Creative Zen Micro 5 GB MP3 Player Silver

Creative Zen Micro 5 GB MP3 Player Silver Review

Have had the unit only a day, and figured out how to load the mp3s after an hour or so of loading program and reading the manual. Although pretty much Windows drag and drop, there is some setup to do beforehand, so don't rush things and read the pdf manual. The paper manual has instructions for installing the drivers and playing the files. You'll have to go online or read the pdf manual to really work this thing.

I think I am pretty satisfied with the quality and oompf of the player itself, but Creative's "MediaSource Organzier" interface (along with the simpler "Media Explorer" and their capabilities--or not--caused many wasted hours here on Day Two. The Explorer offers a task list to easily rip audio CD to the device, with a box to check whether you wanted to also rip the mp3s to the Music Library on the C drive. I didn't want to waste my precious space on C drive, so unchecked the option. Later when I wanted to burn an MP3 CD (rather than an audio CD), I found could do this only with access to the harddrive's version of the Music Library. When I finally figured that out (and I reripped the album I was interested in), then the mp3 burn list would import the tracks only in alphabetical order. I tried via a custom playlist and bringing over a clearly numbered Album, and they tracks jumped to the burnlist in alphabetical order. Through the forums on Creative's website, I discovered that is the only option. No way to have the mp3s be "tracked" on an mp3 CD burn. And that's it. Phooey.

And for some reason, I could not after the fact move my many ripped albums of mp3s from the Zen player to the c drive's Music Library. If this had been explained beforehand or at all somewhere, I would have saved hours of time. But their manuals and tutorials make it all seem so easy..select tracks, place them in order with my named playlist, click a few buttons...and presto, it's stalled or a mess with no means to figure what happened.

I eventually worked around the whole thing using other programs, and now have a cd that will play my tracks in order on a CD player. Now I'm just going to make straight copies of it. Too many hours where a few sentences in the manual would have helped.

Creative Zen Micro 5 GB MP3 Player Silver Feature

• Micro-sized 5 GB digital-music player stores up to 1,250 songs at 128 kbps or 2,500 songs at 64 kbps (MP3/WMA)
• Vertical touch pad simplifies navigation; body is curved to fit your hand
• FM radio with 32 station presets for listening and recording; 10-hour voice recording through built-in microphone
• 12 hours continuous playtime using the supplied rechargeable lithium-ion battery; extend your listening using multiple batteries (sold separately)
• Includes headphones, a belt clip, a stand, and an AC/DC power adapter

Creative Zen Micro 5 GB MP3 Player Silver Overview

Non Stop Music - Non Stop Fun!

Creative Zen Micro 5 GB MP3 Player Silver Specifications

The Zen Micro digital music player from Creative Labs packs an incredible 5 GB of storage capacity into a shell small enough to sit comfortably in your jeans pocket. It also rides nicely in your hand, with a palm-fitting profile and thumb-friendly front-panel controls. It's a bit shorter than an Apple iPod Mini, yet its rechargeable lithium-ion battery provides 12 hours of continuous playback--50 percent more than iPod Mini's. The Zen Micro is compatible not merely with MP3s and WAV files, but with WMA as well. Toss in USB 2.0 connectivity and you're looking at one spiffy portable music player.

But playing isn't all the Zen Micro does. You can use it to receive FM radio (with 32 station presets to keep your favorites at the ready), and to record, either from the radio or from live sources such as voice dictation or lectures using the Zen Micro's built-in condenser microphone.

Trimmed in a luminescent blue glow and with easily visible backlit buttons, this stylish silver player holds up to 1,250 songs (83 hours) at 128 kbps or 2,500 songs (166 hours) at lower-fidelity 64 kbps (MP3/WMA)--that's a solid week's worth of music listening, never playing the same song twice. Compatibility with Microsoft's WMA compressed-audio format grants access to over 2 million downloadable songs offered promotionally or for sale online.

Perhaps the Zen Micro's coolest attribute is its DJ feature, which will shuffle not only all the songs you've loaded or all the songs in a given album, but, at your discretion, only the tracks you listen to most, or only those you rarely hear, taking the work out of selecting your favorites or hunting out all the music you're still getting to know.

Zen Micro's rechargeable battery is easy to replace.

For navigation, the device features a vertical, linear touchpad designed to make searching through songs or playlists easy, quick, and fun. The unit's blue, 160 x 104-pixel, electroluminescent LCD shows key functions and song details at a glance, and you can even customize the main menu to keep right at your fingertips the features that matter most to you.

Another of the Zen Micro's handy features is its personal organizer. You'll never forget an important anniversary with the onboard calendar, and it also includes a to-do list and a contacts list, all of which sync seamlessly with Microsoft Outlook (Outlook thus required for use of these features). In addition, the device offers a sleep timer and alarm so you can drift off to sleep to the strains of one playlist and wake to a completely different one.

The Zen Micro's removable battery is easy to swap with another fully charged battery (additional batteries sold separately), extending your listening by a half-day per swap.

What's in the Box
The Zen Micro player, stereo earbud headphones, a rechargeable lithium-ion battery, a USB 2.0 cable, an installation CD, a quick- start guide, and Creative MediaSource software.

Available at Amazon Check Price Now!

*** Product Information and Prices Stored: Apr 04, 2010 08:36:04