Creative Technology Portable Media Center (20 GB) Digital Media Player

After recently buying a couple of PVPs (Portable Video Players) I was less than impressed with the Zen PMC (Portable Media Center). This thing is huge (relatively speaking). It wont fit in my pocket and i'm not a fan of using this machine that resembles a thin 'Sega Nomad' in public. It's rather unattractive but it has a large 3.8" screen that has to be frequently wiped off. It has 20 GB which is the average in PVPs now. For its huge $500 price tag, you have better options!

Pros:

- Awe-Inspiring 3.8" Backlit Screen (Thats pretty darn big)
- Multitasking = Pics and Music at the same time
- Speaker
- Windows Media Player 10 Integration
- A/v out = You can play media on your TV
- Not too bad for indoor use
- Great battery life
- Very nice interface
- It apparently integrates with Windows XP Media Center Edition

Cons:

- No built 'stand', but the case can be used
- Its massive. This won't fit in your pocket comfortably.
- Expensive. Better, [i]smaller[/i] media players are out there
- Weighs 11.7 oz
- Does anyone actually have Windows XP Media Center Edition?
- Re-encoding video in the proper format can be a pain. Windows Media Player 10 does this for you
- No MPEG-4, Divx, Xvid, Ect. playback without re-encoding the video on your own. You need your own software
- 1st Generation Media Player (Not as many features as newer ones)

The Device

As you probably know by now, the device itself is pretty big but it has a pretty big screen too. It comes in at 5.7 x 3.4 x 1.2 in (Thats 1.2 inches thick). On the left side of the device is a D-Pad with the OK button in the middle. It has a green button sporting the Windows logo to take you to the top menu and a back button to take you to the last menu you were at. On the top are 4 buttons labeled 'presets.' You can set these to whatever media you want and it will take you right to it (These support bookmarks). On the right are the controls (Start, stop, FF), the volumes buttons, and a speaker. Theres also an AV-Out jack, a hold button, and of course a headphone jack.

The Interface

The interface is pretty cool on the Zen PMC. Since the device is basically Windows Media Player 10 on-the-go, users will find a friendly, feature-ridden, menu-based system. It's easy to find your media with very simply labeled menu options of 'My TV, My Music, My Pictures, My Videos, and Settings.' Don't be fooled, my TV is for watching recorded shows recorded with another digital recording device, this can't record video or audio. When you select an option, more options appear to the right of it. These options let you sort you media. For example, if you select music, you'll be able to see your media categorized by Artist, Album, Genre, Ect. If you can use Windows Media Player 10, you can use this device easily.

My TV and My Video

Of my limited use with My TV, I can say that TV playbacks work fine after a bit of converting on the computer. The digitally recorded files are easily converted with Windows Media Player 10, so once they are converted, you can sync them up to the Zen. Converting movies downloaded off p2p software (like Kazaa) takes more converting since it's usually in an unsupported format. A cool feature is commercial skipping, which jumps ahead a few seconds to skip commercials and save your precious time. Of course the picture is great on the 3.8" screen and I haven't had problems with any video that worked on Windows Media Player 10. There is a 7 hour battery life for watching video, which is rather impressive compared to other models.

My Pictures and My Music

Multitasking! The Zen is great for viewing photos and playing music at the same time. The image quality is satisfactory, there are better devices for looking at still images. You can make slideshows, as with any picture-carrying device. Music isn't exactly the media center's high point. The quality is fine, but it's not too portable, defeating it's purpose of taking your music on the go. There's an impressive 22 hours of battery life for music.

Windows Media Player 10

You're going to need WMP10 to play with the Zen PMC. Everything about it is Windows Media Player based. It even syncs with the program, so you can download fresh content onto your 20GB hard drive. If you subscribe to certain services, you can get new content every time you sync. Transferring files through USB 2.0 instead works too

Other Notes

Speaker - The speaker is surprisingly above par for speakers. The sound quality is OK considering it's size. I find no problems with it and i'm happy that it's one of the few PVPs with one.

AV-Out - All of that video encoding takes a toll on the quality of the video. When you playback your media on a TV, it doesn't look too great.

Battery life - The battery life for Video is 7 Hours. For music it's 22 hours. There's no given battery life for pictures + music but you can probably get 10+ hours out of it.

Replaceable Battery - The battery is replacable, so if you happen to be using this outside your home for a long period of time and you want to dish out some extra cash for another battery...

Glare - The Zen PMC is best used at medium to low lighting. In sunlight the screen needs to be positioned right but if you turn off the backlight, the device is usable in sunlight. Usually, it's best to look straight into the device since the glossy screen creates a lot of glare at other angles.

Volume - I've had no volume problems with the device, even with the speaker. I haven't tested it in a very noisy environment (I.e. not a train bustling with people) but it seems that it would be loud enough. It's best for personal use.

1st Generation Media Player - The Zen PMC is a first generation media player. This is the first try of the industry to put 20GB of video into your hands. Don't expect it to be perfect. There is no video recording, audio recording, and it's bulkier and pricier than the newer ones.

The Competetition

The Zen PMC fares rather poorly against it's competition. Nearly all of the newer Portable Video Players are cheaper, smaller, and just plain better. Here's some of it's biggest competition.

Archos Av400 Series - The Av400s are almost strictly better than the Zen PMC. They record video, are cheaper, smaller, and look nicer overall. They are more portable, and thus more fit for actually listening to music or playing other media with while you're on the go. The Zen does have the largest screen i've seen so far though.

Archos Gmini 400 - This is another fine PVP that the Zen PMC can't stand up to. It's tiny, records audio, and it has games. There is no case for the GMini, which the Zen has and the Zen's battery life is almost double that of the Gmini. The Gmini is almost $200 cheaper than the Zen though...

RCA Lyra - Both of these devices are pretty sub-par but even so, the Lyra can record audio and video at a price of about half that of the Zen. It's also smaller. The Zen has a much nicer interface than the Lyra and it's easier to use.

Conclusion

The Zen Portable Media Center is a first try at a device that tried to do it all, but it's a swing and a miss. Simply put, better devices are out there for a lot less money. The large screen, friendly interface, and Windows Media Player capabilities don't make up for the fact that the device is largely un-portable. You should be able to take your media with you for $500.

Recommendation: Keep looking!

Take a look at the Archos Av420 instead!

Thanks for reading

~ GPolice