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Creative Zen Vision W 60 GB Widescreen Multimedia Player (Black)
By: Creative Labs Average Rating: 4.0 Total Reviews: 98
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 On: 2008-07-13
I love this player. But break it and you are SOL. Creative no longer makes this, and that means your warranty is meaningless. I had one for under a year, and the headphone jack stopped working properly. So I sent in the to get it fixed. That took some time, figuring out the website to send it in. And dealing with the Creative people, OMG. I am still in the middle of trying to get some sort of satisfaction from them. They wont fix/replace it with what I bought, but they offered me two Vision M 30 GB. I refused, I do not like the M at all. If you have the player, already, great I loved it, the best player I found, but pricey. I kept a 5 rating for the player itself,(when working) and I give the Creative customer support the lowest rating. If you sell a product, with a warranty, back it up....fix it or replace it with a equal product, not something much, much less in quality. (MY OPINION)
On: 2008-05-31
Creative Zen Vision W 60 GB Widescreen Multimedia Player (Black)I recieved this for my birthday almost 1 year ago. After sending the first one back, it locked up. I recieved a new one right away. The Zen Vision W is used 3 to 4 times a week, mostly watching movies. It works great, easy to use software, easy to load or delete. The picture is very good, much better than Ipod, which some other people have. I take care of it , but it is in a rough environment (work) and I havent had any problems. Just ordered a heavy duty leather case, and JBL speakers. When we have standby time on the job, people like to share the videos.
 On: 2008-05-30
Well first off although I love it becuase its compatible with Napster (cant say enough about Napster)! It was a little buggy and hard to manage sometimes, but once I got the music on I was happy. Beautiful screeen, easy navigation.
Then I dropped it and it broke. I dropped it pretty hard, I have to admit, so I wouldnt necessarily be giving it a 1 star for breaking under those circumstances. Whats really annoying is that the price has nearly doubled since I purchased it. Dont these people know that items like this tend to decrease in price? Why would it double - and now its not even remotely competitive with comperable players.
When I paid nearly $400 for it, I would have said it was a good player if buggy, but also its bigger and more difficult to carry which was why it wasnt in my pocket and I dropped it to begin with. But irregardless, being compatible with Napster made that high price worth it.
At this price, dont even consider it!!! I cant emphasize that enough!!!
On: 2008-04-11
I downloaded my movie to the Zen: W and when I played it the rendering of any fast movement was more annoying. Watching this felt like the effect of being in a haunted house with a stroblight wacking out your eyes ability to comprhend whats really going on. One of the earlier review shyly mentioned this, but to me was a big no no. To be fair Im used to Zens: M, though smaller doesnt have a big of an issue with movement and brighter, richer colors.
 On: 2008-03-19
I bought the Creative ZEN 60GB two years ago. I did a lot of research before making my choice. Back then, it offered the most for the price compared to other similar players on the market. I bought it on Dell.ca for 350$ with free shipping.
I can only give it 3.5 now because there are other products out that offer a similar or better package for about the same price.
Pros:
- Wide glossy screen
- Various options such as address book, equalizer, random play, FM radio....
- Easy to set up and navigate through.
- The software is not necessary to transfer content.
- Software is easy to use and understand.
- Large storage space.
- Reads and plays different file types.
- Great for long car rides or waiting periods. Watching movies makes time go faster when waiting at the hospital.
- AC adapter as well as USB available to charge the player.
- Reads many types of memory cards. (this is great for example when you are on vacation and you want to dump all of your pictures from your card onto it).
- Fast file transfer (except for some exceptions when using the software)
Cons:
- Player freezes once in a while and have to reset it by removing the battery.Then have to wait for it to build the library again.
- Battery life could be better
- Battery symbol is always full until low battery message shows up and the player dies. Basically, you never know at what level the battery is.
- No Blue Tooth or other wireless option integrated.
- Accessories are hard to find and are expensive.
- The integrated speaker is useless for music and movies.
- No embedded games or options to download games.
- weight
- bulky (especially at the gym)
I am pretty much satisfied with my player in general. I would have probably been a bit more disappointed if I had bought it for more than 400$.
On: 2008-02-26
Until you try a player like the Zen Vision W, you dont really realize how much of a garbage product the Ipod is. OMG! The only thing that the iPod has going for it is design and size, thats it!
About the Zen - I discovered on my own that you dont need Windows Media Player, Winamp or the included software to sort out your music. You open it as a hard drive, all your folders are listed in there, just drop your MP3s in there and start listening. Theres no renaming like in the Ipod, no moving, scrambling, no third party software, nothing. It is a portable hard drive, so you use it as one. No, I tunes, no account set up, no restrictions on how many computers you can hook up your device to, full freedom to use it as you please. You take out and you ad music when you want and share it with whoever you want. As simple as it gets. Video? Awesome. Had some movies on my hard drive sitting around, just opened the movie folder in the Vision W and pasted them in there, all play perfect. Didnt have to resize, compress, nothing. Everything about this player is well though out. You can tell that they put some effort into it to make it easy to use. The battery? Detachable! When it wears out, you take it out and put a new one in. No need to send it in to Apple to have them open your device to change it for you and charge you an arm and a leg for it. Another thing about the battery is that it lasts. I charged it last night, started using it this morning at 7:30Am It is 2 pm right now and the battery is full!!! If this was an Ipod, itd be at 50% if that. It has a speaker so you dont HAVE to have earphones to listen to it, it has radio as well. You have a Digital SLR camera with a CF card? Use it to back up your pictures with the CF slot built into the Vision W. What more can I say. It is large compared to the iPod, yes but so is the screen. I just cant believe I ever purchased an iPod when there are devices available out there that make so much more sense. Never an Apple product AGAIN!
On: 2008-02-01
Ive had this product for a year now and I have to say I am extremely satisfied. It performed all the features flawlessly and then some. I even dropped this player couple of time but had no malfunction or problem. This is even better than iPod when it comes to ease of use and features. Im glad I chose this instead of iCrap. The best feature about this product is when I get tired of looking at small screen I could hook it up to TV & watch how cool is that. Hopefully creative will come up with thinner version of this in future. Creative Zen Vision W 60 GB Widescreen Multimedia Player (Black)
 On: 2007-12-05
When I purchased my zen over a year ago I thought it was the greatest thing out there. It had so much potential and the abilities is had were up there with the best.... and then Creative pretty much abandoned the product. There hasnt been a firmware upgrade in over a year, all the accessories that were supposed to come out never did. (No Docking station, no case, etc.) The problems with the interface that were promised to be fixed werent and the product has just slowly become obsolete.
I would look at some of the other players out there before purchasing this player and at least look to a product that is being supported and not just being sold.
On: 2007-11-18
I have used this player for 6 months now, mainly for commuting on the bus but Ive also used it to output to a TV and also on flights. Its a pretty player, and fits my needs perfectly. I mostly use it to watch videos, but also listen to podcasts. The video playback is great, I have no complaints about the picture. I cant speak to the FM tuner or picture gallery because I dont use those.
Pros:
-Big hard drive, I havent had any space issues, I got the 60 GB version
-Plays a large number of formats flawlessly
-Intuitive user interface, I never read the directions and havent had any problems.
-Output to TV works very well
-Good battery life
Cons:
-Kinda heavy, doesnt bother wme but my wife cant/wont hold it up for very long
-Cant bookmark video, it keeps the place of the last video you watched, but can be annoying if you watch many videos not in succession. You can bookmark audio though.
-No remote
-Software cant convert all formats, and doesnt provide helpful error messages
All in all, Id definitely recomend it if you dont mind the heavier unit. Fits well in my shirt pockets while walking to/from the bus stop. Pick up an extra battery for long flights, I get around 5 hours of video playback if I turn the lock on while watching.
On: 2007-11-17
I have used this player for 6 months now, mainly for commuting on the bus but Ive also used it to output to a TV and also on flights. Its a pretty player, and fits my needs perfectly. I mostly use it to watch videos, but also listen to podcasts. The video playback is great, I have no complaints about the picture. I cant speak to the FM tuner or picture gallery because I dont use those.
Pros:
-Big hard drive, I havent had any space issues, I got the 60 GB version
-Plays a large number of formats flawlessly
-Intuitive user interface, I never read the directions and havent had any problems.
-Output to TV works very well
-Good battery life
Cons:
-Kinda heavy, doesnt bother wme but my wife cant/wont hold it up for very long
-Cant bookmark video, it keeps the place of the last video you watched, but can be annoying if you watch many videos not in succession. You can bookmark audio though.
-No remote
-Software cant convert all formats, and doesnt provide helpful error messages
All in all, Id definitely recomend it if you dont mind the heavier unit. Fits well in my shirt pockets while walking to/from the bus stop. Pick up an extra battery for long flights, I get around 5 hours of video playback if I turn the lock on while watching.
On: 2007-10-20
I wanted a video player, ipod video, no. I needed something bigger so i went with the W. I LOVE IT! Best $350 ive spent. I bought the wall/car charger and now i never run out of power. I cant wait for the future to bring me wifi/bluetooth/touchscreen/bigger hard drive space/ and slimming down of the product. I recommend this to anyone that wants a bigger screen to watch widescreen movies on.
Great product!
On: 2007-10-18
this product turned out to be better than I expected. I took the deal with audible and had to pay ~260 for the player. Display is great, tools to convert video formats are provided with the player, enoromous disk space... I would highly recommend the product.
The only reason I gave it a 4-star is the interface is not as cool as iPod and it doesnt have any other features like wireless internet etc....
On: 2007-10-17
I use this player for my Jazzercise class. It sits on a table, connected to a PA system. I bought it, because my Nomad was stolen.
There are virtually no instructions with this player on how to use the software. If youve used Creative Mediasource Organizer before, you will have come to appreciate the ease of just dragging and dropping songs from your library to your player and/or into playlists. The new version of CMO that comes with this player wont let you do that. You have to slowly transfer everything. It didnt work for me until I contacted customer support several times. The program response is annoyingly slow, and it freezes up a lot. My computer is not the problem, since all other programs run fine. All in all I would say that once you know how to use the software this player works fine. I like that it has a speaker and the sound is very good. My daughter enjoys watching movies on it, which has been a life saver a few times already. Dont expect convenience and ease as with a Nomad, though. If it had that, this would be the most awesome MP3 player around. Maybe it is anyway, but the software to run it lacks, and thats why it only got 4 stars.
On: 2007-10-12
sure this product is great for storing tons of music files plus photos and even a few video files and when it is working it really works well. However, this product is not everyday life friendly. I droped this thing once and the screen broke which of course it to be expected (that can be fixed) but the short fall also totally killed the hard drive and now I have 400 bucks worth of junk. My next thought was well I have a 1 year warranty so lets contact creative. Not so easy, it took me quite some to to find a number for customer service and when I did they basically told me that my 1 year warranty was worth as much as my 400 dollar piece of junk. I would have to pay another 266 bucks to get a referbished one. My opinion would be to consider all other models before settling with this one. and if you are a busy mom, dad or normal human being this product is not for you it does not hold up to ware and tear. I have had several other mp3 players that have gone through a lot worse and are still ticking.
On: 2007-09-28
I bought this Zen to carry my entire music library so I wouldnt have to decide what to put on a smaller mp3 player. It also has every photo Ive ever taken and the hard drive is only half full. Of course, I cant put the video library on there. That would take terabytes. Its nice to be able to show photos to the grandparents and they can pick and choose what to copy onto their computer. The compact flash slot is great for dumping camera cards when they are full, and the screen is big enough to actually see which photos are worth keeping and which to delete. I also bought the CF adaptor to plug in the XD cards from my Fuji camera. Works great. The FM radio was also a deciding factor in this purchase, although 32 presets is overkill. I havent tried syncing the organizer with Outlook yet.
 On: 2007-09-27
I loved using this product, especially the fact that I can plug this into the TV and watch movies, listen to music, and view photos. I just hate the fact that not all video files are acceptable and need to be converted.
AVI files are said to be supported, but I had to convert most of my AVI files via Creative Zen converter. It took me at least 8hrs per file because I wanted the files converted to the best possible quality. Thats about 3 files a day! After a week and a half of conversion, I had 15 gigs of space left.
So WARNING to all you people who are looking at multimedia players, if you dont mind waiting for your files to be converted, this is a Great media Player.
Battery life is good, video quality is great, and its definately portable and could be plugged into TV whereever you want to take your media.
On: 2007-09-09
I really like this mp3 player, but anytime it gets jostled at all, it resets itself.
On: 2007-09-05
Great digital media player, particularly if you connect it with your home entertainment center. The big hard-drive makes it possible to keep all your music and picture on this device. Also love the screen: high quality. If you are like me, who hates anything proprietary, like Apples family of media players, i.e., the iPod, then Zen is a great alternative.
Some shortcomings:
1) Once you connect to A/V out, the screen blanks out. This means you have to connect this to a TV/Monitor, to navigate the menu. If you only want to connect to your stereo, you can only use the headphone jack. The output from this jack noticeably produce an inferior sound, probably because the headphone jack is subject to the volume control--I am not an electronics expert, so I dont know if this is the cause. But it seems that this problem can easily be resolved if the screen stays on when you connect through A/V output.
2) Infra-red remote does not work on power on when the player has been turned off for overnight. This seems silly, as you wouldnt expect to have to walk over to push the power button on your TV the next day, so why shouldnt I be able to turn on the Zen using the remote control.
3) The video format support is very limitted. It does not support the latest DivX format. I e-mailed Zen. They have no plan to release a firmware to support DivX 6.0. Also, even a lot of windows media video files have to go through lengthy conversion (longer than the video itself) before they can be synced to the player.
On: 2007-08-22
Ive had this player for about a month, and am really enjoying it. I was in a store recently looking at other brands, and after seeing the tiny screens on other brands, I was so glad Id splurged & bought the widescreen Creative--players with smaller screens look puny in comparison. Yes, its expensive & bigger in size, but it is still very portable. My previous MP3 players have all been Creative brand, and Im also very happy with this one. Software is easy to use and Ive easily transferred my music files onto it. Its also easy to transfer home videos taken with a digital camera onto the player, since the player accepts many formats. My only suggestion for improvement would be bigger selection buttons on the player, nevertheless I prefer the buttons to the hypersensitive touch pad on Creatives previous MP3 player. Battery life is great, but Im still keeping my old Creative MP3 player for playing music (it has a very long battery life for music). Im using this one just to play video. Please be aware that you may need some sort of video conversion software if your home movies arent in a format the player accepts.
On: 2007-08-20
Ive had the player for 6 weeks now and primarily use it for watching films while on the road. The picture quality of films and pictures is brilliant, though blacks do merge and become a little blocky. Audio quality via the built in speaker is good and via headphones is second to none, theres even a equaliser you can use with lots of presets. Navigation of the players functions is simple. I have been using AoA DVD Ripper to convert DVDs to avi format as this requires no further conversion for the players standard formats. The PC software is simple to use and transfer time of a 2 hour film is a matter of seconds. Battery life is excellent and charging time from the mains is quick though via USB does take longer. I currently have 68 films on the hard drive and Ive still got 30 Gb left! The player can also be used to synchronise organiser data and used as a hard drive for file storage if you really want to.
If you travel a lot or have kids this is definately the player to buy as you can keep an entire film and CD collection on it.
On: 2007-08-20
Well what can I say. Recieved what I thought was a cool player for my media files of over 100 titles. Let start at the begining....|
Opening the box was all exciting but it quickly went down hill form there. Plugged in the ac adaptor and plugged into the Zen unit and hey the thing powered up saying charging. I went to install the software and that went ok. Connecteted the unit to the PC and hey it didnt want to be recognised. I tried a reeboot of four times to get this thing to recognise with Windows XP Pro SP2.
Once I got it working after much frustration I tried to copy some media files such as MP3`s and Video files encoded in WMV format. The unit does not like generic mp3`s and certainly is not compliant with the standard WMV windows media video format.
To cut to the long and short of it you have to rencode with Creatives own software to get your media files to work in Creatives own native wmv and mp3 format. This is a long winded process if you already have a huge collection of material you wnat to use.
DONT BNUY THIS PLAYER ITS NOT AS ALL SEEMS ON THE BOX AND CERTAINLY HAS NOT GOT THE RANGE OF MEDIA FILE ACCESS AS IT SAYS IT HAS..
VERY VERY DISAPOINTED SO SENDING IT BACK SMAE DAY I GOT IT....
\\
On: 2007-08-15
I sold two iPods - a 30GB and an 80GB - and used the cash to buy the Zen Vision W. I just got it yesterday and I am glad I finally broke loose of the Apple/iTunes monopoly.
Main reasons to sell your iPod and buy a Vision W instead?
1. iTunes/iPod is a CLOSED system - you can only buy music from iTunes, not from any other subscription service. The Vision W allows you to use any of the PlaysForSure music services. My favorites are Napster and Yahoo Music.
2. iTunes does not have a "To Go" option where you can pay a single monthly fee and download unlimited entire albums. Napster and Yahoo Music have amazing services that allow this.
3. The Visions screen is almost twice as big as the iPod, and MUCH higher quality. If you are really into watching movies, PLEASE get the Vision or you will be disappointed with iPod video.
4. The Vision has Outlook sync for your contacts, tasks, and calendar!
5. The Vision has alarms that are actually useful, since there is an external speaker!
6. The external speaker is very nice to have so you arent always tied to headphones.
7. I am personally tired of spinning my finger around and around on the iPod wheel. The Visions buttons are more natural to me. The iPod wheel is oversensitive sometimes and it can be hard to select what you want.
8. CF cards! You can plug in CF cards to carry around more stuff, or to help load your photos or music onto the player! The iPod has no card slots at all.
9. You can connect the Vision to a TV and view your stuff on the big screen.
10. Removable battery! If you need to, you can swap batteries and never run out of power while you are on the go. The iPod has no removable battery.
11. You can allocate up to 32GB of your players hard drive as a removable disk, so its basically acting as a portable hard drive and backup system!
Well, that is all I have so far, and its only my second day with the Vision. I would definitely recommend it for anyone instead of an iPod UNLESS you prefer a smaller player and dont really care about quality as much, or if you never watch videos.
On: 2007-08-01
I had never used an mp3 player before this. I got the 60W because I was going on a trip with my camera, and didnt want to buy ten 1GB cards for it. This item performed admirably. At the end of every day Id transfer the pictures and clear my card. And then I could get a better look at the pics (except the RAW ones), either on the nice big display screen or a TV. The screen is bright and clear, visible in daylight. Two people can easily watch the screen without the viewing angle problem.
Currently, Ive got 1600 songs and 1400 photos on it. 60 gig (or is it 40 usable?) is an awful lot of space. But then I havent tried any video on it. Then menus are easy to use, though I havent done much with the music controls. I just put it on shuffle. I carry little plug-in computer speakers for hotel rooms, and earphones for airplanes or wherever. I havent had any trouble with battery life. I just bought a new camera, which uses an SD card, so I need to find out if theres some kind of adapter.
I wanted to create a slideshow with pictures from my trip. Its great that I can take a slideshow wherever I go, and show people - even better if they own a TV! The problem is that creating the slideshow is a horrible ordeal. Its drag-and-drop on my computer, and each drag took about a 45 seconds! The more pictures in your show, the longer it takes. I was doing a show of about 100 pictures, so not only did each drag take longer, but I had more of them to do. It took me over two hours. This problem alone sucked one star out of my rating. I dont know if a music playlist suffers from the same problem. Another negative is that the colors dont show on TVs very well. The oranges are way too bright.
Overall, Im very happy with this product.
by: ncc1205 On: 2007-07-12
Forty-eight hours after purchasing Creatives Zen Vision W, Im convinced this modestly sized personal media device suffers from the too-much-too-soon syndrome associated to most personal media devices available on the market today. Personally, the only Zen product Ive owned that Ive been completed satisfied (and almost trouble-free with) has been the Zen Nomad, one of Creatives earliest MP3 players but limited only to music files. However, based on my tremendous happiness with the device, I bought my wife a 4GB Zen player which seizes up almost every time you turn the thing on; the replacement -- provided directly from Creative -- did the same, and the second replacement does much of the same. The Zen Vision W suffers from the same ill-conceived software platform (Creative MediaSource) which is painfully slow in transferring even the smallest music files, while the Zen Vision W Media Explorer seemingly is only intent upon seizing up either the player OR the PC ... whichever comes first. Warning messages come in handy; however, these same messages place you in an endless series of loops wherein the software is telling you that your device is currently busy and asks for you to switch to ANOTHER software (an action that makes no sense) while (yet again) seizing up the player. The only way to seemingly reset the player is to disconnect the battery once the device has been effectively seized, and, each time, theres a modest delay in start-up allowing for the device to rebuild the portable library.
My experience with Creative has been terrible. My first two email submissions went unanswered, and, unfortunately, the only way to get a live person is to essentially not have a job during the normal business hours as their "customer focus call center" only answers telephones between 9 am and 6 pm, which must be Eastern time b/c my call at 4:45 pm (Pacific time) only met with a voice message saying that the facility was now closed. When I did finally speak with a technical representative, I was informed that the software drivers were outdated (that the package showed a packaging date of just over 30 days ago), and he suggested that I log on to the Creative website for the necessary upgrades ... all of which have only now seized up the Zen Vision with greater frequency.
Essentially, I wanted a handheld player for hauling around videos. I and my wife travel frequently for business, and Ive yet to be completely satisfied with either laptop computers or portable DVD players, so the Zen Vision seemed like a dream come true: acceptable screen size with Creatives industry reputation for great sound. The single movie Ive been able to "convert" to WMA format AND successfully load to the Zen Vision does look great, though Im none too thrilled with the nine hours and seven steps required to get the movie into a loadable format ONLY to find that it still wont load onto the player for reasons that even the technical service representative couldnt understand. Im all in favor of seven steps when it comes to recovery from addiction, NOT in converting video to a format that even the Zen Vision doesnt seem to like.
In conclusion, I purchased this device off the glowing reviews of others here, no doubt good souls who have either have much better luck with portable media devices (though I own five for varying reasons associated to my work-life, Ive never experienced this level of frustration with any of them) OR a regular paycheck from the kind folks at Creative.
by: ncc1205 On: 2007-07-11
Forty-eight hours after purchasing Creatives Zen Vision W, Im convinced this modestly sized personal media device suffers from the too-much-too-soon syndrome associated to most personal media devices available on the market today. Personally, the only Zen product Ive owned that Ive been completed satisfied (and almost trouble-free with) has been the Zen Nomad, one of Creatives earliest MP3 players but limited only to music files. However, based on my tremendous happiness with the device, I bought my wife a 4GB Zen player which seizes up almost every time you turn the thing on; the replacement -- provided directly from Creative -- did the same, and the second replacement does much of the same. The Zen Vision W suffers from the same ill-conceived software platform (Creative MediaSource) which is painfully slow in transferring even the smallest music files, while the Zen Vision W Media Explorer seemingly is only intent upon seizing up either the player OR the PC ... whichever comes first. Warning messages come in handy; however, these same messages place you in an endless series of loops wherein the software is telling you that your device is currently busy and asks for you to switch to ANOTHER software (an action that makes no sense) while (yet again) seizing up the player. The only way to seemingly reset the player is to disconnect the battery once the device has been effectively seized, and, each time, theres a modest delay in start-up allowing for the device to rebuild the portable library.
My experience with Creative has been terrible. My first two email submissions went unanswered, and, unfortunately, the only way to get a live person is to essentially not have a job during the normal business hours as their "customer focus call center" only answers telephones between 9 am and 6 pm, which must be Eastern time b/c my call at 4:45 pm (Pacific time) only met with a voice message saying that the facility was now closed. When I did finally speak with a technical representative, I was informed that the software drivers were outdated (that the package showed a packaging date of just over 30 days ago), and he suggested that I log on to the Creative website for the necessary upgrades ... all of which have only now seized up the Zen Vision with greater frequency.
Essentially, I wanted a handheld player for hauling around videos. I and my wife travel frequently for business, and Ive yet to be completely satisfied with either laptop computers or portable DVD players, so the Zen Vision seemed like a dream come true: acceptable screen size with Creatives industry reputation for great sound. The single movie Ive been able to "convert" to WMA format AND successfully load to the Zen Vision does look great, though Im none too thrilled with the nine hours and seven steps required to get the movie into a loadable format ONLY to find that it still wont load onto the player for reasons that even the technical service representative couldnt understand. Im all in favor of seven steps when it comes to recovery from addiction, NOT in converting video to a format that even the Zen Vision doesnt seem to like.
In conclusion, I purchased this device off the glowing reviews of others here, no doubt good souls who have either have much better luck with portable media devices (though I own five for varying reasons associated to my work-life, Ive never experienced this level of frustration with any of them) OR a regular paycheck from the kind folks at Creative.
On: 2007-06-20
I bought this device so I could leave my laptop at home during trips. The built in CF card reader was the main selling point for me and it was a lot cheaper than the Epson P-5000. The downside compared to the Epson was the inability to see RAW files imported from a CF card. It will allow you to import them, but there is no sign of them on the drive unless you hook it up to a computer. I usually shoot in large JPEGs when I am on trips, but it would be nice to have RAW. When I do want RAW, I have chosen to shoot in RAW+Jpeg to at least feel secure that I have something when I get home.
The music playing ability is another thing I like about it. It supports "Playforsure" tracks, so I have a choice of 2 million+ songs (via Yahoo Music Unlimited to Go) to load on it at any given time. It will also play my mp3s without a problem. My main problem with the music feature is the lack of support for any compressed lossless formats. I would love to see FLAC or WMA Lossless added in the future. With 60GBs of space, there is enough room for more than a few FlAC files.
The video is a great feature, too. Using the Zen software, it will actually convert unsupported formats to a format that it can read. I have not had any stuttering with video that was mentioned by another reviewer, so their problem may have something to do with encoding.
Photos load a little slower than I would like. This is not a huge problem, but it takes time for it to read each thumbnail in the folder. It is very slow compared to the Epson that I mentioned above. I do like the fact that you can play music while looking at photos. This makes the wait a little less painful!
The size is actually not too bad. I think a slimmer version may be coming out that would get rid of some of the thickness. However, it is shorter than a Sony PSP and thinner than the Epson (80GB) player.
On: 2007-06-07
After doing much research, I finally decided to purchase the Zen Vision W 60 GB and I must say that it has been very disappointing and frustrating. I have 17 GB of music on it and cant listen to it unless it is sitting still. Whenever the headphone jack is moved slightly, it shuts off and when I turn it back on it has to rebuild. It did this intermittently when I first got it, but now it does it more and more. The rebuild takes a few minutes. I just went outside to do some lawn work and tried to use it over and over again. Listen to a few notes of music, try to put it in my back pocket and off it goes - have to rebuild. Set it down, let it rebuild while I do more lawn work, go back and try it again and the same thing happens. The only reason it did not get one star is the screen is nice for pics and when it works, it is easy to use, but it is just rare for it to work for me.
As much as I hate to say it, I might have to get an ipod.
On: 2007-06-02
I have been using this device for the last 4 months and I love it. My wife has the ipod and it is very easy for me to compare both of those players.
These are few things that make this device stand up:
1- perfect screen size.
2- build in speaker. (ipod does not have speaker)
3. AV connection: I can connect this device to my tv and watch my downlaoded movies. the cable came with the player. (for ipod you need to buy an exta device to be able to do that)
4. very easy to use software. (way easier than itune)
5- great sound quality.
6- bluid in fm and voice recorder.
7- support wild range of video and music files (comparing to ipod)
8- 60 gb is great if you are planing to store all your media files including movies and photos
Please note: this not the kind of mp3 player that u can take to the gym and for sure u dont need it if you are just planing to use it to listen to music.
On: 2007-05-26
The 4" wide screen is clear and 100% pure color. Radio reception is sweet. Music downloads are a breeze and the sound is perfect. The built in microphone records crisp and clear. The photo album display is pixel perfect. As is the usual practice with any pricey toy it is accompanied with the standard cheesy head set and a so-so product info manual. Battery life is nothing to write home about but not bad if you are like me and are in a routine of recharging your toys at the end of the day. Definite accessories are the Zen Vision 5-in-1 flash card adapter and the Zen W60 skin. All in all, a lot of bang for the buck (AS IT SHOULD BE FOR THE PRICE)and it is without a doubt, the best system out there. For now.
On: 2007-05-20
It may not be perfect, but its a whole bunch more than I expected. I gave an Ipod away a couple years ago because I had to get all squinty-eyed to see the tiny stuff on its screen, and that wheel with a button in it started off as my enemy and got worse as time went by. The folks at Creative Zen have done a much better job with their display and controls.
The directions are pretty skimpy, but after fiddling around with it for a bit I got the hang of it. Being able to read the words on the menu helps a whole lot. The controls are easy to manipulate.
My motives for buying it were to have something that would serve as another backup for my pictures, and a means of showing them either away from, or without the computer. I also wanted to store my collection of over a hundred complete operas (some over 4 hours) so I could make room by storing all those CDs in a closet. And, since I am addicted to audible books, and since Audible would give me a certificate for a hundred bucks to apply to the machine, what the heck?
So far I have loaded a bit over a thousand pictures into six albums. The pictures are easy to find with the systems navigation devices. Some editing of pictures can be done with the device, but I choose to do that before loading it into the Zen machine. Havent tried viewing them on my TV, but on the Zens screen they look bright, sharp and clear.
It only takes a few minutes to load a complete CD into the machine. The structure for denoting albums is easy to use. For instance, Wagners Der Meistersinger is on 4 CDs, and without any effort on my part the albums Der Meistersinger 1, 2, 3 and four end up on the menu clearly labled and in proper order. The sound using earphones is very good. There is, however an occasional faint click which is apparently made when the machine changes a track, or something like that. I can live with that.
Havent tried downloading an audible book to it yet, but am confident that it will work fine.
So far, have completely "ripped" all that is on 24 CDs and loaded over a thousand pictures. When I started doing this the machine had 55 Gb of usable memory space, and now it is all the way down to 54 Gb. Somehow I dont reckon I will be running short of space.
I followed the directions and charged the units battery before using it. Four hours seemed to be all that it needed, but I let it go on charging overnight. With all this fooling around, downloading, viewing and listening the machines battery indicator still looks like it did when it had a full charge. Of course, it does get charged some when hooked to the computer, but even with that, the battery life seems to be very good.
On: 2007-05-19
It may not be perfect, but its a whole bunch more than I expected. I gave an Ipod away a couple years ago because I had to get all squinty-eyed to see the tiny stuff on its screen, and that wheel with a button in it started off as my enemy and got worse as time went by. The folks at Creative Zen have done a much better job with their display and controls.
The directions are pretty skimpy, but after fiddling around with it for a bit I got the hang of it. Being able to read the words on the menu helps a whole lot. The controls are easy to manipulate.
My motives for buying it were to have something that would serve as another backup for my pictures, and a means of showing them either away from, or without the computer. I also wanted to store my collection of over a hundred complete operas (some over 4 hours) so I could make room by storing all those CDs in a closet. And, since I am addicted to audible books, and since Audible would give me a certificate for a hundred bucks to apply to the machine, what the heck?
So far I have loaded a bit over a thousand pictures into six albums. The pictures are easy to find with the systems navigation devices. Some editing of pictures can be done with the device, but I choose to do that before loading it into the Zen machine. Havent tried viewing them on my TV, but on the Zens screen they look bright, sharp and clear.
It only takes a few minutes to load a complete CD into the machine. The structure for denoting albums is easy to use. For instance, Wagners Der Meistersinger is on 4 CDs, and without any effort on my part the albums Der Meistersinger 1, 2, 3 and four end up on the menu clearly labled and in proper order. The sound using earphones is very good. There is, however an occasional faint click which is apparently made when the machine changes a track, or something like that. I can live with that.
Havent tried downloading an audible book to it yet, but am confident that it will work fine.
So far, have completely "ripped" all that is on 24 CDs and loaded over a thousand pictures. When I started doing this the machine had 55 Gb of usable memory space, and now it is all the way down to 54 Gb. Somehow I dont reckon I will be running short of space.
I followed the directions and charged the units battery before using it. Four hours seemed to be all that it needed, but I let it go on charging overnight. With all this fooling around, downloading, viewing and listening the machines battery indicator still looks like it did when it had a full charge. Of course, it does get charged some when hooked to the computer, but even with that, the battery life seems to be very good.
On: 2007-05-16
I love this player. It makes me happy. The screen is great, I dont need to be a tech whiz to make it work, and it feels sturdy (some people call this "big", I call it "wont-be-accidentally-slipping-out-of-my-hands").
After the three-hour wall charge (with included charger -- yay), I had this plugged into my computer adding Amazon Unbox movies in no-time. It froze for me once within the first couple of days, but then I went to creatives website to download a firmware upgrade and since then, no problems!
60GB is insane in terms of space -- right now, Ive barely broken 10 GB with four Unbox movies and 14 of my own (plus the default photos that CAME with the Zen that I have yet to get around deleting). Yeowza! I dont think this is going to replace any of my iPods or Shuffles anytime soon in terms of music playing (It *is* on the cumbersome side for that), but for long car rides, doctors offices, faculty meetings (shhh!), bedtime while camping, this is PERFECT. I also look forward to being able to show photos of student work to new classes as models rather than having to stack and store five thousand posters, booklets, advertisements, etc. A teachers friend is a digital camera and a picture player. And plugging it into a regular television for viewing and playback is easy, with a definitely viewable result for movies (we have a 56" wide screen). A remote control would be a great accessory if were going to do this a lot, though.
I have also been looking for a case/cover option that is workable. I bought the black skin, but the black seems to collect dust like crazy and it doesnt do anything to protect the screen (though the rubber DOES help in leaning the Zen against a wall on a table for easy viewing, kind of a ghetto stand work-around). I just ordered this Zen W Silicone Case w/ Belt Clip, LCD Screen Protector, & Lanyard today and am hoping that it helps out with the aesthetics and screen protection a bit.
I wouldnt hesitate to buy Creative products again.
On: 2007-05-15
I was having trouble getting the new software to load so I sent an email to creative about it. Here is the response! No where in the sales literature does it mention no support for operating systems other than Windows!
Needless to say I purchased a paper weight and feel deceived by Creative.
Here is the response I got back from Creative, again its not very supportive.
Dear Jeff,
Thank you for reaching us at Creative Email Technical Support; we
appreciate the opportunity to assist you.
I understand that you are unable to install your Zen Vsion W on your
computer with Macintosh OS. I apologize for any inconvenience caused.
Lets see what we can do to resolve your issue.
Please be informed that Creative only develop, maintain and support
software for the Microsoft Windows platform.
The Minimum System Requirement of a Zen Vision W is Microsoft® Windows®
XP (Service Pack 1 or higher) / XP 64-bit. It is recommended to install
the Zen Vision W on a Windows XP operating system.
If you still require assistance, please reply to this email with any
previous correspondence to ensure the quickest and most accurate
service.
On: 2007-05-14
I was having trouble getting the new software to load so I sent an email to creative about it. Here is the response! No where in the sales literature does it mention no support for operating systems other than Windows!
Needless to say I purchased a paper weight and feel deceived by Creative.
Here is the response I got back from Creative, again its not very supportive.
Dear Jeff,
Thank you for reaching us at Creative Email Technical Support; we
appreciate the opportunity to assist you.
I understand that you are unable to install your Zen Vsion W on your
computer with Macintosh OS. I apologize for any inconvenience caused.
Lets see what we can do to resolve your issue.
Please be informed that Creative only develop, maintain and support
software for the Microsoft Windows platform.
The Minimum System Requirement of a Zen Vision W is Microsoft® Windows®
XP (Service Pack 1 or higher) / XP 64-bit. It is recommended to install
the Zen Vision W on a Windows XP operating system.
If you still require assistance, please reply to this email with any
previous correspondence to ensure the quickest and most accurate
service.
On: 2007-05-14
This was a birthday gift for my son. It was expensive, but he loves it. Hell be taking it to college in the Fall. He uses it everyday, so I also purchased the extended warranty. Its larger than the iPod, but that doesnt seem to bother him. The screen is much larger making it easier to watch movies, and having the speakers built in is nice. Its a great product.
On: 2007-05-14
I love this little box. I have been a fan of Creative Zen music players for a while (on my second generation now, the Zen Touch).
The Zen Vision W has great screen resolution, sound quality and a nice software interface. I highly recommend this device for all around media play.
I do wish it were easier to get movies on the darn thing, but that seems to be a factor beyond this device. Amazon Unbox downloads sync right up.
On: 2007-05-13
This player is infinitely more flexible than the Ipod or the Zune, both of which I have owned. The user is not locked down to any one provider for content, for one thing - an essential feature for the serious user. My local library uses Overdrive Media for their online content, and this unit had no trouble at all accepting those files for play.
Updating content is easy and automatic using only Windows Media Player, so no software beyond the driver is necessary. If your videos are not in the correct format for the player, they will be converted for you - this process only takes a bit longer.
Video quality is excellent, and the screen is large enough to view comfortably. I also like the built-in speaker, for those times when I want to show off my kids to a group of people without connecting to the TV first. And yes, you can connect this to a TV, or to a recording device (DVD, or VCR for those of us who still have one).
The only problem that robs this player of perfection is the very thing that audio book listeners have been telling Creative for years: fix the bookmarks. When you build a large playlist, you want to be able to save your place, not only in the file, but in the playlist itself. For some reason, Creative has never understood, or perhaps just never cared, about this serious limitation. The Zen Nomad 40Gb audio player gave the user one bookmark per file, and this player (while superior in other ways) has dropped that allowance to 10 bookmarks total - but theyre still only file bookmarks, and dont save your place in a playlist.
Fix the bookmarks, Creative, and your players will truly deserve the name Zen.
On: 2007-05-13
As a music player the Zen is a Great Product. It displays all the song info on the screen and there is more than enough storage space. Loading songs was fairly quick and hassel free.
I use this mostly to watch videos. Using the Zens video and audio out to a TV is worry free. You can even play videos that are in PAL format on an NTSC TV (if you ever had to convert from PAL to NTSC you know what a pain that can be). The only problem I had was the packaged software that converts video formats. The Zen can play a many different video formats, but when converting ones it doesnt play I ran into some problems. When converting the same file formats, some would work as some wouldnt. Even some of the ZENcasts (packaged software that downloads videos) would have this problem. I ended up having to use a different conversion program to get some videos to play on the Zen. Hopefully this is something that can be fixed with a future software update.
The size of the Zen is a bit large, any bigger and I would probably have an issue with it. The screen size is large and the picture quality is impressive, you can watch the screen at angles and still see a good picture. The battery life is long, and it is not very heavy.
On: 2007-05-11
I bought the creative zen vision w. At first I thought it was great. After a while however, I realized that the Archos 504 is better. For the same price, you get 80 gb of storage with Archos compared to 60 gb with the creative zen. Both players screen size is the same, but the archos 504 can display 16 million colors rather than 200,000. Mostly importantly Archos 504 can play almost anything you download off the internet. It supports AC3 audio, and some of the older movies encoded in divx 3 or lower which the creative zen does not. The archos battery lasts longer and has more function control when playing your movies such as frame rate and screen capture. Archos can also record programs off the tv with the docking station. To me most importantly was the fact archos support more movie formats than the creative zen. I downloaded tons of movies off the internet and wanted to play them on a PVP. The zen has too many files thats incompatible. The Zen does come with conversion software, but I dont have hours to convert movies. So I absolutely would recommend the ARCHOS 504. ITS THE BETTER PRODUCT
On: 2007-05-08
Let me begin with the statement that I do like the product. So, that being said, let me get the bad/cons out of the way.
CONS: -Extreme sensitivity to static: Had the unit plugged into a home stereo and was holding the unit. Walked toward the stereo and unit all of a sudden rebooted. Couldnt figure out at first. Then, did a test where I held the unit still, the shuffled my feet. Bam! Reboot. So, yeah... static sensitivity. Ive noticed it on other occasions too.
-In random (shuffle) play mode, if you try to advance through the songs manually (as in, you dont like the song it picked, so you hit the forward button to jump to the next shuffle) the unit will periodically lock up. The ONLY apparent way to recover from this is to power off the unit and let it do its LONG rebuild process. Thats frustrating. Im using the latest firmware too.
-Every now and then (I think I might be holding the power button too long) when powering up the unit, the recovery menu appears. Not a big thing except you need to select reboot/restart and that takes time.
-As much as I did not want to get an iPod, the boys at Apple still have everyone beat with the multi-function jog wheel interface. That, in my opinion, is still the best navigation too... but then again, you know about opinions... The arrow keys are okay, just not quite as fast at browsing.
-A tad bit bulky. Not bad though and easily overcome.
-Higher power consumption. (In defense though, the unit has a larger fluorescent display to drive.)
Okay... Now WHY I LIKE THE ZEN:
-Three words: "Plays Almost Anything" To have the ability to throw almost any type of file at this thing and have a flawless playback... Mmm Mmmm, yes! That is the biggest reason I didnt purchase an iPod. I would love to see "Real Media" offered as an option. Theyre still the best bang for the bit.
-Big bright display: Viewable in daylight. Definite YES.
-Good quality codecs.
-A variety of programs can be used to sync music and video. The unit is not locked to only a few machines.
-If you transfer your music between machines, you dont have to futz with DRM (Digital Rights Management). DRM is a good idea, in theory. In practice its a horrible failure. Why? Well, its the paradox that if you build a better mousetrap, someone will genetically engineer a better mouse. So, someone will always find ways around DRM. So, in order to rightfully protect artists, DRM has only frustrated legal users.
-Love the CF card adaptor. Imagine being on vacation with your digital camera. Now, say, you fill up that card AND your spare. So you could either lug along your laptop, or you could bring your little Zen, copy the card to the internal HDD and then reformat the CF card. Voila! Start taking pix again!
-Three more words: "User Swappable Battery!" One goes dead? Put on the spare. When those batteries wear out, buy new ones and slide em on. No disassembly.
FEATURES Id like to see:
-CAR MODE: Now I dont want to have to add leveling information to all my files, because I like dynamic range when Im using the Zen other places. However when listening to the Zen in my car, Id like it to have a "car mode" that would perform multi-band compression, limiting and leveling. Basically, an "Orban Optimod" would be built right in, so your content would sound just like a radio station. Softer program material would have its levels increased and high-level program material would have the dynamics adjusted so it wouldnt distort.
-Better navi-control
So, overall, a solidly constructed unit that was well thought out.
On: 2007-05-07
the only widescreen multimedia player thats heavy on technology
On: 2007-05-07
GREAT PRODUCT JUST A LITTLE BIG, THE ONLY THING THAT SUX IS THAT YOU HAVE TO BUY SOFTWARE TO MAKE IT WORK (ANOTHER 50 BUCKS) THE SOFTWARE THEY GIVE U IS ALMOST USELESS FOR DOING MOVIES
On: 2007-04-19
YOUR FAVORITE MOVIES ... IN YOUR POCKET ...
WIDESCREEN PLEASURE ..... 4" SIZE
I just purchased this babe ... not even 48 hours ago!
I LOVE IT ....
Im a hypnotist by trade. Always watching updates,
following my peers DVDs and since I run a full-time
hypnosis practice, I have a lot of training videos
(running a business .. taxes ... computer training
programs)I have to keep up on.
Well, life catches up on you ... and I just dont
have the time to watch them or even to be in a location
where I am near to a computer where I can view them ...
and carrying a bulky laptop is out of the question.
I was upstate NY last week, being driven by a friend
to teach a class. He had his apple ipod in the front
seat and said, I was watching your training video
just before you got here .....
I said, "At Home?"
He said, "No .. here .. and lifted up his ipod."
I was pretty amazed.
I said, "The pictures so small.
He replied, "One plug ... into my wide screen tv
at home .. and this little unit carries 250 hours
of video."
I was blown away.
Went to J and R music ... consulted Amazon reviews ..
I saw the Creative Unit but owned the Creative Zen
Sleek ... and although it is a great, durable, almost
unbreakable unit (MP3 Player) ... it had the worst
filing system. It dumped all your files on the hard
drive and then it was a nightmare, despite Creatives
best efforts at writing a piece of software to compete
with Apple.
The J And R Salesman, a very old Lithuanian immigrant
with an immense knowledge of electronics .. told me
hands down .. the Zen was the best ... it had more
codecs ... could play more videos ... music files ..
without the hassle of fumbling through the apple
priority operating system and a mass of conversions.
Well, more research ... Amazon .. I bit the bullet.
Close to 400 big ones for the 60 gig ... and
I love it.... The quality is excellent ...
the tinny speaker is perfect for me .... the
build in radio ... wonderful organizer and
recorder ... are all wonderful extras that
Apple charges a fortune as add ons ....
And Creative products that I have owned
are solid, feisty little devils.
I plugged this unit into my 32 inch
Sony TV this morning and was blown away
with the quality ... playing a video
through it. This feature alone makes
it worth the price ... for showing
film clips when I do hypnosis trainings.
Check this out .... If you have to
view a lot of videos ... for pleasure
or business .. would like to keep a mess
of fun photos (a whole lifetime worth) ..
in your bag ... a radio ... an organizer
whose screen blows away my Palm Pilot Treo..
This unit may fit all your needs ...
So ... dont thank me all at once ...
P.S. Buy the skin for the extra 20.
Youll be glad because it will keep
your new baby .. nick free.
regards
John Petrocelli
The NYC Hypnosis Center LLC
[...]
On: 2007-04-17
This is a great player, but be careful of the screen. Because the screen is so big, it cant help being a bit delicate. I had mine in my hip pocket (screen side out) walking around my house (and after a few beers) and I must have bumped it against some funiture. The screen underneath the surface membrane cracked. All I could see after that when I turned it on was a black screen with a series of cracks radiating from the impact point.
The good news was that when I sent it to Creative Labs (hoping to sneak in a warranty repair!), they fixed it for a very reasonable $90, including returning shipping.
Being able to get repairs at a reasonable price for damage not covered by the warranty really adds value to the player and to all Creative Labs products.
On: 2007-04-16
I am sure all will enjoy the versatility of the Zen Vision W. It is able to play a variety of different file types, the interface is simple and the picture quality is second to none. If I have one criticism it would be that video files encoded in 5.1 sound are not supported by the system. So the video will play but there is no audio until a conversion is done. It seems to me that a serious player like this would support 5.1 audio right out of the box.
On: 2007-04-12
I bought this product for my husband. He travels often and goes at least 2 times a year to other countries. Flights are long and he has to store digital images such as pictures of his product a long with pictures of his trip. He loves his music and videos. These do keep him occupied while traveling on the long long flights. The ease of navigation and quality of the videos is rated high in our books. He has recieved many inquires on what brand of multimedia player he has. His friends are in all of what this device can do. I would say this is a very good product over all. The only down side is that Creative needs to make Hight quality leather cases for the Zen. If you were to drop it there goes good money down the drain. Cell phone carriers make cases for cell phones well this is just as important. Especially if you have to use this for work!
On: 2007-04-10
I recently purchased the Vision W, and so far I have really enjoyed it. Ive only had a chance to snyc my music into it so far, but Im looking forward to adding movies and videos since thats 80% the reason I purchased it.
The only reason Im not rating the W a 5 is bacause of it size. I wished it couldve been a little slimmer. And possibly another with maybe 80gb or so, 60gb is a lot but I wouldve been more comfortable with a little more.
If your considering the W, I highly recommend it!!!!!
On: 2007-04-04
Could someone please help me get some use out of this device. I work in Kuwait as a DOD Contractor on Camp Arifjan. This is my first player and I cannot return it to Tigerdirect. (They ship overseas but no returns.) I bought this player to enjoy movies while I travel. It is too big for just music. Every website I try that works with Creative Zen Vision W to download movies is not allowed to download in Kuwait. Nothing!!! So I tried to add one of my DVDs to it and no, it doesnt work. I tried software to convert it so it will go on my player. And no! Please someone help me! I admit I am new to this and work 12.5 hrs 6 days a week so my time is limited to mess with this thing. THANK YOU for any advice. :)
On: 2007-03-29
After purchasing the item in december 2006 it didnt take even a week before the troubles started, it kept freezing after switching it on and took quite long to rebuild the data. At one point, (after two weeks) I lost all my data. Despite downloading the software from the website the problems didnt disappear and i am basically left with a promising player which doesnt even allow me to listen to music without frezing.
Since then i am struggling with Creative Technical SUpport team as there
is advise given to charge my battery or download the software from the website (which both is not been of much help)
This player hasnt been much of use to me yet and I deeply regret having paid 360 USD.
I gave it 2 stars because I was able to watch 2 movies while waiting at the airport and travelling, this was quite a pleasure.
On: 2007-03-26
I havent been able to get Amazons Unbox player to recognize it, so I cant transfer Unbox movies to it, which is the main reason I wanted it. Amazon Help recommended downloading a fix from Microsoft, which I did, but that still didnt correct the problem. So it seems the problem is more with Unbox than with the device. Otherwise I have no particular complaint about this product
On: 2007-03-18
Yes, it plays videos (DivX + Windows Media tested so far).
Yes, it plays and sorts your photos.
Yes, it plays MP3s and sorts them by their ID3 tags (artist/genre/album/etc.).
Yes, it comes with a good TV audio/video out cable (letting you use the Zen like a high-def digital video player).
Yes, you can download your CompactFlash card directly onto the Zen hard drive.
Yes, it syncs with your Outlook tasks and calendar. Wha? Yeah. Its hidden in there too. Along with an MP3 alarm clock.
If youre going on vacation with a digital camera anytime soon, this is the multi-tool for you. Leave the laptop at home. The Zen has plenty of battery life and plenty of room for music, movies and photos to keep you moving for days when youre unwired from the office.
On: 2007-03-18
I bought this as an alternative to an iPod. I wanted a good multimedia player that didnt require a magnifying glass to see the picture. Great screen size with sharp video quality and decent internal speakers. Sound quality is excellent through the audio jack. Included software works great for audio and video transfer from my PC. Battery life is very good (4-5 hours for video, 13+ for audio). Surprising amount of control from just a few buttons on the front of the player. No included software for converting DVDs to useable format for the player, but several options are available online. (I recommend the "anythingbutipod" website forums for tips on DVD conversion, peripherals, cases, etc.) This is not for joggers or shirt pockets. However, if you want a unit that will hold every song you own, and allow you to catch up on a few movies during a slow night shift without straining your eyes, this is the machine for you.
On: 2007-03-13
For a real mans all in one portable player, this is it. The Creative Zen W 60GB has everything you need. This weekend I got a third party video converter and now I have two feature length films on it, and they are great to watch and easy on the eyes. With an Ipod youd have to get new eye balls after watching half a movie. Forget it! Put on a good headset or plug it in to a good amp player and it blows you away!!!
Ive dropped it twice and it still works fine. Rugged.
My wife was "stoked" watching the wide screen on this baby playing "letterbox" wide screen movies. It even lets you play your home movies on your TV, or see your photos, or even play your music on a TV; and comes with the cables for your TV. If your TV was attached to big speakers it would tear you ears out; its terrific!! Plug and play!!!
I also put 1200 mp3 songs on it already and photos and some files, using it as a extended hard drive also, and still have gobs of GBs for tons of more stuff.
And all those new agers crying about not being able to jog with it. Use your little 2GB mp3 player for that you bought with pocket change. Youd run to the next city before you hear all the music on a little MP3 2GB player anyhow. Try that with this Creative Zen W 80GB and youd be in Moscow before you listen to all the music.
Buy one now!!!!!!!
On: 2007-03-12
For a real mans all in one portable player, this is it. The Creative Zen W 60GB has everything you need. This weekend I got a third party video converter and now I have two feature length films on it, and they are great to watch and easy on the eyes. With an Ipod youd have to get new eye balls after watching half a movie. Forget it! Put on a good headset or plug it in to a good amp player and it blows you away!!!
Ive dropped it twice and it still works fine. Rugged.
My wife was "stoked" watching the wide screen on this baby playing "letterbox" wide screen movies. It even lets you play your home movies on your TV, or see your photos, or even play your music on a TV; and comes with the cables for your TV. If your TV was attached to big speakers it would tear you ears out; its terrific!! Plug and play!!!
I also put 1200 mp3 songs on it already and photos and some files, using it as a extended hard drive also, and still have gobs of GBs for tons of more stuff.
And all those new agers crying about not being able to jog with it. Use your little 2GB mp3 player for that you bought with pocket change. Youd run to the next city before you hear all the music on a little MP3 2GB player anyhow. Try that with this Creative Zen W 80GB and youd be in Moscow before you listen to all the music.
Buy one now!!!!!!!
On: 2007-03-12
I got this for my wife for her birthday, and I have to say that she really loves it. Its got a large screen and a built in speaker. The screen is very clear, easy to read glare hasnt been an issue yet, nor has viewing from an angle. the A/V out looks good, sounds great (but I guess that depends on the quality of the material.) Comes with easy to use software and the 60gb size is enough to fit tons of media. Navigation is easy within the menus and the battery life in general seems to be excellent, a bit better than what it says it should get even.
Okay, we love this thing, but it does have a few little things that bother us. Its great that is has that built in speaker, but it is a bit tinny sounding. The FM radio uses the ground wire in the headphones as the antennae so you cant listen to the radio without them. Only has a Compact Flash slot, so you need an adapter to use an SD card, which Creative does sell. It does come with video conversion software, but its very limited in what it can do and it is extremely slow. A 24 minute AVI file at 640 x 480 (Which the player supports, I just convert it to save space) take a bit over 15 minutes to convert to a WMV file at the players resolution. And the last thing that bother me has nothing to do with the player itself, but I havent been able to find a nice carrying case for it. Creative does sell one, but it says its only for the 30GB model which is slightly thinner than the 60GB. My wife was resorted to putting it in her Nintendo DS case, which works very well.
Overall this is a great Personal Media Player and I would highly recommend it. If youre just looking for an MP3 player, this is probly a bit much for you though.
On: 2007-03-12
This thing does it all, radio, MP-3s, load up movies for a plane ride - you name it. I even used it to load up pics from my digital camera so I could take some more. The only thing I didnt like was the size, a little larger and heavier than I thought, not good for jogging, biking or going for a motorcycle ride. Overall, I love it. Go buy one for yourself.
On: 2007-03-09
I have had my Creative Zen W Vision (60 GB) for about a month and it is AWESOME. An interesting quirk is that if you want to hear the FM radio, you have to connect headphones (or an equivalent). I havent used the recording function. Because it is menu driven, dont get innovative and create folders of your own and expect to be able to find them when the Zen is disconnected from your USB cable. The picture is great.
Although I saw this unit advertised to play MP4, it doesnt seem to like the associated codec. I have had great success with AVIs and MPEG1s. I have been able to compress full-length movies down between .9 - 1.6 GB. If you record movies with the MP3 codec, your ears will be in for a treat!
If; however, you want a "it will do almost anything" multimedia player, this is it! The Creative leather case doesnt look like a winner, but dont dispair! This unit fits perfectly in a GameBoy Advance SP case. Also, the GameBoy case will give you a pocket for extra accessories, such as an extra battery.
When reviewing the available accessories -- DO NOT order the Zen Vision docking station, unless it specifies for the Zen W.
I have found ImTOO software to work great with this unit.
Shop around, but I think youll be hard-pressed to find a better deal than this. I bought mine here at Amazon for $360. To get an extra battery, I went to J & R Music and Computer World. In both cases, my order was sent out in no time!
On: 2007-03-09
We bought this Vision W60 GB Widescreen Multimedia Player for my daughter for Christmas. She researched for months, and wanted it for the storage capacity and screen size. It is a beautiful player with excellent video and audio capabilities, although it was difficult to find music videos to download. However, there are no carrying or protective accessories for the device, and it is rather large and awkward to carry around. Therefore, when my daughter inevitably dropped it and one of the battery pins broke, we wanted to get it repaired. We did not have an extended warranty, and were willing to send it in and pay for repair. There is absolutely no way to even contact anyone by phone or e-mail if you do not have a warranty. The phone number gives you a machine with no way to talk to a real person. I tried to e-mail customer service, but never got a reply. Sophisticated electronics have a lot of things that can go wrong and they are very expensive. They need a good support department, even for products someone has had for a while. I thought it was a good product, but am now so angry about their non-existent after-purchase support that I dont want to buy their products ever again, and I will warn everyone I know about it.
On: 2007-03-08
I started looking at the Creative products when planning to use free downloaded audiobooks. I was referred by the Playsforsure website. When I saw this one, I said, "yes!" Its my combination music, audiobook, Grandmothers brag book, Outlook calendar, and video player rolled into one. I havent tried the video player yet, but the audiobook, music and picture quality are fabulous. Im pretty particular, but I love this gadget. Drawbacks are the weight and the lack of accessories. I knew both going in, but I am hopeful that Creative will quickly come up with some additional cases (just one available and one skin), holder for car, etc. This is heavy, not good for workouts, but good while sitting still. Looking forward to watching videos on it in the airport, not on my laptop. People ooo and ahh over the picture size and quality. Easy to use, even for someone not too electronic savvy. Bought 60 GB to download from digital camera while on vacation, watch videos, all my favorite music. Very pleased with it.
On: 2007-03-07
My son has a 60gb video iPod. A friend has a 30gb Zen M. The iPod wasnt an option. The unit itself is very nice but the cost, iTunes, format conversions and all of the rest of the Apple headaches caused me to not even consider it. I was going to buy the Zen M but while I was researching it I ran across the Zen W. I bought the Zen W 60gb version. It is a fantasitc unit. It has the larger screen size, a nice user interface and comes with everything (storage bag, charger, USB cable, A/V breakout cable).
The only downside is its size (it has the larger screen) and the controls (the buttons). If your primary requirement is the larger screen buy the Zen W, if your primary requirement is portability (slip it in your pocket and go) buy the Zen M. The controls on the Zen W are hard plastic, positive clicking buttons which seems a little dated.
Use BeyondTV by Snapstream to record your T.V. shows. BeyondTV has a predefined Creative Zen compression profile that will automatically generate the appropriate resolution WMV file from the higher resolution MPEG2 file it typically creates. BeyondTV will generate the WMV file in a time window you specify (usually 2am-6am) so it wont bog down your computer. In the morning I just drag and drop the video files from my computer to wherever I want them on my Zen. If you are only going to view the recordings on the Zen you can set BeyondTVs default recording format to the WMV the Zen needs instead of MPEG2. I have read you can use Windows Media Player to sync the files but I have not tried.
I bought both the Creative case and the MisticAudio case. The Creative case seems to offer more protection (well padded) but the MisticAudio case is more functional (case openings for all of the controls).
On: 2007-02-28
Like others here I spent a great deal of time on research. I am 50 years old and decided to see what all the fuss is about with the MP3 players. With each comparison I kept coming back to the Creative Labs Zen W. In fact it wasnt even close and I finally pulled the trigger. All the features the product lists are better than advertized. I have 7 children four of which own Ipods or other players. They now want the Zen W and Dad is cool again! My purpose for purchasing this product was for vacations and business trips but I now find myself listening at home in my office and I continue to be amazed. The only con for me was the earphones. Forget it. Buy yourself a good set of headphones. I bought the Bose QC3 and it made the set complete.
On: 2007-02-23
this zen master w has the same problem like zen master m : freezing, keep freezing
On: 2007-02-23
I did extensive research before purchasing the Creative Zen Vision W 60 GB Widescreen Multimedia Player.
This is a great product! Amazon offered the lowest price, fastest shipping, and overall greatest service.
Wonderful results all the way around...
On: 2007-02-19
I also read reviews on this and CNET. I travel 80% of the month and wanted something that I could not only listen to music, watch movies but also show technique videos. I originally bought the M but the screen was very nice but to small. So I went with the W. I have had it for 4 weeks now and love it. The only negatives I have are:
-The size
-The ability to manage the files on the unit via the PC (can create folders but not move items into it easily)
If you can get over the size of the unit than the W is awesome. I just got back from a Jacksonville to San Diego trip and I watched 2 movies and 2 episodes of 24.
If you are going to buy one I would suggest buying the following:
-Extended Battery
-MisticAudio Case with stand (works great)
-Wireless Headset (have not found one I like yet)
I am still researching wireless headsets but if you travel a lot I think this is a must. With the size of the unit you can keep the W in your bag and walk through the airport without having to carry or put it in your pocket. Good luck.
On: 2007-02-18
Ive read review after review on Amazon and other web sites selling the Creative Zen Vision W. I looked at the 30GB but I wanted more space. I was thinking about the 80GB iPod but I really didnt want to be tied to iTunes. Although I think the 80GB iPod would have been a little smaller in size than this player, I couldnt see spending just as much money or more for less functionality.
The video on this is awesome. Like others mentioned, it will convert the files, if need be, to a format that will work on the Vision W. The photos are shown awesomely as well. You can rotate on the player any pictures that need be for whatever reason which is a plus.
The small external speaker on the Vision W is adequate in places that are not overwhelmed with other audible sounds although I did not buy this to be a stand alone "boom box" of a sort. The sound quality with the factory ear bud is quite good. For those that complain, cmon, did you really buy any MP3 player to get that Bose-quality sound?
The drawback to this baby is its size. Its not overly huge but its definitely bigger than I would have like but I believe the 80GB iPod would not have been a "joggers player" either. Luckily for me, I dont jog. I cycle and this is just fine to carry in a backpack or a pack of some kind on the handle bars or a pocket of a pair of shorts. The size is about the same as the PSP but its not too heavy. If they could come up with a large capacity (60+) MP3 player that is the size of the 4GB nano, I would buy it in a heartbeat whether it was Apple or Creative.
I havent tested out the compact flash slot yet but it was another reason why I purchased this player as I am a amateur (sort of) photographer and this would be convenient to dump photos without a computer.
The FM player and voice recorder are a plus but not a big reason of why I bought it. Again, nice features but if I wanted to listen to radio, I would by a walkman.
Anyway, if you want a large-capacity MP3 player and dont need it for listening to while jogging, this is definitely a worthy purchase. Ive had mine for about three weeks and have enjoyed every minute of it so far.
On: 2007-02-14
Be aware the Creative Zen Vision Thick Battery Black currently tagged as an accessory to purchase with this product is not compatable with the Zen Vision W. It is for use with the Zen Vision system.
On: 2007-02-11
This is my 3rd creative mp3 player, first multimedia player and this one is perfect. Its larger than most MP3 players but for video its the perfect size, anything smaller for video would be a waste. Video quality is awesome, movies and video podcasts look great.
I have about 1500 songs and 2500 photos and various movies and video podcasts and I still have about 40gb left.
They only thing they could improve would be to make is thinner.
If your looking for a multimedia player stop looking because you found it.
On: 2007-02-11
I easily spent 20 hours researching the various PMPs and MP3 players on the market. I had printed out lists of attributes and capabilities. I started with what I needed and worked my way into everything I wanted as well. It very quickly became apparent that the product to satisfy my needs and wants was the Zen Vision W. I use the unit primarily for my business to record meetings, and to play video taken by my camera. (I conduct mock disasters for various companies)
Immediately upon receiving this unit; I transferred all my music, pictures, podcasts, and home videos onto it; AND set aside several gigabytes for hard-drive storage and I still have half the memory capability available. All the software came with the unit; and once it was installed; the transfer was so easy - I wish all programs were this simple (even if you just scan the instructions, instead of spending two hours poring over them!).
I used the unit to record a teleconference and later used it to transcribe the conversation into a report. I found you can "bookmark" where you last left off; instead of having to scroll through the whole menu again. (When you shut the unit off; whatever you were playing is the first thing to come back up - nice!) There was a full ten hours of recording time available; and thankfully I only needed to use one hour. But the units built-in microphone picked up even the most quiet parts of the conversation.
There are so many nice features - you can use your favorite photo for a background; you can change how quickly the screen goes into energy saving mode and the screen brightness; you can synchronize your calendar onto the unit very simply; for someone who has big hands, I have yet to find the interface button size a problem; very long battery life for playing audio files and viewing photos; if you are scrolling through the unit and stop, the unit will automatically go back to the file you were playing/viewing; the unit will shut-off automatically after a few minutes if you have it on pause, but starts in the same place when you turn the unit back on; and the transfer of media is really quick and easy!
With a stretch, you could consider the following to be cons: To view MP4 videos I had to download Quicktime 7, and then all the MP4s had to be converted (the conversion and transfer was quick, however). To download DVDs onto the unit, you need to use another piece of software (vault360 for PMPs is what I use; Im still using the evaluation software and so far it works okay; but it does take awhile). There was one review that said you needed to compress the video first; I dont know about that, but what you get is a much bigger file as DVDs have all the special features, titling, and subtitles etc. You can use DVD Shrink freeware to compress the video.
Overall; this unit has been WELL worth the price and the research put into it. I use it all the time and love it. No problems with the unit what-so-ever!
On: 2007-02-10
Creative has done it again. This is my first experience with this sort of Device. I am extremely pleased. Off hand, the only suggestions I have would be the addition of a dock, and a better screen to protect the permanent screen. Other than that, I highly recommend this model to anyone seeking this sort of device.
On: 2007-02-10
Ive had my 60 GB Zen Vision W for about 15 months now. The unit has been reliable, proven durable, and Ive had no problems that required ANY level of customer service. Ive dropped it a handful of times and have yet to experience any problems from "impacts". If the screen ever freezes because of an "oops" you can just remove the battery and replace it; and the unit returns to the file it last remembers playing.
When you get your player, leave the screen protective film ON - as a replacement is about $15. These things last about a year in my experience.
I just used the "alarm" feature about three weeks ago - and it worked great! There is not one feature on the player now that I havent used. And Ive yet to have a feature not perform as expected.
Be sure to use the slow charger on this unit often. It "trains" the battery to discharge at a slower and more efficient rate - allowing more use time. The fast charger works great, and you can use the unit while its charging as well. If the battery gets too low, it wont let you use the unit while slow charging - but this has seldom posed any real problem for me.
If you want to convert DVDs to play onto the Zen Vision W - Ive purchased three of them, as well as tried several freeware or trial versions. The BEST Ive found is DVDFab Platinum 4. The converted file is ultimately a little bigger than files converted by other programs - but the quality, ease of use, and efficiency of the conversion process makes up for it.
Overall? VERY happy with this unit. Ive noticed the price has jumped in the last 15 months. But even with that - the unit is worth it.
FIRST REVIEW BELOW:
I easily spent 20 hours researching the various PMPs and MP3 players on the market. I had printed out lists of attributes and capabilities. I started with what I needed and worked my way into everything I wanted as well. It very quickly became apparent that the product to satisfy my needs and wants was the Zen Vision W. I use the unit primarily for my business to record meetings, and to play video taken by my camera. (I conduct mock disasters for various companies)
Immediately upon receiving this unit; I transferred all my music, pictures, podcasts, and home videos onto it; AND set aside several gigabytes for hard-drive storage and I still have half the memory capability available. All the software came with the unit; and once it was installed; the transfer was so easy - I wish all programs were this simple (even if you just scan the instructions, instead of spending two hours poring over them!).
I used the unit to record a teleconference and later used it to transcribe the conversation into a report. I found you can "bookmark" where you last left off; instead of having to scroll through the whole menu again. (When you shut the unit off; whatever you were playing is the first thing to come back up - nice!) There was a full ten hours of recording time available; and thankfully I only needed to use one hour. But the units built-in microphone picked up even the most quiet parts of the conversation.
There are so many nice features - you can use your favorite photo for a background; you can change how quickly the screen goes into energy saving mode and the screen brightness; you can synchronize your calendar onto the unit very simply; for someone who has big hands, I have yet to find the interface button size a problem; very long battery life for playing audio files and viewing photos; if you are scrolling through the unit and stop, the unit will automatically go back to the file you were playing/viewing; the unit will shut-off automatically after a few minutes if you have it on pause, but starts in the same place when you turn the unit back on; and the transfer of media is really quick and easy!
With a stretch, you could consider the following to be cons: To view MP4 videos I had to download Quicktime 7, and then all the MP4s had to be converted (the conversion and transfer was quick, however). To download DVDs onto the unit, you need to use another piece of software (vault360 for PMPs is what I use; Im still using the evaluation software and so far it works okay; but it does take awhile). There was one review that said you needed to compress the video first; I dont know about that, but what you get is a much bigger file as DVDs have all the special features, titling, and subtitles etc. You can use DVD Shrink freeware to compress the video.
Overall; this unit has been WELL worth the price and the research put into it. I use it all the time and love it. No problems with the unit what-so-ever!
On: 2007-02-09
Ive owned Creative MP3 players for about 7 years now, and they havent been without their flaws. Typically, Creative has put out solid technology that outperforms Apples ipods for less money. Heck, even the ipods scroll wheel technology was "stolen" from Creative if you believe the lawsuits. The rather ironic downside is that most creative MP3 players have featured terrible controls and touch pads, making navigation a chore. Thankfully, the Vision W features a clickable button, not unlike a gamepad. Navigation is easy and precise, though those with huge hands may have a problem with the little buttons. The sound and storage are terrific (especially for the money), and the visual capabilities put just about everything to shame, including the PSP. The screen is vibrant and high-resolution, and the high storage capacity means that entire DVDs can be watched uncompressed, if you should so desire. The FM tuner is a huge plus, as is the recording option. The only downside is that the thing is large, though not so unwieldy that you cant take it with you. It is still smaller than a PSP. Battery life has always been one of creatives strong suits, and it doesnt disappoint here, either. Another plus (and advantage over Apple) is the WIDE range of audiovisual formats supported. I highly recommend this unit.
On: 2007-02-08
The player itself is absolutely amazing. Easily the top PMP out there as far as design and function. Its no wonder Apple copied Creatives navigation system for their iPod (and was subsequently sued)- its pure genious.
Where this player (and all Creative players, from what Ive read) fails is in connectivity. Do a search on Creatives website forums for the word "freeze" and youll be bombarded by hundreds of complaints about media players freezing up when connected to a computer via USB (the only way you can get media onto it). As other reviewers here have said, make sure youre somewhat computer savvy or be prepared to spend hours learning about USB, Firmware, Windows Service Packs, and more just to get this player to function properly.
Its really a shame, because the player itself is just gorgeous. Im returning this player and sitting out of the PMP market for a while. Ill watch Creatives website and message boards for the next generation of players that they put out and hope that they can get their act together next time around.
On: 2007-02-08
I love this media player. It does everything I need and want it to do. I mostly listen to music in my car and most of the time Im listening to my Sirius Radio. I plug in the Zen when I want to listen to something specific or to podcasts in my car. I play the guitar and when I get music instruction CDs or DVDs I use this player to capture them so I can take my lessons with me. I mostly purchased this over the regular Zen Vision M because I wanted it for movies. The larger screen is great. I was showing video clips to family and it was easy for everyone to see the screen. You can also connect this player to an external video source which nice if you want to share.
I run linux on my laptop and I am able to manage my media on this player using libmtp, libnjb, and gnomad.
Ive had this player since before Christmas 2006. The only things I dont like about this player is that it is very thick and is not comfortably controlled by one hand. I almost wish I had gotten the Vision M just because of the difference in navigation (the large screen won though). It only comes with a thin draw string case. As expensive as this thing is you think that it would come with better protection. Most cases for the Nintendo DS will fit this player. The screen guards for the Sony PS2 will fit the screen.
On: 2007-02-06
Screen size is just right. Really like the wide screen. Movies and Pictures are sharp and crisp. Audio is really nice with unexpected bass depth. Not 5k to 25k but still good sound. Navigation is smooth and easy.
Just wish it had the ability to use eBooks in .lit format.
On: 2007-02-06
This player is a great player. It plays most formats that are common available and has a large memory so you can store all your music and pictures and some video. The software is pretty good too. Great color screen and compatible with your TiVoToGo feature. Its screen is so good looking it shows the lack of compression in certain video features (like TiVo). Bulky to use as just an MP3 player but fantastic sounding too with my Sennheiser PX-100. Try higher compression for best sound. Dont worry you have the memory room for it.
On: 2007-02-02
What an excellent device. I cant believe I have waited this long to purchase this media player. I have been using a 60 GB video iPod for the past year and this thing blows it out of the water. The screen is crisp, bright and gorgeous.
Pros:
Screen
Sound
Screen
Ease of use
Screen
Ease of loading music and videos
Battery Life
Standard USB 2.0 cable to sync
CF Card reader
Cons:
Size, but its understandable....The screen makes up for the size.
Very little accessories (Hard to find a good case)
I will never go back to Apple. Unless they have a touchscreen 16:9 80gb with a CF reader.
On: 2007-01-28
Had the Zen Vision W 60GB for several weeks now and it has performed flawlessly. Great sound, video and photo storage...love how it sounds with my Shure sound isolating ear buds...has a nice equalizer option...both built-in and customizable settings. So far it has worked seamleesly with Windows Media Player 11 on both my notebook and desktop computers. Be sure to update the Creative software to assure its compatibility with WMP 11 and the CD cover thumbnails displayed in the Library. May be a bit bulkier than other mp3 players or the iPods, but size was not an issue in my choice (except for the gorgeous wide screen video)...I wanted storage and Windows-based video use, as well as compatibility with many diferent audio and video file formats.
It is my first Creative purchase, but my son and a number of colleagues swear by the Zen line of players. So far, I couldnt agree more.
On: 2007-01-27
I received the Zen Vision W 60 a little over a month ago. It took me awhile to figure out how to download music (the best format) and movies because I am not savvy in this area. Trying to find and download movies in a safe manner was especially challenging for me. But once I figured everything out, I downloaded music, pictures and movies like crazy. The Creative Media Source Organizer and Zen Vision W Media Explorer made ripping and organizing easy. Creative also provides hundreds of free Zen Cast (pod cast) downloads. The picture quality is fantastic. The navigation buttons situated on the right side of the unit were easier to use than I anticipated. Although, I think I still like iPODs navigation method better. It is loaded with features and came supplied with almost everything I need. I appreciate that the battery is replaceable and that the unit supports downloads in several formats. I did experience static in the earphones supplied with the unit so I contacted Creative and they quickly sent me a new pair. I also found the unit to be a bit large to carry but I manage to fit it in the glove/mp3 pocket of my fleece jacket. I would not recommend it for use during vigorous activity. If you want a unit loaded with features and a large, sharp picture, I would not let the size turn you away. Overall, I recommend this product.
On: 2007-01-25
This is my first portable media techno gadget. My spouse offered to buy me an ipod for Christmas, but after reading the review of this in Wired and the on-line reviews of the Vision W, I begged for this instead. So glad I did. It is as nice as the reviews state it is. It is easy to use if you have basic knowledge of file transfer and the picture clarity is unbelievable. I purchased the max. memory storage with visions of using it for movie watching, listening to audio books and music during travel. I certainly would recommend this product if you want to go beyond just MP3 files without taking more equipment with you!
On: 2007-01-25
When I first took it out of the box, first thing I noticed was the size of its display. It was really huge for a handheld multimediea device.
I was curious about its performance in viewing mpeg4 movies. I transfered one of my divx files which is about 350mb. Its performance was more than Ive expected.
On: 2007-01-23
Let me first say that I am so glad that I did not go the IPOD route because of its MANY limitations. This player is amazing. It will take SO many different types of music or video files which makes it far superior to IPOD.
Screen clarity is great for videos, love the EQ options and the ability to customize your own. I have the 60GB Zen W model(its been out about 3 months now) which has currently about 2000 songs and close to 125 hrs of vidoe on it, and I still have 20 gigs to go. Have fun filling it up, its taken me almost 3 weeks of nonstop work. Rips a song in about 20 secs from CD, and a 2 hr video in 90 secs (using Video Vault after conversion for Vids).
I bought the wireless remote, and the buttons vs. touch pad is no big deal. Earbuds are good but I upgraded to Creatives $99 in ear phones which are AWESOME (I also have Shures comparible in ear model and Creatives is far superior). I also purchased a spare battery which is easily interchangeable and relatively cheap. Avg batt life so far is about 2 1/2 hrs for video, and who knows for audio b/c Ive let it play all day on audio w/ a full charge and it didnt die, however that is with the switch in lock mode which turns off the screen. Player charges with USB cable (included) or AC adapter (included).
The out options are incredible, I can hook it to any TV or projector and surprisingly the picture is pretty good using full screen mode. (3 way Cable is included)
It also has an external speaker which works pretty good.
When it comes to you it has a protective plastic over the screen DO NOT THROW IT AWAY it keeps your screen from scratching and works well. (A replacement costs about 14 bucks)
So what are the cons?
1. It doesnt handle static well and rebuilds the drive every time you pop it so I recommend purchasing the SKIN which is made of silicone from Creative it totally eliminates static and is great for protecting your player from accidental drops.
2. It is pretty big so dont look to use it on your person while aggressively excercising (just for walking) It does however fit in a suit coat inner pocket with SKIN on and in its velvet pouch (included).
3. It doesnt have all of the IPOD gimmick options yet (its not been out long and Creative assures that more options are coming)but for around $25 you can purchase a Belkin FM digital transmitter which will allow you to listen to it anywhere that has FM. (GREAT OPTION)
So far thats all I find, mabye because Im very pleased.
Overall, its durable, well made, and very easy to use even if you are somewhat computer illiterate.
Again let me stress that IPODS confine you to Itunes or Ivideo. If you want freedom buy this player, you wont be sorry! And if a larger video screen is important to you the Zen Vision W is the player for you. It is worth every dime I paid for it, and more!!
On: 2007-01-23
I just got this device a couple of days ago and i tell u it is amazing. The cf card is fast currently i comes in black and it can be used as a hdd so very easy controls and can be used as a removable hardrive and has could features for ppl who want to watch movies oh and ya sorry about the spelling
On: 2007-01-20
Although I bought one black Zen Vision W 60 GB, they send me white power adapter cable. The other things are OK.
On: 2007-01-19
Well our household purchased 2 Zen Vision Ws for Christmas 2006. To date we have been extremely happy with this multi media machine. The screen, colour, clarity has NO equal. The storage of musical tracks is awesome and so many playback features that are really, really cool. The computer software interface is very user friendly and ables you to set up everything within minutes, easy editing makes this a ongoing delight to work with.
The only negatives would be the lack of accessories currently available but some research at creative, ebay and other sites things slowly coming on strong.
I read hundreds of reviews before purchasing this product, I sampled and looked at the competition - Hmmm there is none that packs so much into one extremely versatile machine.
Top marks Creative, thank-you for an awesome Christmas and beyond!
On: 2007-01-18
The Zen Vision W fulfills every need for a portable entertainment device. If battery life was just a little longer it would be perfect.
I know others might criticize the size and weight,but how else are you going to have decent sized wide screen? The device has to be at least as big as the screen. If you want small then buy a smaller device. Beautiful!
On: 2007-01-18
I am very pleased with this product. It fulfilled all my expectations. Easy to learn to use; easy to navigate. Cool stuff!
On: 2007-01-17
throw away ipod and zune this one is great i love it. Easy to tranfer your songs and music. You can delete right from your zen which I love. Its easy to load and delete. The picture is great. I love it
On: 2007-01-17
outstanding product, thinking of buying another one for myself, great picture easy to use, nice size. this is the next step in these types of units
On: 2007-01-16
First of all, why dont places like Best Buy and Circuit City sell more goodies like this?.. This product is superb... excellent compatability as media player, or as removable hard drive, and the OS is set up quite nicely. Great battery life, and I truly was impressed with the clarity of the screen when watching higher-resolution videos.
The size may deter some folks away, but this thing fits in my inner jacket pocket, so there shouldnt be any troubles keeping comfortably at-hand while flying, etc.
One last thing that impressed me is Creatives extra effort to increase compatibility... When you upload a non-compatible video to your ipod, you are out of luck. Buy the software for conversions, and you might get lucky. With Creative, however, any incompatible format will be converted automatically when you try to upload it to the Zen W.
I have a total of 7 mp3 players and/or media players, and I couldnt have asked for anything more in my newest toy, the Creative Zen W. Thanks for such an excellent product!
On: 2007-01-13
This player works great and the software with it makes it easy to transfer stuff to it.
On: 2007-01-13
I own an IPOD and it is a good unit once you get by the ACC file conversions. However, if you are looking for great video and music with a picture that you dont have to magnify to watch then the Zen is for you. It will do just about any thing you want to. The size of the unit is a little big but then I am not running with the unit. It has a removable battery which is great too. If you have a really good ear I would recommend a BOSE headset instead of the ear buds.
On: 2007-01-12
So easy to use, big beautiful screen, great battery life for such a large device, plays every music, video, and picture format I throw at it, compactflash reader, excellent audio quality, highly recommend. If looking for something smaller, not very small, quite large, but still pocketable.
On: 2007-01-10
There are plenty of the DVD transfer softwares for iPod and PSP, but no way to Vision W. As like a good Digita SLR Camera without a flash memory.
On: 2007-01-10
My husband and I bought each other these for Christmas...They are great! Lots of storage (Ive got ALL of our digital pics on mine), plus weve moved various tv shows weve recorded to them to have them portable for viewing (either in bed, in the car, etc.). The jack it comes with knows if its connecting to a tv (and therefore sends video) or a stereo (and therefore just sends audio), and the sound through real speakers is awesome. (The sound through the built in speaker leaves something to be desired, but even computer speakers work well.) Friends of ours have already said that when the next version comes out, they are sure we will get new ones and our boys will get these...
Louise
On: 2007-01-09
I have owned this for approximately six weeks now and after some initial hiccups with software used for DVD movies this device has worked like a charm. Screen size is great and as I travel every week I receive constant stares as people walk up and down the aisle of the airplane! It is like an IPOD on Steroids!!!
On: 2007-01-04
I got a Zen V Plus and was so taken with the thing that I decided that "bigger must be better". NOT!!! Granted, I am a novice portable audio device user, but I have had nothing but frustration with this darn thing. First, the software didnt work. Neither the product documentation, which is "bare bones" at best, nor the Creative website has the word "troubleshooting" anywhere to be found. Forget about manufacturer product support; it is only available 8-5 M-F when most of the world is working and doesnt have time to spend hours trying to sort through and work out the many problems encountered. Only by reading the discussion threads in the Creative website and learning from other users did I discover that I needed an upgraded version of WMP and some other program. Once I got those programs I could at least get music into the device. But now the website I was using to get music doesnt recognize that the Vision W has 60 GB to work with and I can only get the 6 GB of content that is available on the Zen V Plus. It appears that there is only one supplier that supports video for this unit and it is extremely limited in what you can get and other reviews of that supplier cast doubt on the safety and integrity of it. For the money, I wish now that I had just gotten an i-POD. If youre very tech savvy, you may be very happy with this product. But for novices I dont recommend it!
On: 2007-01-04
I JUST LOVE THIS PLAYER IT IS SO EASY TO USE. THE ONLY PROBLEM IS THAT THE BATTERY CAPACITY IS NOT THE 14 HOURS ADVERTISED IT GIVES ABOUT 10-11 HOURS ON A SINGLE CHARGE. I WOULD DEFINITELY RECOMMEND THIS PRODUCT AS A GOOD BUY
On: 2006-12-27
I have owned Creative MP3 players in the past (my first MP3 player was the Creative Jukebox then I bought a ZEN Nomad) and have been very pleased with the quality.
I just got a Vision W for Christmas.
The device itself is awesome.
However, the software that I received with the player is worthless. I have spent almost $80 buying and downloading software to allow me to rip CDs in MP3 format and to try to get videos on my device.
It is a struggle to get things sorted/figured out.
I listen to quite a few "podcasts". I am not able to get the "zencast" program to work. I am not able to subscribe to any podcasts successfully. Each time I try, | | |
