I recently, after 4 years of abstaining went and bought a shiny new iPod Video 30GB. I have to say honestly that I have been very happy with it and it has slowly started to sway me towards Apple based purely on their impecable design, UI and ease of use.
One thing the iPod does lack in though is actual features which is where the new Creative Zen Vision:M.
Looks like Creative figured, if you can’t join them, beat them. If you don’t know what I mean by that, look at the Vision:M and an iPod side by side. Looks aside and it does look good in my opinion, this has all the features the iPod Video doesn’t have including:
- Built in FM tuner – iPod now supports this using an external remote for $50 extra
- Voice recorder – never really used this and can’t figure out who would but it’s there
- Supports WMA, MP3, other popular sound codecs including those with Digital Rights Management so it can be used with Napster and other services
- Supports DivX, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, WMV video codecs – iPod doesn’t currently support DivX or WMV
- Similar size and shape to iPod – thicker and heavier but otherwise not much bigger
- VGA screen – supposed to put the iPod videos screen to shame
So at the end of the day, I feel Apple has finally got some competition although it’s going to take more than this one player to eat into Apple’s 75% market share but it’s a start.
The Zen Vision:M is supposed to retail for $330 or so for 30G, about $30 more than a similar iPod Video.
I’m all for competition, it can only help the consumers – us. For now I’m happy with my iPod Video but the new Vision:M is definitely the one to watch.
Look familiar? 
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#1 by Daniel Piron on January 23rd, 2006
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Apple certainly has cornered the market on overall sexiness. You can see that even Sony has been affected with the design considerations that shaped the PSP into what it is. It’s kind of funny, this super clean shiney look is consistent with what we thought everything would look like in the YEAR 2000.