Apple can be considered as the reigning king of the world of the portable audio players. Everyone has some sort of iPod, whether it's the Mini, Video, Photo, or Shuffle, Apple is the most well-known brand of audio players around. Although Apple's authority may soon be challenged by, Creative Lab's, Zen Vision:M, which contains many of the same features and abilities that the iPod has, and it also has features and abilities that the iPod does not have. Based on my personal experience with both the iPod and the Zen, I would have to say that I believe that the Zen is the better overall audio/video player.

First of all, the Zen is a breath of fresh air in the audio/video player world. Everybody has an Apple iPod, so those of you that prefer being unique might lean towards the Zen instead of the iPod. Both are high quality products with roughly the same features as each other, but I personally preferred the Zen, because it was different from the iPod and it distinguished me from all the iPod owners across the world. The Zen also has certain features, such as the ability to use it as a storage device that made the Zen the more appealing product to me.

The iPod as well as the Zen, have video playing capabilities, although I believe the Zen has the advantage in this area. The iPod Video screen looks pretty good when you first see it, although when you compare it to the Zen's screen it will lose its appeal quickly. The colors on the Zen appear to be brighter and more vivid than the iPod's screen. Although the Zen has more vivid and lively screen colors, I believe that both, the Zen and the iPod have the same screen resolution, so the picture quality isn't that huge of a difference, although I still give the edge to the Zen Vision:M.

it hasn't caused me any discomfort and I only notice a difference when I compare both of them side to side. The Zen and the iPod Video both have 30GB of memory, which is a decent amount of space for music and videos. The Zen also has an extension that plugs into the bottom of the unit, in the area that the USB cable would connect to on the iPod. The extension allows you to connect the outlet charger, USB cable and the audio/video extension to the Zen. I believe that this extension was added to conserve space in the Zen and to make it smaller.

The Apple iPod has the ability to play games on it, and this is the only feature that I noticed that the Zen did not have. The Zen does have the ability to use the device as a removable drive to store data files on it, this feature can and has come in handy for me many times when I need to transport data and I didn't want to put it on to a CD or USB drive. The iPod has the touch-screen that everyone is familiar with, and the Zen has a touch-screen combined with buttons. People that are converting over from an iPod to a Zen should adjust to the touch-screen relatively soon. The Apple Video iPod and the Creative Lab Zen, are both in the same price region so price isn't that big of a deciding factor. The Zen is currently on sale for $219.98, and the iPod Video is on sale for, $217.98.

In conclusion, although the Zen and the video iPod both have many of the same features, and are roughly of the same quality, my personal choice is the Creative Zen, based on originality, a slightly more attractive screen, and the ability to use the device as a removable drive.