Jason Dunn
02-02-2006, 01:00 AM
<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,1915886,00.asp?kc=PCRSS02129TX1K0000530' target='_blank'>http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,1915886,00.asp?kc=PCRSS02129TX1K0000530</a><br /><br /></div><i>"Portable media players (PMPs) are still coming of age, and it isn't yet clear where the sweet spot is in terms of size and video quality. But Creative is definitely covering its bases, between its Zen Vision—a full-fledged PMP with a gorgeous 3.7-inch screen—and now the new Zen Vision:M ($329 direct), an iPod-size (yeah, we said it, so what?) 30GB player that plays music, photos, and video. Is this the iPod-killer the world has (or hasn't) been waiting for? Not quite. Apple still wins out hands-down for hardware/software integration. Still, in terms of just the hardware, the Zen Vision:M comes closer to taking a bite out of Apple than anything else out there."</i><br /><br /><img src="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/zen-vision-m-small-jason.jpg" /><br /><br />Stop the presses: Michael Kobrin over at PC World has managed to write a review that actually impressed me with it's level of detail! Generally I find many of reviews at PC Magazine to be lacking in detail, but this one was great. I don't agree with all of his conclusions - he doesn't mention the easily scratched screen, and seems to have had much better luck with video transcoding than I did - but I concur with his overall conclusion that this is a fantastic overall device and very worthy of competing with the iPod. Worth the read! Meanwhile, I'm still collecting information for my review - like whether or not the PIM sync works with Exchange (it doesn't seem to).