The Akashic Field Chronicle

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For my 2nd Pick-of-the-Week post, I’m picking the Creative Zen (Portable Media Player)

My Creative Zen (4gb)

Ok, so maybe everyone who has an iPod (in any of its various flavors), or at least anyone who has tried them out a bit, would say that it’s the best portable media player out in the market. Well I have to agree. There’s no doubt that in terms of sound-quality, user-friendliness, and overall fashion-sense, it’s clearly the best right now and probably for a long time to come.

There are however some other players out there that have something to offer those brave enough (broke enough), willing to have a go at anything but an iPod.

Why I bought it

I did have an iPod Video (80gb) which I bought about a year ago. Unfortunately, I don’t have it anymore, due to a very unfortunate jeepney accident. Ok, maybe stupid jeepney accident would describe it better. I fell asleep after an all-nighter for some gradschool project. Crap. Never ever sleep alone in a jeep! That was a long time ago of course, and its just a funny story now (hmmm… maybe still not so funny).

Last semester, I had a classmate in one of my graduate classes (digital communications) who always carried a digital voice recorder. He recorded all the lectures he attended so he could listen to them when reviewing. I thought it was a brilliant idea, seeing as I always seem to space-out during night classes. This way, even if I miss something important, I could always listen to it again. Mass storage is so cheap nowadays that there really isn’t any reason not to record everything. Except for laziness maybe.

So during summer vacation, I started looking for a decent voice recorder. I was initially looking for one of those really cheap 1gb models, but I always found myself attracted more to the full-pledged mp3 players (maybe because I listen to music a lot). To make a long story short, I ended up buying the Creative Zen. It’s a great player and voice recorder, perfect! But wait, there’s more! On top of all that, it also plays crystal clear video.

Creative Zen Features

The Zen is jam-packed with features at a price comparable to the iPod nano. It plays music, video, pictures, and of course has a very good built-in voice recorder. I actually thought of buying an iPod at first, but remembered that there wasn’t any built-in voice recorder. You have to pay a lot to add that simple feature.

I don’t regret the choice though. The Zen can do everything the iPod can do (except be fashionable I guess). Plus, at a similar price to the iPod nano, it packs a screen as big as an iPod Classic.

Screen size is similar to iPod Classic

This means you can watch video and not worry about having an uber-tiny picture. I guess we owe all of these features to the competition presented by the iPod. Other manufacturers just have trouble competing with the iPod that they have to price very low and still pack more features to attract buyers.

Some of my most favorite features include:

• SD Card Expansion Slot - Tired of 4gb internal flash? How ’bout another 4gb, just by adding an SD card.
• Built-in Voice Recorder - This is of course very welcome since my original plan was to use it as a recorder.
• Standard MiniUSB port - similar to the ones used in most digicams, so there’s no need to worry about replacing your cable
• Themes + Customizability - you can tweak the look of the interface a lot and even put in your own wallpaper
• Very Compact - always good for any portable device. I think it’s as large as a standard credit card.

Stuff I hate:

• Glossy Screen - not very scratch-resistant, so you should definitely find a case or screen protector. It’s not an easy feat though, since everyone’s making accessories for the iPod.
• SD and Internal Memory aren’t integrated - the two memories can not be used from a single interface. What I do is to just put all the video in the SD card.
• Buttons - what can I say, nothing beats the touch-sensitive wheel of the iPod

If you’re looking for a cheap alternative to the iPod, with good sound quality and a boatload of features, the Creative Zen is definitely worth checking out.

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