Creative Zen Vision:M, splayed

The lifecycle of the modern pop gadget goes a-little somethin' like this: deets and obligatory blurry cameraphone snaps are leaked, the vendor announces product, snaps are taken in the wild, then there's the sweaty-palmed unboxing ritual, the reviews roll in, then someone splays it wide open before blowing it up. Well, the Zen Vision:M just got splayed and Anything But iPod has the glossy sheets for you to view the ragin' nekkidness upon. So sit back, grab your tiny, uh, screwdriver and hit that read link for more. Now, who's got the explosives?

[William Vogel @ Feb 22nd 2006 11:27AM]

It looks like an iPod on the inside, mostly because the hard drive, the blue drive shock gasket thing and the blue foam are all the same.

[Chris @ Feb 22nd 2006 11:32AM]

Alright, that's it...the slang and non-word, words are neat for a second or two in the header/title, but it ends there. Reading these blog entries full of of words such as "splays", "deets" and "ragin' nekkidness" makes it sound like a high school freshman is writing these. Let's step up the writing or someones going to call social services to have your child slave labor removed from the office.

[jon @ Feb 22nd 2006 11:44AM]

Nice...so does this mean that the HD is easily replaceable with a larger sized drive? It's good to know that when the battery dies...it can easily be replaced without sending it off. I still think they should have made the battery removable like the Zen.

[Schizoman @ Feb 22nd 2006 11:53AM]

I've wanted a 60GB version of this since it was announced in November `05, but now I want a non-apple version of that touchscreen widescreen ipod... alas I will have wait until next xmas for that, if I'm lucky. Why are apple allowed to hoard and monopolise all new innovation through exclusivity deals?
No competition = slow progress, Apples typical high prices (100% margin on nano's anyone?) and of course no bloody choice!
Will anyone stop Apple's dictatorship of mobile media during the noughties?

[Darien @ Feb 22nd 2006 11:57AM]

This missus picked up a Black M from Amazon.com, it came a few days ago... the thing is gorgeous.

[Steve @ Feb 22nd 2006 11:59AM]

Per dictionary.com

splay
adj.

1. Spread or turned out.
2. Clumsy or clumsily formed; awkward.

v. splayed, splay�ing, splays

As for the use of slang -- lighten up, man. It's not the New York Times. It's a tech blog. The language is going to be geeky, jargon-filled, and, yes, childish. I happen to like that they're not so self-important, and the casual nature makes me feel that they really do love what they're writing about.

[Karnivore @ Feb 22nd 2006 12:04PM]

Well well well.... Looks like upgrading to a larger capacity drive should be a no-brainer. 100GB Zen anyone?

[Jason @ Feb 22nd 2006 12:07PM]

I too am really really wanting a 60GB version of this. I sent Creative an email and told them I didn't want to buy an iPod but it was the best 60GB choice around and I need the size. They replied back and said at this time there are no plans to create a 60GB version. So I'll be giving 400 to apple because Creative doesn't want to stick a bigger drive in this? I don't get it.

[Dale @ Feb 22nd 2006 12:23PM]

It's kinda cute how this company keeps on pluggin' . . . in an N-Gage kinda way . . .

[Osiris @ Feb 22nd 2006 1:05PM]

Not in an N-Gage kinda way, creative makes quality devices.
I've just gotten a friend to bring one back from Hong Kong for me, will be getting it this friday, can't wait.

If you read the source, you'd find he mentions that it is missing the 3mm more needed to replace the HD with a larger HD, unfortunate.

I'm not too bothered about the battery being internal.
It saves space (as they do not need to include the extra casing) meaning they can make the device smaller.
I'm happy to replace my own battery when it has degraded substantially, which is going to be way past a year, by then the warranty will have expired so there should be no worries in opening it.

Good job Creative, just need to get it looking as sexy as the iPod.(Almost there)

[Dave @ Feb 22nd 2006 2:02PM]

Hey Jason? Shhh. Nobody's stopping other companies from innovating. Creative could have a touchscreen iPod knockoff on the market right now, if they were actually thinking ahead. Kudos to you, sir, for waiting nearly a year to get decent technology because you won't buy it under an Apple brand.

[andrew @ Feb 22nd 2006 2:53PM]

does anyone else think its unfair that the ipod with video gets a slim beautiful hard drive while the zen vision m can only land one similar to a 4G ipod? i think that if every company could get the hardware deals apple can, then apple would have some real competition.

[Jason @ Feb 22nd 2006 9:26PM]

Hey Apple fans, stop acting like Creative's existance is BAD thing for y'all! Although Apple may dominate the market, the companies like Creative (who's products are NOT shoddy, btw) serve the function of keeping Apple somewhat honest. Do you really think that the iPod would be at its current level if companies like Creative weren't in the portable music market?
Even if you never buy an electronic device without an Apple brand in your life, competition is GOOD!!! (welcome to capitalism 101)

[Wilf_Brim @ Feb 22nd 2006 10:22PM]

Hey, Jason. Of course there are "no plans for a larger version". RTFA about the inserts for the dock. They aren't going to come out and say "we are going to release a 60GB later this year" because then everybody would do what you and I are doing: waiting.

I don't know why they haven't released a 60GB version. It could be supplies of the drive, maybe engineering and power. It seems silly NOT to have a 60GB drive when you are pushing this as a video device.

[Evan @ Feb 23rd 2006 12:23AM]

I got the M in Jan - it's AWESOME! Great video, sound, choices. Now we need some of the companies augmenting iPod to build for the Vision:M. It's too good to not to add on. The best would be a simple adapter for any iPod product... I wouldn't surprised if the adapter already works with iPod gear...

[Scoopster @ Feb 23rd 2006 2:16AM]

#12 / Andrew: The reason Creative uses the thick/large drive has nothing to do with Apple. The reason is that Creative set up a huge contract with Toshiba (about the time they committed to spend $100M on advertising the Zen to combat Apple) to buy a gazillion drives, in anticpation of actually taking away market share. Toshiba, in turn, ramped up production per the contract. Then, Creative failed to take market share, but they were left with this contract that said they'd buy X million drives from Toshiba. Toshiba made them honor the contract, and the result is that you have old technology in a new Creative product.

Cheers.

[Jason @ Feb 23rd 2006 8:04AM]

I really like my Zen Touch 40GB. My wife just wants a player and I need a bigger one so we thought we'd get me a new toy and she'd take over mine. I'd really like to be loyal to Creative and buy another product. I'm going to continue to hold out until I can't take it anymore.

[tekdroid @ Feb 25th 2006 6:45AM]

Scoopster, where did you find that information on the Toshiba HD contract? I would like to read more.