[Taphil]

Got home from a long day at work and my Creative Zen Micro was waiting for me...a nice way to spend a Friday night.

I'll post some pics soon. But my first impression is that Creative is finally taking note of Apple's success. The packaging is similar to the iPod. No blister pack here. And everything is white.

 

[Taphil]

Everything about this new player screams quality!

The backlight fades when turning on and off.

The touch pad has sensitivity settings and works well.

The software installation is nice to look at and works.

The included belt clip/case can also serve as a stand.

The screen is is bright.

There's a clicker speaker a la iPod.

The screen shows much more text than the iPod mini, and is clearer.

When plugged into the computer, the lights pulsate like Macs when they're in suspend/sleep.

 

[D-EJ915]

The one guy said he thought it was a 7mW output in the other thread...does it say what it is/how loud does it go?

 

[donunus]

Ive read on cnet it only plays 64 to 128kbps files. Is this true? this is the only thing thats keeping me from buying one

 

[Taphil]

c|net is wrong. It plays all mp3's.

From my Motoroal V505 camera phone:

 

[D-EJ915]

That water-ripple is the same thing that my old Math book does, I would take a picture of it, but it's under about 50 magazines, and so impossible to lift.

IMO it looks awesome, and I want one!!...but I'm probably gonna get a pink dr7 first...

 

[Taphil]

Volume is good for me. For Senn HD600 directly plugged into the Micro, loud volume for my ears is 19/25, and 20/25 is getting uncomfortable. For Senn MX400 earbuds, it's 14/25 and 18/25 respectively.

The lights also pulsate while recharging. Definitely cool

There is a custom 5-band EQ setting - take that Apple!

Sound quality - comparing the mini and Micro, I definitely like the Micro more. As with all of Creative's players, the bass is much better and smoother compared to the iPod, and it doesn't come at the cost of loss in detail of highs. Some call the iPod shrill, though I wouldn't, but I think Micro sounds noticably better.

Goodbye iPod mini for me. For my uses (already having a 40GB iPod Photo, 20GB 3rd gen iPod, and hardly used NJB3) the mini has lost its place.

 

[fr4c]

so are you going to sell your mini?

 

[Whitewind]

taphil, does the zen micro come with a neckstrap??

 

[Taphil]

I probably should sell my mini - I spent $505 for the Photo and $250 for the Micro this month.

No neck strap.

----------------

Here are negatives so far after using it for awhile:
- I've had to reset it (take out the battery) about a dozen times.
- At first it wouldn't work on my desktop and would freeze, but after a couple resets it did.
- It froze upon being turned on.
- Creative MediaSource crashed once in the middle of a file transfer.
Hopefully doing a format/clean up fixes the problem.

It does work as a USB mass storage device. On the player itself, you can set the data parition size (128MB, 256MB, 512MB, 1GB, 1.5GB, 2GB if that much free space is available) and the device will function as BOTH a mp3 player and removable drive, contrary to the egadget review. So for example, you can make it 4.5GB for music and 0.5GB for files and use it to play music or as a removable drive. When you "disable" the data partition, all data on it is erased. I was at first critical of this, but it seems to work ok, so no complaints here.

 

[PooJou]

I'm liking the bling bling button backlighting - makes it look like a smallish nokia phone or something :thumbup: - One has to wonder how much battery it eats up though.
Forgive me, but i don't see a remote? Is it possible to use the zen without looking at it (eg. skip song etc.) or are the touch buttons all completely smooth with no distinguishing features sticking up?
I don't think Australia is getting this, pity...

 

[vranswer]

Does it have to be seated in that plastic piece (stand?) in order to use the belt clip?

 

[uncle b]

After a HIDEOUS customer service exchange with Creative's mail order department (that resulted, somehow, in not one, but two, pre-authorizations on my plastic), I ordered a Zen Micro from J and R Music World in NY. Though I am somewhat new to the world of DAPs and such, I've found a nice comfort level with WMA files at 160kbps loaded right into my iRiver iHP-120. I've read some places where there are certain restrictions in having the Zen Micro recognized as an external hard-drive, but after re-reading the previous posts, and editing my post, I've figured it out. I also haven't upgraded to WMP 10, just because I've heard there are some instances of of iRiver iHP-120 not agreeing with WMP 10. Any thoughts?

 

[Super King]

Awesome pics Taphil. One question; how is the case/stand thing?

 

[neueziel]

Man that box is sexy lol