I have been enjoying my new Zen Vision W. Lots of good CES 2007 coverage available from DL.TV, Scoble, on10.net and other places. Everytime I show off the device, and especially video, people are impressed. However, I also always get the question, ‘What can you use this for?‘ This is always in reference to the Compact Flash slot. Of course, the answer is pretty much nothing. The device allows you to copy items from the compact flash to the hard drive, but you cannot play directly from the card.
I was thinking last night about the types of things you COULD do with a CF card in a device like this. I am working right now to get a mount for my car, something that integrates the device into a new stereo deck for the car. With that in mind, here are some ideas for what could be done with the Zen Vision W’s compact flash slot. I should mention that it is a type I and II compatible slot.
Zuneify the Zen: The Zune used built in Wireless as its claim to fame. The Zen could be extended with the help of a little Linksys magic to add 802.11b/g to the Zen. If creative could come up with a way to run the Zencast software on the device (and convert the videos to Zen format on the server) wireless could be used to synch content directly to the device. Zune style sharing could also be added with out to much effort I would think. This could be a good marketing plan for Creative with the lackluster response to the wireless in the Zune. Adding the ability to access web content, maybe my Flickr page would also be a neat feature for wireless.
GPS Please: Amazon lists a number of GPS receivers for the compact flash slot. The very nice 4.3″ screen on the Zen could use the receiver with a bit of software to make for a great GPS device. Mounted in the car, this would make the Zen a great multi-purpose device. And the portable nature of the device means its great for geocachers as well. I think this is the functionality I would like to see most.
Obvious- More Memory: it’s obvious, but it would be nice to be able to store and retrieve (play) content from a CF device. Either a solid state memory card or even a microdrive. The main thing here is that the card should be capable of transferring content both ways. If I have some pictures on my Zen that I want to share with someone, they give me a CF card, I copy them over, and they get the pictures. Of course, I should be able to play content from the card, be it pictures, music or video.
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