ipod
12/08/2005, 8:45am, EST
Thursday, December 8th
Creative launches iPod video knockoff
Creative today launched its iPod video knockoff, offering a virtually identical look and feel of the iPod video with a few more features and longer battery life. Creative's new Zen Vision:M player sports a virtually identical footprint to the iPod video and a nearly indentical visual interface; it includes a 30GB drive, rechargeable battery that claims a 4-hour life for video playback and a 14-hour life for music playback; the player supports MP3, Windows Media Audio (WMA, DRM) and WAV audio formats. For video, it supports MPEG-1, MPEG-2/4, WMV 9, Motion JPEG, DivX 4/5, and XviD video files. It also supports sync of Outlook calendars and To-Do lists. The player features a connector to allow third-parties to develop accessories for the product. The Vision:M is expected to ship in either black, white or green later this month for $330. At the launch, Creative's CEO said it would aggressively pursue other companies, including Apple, that had duplicated its patented interface. [site not updated]
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How long before "Creative" tanks?
Creative, funny name for a rip-off company.
PS The fonts are also screwed up in Firefox PC 1.0.7 (serif, instead of sans-serif).
This is a surprisingly blatant clone of Apple's industrial design. Nothing Creative has produced prior to this has even come close in aesthetics.
The interface looks nice and it might be a good choice for non-iTunes fans.
The xVid support is nice too.
Nothing Creative previously produced in this niche has made much of a splash. We'll see I suppose.
But, anyway, it still has problems..it's not great on ff and rewind, and quite frankly, the click wheel isn't that good. I much prefer the iPod 1g, with its physical sliding wheel, rather than this touch one, which just plain doesn't allow for precise control.
The good thing about Creative, is that its another choice. Basically I just want a good video player for my language learning, and if Creative comes in with one that finally looks good, and runs better than the Apple offerings, all the better.