Creative Technology has introduced the Zen Vision:M, a 30GB video player, photo viewer and MP3 player. Designed with a 2.5-inch, high-resolution 262,144 color LCD screen, the Zen Vision:M displays rich, vibrant digital video, and photos, full-color menus and album art.

Creative is positioning the Vision:M as an alternative to the recently released video iPods.

"When people see the Zen Vision:M, they tell us it's incredibly cool," said Sim Wong Hoo, chairman and CEO of Creative. "We designed the Zen Vision:M with its mesmerizing 262,144 color screen to display four times the color of the 30GB iPod that plays video, and to provide twice the battery life for video playback. Plus, we offer people the freedom to choose their video in a variety of different formats, and to get subscription music or download tracks from a number of different sites to their player."

The Zen Vision:M carries up to 15,000 songs, and supports music subscription services including Yahoo! Music Unlimited, Napster To Go and Rhapsody To Go. The Zen Vision:M also supports downloads from online music stores like Yahoo! Music, Napster, MSN Music and AOL Music Now. The rechargeable battery provides up to 14 hours of music playback.

The Zen Vision:M delivers four hours of video playback and provides extensive video format support, including MPEG-2, MPEG-4 Simple Profile formats such as Xvid, WMV, and MJPEG for enjoyment of up to 120 hours of movies downloaded from the Internet. The Zen Vision:M also supports TiVoToGo for free viewing of TV shows recorded on a TiVo personal video recorder, digitized home movies transferred from the PC, and video blogs from companies such as RocketBoom.

With capacity for tens of thousands of photos, the Zen Vision:M displays full-color image output on any size TV screen through an optional composite video-out connector. Users can watch slideshows set to music and select individual digital photos as display backgrounders.

Features:

• FM radio and recording - with 32 preset options
• Intuitive Vertical Touch Pad and Tactile Buttons on the face of the player - including the new "My Shortcut" Button for quick access to favorite DJ functions
• Content password protection - Protects any content stored on the player
• Built-in Microphone - shows volume levels on screen for optimum voice recording quality
• Selectable themes, including Marine Blue, Sable Black, Ice Blue, Forest Green, Candy Pink and Pearl White to match the color scheme of the player menus to any mood
• 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
• A bundled AC adapter, valued at US$29.99

Pricing and Availability

The new Creative Zen Vision:M will be available this month for US$329.99. It comes with an AC adapter, USB 2.0 cable, earphones, and a protective pouch. Optional accessories, including a docking station and an AV-out cable, will be available for purchase separately.

More information is availabe at the Creative site.