I'm buying the Creative Zen Vision M player tomorrow and will give it a fair review once I've had it a few days.
A few of the reasons I'm going with the Zen Vison M over the Video iPod (and these are confirmed over and over everywhere I look)
1. The Zen sounds better than the iPod...repeat...it SOUNDS better...what is the most important thing to you? Sound has to rank pretty high for an audio player eh?.
2. The video screen blows Apple's away. 256 colors vs 64. Brighter, crisper, not a single person said the iPod has a better screen.
3. Apple has some lame ass quicktime format everything has to be in. The Zen plays flawlessly: DivX 4 and 5(5), XviD(5), MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG4-SP, WMV9 and Motion-JPEG. You Apple geeks have fun converting everything! (a huge waste of time and pain in the ass over downloading whatever and playing in the Zen)
3. Along with playing all the major formats, the Zen also works with Tivo-to-Go....that's the BEST DVR out there, not some lame Apple format again. TiVo > all other DVRs.
4. Zen includes a USB 2.0 cable, A/C adapter. That's right Apple lovers, you don't have to pay more for an AC adapter. (why the fuck wouldn't that be standard?)
5. Zen has an FM Tuner while Apple has some non integrated add-on you need to pay more for.
6. Zen allows you to make FM recordings of any length and also set a timer to record when you wish. Apple iPod has jack shit.
7. Zen has a built in Mic and again allows you to record lectures, etc for any length. Apple has jack shit.
8. About now, I need to remind you that the Creative Zen SOUNDS better and the Video looks better than the iPod. (key points to remember on top of everything else...other minor things like much better battery life for the Zen)
9, Apple has something gay called iTunes and you're locked into it with an iPod. Zen allows you to use services like napster, rhapsody, Yahoo!, msn music, aol music, or virgin digital (best price per month). Wherever you decide to download your music, it will work on the Zen.
10. The battery issue is no contest between the Zen and Apple. 12 hours for music, 4.5 hours for video...enjoy your 2 hours (not even enough for some movies) on your COOL iPod.
11. You can assign up to 16gb of the Zen to me used as an external HD and place any files you wish on it. Apple has jack shit.
12. The Zen has it's own software or it can be used directly with Windows Media Player 10 for creating playlists, managing, downloading album art, etc. With Apple, you have iTunes and that's it. You can link any podcast service to the Zen as well. Apple = forced conversions, forced software...Zen = optional software, open format, and ability to use whatever you want.
Lets recap so far...
Zen vs Apple
Zen has:
-Better battery life
-sounds better
-better screen
-better video
-multiple video formats
-included key accessories
-multiple audio formats
-multiple mp3 services
-FM Tuner
-FM Recording
-Mic recording
-Ability to use as external HD to transport data
So what's important to you?
Best sound? (afterall, you're listening to it!)
Most format compatibility and smoothest looking video on the best, brightest screen?
Work with Tivo-toGo, best DVR on the market?
Not being bound to a single format, single service?
Not having to convert everything to a single format? (time wasted)
Why the fuck would you buy an iPod? I can't fucking stand them. Suck some more Steve Jobs cock! Blind as bats...loving that proprietary crap! Convert, convert convert!
Honestly, the Apple iPods seem like a huge pain in the ass...forcing you to use iTunes, use Quicktime (convert everything), use whatever audio format they use (convert), run on crappy battery, and to top it off, they sound worse. Make you use iTunes software on an otherwise perfectly good PC.
Biggest argument so far pro Apple is that iPods are "cool". um, ok. Why don't you go beat up the weird kid in the corner. That'd probably be considered cool too!
What the hell is wrong with you people! Stop buying those overpriced, bareboned, under featured, proprietary PoS iPods!
CHICKENFUCKERS!
I hope this Creative Zen Vision M turns out to be a winner after all of that!
The buttons light up!