Creative ZEN Micro Black (5 GB) Digital Media Player

This tiny-sized MP3 player is less popular than its biggest competitor - the Apple iPod Mini, but it offers more features like one GB extra storage capacity and FM radio. The Zen Micro from Creative is available in 10 colors, some are rather classic but others are very funky.

Features and specifications of the Creative Zen Micro

* Holds 2,500 songs on 5GB hard drive
* Micro sized (WxHxD: 2" x 3.3" x 0.7" or 51mm x 84mm x 19mm)
* Available in 10 electrifying colors (Black, White, Silver, Dark blue, Light blue, Red, Purple, Citrus Orange, Lime Green and Pink)
* Get up to 12 hours playback on a single charge
* Features a removable, rechargeable lithium ion battery
* FM radio to listen and record with 32 preset stations
* Built-in microphone for up to 10hrs voice recording
* Vertical touch pad for easy and intuitive navigation
* Access over 2 million songs through Zen supported music services
* Highest audio clarity at 98dB SNR
* High fidelity earphones with dynamic bass response
* Contacts, Calendar and To Do List
* Plays MP3, WMA, WAV files
* Functions as an external hard drive for backup of computer files
* Backlit LCD displays track info
* Repeat, resume, and random play
* 8 EQ settings (Acoustic, classical, disco, jazz, new age, pop, rock and vocal)
* Sleep and wake timers
* Customizable main menu, so the features you want are right at your finger tips
* USB 2.0 interfaces (cables included)
* Belt clip / stand
* weight: 3.8 oz. (includes removable battery) (approx. 110g)

The Zen Micro from Creative is an easy to use audio player but at first you need to get used to its touchpad interface. You slowly get the feeling for it it and then it will work flawless. The included software offers a lot of options but unfortunately you are forced to use it. Because of this you can’t use the Zen Micro as an external HDD because other PCs will need the software from Creative to recognize the player. And lastly the audio quality from the Creative Zen Micro can be rated is being very high.

Every month, manufacturers unleash even more MP3 players to an increasingly confused public. Not only do these devices have wildly divergent features, but ongoing format wars mean the MP3 player you choose dictates where you can buy your digital music. These devices are anything but one-size-fits-all.

First, there's the question of design. A player can have every feature in the world, but if the design doesn't match your lifestyle or if the interface is impenetrable, you still won't enjoy it. You'll want to look closely at performance; sound quality and battery life can make or break a player, especially if you travel a lot or have the so-called golden ears of an audiophile.

Before you start checking out specific models, you should have a basic understanding of the types of MP3 players available. Note: all types of players mentioned below can play other formats besides MP3, such as WMA, ATRAC3, OGG, or AAC, but we still refer to them as MP3 players.

Types of players: Hard-drive-based | Micro hard-drive-based | Flash-based | MP3 CD


Hard-drive-based players
Most likely, a high-capacity player can accommodate every song you've ever purchased or ripped from a CD. Hard drives run from 20GB on up, and large players such as the 80GB Apple iPod can hold around 23,000 songs, assuming an average file size of 3.5MB per tune.



Hard drive MP3 players such as the Microsoft Zune can hold a luxurious amount of music and video.

Pros: They store all your music on one device. They also tend to have more features and larger screens and are overall easier to use. High-capacity players give you the best bang for your buck in terms of price per gigabyte (for example, $300 30GB iPod vs. $250 8GB iPod Nano).
Cons: These players are usually built around a 1.8-inch hard drive; thus, they are larger and heavier than the others. Also, hard drives have moving parts, so these players aren't ideal for strenuous physical activity. Finally, most use rechargeable batteries (usually lasting 8 to 20 hours per charge) that you can't replace yourself, so after several years, you might have to pay for a new model or pay to get the battery replaced.


Micro hard-drive-based players
Straddling the line between full-size hard-drive-based MP3 players and compact, flash-based players, these models aim to give you the best of both worlds by using miniature hard drives (about 1 inch or less in diameter) with capacities of up to 12GB. So-called "micro drive" players are being largely phased out in favor of high-capacity flash devices, but you can still find compact hard-drive players such as the Creative Zen Micro Photo for sale online.



Micro hard-drive players such as the TrekStor Vibez are becoming rare, but they still offer an appealing compromise between hard drive and Flash-based MP3 players.

Pros: They're smaller and lighter than high-capacity players but still hold more tunes than flash-based models with the same price.
Cons: You get fewer megabytes per dollar than you do with a larger player, and these models have many of the same disadvantages of larger hard-drive-based units, including the moving parts that limit physical activity and nonremovable batteries that eventually wear out and need to be replaced. Luckily, many new micro drive-based players such as the Creative Zen Micro feature a user-replaceable battery.

This is a basic summary of MP3s, there's many types all of which have similar features.
Overall Rating: 10/10

Before buying the Zen Micro, I did a fair amount of research on the available small MP3 players in the 5GB range. There are quite a few things about the Zen Micro that convinced me to buy it, and only a few downsides.

While shopping around, I compared the Zen Micro primarily with the Ipod Mini, and the iRiver H10 5GB. This review not only details some of my findings while researching, but is also based on my personal experiences with the Zen Micro.

First and foremost, I've found the Zen Micro to have the best and loudest sound quality. (PCMag has measured about 115db for the Micro, with only 104-109db with the Ipod Mini) I love my music loud, and a pet peeve of mine was cranking a portable player, and still being able to hear the world around me. At the same time, nothing is worse than a player that is loud, but distorts sound at high volume. The Zen Micro has neither of these problems, with crystal clear sound quality at high volume.

Part of the reason for the good sound quality in the Zen Micro are the ear buds. These are by far the best ear buds I've used in a portable player, with only one small problem. The buds are slightly larger than a normal ear bud, and have been known to cause mild discomfort after prolonged use (I've not personally had trouble with this though).

I also really like the size and shape of the Zen Micro. It's a bit shorter and fatter than other 5GB portables, and I find that it fits very comfortably in the palm of my hand. It could be a bit thinner but it's not bad.

I like the touch interface of the Zen Micro better than the iPod (The iRiver has a similar touch interface to the Zen Micro). I find the vertical touch pad much more comfortable than the circular iPod mini touch pad (I have friends who get sore thumbs and cramps from using the iPod touch pad). I did find the touch pad to be a bit too sensitive at first, but you can adjust the sensitivity. Once I lowered the sensitivity, I quickly got used to it.

The menu system I find to be more intuitive and easier to use than either the iRiver or the iPod. You can add to and create playlists while music is playing, which is definitely a plus, although for larger playlist creation, you'll probably want to hook it up to the computer and use the file management software that is packaged with the player.

One of the downsides of the Zen Micro is the file transfer speed when moving music onto the player. It is a bit slower than the iPod, but this was a minor concern for me. With 5GB of space, I only need to transfer music occasionally.

Another downside of the player is the battery. While it is supposed to last for 12 hours, for me it only seems to last for about 7-8 hours, although I do play it quite loud (20 out of 25 volume on average). A minor pet peeve of mine is that, while I can listen to music and charge the player at the same, and I can listen to music and transfer music at the same time; I can't charge the player and transfer music at the same time. This is because the power adapter and the USB cable both plug into the same port on the player.

The player comes with a hard, open faced protective case, which I really like. It protects the player well, and yet allows easy access to the interface.

Over all, I give this player 5/5. I really like it, and recommend it to all my friends.

adien01

The Zen Micro 5GB from Creative Labs is truly a great product, I bought mine a year ago from walmart and it has been great. The battery life lasts a long time, about 12 hours. Another thing I liked about the battery feature is that it is removeable. The advantage to having a removable battery is that if the battery stops working after the one year warranty has run out, you can easily and cheaply replace it. Or you could even buy a battery that lasts longer and easily replace it. With the latest firmware for the Zen, you can connect the Zen Micro to any Windows XP computer and transfer files or music between the pc and zen without having to install any drivers. The Zen charges up while it is hooked up to your computer, so you can charge while you fill it up with music. Another feature of the zen is, because it shows up as an external flash drive on you machine, you can add a folder and put any kind of file you want into it and use it as a flash drive without messing up the ability to play music. The user interface of the Zen is a simple, easy to use menu similar to that of the iPods. The music library is divided into artist, alubm, songs, recordings, etc. Yes this mp3 player is also a voice recorder via a built in microphone on the top. I used this feature a couple times, once to record my physics teacher to study for a test, and once during a band concert. Both times the quality was excellent. Another feature is the FM tuner, this also works well and the quality is nice. For those who are old school and used to record music off the radio and listen to it via cassette tape, you can still do that with this. It can record audio directly from the FM tuner and save it into the recordings folder automatically. The control pad itself is a nice buttonless menu. By buttonless I mean that it responds to touch rather than pushing down on buttons. It may take a while to get used to this interface, but it is definately cool. You can also adjust the sensitivity of the interface to mett your needs. I for example get along easily with this sort of interface and had the sensitivity on high. Another neat feature is the fact that it has an EQ also built in. The EQ comes standard with its presets, but also has a custom EQ setting that allows you to make any audio change necessary. Back to the music. The Zen also lets you create playlists on the fly and add or remove songs from the playlist. Becareful with this because you can also delete songs from the Zen itself, which can also be a useful feature.

Advantages over comparable iPod Mini:
Holds 5GB between the small mini and the big mini.
Design has a natural fit to your hand to naturally prevent it from slipping
Custom EQ
On the fly custom playlists
Longer battery life
Nice blue interface that pulses when charging
Changeable battery
FM Tuner
Voice/FM Recorder
Touch interface, no buttons
Smaller than mini (height wise, thickness is about the same)
Original packaging comes with AC adapter, pouch, case with belt clip and stand
Earphones sound better than original iPod headphones.

I use the Zen Micro on a daily basis everywhere. In my house, in my car, at school, and at work. It is an excellent product and works with any third party FM transmitters, cassette adapters, anything. It is great and I highly recommend it to anyone. My cousin and friend both bought one after seeing mine and they all work as great as the day they were bought

I love the features it comes with such as FM Radio and FM Radio Recorder which if I have A favorite song on the radio I could record it and store it on my MP3 Player or if I need to record an important conversation I had with any of my foes I could easely turn on the recorder put it in my pocket and record the entire conversation another thing I like about it is it comes with A lock feature on the power button just incase I might touch any button or if I have to put it in my pocket and I have other items in there I don't have to worry about it interfearing with the other motions I might do But one thing I dislike about it is I have A very hard time getting it to work in the windows media player I could only sync it but once I do that I have to go in to the creative zen explorer and put it in to A playlist in order for it to work otherwise it's in the machine but I can't get it to work and once it's in the machine I can't record it on to A CD from the device one other feature it comes with that you would lke very very much is that it comes with A removable disk feature wich you could plug into the computer and store any file you would like and you could choose the cappacity between 128MB and 4GB but if you put any file including music in there it won't play in the MP3 Player