Creative Zen Vision:M
Okay, before anyone reacts, I know what it looks like. If you can get over its its uncanny resemblance to a certain ubiquitous device for just a second, the Zen Vision:M actually has more than a few points in its favor.
The specs are vaguely familiar, with a 2.5-inch screen at 320x240 resolution and a 30GB hard drive, though thankfully Creative squeezed in 4 hours of video playback, doubling Apple’s endurance on at least video. The size of the two players is virtually identical, with the Zen Vision:M only changing it up on thickness - at about twice the iPod’s 0.43-inches. Creative did add their usual FM tuner and voice recording niceties, and they have a decent list of video format support, including MPEG-4, WMV, Motion JPEG, DivX, and XviD, so this $330 player could turn out to be a worthy candidate for video capable commuting buddy - if Apple’s lawyers don’t have something to say about it first.
With that aside, wow, they sure do look alike. Check out the images at the link to see just how similar they are (did I mention they looked alike?), particularly the UI. I don't really know what to say. On one hand, I'm not exactly an Apple fan (their products are great, just not to my tastes), and I'm all for competition that benefits the consumers in the end, but isn't this taking it a little too far? Sure the form factor they could have gotten away with, but seriously, the menus? We'll see how this does in the market, but I won't hold my breath - there was certainly a better way to have done this. Creative, indeed.
[edit: Apparently there's more to this than meets the eye.]
Creative’s new Zen Vision:M (with video) [Engadget]