Creative creatively clones video iPod

Written by Jason Cundall

December 8, 2005 | 19:07

Tags: #ipod #video #zen

Companies: #apple #creative

Creative has launched it's new personal media player, the catchily titled Creative Zen Vision:M - just in time for the Festive free-for-all known as the Christmas holidays. The unit bares a more than a passing resemblance to those other media players - you know, those ones that are wildly popular with the youngsters these days. But that's OK - they say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and the guys in Cupertino should be flattered.

Creative on Thursday launched the Zen Vision:M digital music and video player -- an knockoff of Apple's iPod that offers a strikingly similar look and feel to the fifth-generation video iPod with a few added twists and longer battery life.

The 30GB video player, photo viewer and MP3 player was "designed with a stunning, 2.5-inch, high-resolution 262,144 color LCD screen" which "displays rich, vibrant digital video, and photos, full-color menus and album art," according to Creative.

The Singapore-based digital audio company said the $330 player will hold up to 15,000 songs and supports music subscription services including Yahoo! Music Unlimited, Napster To Go and Rhapsody To Go.

Creative claims the Zen Vision:M's rechargeable battery provides up to 14 hours of music playback or 4 hours of video playback. Supported video formats include MPEG-2, MPEG-4, Xvid, WMV, and MJPEG.

The player also supports TiVoToGo for free viewing of TV shows recorded on a TiVo personal video recorder, digitized home movies transferred from the PC, and video blogs from companies such as RocketBoom.

"When people see the Zen Vision:M, they tell us it's incredibly cool," said Sim Wong Hoo, chairman and CEO of Creative. "We designed the Zen Vision:M with its mesmerizing 262,144 color screen to display four times the color of the 30GB iPod that plays video, and to provide twice the battery life for video playback."


More from AppleInsider here.

They've stuffed it to the gunnels with gizmos, in an attempt to out function the iPod - but will it work? Others have tried (indeed Creative have done so themselves in the past), but the iPod still reigns number one, despite have a less capacious battery and lower gizmo count.

Give us your thoughts on Creative's latest attempt to win back market share in the news forum.
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