple!!
Who is ripping off who here? Sorry Ipod fans, hate to break the news but Creative invented the menu user interface and released it in the Nomad Jukebox 3 MP3 player in September of 2000, 13 months before the release of the Ipod.
In fact Creative was awarded the U.S. Patent 6,928,433 on its invention of user interface for portable media players on August 9, 2005.
Read it and weep!
Exerpt from Creative Press Release:
"The user interface covered by the Zen Patent was invented by Creative research and development engineers in our Advanced Technology Center in Scotts Valley, California," said Sim Wong Hoo, chairman and CEO of Creative. "The first portable media player based upon the user interface covered in our Zen Patent was our NOMAD Jukebox MP3 player. We shipped the NOMAD Jukebox to U.S. retail customers in September of 2000, and by November of 2000, it was already ranked as the top revenue-generating product in the U.S. in the digital audio player category, according to PC Data. By January of 2001, we announced that we had already sold 100,000 NOMAD Jukeboxes. The Apple iPod was only announced in October 2001, 13 months after we had been shipping the NOMAD Jukebox based upon the user interface covered by our Zen Patent."
Apple submitted a patent application, published as Pub. No. U.S. 2004/0055446 for a user interface in a multimedia player. This Apple patent application was filed on October 28, 2002. A related provisional application was filed by Apple on July 30, 2002, eighteen months after Creative's filing date for the Zen Patent and over twenty months after our NOMAD Jukebox based upon our user interface was on the market,"
http://us.creative.com/corporate/pressroom/releases/welcome.asp?pid=12180
Exerpt from BBC News:
Apple could be in for a bruising legal fight with rival Creative over the technology used in iPod music players.
Creative boss Sim Wong Hoo has told the BBC he plans to "pursue aggressively" a US patent it owns on a system used to navigate music on digital players.
The announcement prompted speculation that Creative could seek royalties from Apple, though patent cases can drag on for years.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4510044.stm
the creative vision:M deinetly has some better properties in terms of features but lacks the reliability and originality of its own which we are so fond of with Apple iPods. I would buy a ipod video but if your more up with the looks then the black version of creative vision:M isn't a bad choice after all.
For all of you that think that this steal's Apple's design, think again, it's not the most unique thing around, but it's not a knock-off, and it has better video, and audio quality, or so I've heard. It has longer battery life, and my car's very old, and the radio doesn't work, so I'd really appreciate having something that plays radio. And going back to my first subject, it is certainly not a rip-off, there are many MP3 players that are in that shape, saying it's a rip-off is like saying every cell phone is a rip-off of some other cell phone.
No WMA support for the iPod, none of my money for an iPod. I can't understand why Apple continues to not support WMA. I have 12,000+ songs from my CD collection in WMA variable bit rate and lossless, and I am not converting to an inferier compression format.
when is this thing comming out!!
If one of these two companies would add an auxilary plug for video-out, I could see lcd projection eye-glasses catching on.
Without an external video connector, I could never see using the little itty bitty screen for anything other than looking at album covers.
I just want the cheapest hard-drive with best audio, usb drive emulation, open formats and lastly a robust, water tight, small plastic box to hold it in.
Is that so much to ask for? Oh, yeah, and HD upgradability would be nice.
when will this player b available in Europe?? People in Asia already got'em, damn we're always last!!!
haha that is preety awsome!!! go creative, i pods are ok but creative blows them away! i got a Vision(the original) and like everyone at achool is like o man that is like nices than my video ipod. o and btw i got my vision for 350. You didnt look much if u bought it for 400. the file compatabilaty and bigger screen makes it much better.
I think that this product is truely amazing. i agree with those who posted that nothing is really original because thats very true so dont get mad at creativ's efforts. Personally, i am opting to get the zen vision because unlike this and the ipod it is horizontal, something different. It has a bigger screen and just works for me. Mp3 players have to work for you. I disagree with the statement that this product is for computer geeks. Its a mp3 player for goodness sakes. If Zen's products were better advertised they would have so many people buying them because there so nice and have good quality. I will be getting my zen vision shortly, very excited.
ok ipod people, creative is just as good if not better than ipod so why contribute to the apple/ipod monopoly? as for your complaints about the icons and menu, stop fearing change, i'm sure a click wheel confused you a little at first too, but you learn something new(a novel concept)
as for the appearence, i don't see what makes ipod more stylish other than the fact that everyone else has it and you want to be a boring conformist sheep, maybe it's that the ipod is thinner? but honestly is our culture so obsessed with weight that we get upset if our ELECTRONICS aren't thin enough?
when is it comming out??? i would like to see how thick and small it is in person and if i like the nano better. the battery life sucks on a nano but i heard its the same on the zen. i have an old creatice nomad jukebox zen extra and i love it although its huge. i trust creative so yea i would try this out.
is the zen vision:m comming out in USA???? or atleast in california???
Well I bought one of these while at CES this year for $279.99 with $4.95 S&H, the device retails for $329.99 so I got a good deal (not a used one either), only catch was you could only get it in black which really didnt bother me much.
After sitting thru the demo of it, I immediatly fell in love with it due to its functions and price. Since I have one of the few in the world who does not use iTunes (I use Napster). This device was great for me, it syncs with Napster To Go and also Tivo To Go on Series 2 devices. Another benefit was that I can get my music from anywhere, not just a specific site like Apple does to you.
Another cool thing about the Zen is that the output resolution is much higher then the video, its 640X480 versus' the video's 320X240 output (somewhere around that). So when I hook it up to my 42 inch HD it wont look that bad at all.
All and all it is a pretty cool device, especially for me since I dont use iTunes as I mentioned nor will I ever use it (tried it, hated it).
Will post more when I get it in my hands in about 2 weeks.
pink