With the relatively recent outburst of technological advancement came a tool that is now one of the most common portable entertainment tools today - mp3 players. Mp3 players are devices, increasingly smaller in size, which have an internal memory of anywhere from 128 megabytes to 80 gigabytes. Users can store, on these players, music files, most often in mp3 format, and sometimes pictures and/or videos. Among the most popular brands of mp3 players are the various Zen players, products of Creative Labs. 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. Why would someone choose a Zen mp3 player over an iPod? There are many reasons why this might happen, the first of which is the software. Many users enjoy being given the choice, with the Zen players, to use either Creative Media Explorer or Windows Media Player. With the iPod however, iTunes software must be used. 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. Two Christmases ago, I received a Creative Zen Vision: M.
So far, my experience has been a pleasant one. To this day, I have only two complaints about my player. First, I am not a big fan of the software.
Whereas in other programs, such as iTunes, the user can sort the music on the player by artist, album, or track title, this is not the case in Creative's Media Explorer. In the explorer, the music is seen in much the same format as Windows Explorer - in a file view. My second problem with my Zen player was with the album art, specifically the fact that it stopped showing up after about a year. Both of these problems, however, were fixed by a simple software update on the Creative Labs website.
Creative's Zen mp3 players, due to their sleek looks, large range in prices, and vast variety in products, have become increasingly popular. Although they still sit overshadowed by Apple's iPod, the Zen players are quickly gaining ground. produced and edited by Raymond Sabo http://www.cellphones-mp3.com.
Raymond Sabo brings to you the updates and knowledge for the Zen Vision mp4 players and more.
