[batfastad]

1) Does it charge over USB?
More companies seem to be realising that this is a good thing and building the option into their devices.

2) Does it use the USB mass storage driver and pop up as another drive in My Computer?
I hate using proprietory software (I've spent too long going for sony minidisc products).
I'd like just to be able to nip round a mates' house, get some mp3s onto my device, walk away and play them. Without him having to have the software installed.

3) There seems to be loads of posts about reliability on here.
What percentage chance will I have of ending up with a duff one? It seems 50% to me, after reading posts about the zen micro. People having to return them 4 or more times. Not good.

4) For storing normal files on the zen micro you have to use the Creative proprietory software I've read.
Again, I just want to drag and drop in My Computer on a mates computer, rather than him having any proprietory software installed.
Is this "feature" likely to be removed by a firmware upgrade? Or will it always be that way.

I've been researching portable music devices for months, looking for the perfect device.
Waiting for the new sony devices just to see if they've abandoned their DRM strategy and reliance on proprietory software.
I wanted to stick with minidisc as I have loads of minidiscs currently. But it's a real pain having to use sonicstage to convert MP3s to atrac, then burn them using USB1.1
Turns out they havn't changed their strategies, so now I'm looking at a creative zen micro.
And I don't want an ipod on principle.

I was thinking of a flash player at first but there's nothing that really screams out to me on that front.

Thanks

Ben

 

[Cyclone]

Quote:

Originally Posted by batfastad 1) Does it charge over USB? Yes 2) Does it use the USB mass storage driver and pop up as another drive in My Computer? As long as the computer has WMP10 and XP installed you'll be fine with plug and play capability 3) There seems to be loads of posts about reliability on here. What percentage chance will I have of ending up with a duff one? It seems 50% to me, after reading posts about the zen micro. People having to return them 4 or more times. Not good. Ya that 4 return honor goes to rockit who possibly has THE worst luck in the whole world. The thing you got to realize about these forums is that no one posts that their micro is doin fine, all in all the problem rate is higher than most but is about 5% nation/world wide i would guess. 4) For storing normal files on the zen micro you have to use the Creative proprietory software I've read. Is this "feature" likely to be removed by a firmware upgrade? Or will it always be that way. They would never remove that capability, you can store any type of file on the micro as long as it has XP and WMP10, just like question 2. And I don't want an ipod on principle. Signal's ipod owners to pounce*

Hopefully that will help.

 

[LoveablePuppy]

i'll answer #3 since the other 3 questions are answered.

http://www6.head-fi.org/forums/showt...hone+jack+poll

in reality, the headphone jack problem occurs in roughly 31% of the micro for the people who posts online. thatt is a significant high percentage. it is also noted that battery drains in the micro when turned off accouting to its short battery life. i have not experienced the headphone jack problem, but i saw that the headphone jack is not well built and can easily be loosened.

battery life range around 9 hours on continous play w/o pressing the buttons to browse the menus. so put the two together and you get impaired battery life. this percentage is probably higher than the headphone jack problem, because i have personally experienced it.

i returned my micro, and got a carbon for 165$ total on amazon.com, thats including the 20$ rebate. thats 60$ in savings right there. and i plan to get a sony am/fm walkman instead for 22$ on amazon for radio.

carbon >reliability> mirco

i've weighed my options thoroughly, and i did months of research between the two products. i really feel it, i really feel that the carbon will be suited for me.


if i were you, get a carbon instead. i ordered a carbon because of the price which is a bargain and there is no significant problems in the carbon that people complain of in massive numbers online.

 

[Cyclone]

Lovablepuppy, I dont think you really got what i was saying, but thats mostly cause i didnt really go into it. Out of the percentage of people that own micros a fairly small percent go to forums, of that percent an even smaller amount have problems, but as you see it from just being someone on the forums all you see is that fraction of a fraction that post their problems on a forum. The important thing to remember is that anyone on a forum with a problem will immediately post it, but no one starts threads just to say "its goin fine". All of this is mainly in relation to the headphone jack problem, but the software/firmware problems are pretty much widespread as far as i can see and there are few people that have had no problems with their software/firmware. As for the battery life drain thing, its not a "problem". When you turn off your micro it goes into a sleep mode for 24hrs and therefor draws some power to hold the info in the memory so when you start it up the song will play from when you stopped, the alarm will work, and it will start up quicker. Some people dont like it but i know i dont mind sacraficing a small drain for a quicker start up and resume play. A big side note about the battery life on the micro is, TURN OFF THE SMART VOLUME. It drains an hour and a half of battery life alone, and for most people its just not needed.

 

[sidsplat]

what about that firmware update for the micro? i think i read on the forum somewhere that it's been messing up people's micros, but i couldn't find it again. is it pretty much recommended to not get the update? what's it supposed to do if it works?

 

[batfastad]

So you definitely need to have windows media player 10?
To use drag and drop?

All my media is mp3. I have no wma files.

Also, you need windows XP?
All other USB devices I've used, windows 2000 has been fine for recognising the USB UMS driver.

 

[jnev]

Quote:

Originally Posted by sidsplat what about that firmware update for the micro? i think i read on the forum somewhere that it's been messing up people's micros, but i couldn't find it again. is it pretty much recommended to not get the update? what's it supposed to do if it works?

that would have been me (alone with a few others). just make sure not to get any beta firmware as they are irreversible until creative makes a new firmware. it was supposed to give you wmp sync and dra/drop capabilities, and while it did, it was very buggy and slow.

 

[GreenEggs313]

It sounds like the iPod would fit your needs perfectly. It's just as stupid to not buy an iPod "on principle" as it is to buy an iPod for the white earbud look.

 

[thtl]

Quote:

Originally Posted by batfastad So you definitely need to have windows media player 10? To use drag and drop? All my media is mp3. I have no wma files. Also, you need windows XP? All other USB devices I've used, windows 2000 has been fine for recognising the USB UMS driver.

With the proper firmware installed the Zen Micro can appear as a drive.

 

[batfastad]

I'm thinking of a flash-based player now.

Man the Creative Zen Micro is so close to what I want.
Keep the chassis but stick a CF card slot in there!!

It looks so nice!!!

I might buy one anyway, see if it does what I want for 10mins, if not then send it back.

 

[maxsnowboard]

Quote:

Originally Posted by batfastad 1) Does it charge over USB? 3) There seems to be loads of posts about reliability on here. What percentage chance will I have of ending up with a duff one? It seems 50% to me, after reading posts about the zen micro. People having to return them 4 or more times. Not good. Ben

I was also having the same dilema, but tried to calculate the amount of people who were actually having this problem and came to the same conclution as Cyclone, its not a big percent, for wich I am getting a brand new ZEN micro this friday, hope I don't get problems...!!

Max

[sorry for crappy english]

 

[maxsnowboard]

Quote:

Originally Posted by batfastad 3) There seems to be loads of posts about reliability on here. What percentage chance will I have of ending up with a duff one? It seems 50% to me, after reading posts about the zen micro. People having to return them 4 or more times. Not good. Ben

I was also having the same dilema, but tried to calculate the amount of people who were actually having this problem and came to the same conclution as Cyclone, its not a big percent, for wich I am getting a brand new ZEN micro this friday, hope I don't get problems...!!

Max

[sorry for crappy english]

 

[Cyclone]

Quote:

Originally Posted by batfastad I'm thinking of a flash-based player now. Man the Creative Zen Micro is so close to what I want. Keep the chassis but stick a CF card slot in there!! It looks so nice!!! I might buy one anyway, see if it does what I want for 10mins, if not then send it back.

You dont know about the partitionable hard drive do you?

The micro can act like a cf/usb stick, you just partition off a little piece (actually up to 2gb) and it will be recognized as a mass storage device. This only works for transfering music,files, apps, etc and if you add music to your partition it will not show up in your micro's library, but if you just want to transfer text document "A" (or any other file)from computer 1 to computer 2 then it works great.

 

[Prothall]

Correction: With the latest firmware, the Zen Micro can partition up to 4GB of itself (assuming it's big enough) as a USB Drive. I don't know if that works with the 4GB models, I don't see how it could.

 

[Cyclone]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Prothall Correction: With the latest firmware, the Zen Micro can partition up to 4GB of itself (assuming it's big enough) as a USB Drive. I don't know if that works with the 4GB models, I don't see how it could.

I keep finding new stuff in this latest firmware. i never saw that before, thats pretty cool. But for all of those out there, dont update to the beta. Its just as buggy but isnt reversable (was it jnev who made the misake of updating to the beta and then his micro stopped working?). I did it by accident, not seeing the "not reversible" signage that was in bold

but luckily my micro didnt suffer any adverse effects. Can you have the 4gb partition on the second newest firmware too or is it just for the beta riskers?