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Creative Zen Vision Introduced

Mark Goldstein | Digital | August 9, 2005 | 5 Comments

Creative Zen VisionCreative Press Release

Creative Introduces the Zen Vision - 30GB MP3 Player With 3.7-Inch SharpPix High-Resolution 262,144-Color Screen for Photo and Video Viewing

Gorgeous Magnesium-Encased Player Delivers Eight Times the Image Resolution and more than Three Times the Screen Size of the Apple iPod Photo*

MILPITAS, Calif. - August 3, 2005 - Creative Technology Ltd. (NASDAQ: CREAF), a worldwide leader in digital entertainment products, today announced the Zen Vision™ MP3 player with a 3.7-inch SharpPix™ high-resolution 640x480 262,144-color screen for photo viewing and digital video playback. Featuring a transflective screen that provides excellent image and video quality even in bright sunlit conditions, the 30GB Zen Vision carries up to 15,000 songs, tens of thousands of photos, or up to 120 hours of video. Available in either pearl white or black, the Zen Vision measures 4.9 by 2.9 by .8 inches and weighs only 8.4 ounces. It is available today for pre-order at us.creative.com for only US$399.99.

“The Zen Vision is our most versatile and coolest-looking digital entertainment player ever,” said Sim Wong Hoo, chairman and CEO of Creative. “It supports download and subscription music services, photo transfer directly from a Compact Flash card or up to 17 variations of media through our optional Compact Flash Adapter. With the SharpPix technology, your digital photos can look even better than prints. Plus the Zen Vision supports video from TiVoToGo™ and popular Internet video formats including DivX™, so it’s really easy and fun to enjoy your favorite music, photos and videos wherever you go.”

Music
With outstanding audio playback quality of up to 97dB SNR, the Zen Vision can carry up to 15,000 songs, and supports downloads from Internet music stores such as Napster, MSN Music and Music Now. The Zen Vision also supports music subscription services such as Yahoo! Music Unlimited and Napster to Go. The player also includes a built-in FM radio with 32 preset options, and FM recording.

Photos
The Zen Vision can carry tens of thousands of digital photos. For sharing pictures with family and friends, a convenient composite video out connector enables stunning full-color image output on any size TV screen. Users can watch slide shows set to favorite music played through headphones, the built-in speaker on the face of the player, or by connecting speakers such as a Creative I-Trigue® 2.1 system.

The convenient Plug&View™ slot on the side of the player supports both Compact Flash Type I and Type II media. An optional Compact Flash Adapter plugs directly into the Compact Flash slot to accept the most popular memory card types including SmartMedia, MultiMedia Card and Secure Digital, 17 variations in all.

Video
The Zen Vision supports a wide selection of video formats for enjoyment of movies downloaded from the Internet, including MPEG-2, MPEG-4 Simple Profile formats such as DivX and Xvid, WMV, and MJPEG. The Zen Vision also supports TiVoToGo, for viewing of TV content recorded on a TiVo personal video recorder, and digitized home movies transferred from the PC. Easy alphabetical scrolling enables quick access to movies and video files. The removable rechargeable battery provides up to 4.5 hours of video playback, and up to 120 hours of video can be stored on the player.

Additional Features
The large, bright screen of the Zen Vision displays a full menu to access music, pictures and video. In addition the intuitive menu accesses the following features:

  * Built-in microphone - shows volume levels on screen for optimum voice recording quality
  * Organizer - Provides calendar, tasks and contact lists, and syncs with Microsoft Outlook
  * Extras - Enables setting of Date & Time, plus allocation of Removable Disk space for dedicated storage
  * A clock with wake-to-any-music alarm, color themes and different languages for further customization

The Zen Vision connects to the PC via USB 2.0 for fast, easy transfer of content, and can also connect to an optional docking station for elegant freestanding display.

Pricing and Availability
The new Creative Zen Vision, available today for pre-order at http://www.us.creative.com for only US$399.99, comes with a rechargeable, removable Li-ion battery, an AC adapter, USB 2.0 cable, high-quality earphones, an AV cable, and a protective pouch. Optional accessories, including a docking station, Compact Flash Adapter, screen protector, spare extended-life battery, wired remote, and IR remote, will all be available for purchase separately at http://www.us.creative.com. For more information about Creative’s complete line of MP3 and multimedia players, visit http://www.creative.com.

About Creative
Creative (NASDAQ: CREAF) is a worldwide leader in digital entertainment products for PC users. Famous for its Sound Blaster® sound cards and for launching the multimedia revolution, Creative is now driving digital entertainment on the PC platform with products like its highly acclaimed MuVo® and Zen portable audio players. Creative’s innovative hardware, proprietary technology, applications and services leverage the Internet, enabling consumers to experience high-quality digital entertainment—anytime, anywhere.

###

This announcement relates to products launched in the United States. Availability is subject to change without notice and may differ elsewhere in the world according to local factors and requirements. Zen Vision, MuVo, SharpPix, Plug&View, I-Trigue, Sound Blaster, MuVo and Zen are trademarks or registered trademarks of Creative Technology Ltd. in the United States and/or other countries. All other brand or product names are trademarks of their respective owners.

*Based upon independent measurement conducted at Creative Labs, Inc.



 

Your Comments

5 Comments so far | Newest Oldest first | Post a comment

#1 GARY POGODA

Mark, do you expect to review this model? Any initial thoughts on how it compares to the Epson P-2000? I am considering purchasing one of these (for my wife's birthday coming up in January) mainly for its picture storage/viewing capabilities, so the LCD image quality is of major importance.

5:17 pm - Wednesday, August 10, 2005

#2 Mark Goldstein

I have no plans to review the Zen Vision at the moment - sorry!

10:28 am - Saturday, August 13, 2005

#3 GARY POGODA

No need to apologize. The fact that when another site reviews this product, we will hear about it first on PhotographyBLOG, is more than enough. Case in point, all the HP Photosmart R817 reviews I am reading about. BTW, how is yours coming along? I assume it will be in English. smile

4:48 pm - Saturday, August 13, 2005

#4 fred

Hi,
I was impress by the Zen looklike. seem to be a serious rival to the Epson P 2000. But looking more to the technical details. no worry. It didnt support the Raw format and not have SD card reader nativly.. this still make me thing the P 2000 still have the lead...for the moment.
Then screen is simply wonferfull.. shame it not show the video enough smoothly.

Fred

5:19 pm - Saturday, August 13, 2005

#5 GARY POGODA

Its lack of RAW support does not bother me as much as its lack of native SD card support, not to mention its 30GB memory compared to the Espon's 40GB. Still, the fact that you think so highly of its LCD, at least for still images, is encouraging.

6:45 pm - Saturday, August 13, 2005

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