Nobody expected the Apple domination of personal media players to last forever and if Creative have anything to do with it, their new Zen Vision:M will be the gizmo to topple the iPod from the top slot. (iPod factiod: the word Podcast was voted word of the year 2005 by the New Oxford English Dictionary boffins) The Zen Vision:M boasts a 30GB HD with 320x240, 2.5 inch LCD plus almost twice the promised battery time of the video iPod at 4 hours (video), 11hrs (audio). You also get a TV out, plus an AC adapter (not included in the iPod package – nya, nya!). Codecs supported are: MP4, WMV, XviD and more importantly DivX which should open up the amount of stuff you can play. Oh yeah, it’ll play pictures record from it’s built-in FM radio and double as a voice recorder too. But all is not rosy in the Creative garden, OK, perhaps that’s a bit of an over-dramatization, but the Zen Vision:M is slightly thicker than Apples offering, plus it’s a tad more expensive too at $330 US www.creative.com/products/mp3/zenvisionm/

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