MP3 players forum: Need Help Deciding, Ipod or Vision:M?

probably on the first page too. rather than starting another flame war, just do a search, and you'll probably find all you need.

I recommand you not get an ipod. I personally do not like ipod due to its low quality battery (many people report that their ipod battery dies in one year) and it is hard to replace. Second, Ipod can not compete with zen or gigbeat in video playback (zen vision m is the best out of the three). I own Zen vision m, and I love it. It's great but the software can be difficult sometimes. Hope you make the right choose.

both ipod and Zen vision:m do have lithuim rechargable batteries they are not the same type which you infer. The ipod has only 2 hours of video while the ZVM has 4.5 hours of battery life (thats quite a difference) .And the ZVM never had replaceable batteries which you stated.I am also not here to start a flame war but really please don't state facts about the ZEn vision:m which are not true. and 75 percent market share value only applies to the US not the whole world, in south korea apple only has a 8 percent share.

Here's a quote from the 1/26/06 PC Mag review:

"Despite its excellent video capabilities, the Zen Vision:M appears to us to be primarily an audio player, given its size and the existence of the Zen Vision. With that in mind, we were hoping for significantly more battery life for continuous audio playback than the 12 hours 45 minutes we got. (Creative's claim is 14 hours using only 128-Kbps MP3s, but our test uses a more realistic mix of files at 128 Kbps to 320 Kbps.) As for video battery life, the player lasted 4 hours and 20 minutes, which is substantially better than the iPod's 2 hours and thirty minutes of video playback."

Looks like the battery life is a plus with the ZVM if video is your thing, but if you're buying it for the music the battery is not a huge issue.

First: Creative claims their battery last 14 hours playing mp3 not 16 (30 gig). Second: I know a little about graphics and the link you provide shows a deliberately washed-out iPod and they added more contrast to the Zen. Yes the Zen has more colors but that was obviously exaggerated.

Here is the surprise from their site:
WMA playtime is horrible!

http://www.creative.com/products/product.asp?category=213&subcategory=214&product=14331&nav=1
Up to 8 hrs playtime (WMA, 64kbps, 4mins/ song)

I LOVE the slick design of the iPod and the integration of iTunes and nobody has actually answered this question yet (at least in the forums I have looked in :P) Is my iPod going to get scratched alot? and do I have to purchase a skin to protect it? How bad is the condition really??? Please Help. Planning to buy pretty soon. Thank You!

while i agree it's a great tool, it's definitely not the best either. unlike touchstrips, it doesn't have power scrolling. it's bad when you have 60GB collection and you need to go through a lot of songs.

i also think mediamonkey is better than itunes, and it's compatible with most devices, including the iPod. Though iTunes music store is unmathed.

If I'm purchasing a skin for the iPod, which brand do uou recommend??? I've never purchased a skins for my iPod mini before since I never had to....:P
Thanks.

See books under Entertainment on the left-hand side of this link:

http://www.zencast.com/

It appears they do audio books and lots more.

OK. So you accuse me of not looking at the site before I post it. But I did. Again at:
http://www.zencast.com/
On the Gallery menu under Entertainment, I see a category called books. Wouldn't, for example the one marked "Audiobook - Tom Corven" count as an audiobook? After all, my example, was just in response to your original comment that the Zen doesn't do audiobooks. Don't like the selection? OK Go to http://www.audible.com for thousands of available books -- all compatible with the Zen player.

As to a Zencast not being a podcast? Podcasts, short for Personal On Demand broadcast, is defined in the New Oxford American Dictionary as "a digital recording of a radio broadcast or similar program, made available on the Internet for downloading to a personal audio player". Zencast seems to be the same to me. What difference do you see -- is it because it's not made be Apple? Again I submit that a Zen player is capable of audiobooks and podcasts just as well as an iPOD.

The Zen supports audiocast maybe you should do your homework before "flame bating" other peoples reply.The
Zen vision m is a great device with support for 8 different video formats and has a SN ratio of 97 Db( great audio playback).If your only arguement is itunes then you are not answering the question which is which device is better. built in fm reciever,voice recording ,high definition color screen,4.5 hours of video playback, plays WMA's.these are the reason that make the ZVM so great

Most of ITMS audio books are sponsored by audible.com. I think that audible may even have a larger selection than ITMS. Since the vision and the ipod will suport audible your post makes you seem like your mind is very easy to boggle.

Yes, it is true you were not the originator of the falsehood that the Zen does not do audiobooks. That person has acknowledged see: "I was wrong" -- on this thread) that the Zen product does indeed do Audiobooks (including the complete line from Audible) which you mention.

Second it is true that Creative now partnered with Apple in making iPod peripherals. But this is just part of a settlement where Creative won $100 million from Apple for patent infringement (stealing the interface) on part of the iPod.

See:
http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2006/aug/23settlement.html

I don't think your contention that Creative will revolve around Apple peripherals and abandon their MP3 players is well founded.

First I want to thank cymaldonado for interesting information.
I think compatibility issue is very important. Protected iTunes content can only be played on an iPod, and as it was already mentioned here, most of iTunes content is available elsewhere with different DRM encoding (e.g. audiobooks from audible, and the music is mostly available from other sources).
Either Audible, or any PlaysForSure DRM content can be played on many (usualy some hundreds) of players, when the same content from iTunes can only be played on an iPod.
iTunes does have some content exclusive to the service, but it is only a small percentage, and in my mind, the most interesting exclusives are the free, non DRM protected Podcasts anyway.
Perhaps more importantly in this forum is the fact that an iPod is NOT compatible with any PlaysForSure protected file or service. So alltogether, if using an online service for content is important, or might become important, and there's no large library of protected iTunes ( FairPlay ) content involved, I would lean towards Janus (PlaysForSure) AND Audible compatible Zen.
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William Graham, webmaster www.audioedition.org

As an owner of both items (purchased the [black] iPod, and won the [also black] Zen in a skateboard competition), I could only tell you to purchase the Creative. I use both players when I'm skating, and the iPod hard drive skips (which isn't going to be an issue unless your player gets the same kind of treatment as mine) and the battery gets really hot and doesn't hold its charge as long as it used to. The creative plays videos a little better, and the sound quality is as good as my old Sony NW-HD5 (crystal clear). Also, to answer your main question, the Zen has no scratches, despite falling out of my pocket more times than I wish it did, and it's slightly bigger size and weight means it has more substance.