after months of anticipation, the shipment my sister promised finally arrived. it contained several things including stuff i’d recently ordered online — books, DVDs, etc. after throwing things haphazardly in all directions, i finally dug out the item i’d been waiting for all this time: my new 60-gb zen vision m. yayy!

this isn’t my first Creative mp3 player. last year, my sister gave me this (my first) shiny, black 30-gb Creative ZVM, which tickled me no end. it took a me few days to figure things out (i had to learn an awful lot of things in a hurry) but it was worth all the aggravations i went through. what really clicked for me was its video capability, which was far, far better than the iPod’s, and the fact that it was compatible with more formats (MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, DivX, XviD, WMV9, Motion-MPEG), which is great time saver because it meant i didn’t have to convert my video files in order to view them. plus it had a gorgeous 262k color screen (as compared to iPod’s 64k screen) and an FM tuner to boot. it also had a slightly longer battery life and a voice recorder.

i loved that player. it was practically the first thing i took out of my bag as soon as i arrive in my work area, and the last thing i check before leaving home. so, you can imagine my horror when i accidentally dropped it last christmas as i was clearing the table. there was this dull, hollow thud and the sound of something cracking as it hit the floor. recovering from shock, i quickly  scooped it up and checked if it was still working. the glaring crack at its side was disheartening but i kept at it for hours, with zero results.

it flickered back to life the next day, and for a while i thought it was still possible to nurse it back to health. however, as days passed, it would often hang for no reason at all. 5 days later it blinked for the last time and it was like i had lost a friend. it took me a few days to finally decide to get another mp3 player. still,  i couldn’t face the thought of settling for an iPod, so i placed my order for another ZVM, this time for a 60-gb unit (it’s cheaper to order online; i got mine for $287).

and so, here it is. although it comes in a smaller box, it’s definitely bigger and heavier than the 30-gb variant. it has a similar set of controls, with a slightly longer battery life than the 30-gb unit (4 vs. 5 hours for video; 14 vs. 16 hours for audio). the box also includes an installation cd for windows media player 11. the only major downer for me (aside from the ZVM’s bulkier size) was the glaring lack of an AC adaptor, which you need to purchase separately. fortunately, i still have the old charger that was provided in the 30-gb version. the transfer of music, videos and images was quick, smooth and easy. all in all, it’s like my old mp3 player has never left.

along with the player, i picked up a ZVM docking station, which really makes things easier especially when i feel like watching some videos, and a leather case to keep the unit marginally protected from unsightly scratches and smudges.