First it was Walkmans, and then came Discmans. Now we see a technological outburst of mp3 players. These players enable users to keep up to 80 gigabytes of their music on a small, handheld device. Most people have used, seen, or at least heard of Apple's iPod. What many consumers have not seen, however, are Creative's Zen mp3 players.
Zen mp3 players come in many shapes and sizes. The players in the Zen line are the Nano Plus, the players in the V series, the Vision: M, Vision W, and the original Zen. Among these players is a storage capacity range from 512 megabytes to 80 gigabytes. Another aspect of variety among the Zen mp3 players is the area on which emphasis was placed during design. While all of the players play music, this is the only task performed by the Nano Plus. The Vision: M and the players in the V series, however, are designed to play music and videos. While the Vision W and the original Zen also play music, their area of emphasis leans more toward video watching, as is made obvious by their large screens.
The apple iPod is by far the most popular mp3 player today. However, many consumers opt for the Creative Zen mp3 players as an alternative. There are several reasons for this. With iPods, users must use the iTunes software that comes with the player or can be downloaded from the internet for free. While the Creative Zen mp3 players also come with specific software, Windows Media Player can also be used to sync media files to the player.
Two more reasons for buying Zen mp3 players instead of an iPod are the color variety and the video transferring ease. First, the Zen players are available in a large variety of colors, which allows the owner to have a more personalized design of their Zen. iPods, however, are extremely limited in their color choice, with the iPod Nano being the only player to come in more colors than black or white. In addition to this is the great ease of transferring any types of video files to the Zen mp3 players. While it is difficult and confusing to transfer to an iPod videos that were not purchased from iTunes, it can be done in one simple step with the Zen players.
How much do they cost? Zen mp3 players are seen over a wide-span price range. The Vision: M and the Nano Plus are very closely related in cost to their close cousins, the original iPod and the iPod Nano, respectively. These players range from less than $50 to around $300. The video players, like the 80GB Vision W, are on the upwards side of the range, at more than $300.
For a little over a year now, I have been the proud owner of a light blue Creative Zen Vision: M. So far, my experience with my player has been one of great delight. The only problem I have had with my mp3 player was with the album art, but this was fixed with a simple software update. One other complaint about the Zen line is the software which comes with the player. Unlike many programs, such as iTunes, the media files on the player are viewed in a window much like Windows Explorer, and, like Explorer, are seen in a file view, rather than as Artists, Albums, or Track Titles. However, with the software update comes a new organizing program, in which my preferred view is available. Overall, I would greatly recommend Zen mp3 players to any who wish to veer from the popular iPods.
The popularity of Zen mp3 players, while still underneath that of iPods, is hastily increasing. Chances are we will soon see the Zen players in more and more hands as Creative spans their production and advertisement aims.
Ray Sabo http://www.cellphones-mp3.com
Zen mp3 players come in many shapes and sizes. The players in the Zen line are the Nano Plus, the players in the V series, the Vision: M, Vision W, and the original Zen. Among these players is a storage capacity range from 512 megabytes to 80 gigabytes. Another aspect of variety among the Zen mp3 players is the area on which emphasis was placed during design. While all of the players play music, this is the only task performed by the Nano Plus. The Vision: M and the players in the V series, however, are designed to play music and videos. While the Vision W and the original Zen also play music, their area of emphasis leans more toward video watching, as is made obvious by their large screens.
The apple iPod is by far the most popular mp3 player today. However, many consumers opt for the Creative Zen mp3 players as an alternative. There are several reasons for this. With iPods, users must use the iTunes software that comes with the player or can be downloaded from the internet for free. While the Creative Zen mp3 players also come with specific software, Windows Media Player can also be used to sync media files to the player.
Two more reasons for buying Zen mp3 players instead of an iPod are the color variety and the video transferring ease. First, the Zen players are available in a large variety of colors, which allows the owner to have a more personalized design of their Zen. iPods, however, are extremely limited in their color choice, with the iPod Nano being the only player to come in more colors than black or white. In addition to this is the great ease of transferring any types of video files to the Zen mp3 players. While it is difficult and confusing to transfer to an iPod videos that were not purchased from iTunes, it can be done in one simple step with the Zen players.
How much do they cost? Zen mp3 players are seen over a wide-span price range. The Vision: M and the Nano Plus are very closely related in cost to their close cousins, the original iPod and the iPod Nano, respectively. These players range from less than $50 to around $300. The video players, like the 80GB Vision W, are on the upwards side of the range, at more than $300.
For a little over a year now, I have been the proud owner of a light blue Creative Zen Vision: M. So far, my experience with my player has been one of great delight. The only problem I have had with my mp3 player was with the album art, but this was fixed with a simple software update. One other complaint about the Zen line is the software which comes with the player. Unlike many programs, such as iTunes, the media files on the player are viewed in a window much like Windows Explorer, and, like Explorer, are seen in a file view, rather than as Artists, Albums, or Track Titles. However, with the software update comes a new organizing program, in which my preferred view is available. Overall, I would greatly recommend Zen mp3 players to any who wish to veer from the popular iPods.
The popularity of Zen mp3 players, while still underneath that of iPods, is hastily increasing. Chances are we will soon see the Zen players in more and more hands as Creative spans their production and advertisement aims.
Ray Sabo http://www.cellphones-mp3.com
About the Author:
Raymond Sabo brings to you the views and knowledge for the Zen Vision mp4 players and more.
