Creative Zen or iPod

[DavesPPC]

I have been thinking about buying a Creative Zen, and was hoping to get some input.
I owned a iPod Nano, as well as the 30GB Video iPod, and didn't much care for either of them.
I've heard some good things about the Zen, and was hoping to find someone here that owns one and can offer some "good and bad" thoughts regarding theirs before I spend the $cash$....

Anyone?

[imported_jaxim]

I'd personally wait a few months after the iPhone comes out. Hopefully Apple will come out with a video iPod will all of the features of the ihone sans the phone feature.

[ralarosa]

I have a Zen V Plus. Great size and functionality.

[BoxWave]

What about a Zune?

Chris-
BoxWave Accessories

[Jogga]

I bought the Zen V a couple of weeks ago - my only mistake? Buying a 4GB machine rather than going the full distance. Initial impression is very favourable, I like the form-factor and the controls are straightforward and robust. The only operating problems have been user error and I recommend that you keep a pin handy for resetting the device (particularly in the early days).

The Pros:

• Excellent form-factor
• Good battery life (up to eight hours)
• Robust controls
• Easy menu layout (once you're used to it)
• Sound reproduction is awesome (the important bit)

The Cons:

• Screen is rubish in daylight (and I mean rubbish)
• I was disappointed that you only get a USB charge cable (I went straight out and bought the mains charging cable)
• I find the bundled earphones uncomfortable with prolonged use (anything over 90 mins and I've had enough)

My only real advice is to make sure that the device you buy is suitable in terms of size - there's no doubt that the Zen is as good (I think much better) than the iPOD (my daughter has the Nano), but I really didn't think that I would struggle with 4GB! Having said that, 4GB is 987 tracks and synchronising new stuff is easy.

[ralarosa]

4 GB is plenty for me (for now). I know an 8 GB Zen V Plus is out now. Jogga - I recently purchased the Bose In-ear headphones. Probably the most comfortable and best sounding pair I have ever had.

[jadesse]

The Zen's are great. Screw the ipod & the iphone.

[BoxWave]

Do they plan to release a new ipod? Or are they going stop?

Chris-
BoxWave Accessories

[gasusan2005]

my zune

Susan

[Jogga]

4 GB is plenty for me (for now). I know an 8 GB Zen V Plus is out now. Jogga - I recently purchased the Bose In-ear headphones. Probably the most comfortable and best sounding pair I have ever had.

Thanks friend, I'll Google Although Mrs Jogga is likely to be a little miffed if I spend any more money on technology (new DELL on its way , new Zen already here).

[gasusan2005]

Dave,
Your original post was the end of October (I just realized this )

What did you get?

Susan

[imported_pr5owner]

the Meizu M6 Slaughters any ipod nano for 1/3rd price

my 8GB M6 can play videos in xvid, ogg, flac, FM tuner, voice recording, FM recording, etc, etc

[fuzzypenguin]

I have a Zen Vision:M--upgraded from a Dell DJ20 which was absolutely hateful. The DJ20 almost turned me off to MP3 players altogether until a number of years later I researched and researched and found that the Zen had about 97 dB of signal-to-noise ratio (the noise is about as low as the quietest level a CD can produce). I've been really happy with the device.

I use my Zen with the following:

Ultra Ears Super.fi 5 Pro in-ear monitors
Sennheiser HD650 headphones
HeadRoom Desktop Portable amplifier with DAC

The biggest drawback right now is that I get better sound out of the line out port, but I have to attach the small docking connector to the Zen in order to achieve that. My Zen is in a DLO neoprene case and I have to undo the velcro flap to attach the dongle, which lets the Zen almost slide out on occasion (luckily, it all fits in a Travel Bag that houses the amplifier and 4-D battery pack, etc.).

A second drawback is when I bought mine, Creative stopped including chargers and I had to buy a separate charger if I didn't want to use USB.

All in all, though, the Zen is a terrific unit. Almost wonderful. Even using the headphone output with the Super.fi 5 Pro earphones is very rewarding, but using the line output through the HeadRoom amp and the HD650s is inspired.

Finally, the Zen Vision:M only supports MP3, WMA, and WAV audio files--the only lossless format is WAV and that format doesn't allow tagging and is pretty useless (besides being a memory hog). It would be great if it supported at least WMA Lossless, and I haven't checked Creative's website lately to see if there's a firmware update that will allow it to do that (I doubt it).

The only experience I had with an iPod is during this past semester at the university. I did the electrical engineering work for a bicycle powered iPod charger and my teammates had iPods that we tested the charger with. From Apple's website, it looks like the 5G iPod Video has a 400 mAH battery, so charging from a 100 mA low-powered USB port is fine. HOWEVER, the Zen requires proper USB enumeration when trying to power it from the USB port and will not draw the full 500 mA unless configured. I suspect, due to the larger size of the Zen, that it uses a substantially larger capacity battery (and therefore uses more current when operating for the same runtime). Given that the iPod has such a low-capacity battery, I tend to question just how robust its output amplifiers are. I didn't listen to the iPod on my high-end rig so I can't comment on its sound as compared to the Zen.

Have fun,
Scott

[Graham2456]

I have a Zen 30 gig Vision M. I am very pleased with it but I doubt I will ever fill it. It has an FM radio which rhe iPod doesn't and I find it can be handy at times.
The only thing I have noticed is that there are far more iPod accessories available.