Creative has come out with a thing of beauty with the Creative Zen Vision. A 30GB personal media player, the Vision comes in a gorgeous matte black and gray finish that feels almost sensuous (am I allowed to say that here?). It sports a crisp 3.7″ 640×480 transflective LCD screen, plays back practically all the major video file formats, and even sports a CompactFlash card slot.

And we have it here to unpack!

The first thing that will greet you upon opening the box of the Creative Zen Vision is the requisite slew of quick-starts, installation CDs and the user’s manual, all resting on a pair of foldaway flaps.

Pull out the flaps and inside you will find, ta-daaah, the Creative Zen Vision, cocooned in a protective styro wrap and resting on an eggcrate mount.

Take off the eggcrate mount and inside, the next thing that you will see is the Vision’s faux velvet drawstring pouch. Not as impressive as seeing a hardcase inside, but at least Creative was thoughtful enough to include it.

Take out the pouch as well as the cardboard base beneath it and you will find the accessories, consisting of (from left to right): USB cable, Creative earphones (featuring a metal-post design), AV connectors, and AC power adapter.

Oh, and just one more thing. Before anything else, don’t forget to take out the Vision’s battery pack and remove the protective plastic tab from the battery terminals. If you don’t do this, your Vision won’t be able to charge and you’d be wondering if you got yourself a dud unit.

And there you have it, the Creative Zen Vision. Unpacked. It’s a stylish personal media player with an impressive form factor and excellent build quality.

You can read all about the Creative Zen Vision, including its various pros and cons, in the December issue of m|ph magazine.