First it was Walkmans, and then came Discmans. Now we see a technological outburst of mp3 players. These players enable users to keep up to 80 gigabytes of their music on a small, handheld device. Most people have used, seen, or at least heard of Apple’s iPod. What many consumers have not seen, however, are Creative’s Zen mp3 players.

Creative Labs has introduced into the technological race their line of Zen mp3 players. In this line are players which vary from 512MB, which we see in the Zen Nano Plus, to the 60GB available in the Zen Vision W. With the Zen mp3 players we see products created for simple music listening, such as the Nano Plus, and the Stone series. For a player more specified to video watching, a Vision W or the original Zen player might be more desirable, as they have bigger screens. Looking for a player made for music and videos? Try the Vision: M or one of the players from the V series. With its vast variety of products, each user is sure to find one that suits his or her needs.

The apple iPod is by far the most popular mp3 player today. However, many consumers opt for the Creative Zen mp3 players as an alternative. There are several reasons for this. With iPods, users must use the iTunes software that comes with the player or can be downloaded from the internet for free. While the Creative Zen mp3 players also come with specific software, Windows Media Player can also be used to sync media files to the player.

Another perk of the Zen players are the ease of transferring video files to the player. Whereas with iTunes it is difficult to sync videos not from iTunes to the player, it is easy to do this with the Zen mp3 players. Zen players are also known for the vast color variety, with some players, such as the Nano Plus, available in ten colors. Many consumers also prefer to not go with the iPod simply because of its popularity. The Zen players, while they have a reputation for being sturdy, good looking, and all-around good products, are not seen nearly as often as iPods.

The price range for Zen mp3 players goes from under $50 to over $300. The reason for this extensive span of prices is the variety in storage capacity. Basically, the more bytes found in the player, the higher the cost. For example, whereas the Nano Plus, which costs less than $50, contains as little as 512MB, the Vision W, which is priced at over $300, can be found with up to 80GB.

For a little over a year now, I have been the proud owner of a light blue Creative Zen Vision: M. So far, my experience with my player has been one of great delight. The only problem I have had with my mp3 player was with the album art, but this was fixed with a simple software update. One other complaint about the Zen line is the software which comes with the player. Unlike many programs, such as iTunes, the media files on the player are viewed in a window much like Windows Explorer, and, like Explorer, are seen in a file view, rather than as Artists, Albums, or Track Titles. However, with the software update comes a new organizing program, in which my preferred view is available. Overall, I would greatly recommend Zen mp3 players to any who wish to veer from the popular iPods.

The popularity of Zen mp3 players, while still underneath that of iPods, is hastily increasing. Chances are we will soon see the Zen players in more and more hands as Creative spans their production and advertisement aims.

created by Raymond Sabo http://www.cellphones-mp3.com