Strengths: GREAT sound! Small size but BIG screen, vivid color pics/video. SD card slot to expand memmory. Easy, smooth transfer and organizer software; also drag drop.

Weaknesses: Battery life seems less than promised. Only usb cord charger included - No AC adapter.

Summary: A whole lot of features in a small package, all seen on a vibrant 2.5" screen! The player is literally the size of a credit card only thicker! The sound is great with included earbuds, but its FANTASTIC with after market ones! It also does voice recording, FM, video, pictures, all great. Its easy to setup and connect with PC. All of the menu and functions are intuitive and easy to understand. It is also compatible with a lot of accessories. My only worry is the battery seems to not last as long as specs, but I haven't actually timed it.

Strengths: -Top notch sound quality.-Vibrant 16.7 million color screen.-2.5inch screen on a tiny credit card sized "pmp".

Weaknesses: -Battery life is not the greatest.-Menu response times are somewhat slow/laggy.-Control buttons feel somewhat cheap.-No dragdrop w/ videos. Videos must be converted to fit Zen's 320X240 screen.

Summary: All in all a fantastic credit-card sized "pmp". As with other Creative players, the sound quality on the Zen is really good. Also, unlike the Vision M (which the Zen replaced), the Zen's screen is made of a hard plastic so the screen should be able to with-hold mild abuse. Also, the Zen has ditched the proprietary cable used to charge/transfer music to the player and instead has went with a standard USB cable. The player comes packed with a decent (the word used very loosely) set of headphones, an installation cd, some ads for audiobooks, and an extremely short usb cable. When I say short, I mean literally a 4-5 inch usb cable. The cable will be worthless for using with a desktop as your player will dangle in the air. I guess Creative assumed everyone used laptops instead. Not much else in the package. Rather disappointing in that we didn't even get a carry pouch that came with the Vision M's. Oh well.Creative ditched the touch-strip that was on the Vision M and instead had buttons for the Zen's control. The touch-strip was somewhat of a nuisance however, the buttons on the Zen feel somewhat cheap when pressed.The Zen is able to display a whopping 16.7 million colors. So pictures on this player look fantastic. The player however doesn't perform nearly as well when playing videos. Don't get me wrong, the videos look fantastic on the Zen. But, when compared to videos on an Ipod, the Zen's video look somewhat "grainy". Especially in areas with a lot of black. I don't think it's necessarily a Zen "issue". The Vision M's video also didn't seem to perform as well as Ipod's.On the other hand, you get a credit-card sized "pmp" that has a superior sound quality over any of Apple's Ipod series.The negatives are rather minor and don't detract from the focus of the Zen. A credit-card sized "pmp" that plays videos well and has a great sound quality.