7. Big Shoulders

The Creative is rectangular and more massive, but has better ergonomics than the Samsung. The buttons, located on either side of the screen, handle more intuitively. The player has an excellent feel. A base station provides easy connection to the PC.

On the other hand, its looks are less elegant, more massive, even a bit clumsy. It weighs in at almost 100 grams more (330 grams) and its footprint is larger (145 x 80 x 28 mm). It fits much less easily into a pocket. However, the removable lithium-ion battery is also bigger and the battery life with video is more than five hours, which is a significant advantage. And since the battery is swappable, you can double the autonomy. File transfer times are identical to the Samsung's.

No Ideal World

Sound reproduction is good; the little speaker is not great, though it is a little better than the one in the Samsung. The earphones are much better. The bottom line is that the Zen PMC's superior display and longer autonomy are convincing. But it still suffers from the limitations inherent in the PMC. And it is a bit bulky.

So for the moment, there's no ideal combination available. If you're in the market for a PMC, the choice is between quality and size. But for most of THG's readers, my personal advice would be to go with the Archos AV 400.