[PSMaverick]

Trying to make up my mind between the 2. Features wise the creative seems to be better. Any advice about sound quality + quality of earphones provided?

[jayinhongkong]

The Creatives are supposed to have better sound quality. I wouldn't use stock headphones with either device though. The Creative also comes with the AC adapter. I'm not sure if the Ipod does, but I believe it's an optional accessory.

The Ipod wins in terms of capacity and slimness though. Food for thought!

[Cheesindave]

IMO sound quality is better on a Creative Zen compared to an Ipod.
But as Jay said with any MP3 player you will need to buy some decent headphones to really appreciate it.

I've had my Creative Zen for just over 1 year now, never regretted binning my old Ipod for a Zen. They are larger and heavier than an Ipod, but make up for it in features and sound quality. Depends which is more important to you.

[jayinhongkong]

The screen on the Creative is also way better than the Ipods. You don't need to convert video files to MP4 on the Creative either. It takes some file types without conversion.

[dicesix]

I also heard that the sound of the Zen is quite good. The videoquality and the format variety are other pro-arguments for the Zen.

Nevertheless I prefer the Ipod because of it's sexy design. The Zen has such a small display and looks like an plastic dummy sample. And as mentioned before already it's quite chunky. Ya, I know, I'm a sucker for good looks, never paying attention to the inner values.

[jayinhongkong]

The Zen Vision: M and the Ipod Videos have the same size screen.

[PSMaverick]

Looks like its tilting towards Creative... But if the stock earphones aint good, what are the other good options? I would prefer something not too expensive n prefer headphones to in-ear buds..

[Lammarite]

Sennheiser headphones are my choice- good sound quality and good value. The Shure ones give you the best sound but cost is high and the Philips/panasonic etc ones are what you pay for.

[Meerkat]

I tested the latest Bose noise cancelling headphones on my Ipod... I was really disappointed. There we some Sonys that gave a much clearer punchy sound. the Bose were incredibly comfortable on the lugs though.

I would be interested in any opinions on replacement head phones ..noise cancelling or otherwise...

Lammarite, which sennheisers have you got?

[bobotse]

i'm joining this a bit late...but let me tell you - I love Apple and I would fight for them in all situations (as long as they keep doing what they're doing )

despite my absolute LOVE for Apple, I highly suggest you do not choose the IPOD. Agreeing with everyone else, the sound quality is so poor and Apple has their stupid ways of making everything more difficult on the user in terms of formats, file transfers, etc (why the heck can't we copy songs from our ipod to our computer without having to use some third-party software?!!?)

When I was shopping around, I definitely wanted to go for Creative but unfortunately it wasn't compatible with Mac OS so I didn't have a choice. Once I'm ready for a new device, hopefully Creative will have smartened up and offer something to Mac users.