j.r.l. Posted May 18, 2005 Share Posted May 18, 2005 (edited) Hey all. I bought a Zen Micro and now that I had just enough time to write a review about it, here it is :D Is it worthy of it's price tag? Well, it depends where you get it from. But at $299 Canadian? It's a tight deal. Cheaper then it's iRiver and iPod rivals. $299 is pretty average for a harddrive MP3 player but I've seen some 4G players for $360 and up. Features... mmhmm... MP3 Playback (of course :p) with Hitachi 5G harddrive Tight FM Radio, 32 presets (good quality, depending on the headphones you use*) FM Recording Voice Recording (4bit mono WAV, better quality then most casette recorders out there) Charges over USB and transfers with USB2 (lack of Firewire) Can't use Windows Explorer unless you have PlaysForSure firmware (upgradable) Cool backlight (that's a major plus!) Battery lasts up to 8 hours with good care (pretty good) Alright alright, let's get to it. It's worth the price and it beats the crap outta the iPod mini! Price/Value: 8.5/10 Ease of use That's a definite 9/10. Unless you have a broken finger or parkinson's disease, the touch pad is an awesome addition. Menus are editable and pretty easy to understand. Ease of use: 9/10 Sound quality Amazing! Even though the stock earbuds are... big. You may like them or not. I removed the little grey pads to make 'em smaller. The quality of the earbuds isn't that nice either but that's always up for a 'fix'. (Get some sony headphones to compensate) Sound: 9.5/10 Earbuds: 7/10 Appearance Huge wow! And not only the "wow effect", it's just "wow". The Creative Zen Micro is awesome! You'll love it's curves and little details... The backlight is amazingly bright, it's just beautiful. If you don't like the backlight, you can turn it off (it turns itself off after being idle 5 seconds). I guess you'll need some pics too right? (don't mind the quality, you get the idea) (thats the box) (what's that bright light???) Overall score: Who gives a damn! I give it a 8/10 but trust me, you'll love it! Thanks ;) * FM radio uses headphones as antenna Edited May 18, 2005 by AresXP Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OPaul Posted May 19, 2005 Share Posted May 19, 2005 8 hour battery life? .... it's a 12 hour battery life, unless you have the equalizer or smart volume enabled. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ForeverUnknown Posted May 19, 2005 Share Posted May 19, 2005 Nice buy. Shouldn't this be in the Review Forum? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j.r.l. Posted May 19, 2005 Author Share Posted May 19, 2005 8 hour battery life? .... it's a 12 hour battery life, unless you have the equalizer or smart volume enabled. 585941844[/snapback] Mhmm it's pretty hard to squeeze 8 hours out of it. It only ADVERTISES 12 hours but it won't last more then 8 hours... Btw a mod can move this Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saxondale. Posted May 19, 2005 Share Posted May 19, 2005 my mate has one, and i got to admit they are pretty sweet things Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kak Posted May 19, 2005 Share Posted May 19, 2005 Here's an idea of how big it is. http://www.intuitivefx.com/~kyle/pics/zm1.jpg I absolutely love it. Hope you enjoy yours too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mx Posted May 19, 2005 Share Posted May 19, 2005 I absolutely love it. Hope you enjoy yours too. 585944483[/snapback] I love mine too :happy: :blush: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OPaul Posted May 19, 2005 Share Posted May 19, 2005 Mhmm it's pretty hard to squeeze 8 hours out of it. It only ADVERTISES 12 hours but it won't last more then 8 hours... Btw a mod can move this 585944468[/snapback] I can easily get 12 hours, if not more, out of mine. You may want to check this site out if you haven't primed your battery. http://www.stainlesssteelrat.net/nomadprimer.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulCabby Posted May 19, 2005 Share Posted May 19, 2005 Hopefully you do not get the dreaded headphone jack problem... Which i havent encountered for 3 weeks already... Apart from that, a brilliant mp3 player :) NIce review (Y) Also, on the battery life, i can get around 11 hours out of it no problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j.r.l. Posted May 20, 2005 Author Share Posted May 20, 2005 Alright, I'll try what OPaul gave me and see... I really enjoy my micro. Reported so mod can move to Reviews section. Please rate this thread! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobrosstonvillestate Posted May 20, 2005 Share Posted May 20, 2005 Nice review. Im jelous. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Si Veteran Posted May 20, 2005 Veteran Share Posted May 20, 2005 Moved here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NetRyder Posted May 20, 2005 Share Posted May 20, 2005 Just ordered a 5GB silver one today. Exciting! :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j.r.l. Posted May 20, 2005 Author Share Posted May 20, 2005 Just ordered a 5GB silver one today. Exciting! :) 585945877[/snapback] Good show! I'm sure you'll love it NetRyder :cool: Don't forget to rate this thread people :unsure: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NetRyder Posted May 21, 2005 Share Posted May 21, 2005 Good show! I'm sure you'll love it NetRyder :cool: 585946769[/snapback] Yeah, I can't wait! Should be here in about a week. :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j.r.l. Posted May 22, 2005 Author Share Posted May 22, 2005 Yeah, I can't wait! Should be here in about a week. :) 585949935[/snapback] Where did you order it from anyways? A week sounds a bit long don't it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NetRyder Posted May 22, 2005 Share Posted May 22, 2005 Ordered it from Buy.com. Got a good deal. :) Free shipping, so I suppose 10 days isn't too bad. It's taken around the same amount of time when I've ordered stuff with free shipping from Amazon before. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prometheus Posted July 11, 2005 Share Posted July 11, 2005 I was thinking about buying an Ipod but this might have just changed my mind. :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kupo-Cheer Posted July 11, 2005 Share Posted July 11, 2005 Yeah, the zen micro is pretty awesome. My only complaint would be the touch panel controls (too easy to accidentally hit, too clumsy and sensitive for navigation at times. Although maybe I'm just not used to it yet...). I love the sound quality, and for me 5 GB for music is more than enough for now. I don't see my music collection getting over 5 GB anytime soon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
turkishdelight Posted July 13, 2005 Share Posted July 13, 2005 I'm liking my Zen Micro, except for the software to transfer/organize files on it, which is pure torture to use. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
devyant Posted July 18, 2005 Share Posted July 18, 2005 ^Gonna second that, and wanting to install the firmware where I can use it ANYWHERE without the need to install crap on the computer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OPaul Posted July 18, 2005 Share Posted July 18, 2005 If you have the version 2 firmware and WMP10 you should be able to just drag songs into the drive that appears in My Computer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beardly Posted July 18, 2005 Share Posted July 18, 2005 The updated firmware is what I love about the Micro. I can skip the crappy Creative software and use Windows Explorer to load my songs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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