Unless you're up for compiling it from source, the only CM9 zip available is a very early preview with many things not working (small stuff like...sound). I just took it for a test drive because I was planning to rebuild from scratch anyway, to thin out my apps and get started with a new launcher, and it was there
I liked a lot about the interface, and the only thing I noticed that definitely was not smooth was shifting orientation, which was very choppy and odd-looking. I'm pretty sure they've fixed that issue, but again, the only way to get that fix is compiling from source, which is how the devs plan to keep it until they have something much more stable.
Now, if you have a spare SD stick around, you could always set it up with verygreen's image and install the preview that way, just to have a look.