Creative Zen M VS. Apple Ipod

Today we have the Creative Zen M and Apple iPod. Both of these players are video players also featuring music and pictures. Both are readily available from a multitude of sellers. The Zen is generally going to be your cheaper option at about $200 on Amazon while the iPod may run about $250. Granted, you're most likely going to be able to find them cheaper or on sale somewhere such as eBay or Amazon but for the most part, the Zen will be the cheaper of the two, partly because this model has been around longer than all these new models of Ipods that come out seemingly every month.

First we'll get into the facts about the two. These are both the 30GB models and so they have the same amount of space. If you want more space than that, you're going to have to buy a bigger model since these are not cameras or anything with expandable memory. While they obviously both accept mp3 format files, they are mixed on WMA and WAV files. The Zen accepts both WMA and WAV files. The iPod, however, is less compatible and only accepts WAV, not the WMA. Like the iPod, the Zen can also store other files that you may need later. So they are basically like those small portable hard drives. To charge and get the files on it, you use the usb cord/port. Thankfully, they do now have the wall chargers and are much more efficient at charging.

For the most part, the screen quality for videos is about the same, however the Zen is going to give you a more lcd type screen as you can see some of it from the side. However what the Zen lacks in popularity, it makes up in functionality in competition with the iPod. Both posses the same basic features of playing video and editing your playlist, but the Zen is also capable of listening to the radio, something that iPod has never had. The Zen also has the handy feature of a microphone built in, but I have found them to be very low quality and hardly useful, it might come in handy for a spontaneous use or to make a verbal contract. Use your imagination. The iPod is smaller and lighter, making it more pocket friendly, even though it costs a bit more. A random feature that I've found hard to throw in is that with the Ipod, if you happen to have yourself a huge collection of songs, you can search for a particular song or artist

Another important function is the battery life on these things. Often over looked on reviews, it's extremely important to everyone. Personally, I have found that once you use the Zen for a while you realize that this thing has amazing battery life, especially when just listening to music. It says 14 hours but I think it may be more. The Ipod has decent battery life but I'm sure they can do better. Now the Zen is more scratch resistant but the surface will scratch if you leave it caseless. However you better have a case for the iPod unless you want it looking in horrible shape..

The Zen's video converter is far better than Ipod's. Apple's converter won't recognize WMV format and won't play DIVX on windows. It's worth the money for accessories on both the players but my choice between the to is the Ipod. There are so many accessories for the iPod it's not even funny. They have some for just about any function you can imagine. The most useful of which, in my opinion, would be the accessories for use in your car. Whether it be the chargers, connection to radio or fm transmitters, Apple seems to have every aspect of the additional add on down pat. They say it's easy to get hooked on the Ipod, but I am always going where the better, more cost efficient product is, especially if you can get it for cheap and in this case happens to be the Zen. I hope I've answered any questions and have yourself a nice day.