Creative Zen Vision 30GB - Expert Reviews

Review summary: Portable media player Creative was one of the first companies to back Microsoft's Portable Media Centre standard, with its Zen PMC. Now it's back with a new addition to its portable media player line-up, although this time the firm has decided to turn ...

Verdict: While the capabilities are similar to that of PMC, this brings both advantages and disadvantages

Review summary: Creative was one of the first companies to back Microsoft's Portable Media Center standard, with its Zen PMC (see Nov 04 issue). Now it's back with a new addition to its portable media player lineup, although this time the firm has decided to turn its ...

Verdict: The Vision improves on the PMC in some areas, but is lacking in others. The ability to play more video formats without conversion is welcome, but the screen is a letdown, despite its increased resolution. At £300 it's cheaper than the PMC but still ...

Pros: Large screen, easy to use menu system, 30Gb hard drive built in

Cons: Only plays movies, music and images

Verdict: The Zen Vision is a nice piece of kit, however, aside from the hard drive, we can't see why you would want to buy one over a PSP that has the added benefit of being able to play games on it.

Review summary: Radio: Yes, Recording, Voice: Yes, Recording, Line In: No, Weight: 8.4 oz, Screen Size: 640 x 480 pixels, Capacity:...

Pros: Large, high-resolution screen. Good included earbuds. Strong headphone output. Video and photos look great. Decent battery life.function Video(mypage, myname, w, h, scroll) {var winl = (screen.width - w) / 2;var wint = (screen.height - h) / 2;winprops ...

Cons: Narrow viewing angle. No line-in audio recording. No repeat for slideshows. No sequential playback or playlists for video. Inadequate documentation ; See the Creative Zen Vision in Action

Verdict: With a big, beautiful screen, the Zen Vision offers a compelling audiovisual experience, but it's not without its drawbacks.