The Zen Vision: M

The first time I saw her at the mailpac establishment I was so relieved. I had to wait for two exta days before they finally let me have her. I gently put her in my bag and took her home.

After enjoying a meal together of a Cheese Patty and a Coco Bread I gently opened her package and proceeded to remove the seals. The first thing I did after removing the seals was to hold her close to me and just hug her. It was such a feeling of release that the award winning industry leader was finally in my possession after searching for her for months.

It is so small. I don't know what the Ipod boys are ranting about. It is just as small, albeit not as thin. I don't think it is heavy but I guess it can be interpreted as such. I had to install software and Jenna (my PC) was a bit resistant to the cd but I soon rectified that. I didn't install the Creative Mediasource software because everyone tells me it is foolishness. The tool to transfer files is critical though.

My first week of usage has been amazing! I use it for everything now. I don't even need to use the video conversion tool because Zen (that is her name) has native support for all the video clips I download. The music plays well on the stock speakers. Picture loading is now cool- though initially it was a bit strange. I loaded a picture on my Zen for a group project and it froze the Zen. I got laughed at for that by a Mac fanboy. He coined the phrase that the Zen is the Windows version of the iPod. I agree- because like Windows all the Zen needed was a quick reset (restart). It hasn't frozen since. It seemed to have slight issues loading the video and seeking- but since the reset everything is loading quickly. It responds like a high performance PC.

Everything they tell you about the Zen is true. It has great battery life for video as well as audio. It does pictures right, it does videos right. It does it right. It doesn't support lossless WMA though- so I need to redo my Kartel album. All my other music is fine though because I had previously converted it to mp3. My non-lossless WMA works well so it is a minor issue.

I had to get used to the touch pad. I have never used an mp3 player before and I was hoping everything was in the touchpad. I didn't realize that the back, menu, shortcut and play were necessary buttons. It isn't really a one-hand thing for me, personally. I treat Zen like a queen so I want to be extra careful all the time.

Cartoons like Family Guy are cool on Zen but I am not certain about Sci-fi like Smallville. The dark was really dark. Will do more watching.

I don't want to get into the comparison thing but I love my Zen. I didn't get to borrow a digicam (if you want to sponsor me one I am taking donations). It makes me happy. I use a different background each day- and I can store thousands and thousands of pictures, my entire music collection and some videos that I want to see on the go. The jump drive feature also rocks- I have a walking 2gb jump drive now thanks to Zen.