anybody have one of these? i'm thinking about getting one and have read up on the reviews and stuff but one of them said that the xvid/divx support was bad becuase you still ended up having to recompress everything down to the resolution of the device - which is like 640x480 and i just really want to avoid compressing things again. got a lot of mpeg-2s and divx/xvid avis that i'd like to be able to watch.

any opinions on that or the player in general?

http://tinyurl.com/ajyqb

3/16/2007 3:53:13 PM

I bought the Zen Vision M a week or so ago (http://thewolfweb.com/message_topic.aspx?topic=465023). It's video support kicks the ipods ass. AVI, DIVX, MPEG, it plays em all. Battery life is pretty good, the only thing I can't stand is the syncing software kinda sucks and takes a good while to do.

Yeah, you do have to downconvert hi-res videos, and my vision M doesn't have support for videos encoded with AC3 audio. But other than that, i'm happy with it and would definitely recommend it over the ipod.

3/16/2007 7:24:47 PM

i wish they could just make a small fucking device that could run VLC

3/16/2007 8:36:58 PM

dont do it


it is a creative product for fucks sake

what the hell is wrong with you people

3/16/2007 11:20:12 PM

i just want something to watch my movies on and listen to goddamn mp3s


why is this so damn hard

3/16/2007 11:44:56 PM

my nomad zen got pwnt in 3 weeks

3/17/2007 12:06:43 AM

I would give creative benefit of the doubt had they ever made a decent product in the history of their company

3/17/2007 12:09:30 AM

i like their sound cards but all of there portable stuff i've seen was trash

i've had archos audio/video players average 6 years each... the nomad zen made it 3 weeks

3/17/2007 12:13:10 AM

archos players are big and bulky though - isn't there anything portable (i.e. ~5" x ~2-3" x ~1") that is good!

3/17/2007 12:32:15 AM

^^^

they DID make the first harddisk music player like 10 years or so ago.

it looked exactly like a discman, and had 5 GB.

3/17/2007 5:59:27 AM

I have one, and have had it since November. Using WMP to sync sucks. The battery life is kinda terrible. The screen is great, but scratches easy.

3/17/2007 6:56:11 AM

good job not buying an ipod

3/17/2007 6:59:38 AM

hush Tyler



[Edited on March 17, 2007 at 7:12 AM. Reason : I got it for $150. Even you would do the same.]

3/17/2007 7:11:30 AM

got my ipod for free son from like givemeafreeipod.com

3/17/2007 7:15:43 AM

I DONT HAVE TIME FOR ALL THAT NONSENSE



besides, it's not really that bad

I'm just a professional complainer

[Edited on March 17, 2007 at 7:19 AM. Reason : aha]

3/17/2007 7:19:03 AM

the 4 total hours of bulllllshit it took me to sign up for, then cancel all that crap was totally worth the 40gb ipod. I spent like 3.75 of those hours while waiting for shit to render/compile at work.

3/17/2007 7:20:26 AM

meh, to each his own

3/17/2007 7:25:45 AM

word to that. I need to go to sleep damnit

3/17/2007 7:28:44 AM

Quote :

"I have one, and have had it since November. Using WMP to sync sucks. The battery life is kinda terrible. The screen is great, but scratches easy."

i wouldn't mind buying an extra $30 battery since it's replaceable.

this compression thing would bug me though - is it true? no ac3 audio and have to recompress anything that's above 640x480?

3/17/2007 11:41:35 AM

I've never had to recompress any videos. But i dont really pay attention to what size they are, either. Most of the stuff I've put on has been episodes of TV shows i downloaded from bittorrent. About the AC3 support, I guess I can look through my stuff and see if I have something to test it out.

[Edited on March 17, 2007 at 11:54 AM. Reason : .]

3/17/2007 11:53:31 AM

hmm those are usually < 640px wide anyways

3/17/2007 12:23:46 PM

umm i'm almost positive i had a 6 gig archos in 96

3/17/2007 1:12:43 PM

^^ yeah, just noticed that

I loaded a hd format wmv and it did not play.

3/17/2007 3:18:10 PM

ah well, most of my stuff is below 640 anyways and the rare things at 720, i can recompress if i really want to take with me. i think i'm going to get it

how bad is the viewing angle problem that everyone seems to be complaining about?

3/17/2007 4:13:15 PM

well, I have a case for mine that makes it damn near impossible to read unless you're looking directly at it, but without the case I'd say it's not bad at all.

3/17/2007 4:22:53 PM

I've had my Zen Vision:M since around September or so. I use it all the time and I have no complaints. It definitely kicks the iPods ass when it comes to transferring your video files, etc. You pretty much have to convert everything for the iPod. I also use the mic to record lectures in class pretty discretely. I've never used the FM tuner.

The only thing that annoys me sometimes, is that the menus lag a little bit. But other than that, I'm happy with it. Oh, and the Apple just looks so damned clean and sleek on the exterior. But If I could do it all over again, I'd probably buy a Zune.

3/17/2007 5:08:43 PM

^ I can understand wanting a zen (although I don't think it plays back all the video formats at 30fps), but do you realize the zune has the same video limitations as the iPod, as far as only being able to play back certain limited formats?

3/17/2007 5:27:16 PM

ordered.

$160 isn't bad

now to find a decent pair of headphones.

[Edited on March 17, 2007 at 5:46 PM. Reason : .]

3/17/2007 5:46:27 PM

It says it plays back mpeg4 video, but it doesn't say mpeg4 audio, that's odd.

3/17/2007 5:51:49 PM

<3 removable battery
ordered

3/17/2007 6:26:50 PM

a zune... seriously ??

i think i'm about to get the archos 704 wifi....

80gig touch screen and wifi... i mean.. $texas but that shit is siick



[Edited on March 17, 2007 at 7:22 PM. Reason : .]

3/17/2007 7:21:20 PM

i wanted something small/portable otherwise an archos is the best option

3/17/2007 7:25:57 PM

i have the archos av340 and its not really great at anything...
screen is too small for vids but its to bulky to use just for music

so my new phone has 4 gigs of music on it.. and i'll get one for traveling...
i might just get a laptop though... and quit avoiding the inevitable

3/17/2007 7:30:22 PM

yeah my phone can play music from miniSD cards and i have 2gb on it right now but it doesn't have a convenient headphone jack - it's one of those retarded phone jacks

3/17/2007 7:43:02 PM

yeah... mine has a phone jack that converts to 1/8" (i think)

3/17/2007 8:00:19 PM

and battery life BLOWSSSS if you're listening to music

3/17/2007 8:01:26 PM

mine still lasts 2 days

3/17/2007 8:03:37 PM

I have a zen vision M and the battery life is pretty good. I've watched about 2 hours worth of video and have taken it to the gym every day this week since Tuesday on the same charge.

3/17/2007 10:22:35 PM