Customer Reviews
great player, great price 
2008-10-06
simply put, this is a better product and cheaper than a similarly sized ipod when I bought it. It's also proven to be very robust. I've had mine two years nearly with not a single problem, even though I've dropped it many times, and given it similar hard knocks.
My new best friend!! 2008-10-04
As an avid music listener, I was happy to be rid of my CD player, and my first choice was to get an IPOD. But a family member told me about the Zen and I'm sure glad she did! It's so easy to use, you can upload CDs, mp3s, WAVs, photos, and videos within minutes. You can customize your background (one of my personal favorite features) You can delete pics or songs or albums or playlist right from the device if you choose (yes, deleting without connecting to a computer!) The LCD display is crystal, the capacity is awesome, I probably won't fill this thing in a lifetime and I listen to A LOT of bands. So, it's a bit thicker than the IPOD, so what!?! That's really the only con about it I can think to name. Get this little gadget, you won't regret it.
A little poem I dedicated with my experience with Creative Zen Vision: M 
2008-10-03
Broken MP3 Player
My mp3 player is a tangle of wires
A mixture of pain and unaccomplished desires
Who boasted about all the features it brought
But its buttons broke a couple months after was bought
And the headphones that it came with later envisioned
To only utilize the left ear-bud to listen
Which leaves me a brick in a vegetative state
That when neglecting its size, still embodies `dead weight'
As a box that can store a considerable amount of music
With less than an adequate means of access to use it
Unreliable piece of trash 2008-10-02
I started off really liking this product. Then the problems started. The player would hang, then freeze completely and wouldn't even let me turn it off. I had to use a bent paper clip to press the reset button over and over again. After about eight months of use, the player wouldn't turn on unless you charged it overnight, and God forbid if you let it go to sleep mode. Eventually, after about 11 months, it died completely.
And forget getting assistance from Creative Labs. They won't even speak to you over the phone; you have to run the gauntlet of their unintuitive web site, and they won't deal with you at all if the product is out of warranty.
11 months isn't long enough for a product even one-eighth the cost of this piece of garbage. Save your money and don't buy Creative.
No more CD players after this buy! 2008-10-02
This is the best purchase I have ever made. You can put all your MP3, WAV & other files on the MP3 player. What I like most is that you don't have to subscribe to a specific web site to download music. You can put your own on there, buy music or audio books from any web site and put them on your player! It even has a FM Radio and I can put pictures, movies, etc on there. No more CD players for me on road trips!
Creative Labs customer service 2008-09-29
Creative Labs' ZEN Vision:M is the fusion of music, photos and video into one compact player. With its 30GB of storage you can store up to 15,000songs, and up to 120 hours of video. Use it as a portable storage device, for sharing all your audio, video and photos easily. In between listening and viewing session you can hear the top songs on the FM tuner. Sync your player's personal organizer with Microsoft Outlook to transfer your calendar, contacts and task list so you won't miss your important appointments and anniversaries. Watch TV, film and video clips on the LCD monitor -- or connect the Zen Vision:M to a TV and enjoy video that's larger than life. Photo formats - JPEG, GIF, TIFF, PNG and BMP Video Playback - Up to 4 hours Syncs with and views Microsoft Outlook Contacts, Calendar&Tasks 8 EQ settings - Acoustic, Classical, Disco, Jazz, New Age, Pop, Rock and Vocal Contacts, calendar and tasks Repeat, resume, and random play Sleep and wake timers Outputs - TV-out with stereo audio; 3.5 mm mini-jack composite Battery life - Up to 14 hours (Charge time - 6.5 hours USB, 2.5 hours AC) Dimensions(WxHxD) - 4.1 x 2.4 x 0.7 Weight - 5.7 oz.
I've Had It For Three Years. 
2008-09-27
I bought this little wonder when it was considered the best mp3/video player on the market. This was and is Creative's best attempt at gaining some room against Apple and the multitude of other companies out there.
Even after three years, the Vision M has the best video support in the market when you compare it to other players except for Cowon's and Archo's tablets which support virtually every codec format. (an excellent exception would be the cowon D2)
I use the Vision M for three hours daily and I recharge it every four, five days. Of course the player is always on the hold position, meaning that the screen is always off. This has been its routine for the past two years and a half. It has never failed, except for a few frozen experiences where I've had to reset the player and wait 5 minutes for the library to be rebuilt. (I've come to believe my battery will last forever since my IPOD died after only one year and three months and had to be replaced.)
The sound quality when compared to my IPOD is stellar. It is comfortable and precise all around. I've spent as much money on my headphones as I have for my 6 mp3 players, so I know a little bit about what sounds good.
The reason why i won't give the Vision M a five star rating is simple: Creative does not support products which they have discontinued, which means that this player will probably never get a new firmware update. Don't get me wrong. The firmware on this player is phenomenal. The player works flawlessly and it offers many things the competition even after 3 years does not; however, the audio codec support is poor.
WMA, MP3, WAV, and audible are supported, but it is widely known that the player has the hardware needed to support every other codec on the planet. Creative just won't implement it. Now that apple's ACC and podcast videos are omnipresent, it is just a dumb move from Creative's part not to allow its costumers to use their hardware to the extreme. Not to mention the 30 GB's could well be used for Ogg and flac audio formats.
Overall this little wonder is still an impressive piece of equipment. I can't find a better replacement, so I will probably buy another one when mine finally gives in.
* Forgot to mention the Vision M looks great when connected to a TV. I've had fun times with friends and family looking at pictures and watching movies on a big screen.
Probably the best creation so far 2008-09-23
I loved this Zen, i have been using it for a year and half and it feels like i just bought it, its refreshing to play this everytime,either video or music or radio. I am so glad i got this.
Thanks creative!
Great product 2008-09-06
Great product all around. It finally broke last week, but that is because I leaned up against a table, and the corner of said table destroyed the screen. The MP3 player still works, but the screen is deceased. Great buy, though. Thanks again!
Still Playing Strong 2008-08-27
I purchased my Zen Vision M shortly after I bought one for my son for a birthday present 2 years ago. Although I've had to replace my sons twice due to mishandling, mine is still going strong. My Zen has been very reliable. I leave it in my car overnight during the winter months (western Massachusetts) and never have had any problems with the screen cracking or anything else. I have a leather case on it and have dropped it in my driveway and in my work parking garage several times. It still works. Maybe I'm lucky. I know putting it in a duffel bag or a back pack is not a wise idea, for those things tend to get thrown around without consideration as to the contents (see my son's luck with Zen). I use it everyday and update the play lists at least once a week. The touch pad is a little sensitive for my liking, even after configuring it for the least sensitive setting. But I can live with that.
Works great with Windows XP and Windows Vista. There are some software "glitches" that can be worked around if you are a little computer savvy. The software that comes with it has an "Vision M Explorer" which does seem a little slow to respond at times, so I don't use it and instead use Windows Explorer to browse and manage the folders on the player. I use Media Player to Sync or get music from My PC to the Zen and Syncing is only as fast as your computer, so don't blame Creative: it's the PC. Along those lines, the video quality of the Zen is only as good as the video quality of the video file you are trying to play. If it looks good on your Pc, there is a good bet it will look good on the Zen; if it looks grainy on your PC, don't expect something better on the Zen.
FM radio is fine. Stations I get are within 30 to 50 miles, but I don't know their wattage. I think with radio's reception is subject to where you are.
There is still plenty of space on it even with having many videos on it.
As far as the extended warranties are concerned, that is a separate review unto itself, but I will tell you READ THE FINE PRINT. Some companies like Square Trade will not cover accidental damage unless you purchase that as an added on expense. And then that type of coverage is buried in their literature on page whatever, so you never get to it before going blind or falling asleep. NEW however covered one of my son's replacements no questions asked and it had a cracked screen, however it did take over a month to get the process going (I have a review for them it was not good). However it was worth it even though it took a lot of time and frustration to get the replacement. And of course once they replaced it, the original warranty was no longer valid, so when he broke it again, I had to buy another one on EBAY where I was offered the Square Trade warranty. The warranty differences really were the only negative things I could say, and since that is not Creative's problem it gets 5 starts from me.
