Portable media players (PMPs) are still coming of age, and it isn't yet clear where the sweet spot is in terms of size and video quality. But Creative is definitely covering its bases, between its Zen Vision—a full-fledged PMP with a gorgeous 3.7-inch screen—and now the new Zen Vision:M ($329 direct), an iPod-size (yeah, we said it, so what?) 30GB player that plays music, photos, and video. Is this the iPod-killer the world has (or hasn't) been waiting for? Not quite. Apple still wins out hands-down for hardware/software integration. Still, in terms of just the hardware, the Zen Vision:M comes closer to taking a bite out of Apple than anything else out there. Creative is making some inroads on the software side as well, with its new ZenCast.com site and ZenCast Organizer, which make a wealth of podcasts (audio and video) available to Zen Vision and Zen Vision:M users.
Portable media players (PMPs) are still coming of age, and it isn't yet clear where the sweet spot is in terms of size and video quality. But Creative is definitely covering its bases, between its Zen Vision—a full-fledged PMP with a gorgeous 3.7-inch screen—and now the new Zen Vision:M ($329 direct), an iPod-size (yeah, we said it, so what?) 30GB player that plays music, photos, and video. Is this the iPod-killer the world has (or hasn't) been waiting for? Not quite. Apple still wins out hands-down for hardware/software integration. Still, in terms of just the hardware, the Zen Vision:M comes closer to taking a bite out of Apple than anything else out there. Creative is making some inroads on the software side as well, with its new ZenCast.com site and ZenCast Organizer, which make a wealth of podcasts (audio and video) available to Zen Vision and Zen Vision:M users.

Measuring 4.1 by 2.4 by 0.7 inches and weighing 5.7 ounces, the Zen Vision:M is roughly 60 percent thicker and nearly an ounce heavier than the fifth-generation 30GB iPod. It's got quite a few more features than Apple's offerings, though at $329.99 compared with $299 for the 30GB iPod you pay a premium for them. The 2.5-inch LCD screen's resolution is 320 by 240 pixels and is capable of reproducing 262,144 colors. The back of the device is anodized white, and the front is glossy black. It's also available in white, blue, green, and pink. The whole device seems to be solidly built, with no obvious fit-and-finish issues.

The controls are a departure from those of the Zen Micro, though they're still based on a vertical touch strip. The layout consists of four large tactile buttons, plus two more that surround the touch strip. We're glad Creative went with the tactile buttons instead of the more finicky touch-sensitive ones on the Zen Micro. The touch strip's sensitivity is adjustable, and it supports tapping as a method of selecting options. Most of the controls will be familiar to Creative fans, including the play/pause, track skip, back, and contextual menu buttons, but there's a brilliant addition: a customizable My Shortcut button. Under the Player Settings in the System menu, you can choose a function or menu item for that button to jump to, no matter what mode or menu you're in. (We set ours to Start Recording so we could make audio notes with a single button push during testing.) The icons on all the buttons are brightly backlit in blue, but there aren't any tactile cues (other than the lip around the touch strip), so navigating by feel is a challenge.

The not-so-hot news is that the Zen Vision:M has a proprietary dock connector. Instead of a special cable, the player comes with a little dongle that plugs into the dock connector (much like the one that comes with the Cowon iAudio X5), giving you a standard mini-USB 2.0 port, a power jack (thankfully, Creative includes an AC adapter), and an A/V output for viewing video and photos on a TV.