Creative Technology’s new Zen Portable Media Center lets you bring your music, movies, and digital photos with you
Looking for a Zen moment? Then contemplate the new Zen Portable Media Center (PMC) from Creative Technology (http://www.creative.com). The PMC is a new Windows Mobile device that lets you enjoy your favorite movies, videos, TV shows, music, and pictures wherever you are. PMCs are small battery-powered handheld devices that weigh less than a pound and have a built-in 20 GB (or more) hard drive capable of storing hours of content, which you can play anywhere and anytime!
Zen Portable Media Center by Creative Technology
The Zen is an attractive-looking device with a black semi-gloss front panel and silver back panel. The screen is recessed under a smooth clear plastic cover and integrates nicely with the overall look of the device. It has a 3.8-inch diagonal display—the largest screen of any of the PMC players. Screen resolution for all the PMC devices is 320 x 240 pixels, the same as most Pocket PCs. Unlike the Pocket PC, PMCs display their content in landscape (horizontal) format, the same as your home TV set and better for viewing movies and photos.
Navigation and playback controls
Controls for the Zen are located on the left and right side of the display, and can easily be operated using both hands.
The left side of the device has the navigational controls. The green button in the upper left corner brings up the Start menu options (just like on a Media Center Edition PC). You can choose from five options: my TV, my Music, my Pictures, my Videos, and Settings. Each menu has multiple views that order the content for quick discovery and playback. TV, picture, and video files can be sorted by new (most recent content), name, or date; music files by new, albums, artists, playlists, songs, or genres.
Left edge controls.
Below and to the left of the green button is the back button. Marked with a large white arrow pointing left, it backs you up one-level for easy return to the previous menu option.
Below that is a circular navigation pad with buttons for up, down, left, right, and OK (select). This allows you to move around the menus and make selections.
The playback and volume controls are on the right side of the device. Volume is adjusted by plus (+) and minus (-) buttons located on the upper right side. These increase or decrease the loudness from 0-20. As the volume is adjusted, the level is displayed on the screen as a line of varying height. The sound quality of the single built-in speaker located on the lower right side is amazingly good. However, you can accidentally block the speaker with your hand if you're not careful. Midway between the volume controls and the speaker are the playback buttons. The Play/Pause button is located in the center of the circular navigation pad, and the rewind and fast forward buttons are on either side of it.
Right edge controls.
The top of the Zen has a row of 4 preset buttons and the power on/off button. The back of the Zen has a rechargeable lithium-ion battery. It's also removable, which lets you carry an extra one for those long trips or extended viewing. The battery should last for at least 6 hours of video/movie/picture viewing and for up to 14 hours of music playback. The unit comes with a charger that plugs into the left side. An LED indicator above the volume control shows red for charging and green for fully-charged.
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