Zen and the art of iPod killing

No company has worked harder than Creative to challenge Apple’s iPod. While it’s now hard to find any tech manufacturer out there without an iPod clone, Creative were in there from the start and have built up a range of every conceivable shape size and format of portable music players.

The early Zen range is capable, but cannot compare to the slick design of the iPod and its clever interface. For video playback, the pioneering Zen Vision is arguably the best large-screen (640x480) video player, competing only with products from Archos in that category. But large screen video players have not caught on to anywhere near the degree smaller music-only players have. Only with the recent iPod Video have the two platforms of sound and video converged.

We have always been a little disappointed with previous Zen players. They are the little players that tried, but couldn’t. The design feels rushed and incomplete, the interface (both the PC software and the buttons on the players themselves) have been slow, sloppy and irksome. Ultimately, for pure ‘sexy’ the iPod runs away with the prize every time.

All that has been turned upside-down now. Within just a minute of playing with the new Zen Vision: M you know that this is the player to own all players. It is clear that Creative invested heavily in making the Vision: M the very best possible player. This is not a rebadged Chinese clone, it is not a hobbled together gadget from off the shelf parts. It is an exquisitely designed and engineered product that, finally, towers over every portable media player currently available.

It’s dead sexy, and I mean drop dead gorgeous. This is the sort of gadget you know you just have to have the moment you see it, much like the PSP was, but even there Creative teaches Sony some crunching lessons in style and user friendliness.

The 2.5” screen fills the top half of the unit, with the control below. It’s exactly the same size as the iPod Video. We tested them side by side and the Zen’s video quality was noticeably better, thanks to its 262,144 colour support compared to the iPod Video’s paltry by comparison 65,000 colours. If you intend to spend any amount of time actually watching video on a portable player the Zen Vision: M is the only choice right now, while the greater colour depth also helps the onscreen displays look brilliant.

Apple’s slick and simple menu and interface is a hard act to beat, but we found the Zen Vision: M superior in almost every way. Navigating is instant, and I mean instant. Previous Zen’s lagged for a couple of seconds between selection screens, this one is a perfect delight to use. The menu screens make great use of the colour screen without being over the top. The look is sophisticated and mature, far showier than the iPod’s austere look. A selection of themes is there for all tastes. It’s a joy to use and scores show-off points that nothing else can touch.

Creative persists with the  Touch Pad control which is still over-sensitive and is the unit’s only Achilles Heel. If you own one you’ll get used to it eventually, but Apple’s wheel is superior for regular use. Creative’s Touch Pad makes it all to easy to overshoot your target track as you navigate. New for this Zen is that the Touch Pad also has a left and right selector. 4-way, in other words.

Surrounding the Touch Pad are four click buttons for play, menu quick select, back and a customisable shortcut key. It would be very cool if they too were touch sensitive instead of clicky, but the risk of accidentally hitting the wrong button at the wrong time when the lock isn’t selected dictated that design decision, I assume.

All up it is a tight integrated design that is as practical as it is beautiful. Our test unit was gloss black and was a stunner. The buttons light up in sapphire blue and in even in bright light look sweet. There’s also versions in white, lime green, salmon pink and turquoise. None of us here liked the coloured models one bit, but that’s ok, everybody who buys one should get the black one, it’s just too sexy to choose anything else.

The Zen weighs in at 165 grams, the iPod Video is 134 grams and we really couldn’t tell the difference in everyday use. The Zen is twice as thick as the iPod though. Again, it didn’t bother us one bit, both are svelte little things but if you really are driven to pick the iPod video purely because it’s thinner, all power to you, but you’re missing out on what we consider to be the most important real advantages.

From here on in the Zen Vision: M strides ahead. The PC software for managing your files is simply head and shoulders above anything we’ve tried and it’s hard to imagine how it could be improved.

Creative use ‘Zen Explorer’ software as the player to PC interface. Previous versions were nasty horrible pieces of work, with the simple act of creating a playlist an exercise in illogical tedium. The new Zen Vision: M software is a dream. It fires up very quickly and is intuitive and friendly. It’s actually fun to use! Just like it should be. Single songs or videos can just be dragged and dropped without the fiddly sub-directory navigation of old. A playlist is created by just dragging a folder across. Bang. Simple.

It works just as effectively as a portable hard drive too. Earlier Zen’s asked that you format a data partition. That nonsense is behind us. Just dump whatever you like in it by dragging and dropping.

If a video format isn’t supported a friendly window pops up asking if you’d like to convert the file as it copies, with options for quality and screen format. There’s nothing  tricky about it. The interface is brilliantly designed and Sony should be ashamed for making such a ballsed up mess of PSP video in the face of Creative’s effortless and simple system.

It even syncronises with Outlook for contacts and calendars. Bliss.

The beautiful thing is that is does it all so smoothly. There’s not a thing to learn, it’s all right in front of you and makes perfect sense. It took me half a day to figure out the old Zen software and using it ever since is still a headache, this version takes 5 seconds to master and it’s fun to use. It gives complete control over your files, just as it should be. There’s no iTunes nonsense, you manage your files the way you want to, not how someone else tells you to.

I’ve saved the best until last. Zen Vision: M will play almost every file format, including DivX 4 and 5 and XviD! Another reason for Sony to hang its head in shame, we would happily choose the Zen’s smaller screen in favour of the PSP’s simply for the convenience. PSP’s video support is diabolical, it’s as if we somehow did something really bad once and Sony created the PSP to punish us.

The Zen won’t play Quicktime video or Ogg audio, but on the upside only the WMA format is encumbered with DRM, using the bearable PlaysForSure system. Almost any other audio format will happily play and give no grief while doing it. As mentioned, if a format isn’t supported there’s a good chance the Zen will quickly and easily convert it. This is how it should be. In time updates may add support for Ogg – whether official from Creative or otherwise… I’d bet on it.

As a video player the small screen is just fine for commuter hops, or, playing music videos instead of dull old plain music files. The 30GB drive is well enough to consider doing this.

The Zen also functions as a picture viewer, and again, every format under the sun is supported. There’s an FM radio receiver and recorder and a built-in microphone, too. It will also output to TV via a sold separately cable. It will output either PAL or NTSC, selectable from the menu.

Copying files is extremely speedy, via the USB 2.0 interface. It took less than 10 seconds to transfer a full album. Wow.

Sound quality is excellent, and the earbuds are much better than anything Creative’s released before. We also tested with Sennheiser HD595 audiophile headphones which would show up any shortcomings in the output, but the Zen rose to the occasion. The response is clear and unmuddied. There’s a “Bass Boost” option in the menu which really needs to be enabled to get a true well rounded sound, otherwise it’s a little flat. With such high quality on tap it’s best to make use of the generous 30GB storage and rip your music at the highest possible sample rate to really fly.

The buds that ship with it are also of the straight plug variety. Much better for any portable unit is the L-shaped audio plug which eliminates any chance of bending the jack while it’s banging around your pocket or bag.

While testing the Zen over the last week we did manage to add a few scratches to the screen. We weren’t being particularly careful though, and it does ship with a soft Chamois carry bag. If you own one you’ll take good care of it, I’m sure.

Creative claims twice the battery life of the iPod Video. We’ll be testing this under lab conditions and will post our findings.

The Zen Vision: M won’t be available in Australia until late March or early April. We’ve been told by Creative that pricing will be similar to the competition, which would make it around the $450 mark, but that’s yet to be confirmed. If indeed it does fall into that price range it would be tough to justify the purchase of an iPod Video instead of one of these.

Creative has finally nailed it. The Zen Vision: M is the end result of everything Creative has learned over the years trying to compete with Apple. It is a serious assault on the portable player market and right now it is easily the superior choice. It will do everything you need well, simply and put a smile on your face while you’re at it.

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