Digital Home Thoughts: SiliconValley.com Wants to Dislike the Zvue, But Can't

"I want to dislike the Zvue, a personal video player that sells for just $149, but I can't. HandHeld Entertainment, the San Francisco company which introduced the portable device late last year, over-promised and under-delivered. There's no user manual, the online customer support site is skeletal and the company's business model looks flawed. Yet the Zvue (www.zvue.com), much to my surprise, actually does a decent job of playing back video on its 2 1/2-inch color LCD screen, and works well as an MP3 music player. At such a low price, that's remarkable. If nothing else, then, Zvue is a look at things to come."

I've heard a great deal about the Zvue, but this is the first hands-on review I've read of it. I have to admire the reviewer for admitting up front that he didn't want to like it, but it won him over. For me, the winning combination is having hardware that works well, but just as importantly, having the ability to move content over to the device in an easy fashion. Does the Zvue deliver? Go read the article to find out.

[Side note: why is it that mainstream media Web sites rarely, if ever, publish pictures of the things they're talking about? I think it's because they want to have their Web articles match their print articles, but why avoid taking advantage of the strengths of the Web? :roll:]