robots in disguise...killer robots

yes transformers the movie was one of the bestest films for me this year. it made me feel like i was 8 years old again. the graphics were amazing, cut scenes a little long, voices near perfect, great story line. wajiw liked this film very much.

on another note, i bought an mp3 player to replace my lost/stolen one. as i do with anything electronic i buy, i researched the hell outa players. what i came up with that would work best for me is something that can play videos, where i don't have much hassle in converting, decent hard drive(+10 gigs), small enough to potentially run with, and low cost. what i came up with is the creative zen vision:m 30gb. i found it refurbished on creatives website for, including taxes/shipping, $139.41. i couldn't believe it. i was going to buy it off newegg for $230+shipping/tax. i recently bought a set of 7.1 speakers refurbished from creative for ~$60 and they've been more than i could want.

so i want to compare my new zen with the ipod video(black 30gb) i almost got.

ipod zen
price: $245 $230
screen: 2.5" 2.5"
colors: 65,000 262,144
weight: 136g 163g
resolution: 320x240 320x240
video playback: 3.5 hours 6 hours
radio: no yes

for file formats it's a no brainer. the zen has all these video formats: DivX™ 4 & 5, XviD², MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG4-SP, WMV9, Motion-JPEG. And the ipod supports these: H.264, .mov, .mp4

also there's a program for me to access it through my linux computers, where all my media is stored.

but why would ipod be selling so much more than creative? marketing and user interface. those are the two most important things when it comes to selling electronics, and this is a prime example. the zen gives you so much more, but most people don't take the time like i just did to compare their options. i guess i can only say that it's better after owning both, so i soon shall see.

p.s. sites i used for my research:
zen site
ipod site