Creative Zen Micro 5 GB MP3 Player Orange

That's right...the Zen Micro is the very 1st mp3 player I've owned. I'm a CD kind of girl, with probably 200+ CD's in my collection. (Since I buy a lot of used CD's, I can usually buy anywhere from 2-3 CD's for the price of a new one.) I have about 500+ mp3s, but these are usually just for listening to at work or home. It wasn't until my co-worker bought himself an iPod that I began to consider getting one myself. I had a few requirements for my mp3 player: 1. It had to be small, compact & lightweight for exercise. 2. I wanted an FM radio. 3. I wanted to be able to change the battery myself. 4. It needed at least 4+ GB storage capacity. 5. It had to be easy to use. 6. I didn't want to get sucked into the world of Apple, where I'm sort of forced to deal with iTunes & weird Apple file formats that only work in Apple hardware & software. I researched everything out on the market. I wanted something dependable, with a good reputation, and good support. This was a major purchase for me. With 2 kids, car payments & a mortgage, spending $200 on my own personal enjoyment is a HUGE deal. I came to like what I was hearing about the Zen Micro. Since Creative is trying to compete with Apple, their product seemed to have everything the iPod was lacking. It is also PC friendly, catering to the Windows world for us non-Mac users. Since I use Outlook for my job, I liked that I can sync my Zen with my calendar, tasks, & contacts. The Zen is shorter than the iPod, although slightly thicker. (It's slightly smaller than a regular size Altoids mint tin.) Even though the iPod has a sleek, modern look, the Zen has it's own unique look with the blue backlight trim. It has a radio with 32 presets and a recorder for voice & radio capture. The recorder is a handy feature since I'm a writer in my spare time & often get inspiration & ideas faster than I can write them down. What really sold me on the Zen was that I could change the battery myself. iPod's internal battery makes it so that in a year or two, I'll have to ship it to Apple & pay them a fee to get a simple battery changed. That idea completely turned me off. I just turned 30 yrs old! I've been changing batteries in things for probably 20-25 of those years. It's patronizing that Apple feels only THEY should change your iPod's battery in order to get you to pay more $$$$ for a product you already own. I've also heard bad stories about this process, such as getting your iPod back with all your stored music gone. So far, I'm loving my Zen. In the course of a weekend, I was able to upload 431 songs, (roughly 36 CD's). Ripped at 128kb files, I still have over 3 GB of space available. I haven't had to read the manual at all. (I read the little 5 page booklet in the box, but haven't had to brave the 65 page User's Manual.) While my Zen charged (in just under 3 hours), I installed the software with ease. I was able to program my Zen & start ripping & transfering music onto it with zero instruction. The radio works great. The reception is decent, although sometimes I do get some static for stations that I get just fine in my car. Things I was happy about: ~ The sound quality is far better than I expected! ~ I've had no real problems with my pink Zen Micro. It worked great straight out of the box. ~ It looks pretty cool, better than I thought it looked in pics. While it has a kind of "plastic" look, compared to the iPod's sleek, metallic look, the Zen is still pretty cool looking. The glowing blue trim lights that pulse off & on when charging give it a sort of alien strobe light effect. But I noticed my Zen gets a lot of comments & catches people's eye. Everyone & their grandma has an iPod, which makes the Zen more of a conversation piece because people are curious about it. *Everyone* at my office, even my boss, wanted to try my Zen out. (That didn't happen when my co-worker brought his new iPod to work the 1st time.) ~ I can make my own unique "case" for my ZM out of an Altoids mint tin. I plan on painting mine & decorating with some cool decals. I'm an artist, so making a personalized case no one else in the world has really appeals to me. (Google "Zen Micro Altoids case" or go to the head-fi.org forum for some cool pics & instructions.) Issues I've had w/ the Zen Micro: ~ No internal FM Transmitter to broadcast your mp3's onto your car/home stereo! I thought this feature was included in the standard player, like the iPod. An annoying detail that miffed me a little. ~ The Earbuds are terrible!! The earbuds are so "bulbous" & large that they don't fit into my ears at all. They made my ears sore the 1st day from constantly trying to stuff them back in. It's all too obvious that I'll have to buy replacements. If they won't stay in when I'm sitting at my desk, they definitely won't stay in when walking, jogging, or riding my bike. ~ The battery drains, even when player is switched OFF!!! This is a well known & documented problem in the Zen Micro. The Date/Time, sleep/alarm funtions, etc cause the battery to run constantly. See, the ZM doesn't turn OFF...it's literally always in "Stand By" mode, which causes the battery to run even when it's not in use. There are several ways to help this though. Use timer/alarm functions sparingly. Using the player conservatively helps the battery life. (i.e. playing at full blast, skipping around constantly, not lowering the LCD lights to minimum setting, etc will run battery down quicker.) However, the best method is to fully charge the battery, then simply take it out of the player overnight. This actually turns the player OFF & keeps your battery from draining overnight. I also plan on updating my firmware regularly (in case they someday patch this problem with software) & buy a 2nd battery to rotate my player with. (It seems to help to fully charge the battery before 1st use, then play it until it fully drains. Do this a few times, fully charging then fully depleting the battery. Once the battery is "primed" this way a few times, it seems to keep a better charge for longer.) All in all, I gave it 5 stars, despite the 3 issues I had. These issues are all things that can be worked around. The iPod has it's own battery issues, however with the Zen, I can at least replace my own battery without having to ship my player off for several weeks. To me, that alone is worth the 5th star. I would recommend this product to a friend. And I would buy another Creative Zen product again in the future. Actually, I'm thinking of getting my hubby his own Zen Micro so he'll stop stealing mine. Note: I do not work for Creative, Apple, or Amazon in any way. I'm just a regular customer who is enjoying her 30th b-day present very much. Hope this is helpful to someone else. ****Update**** 10/18/05 I've owned my Zen for over a month now & it's still working great. A software upgrade from Creative's website fixed the battery drain problem. I only have to recharge it once a week, sometimes once every OTHER week. I have 560 songs on it with just under 3GB of space left. I keep in an Altoids mint tin, which is nice cause it's protected from getting damaged when I throw it into my purse. I love it & have had zero problems.

I just got my brand new Zen Micro on Friday. A beautiful red one. I plugged it in, got it charged, put my songs on it, and listened to it for about 15 minutes. It had great sound! I didn't listen to it for the rest of the weekend. Monday morning, I am on my way to the train, I go to turn it on, and it is dead. COMPLETELY DEAD! I tried everything to make it work. I looked on the Creative message boards, wrote to people, called Customer Service, did what they said....nothing. I am now in the process of sending it back for an exchange. I would like to give it one more chance before asking for my money back. I am so disappointed that it's so buggy. While looking on the Creative site, I saw that there were many other people having this problem. What can I say? I didn't think it would happen to me so soon!! I thought I would be able to get more than 15 minutes use out of this product. Well, it sounded good for the short time it worked, but I would suggest waiting for the next better version or buying another brand completely. I wish I would have heeded the few negative reviews I saw here on Amazon....

Ok... I think I've owned and returned about every MP3 player on the market (ok, slight exaggeration). I had the iLo (a Walmart brand of Go Video's Rave MP3 player... Great screen but only 256MB and serious firmware issues when using an expansion card over 512 MB), Creative Zen Xtra (unaccessable controls that are on the side of the unit and the hardest screen to read, especially in the car), a Philips MP3 player I got at Walmart (doesn't support downloaded music...why bother???) and the Rio Carbon. I really fell in love with the Rio Carbon, since the screen was soo legible in the car (white background with black letters), the key pad on the front lit up to be able to see where the keys are in the car, and the sound was great. But since Rio dropped the ball on releasing a firmware update to use Napster-To-Go (subscription-based music service, where you "rent" songs for an extra $5 a month on top of the $9.99 normal Napster service), and the problems with some headphones "buzzing", a week ago I decided to try the Creative Zen Micro... THANK GOODNESS I DID!!!! This is a great little MP3 player. Many others have listed the usual features of this player, so I won't bore you with those. I will, however, tell you the pros and cons of why I'm goning to keep this player over the others... PROS: 1. ALL OF THE CONTROLS ARE ON THE FRONT OF THE PLAYER, AND THEY ALL LIGHT UP--- may not seem like something important, but I use my MP3 player mostly in the car, and having the menu, play/pause, forward, back, and volume controls on the front of the player, and having them all be backlit, makes it sooo easy navigate while in the car. Try using the scroll wheel on the top right-hand corner on the Rio Carbon to scroll down to "Van Halen" while going 70 mph on the highway...you might not make it past "Journey" before wrecking. Since the Creative Zen Micro uses the Vertical Scroll Bar, you can use one finger to scroll up and down... very nice touch! 2. REMOVEABLE BATTERY THAT CHARGES USING USB MICRO PLUG--- since the battery life on these things is, in reality, about 6 hrs, having a removeable battery is nice to have. And it charges using the USB connection, but would be better if it had a wall/car charger that you plug the USB cable into, like on the Rio Carbon. 3. ACTUALLY WORKS WITH NAPSTER-TO-GO!!!!--- I had read horror stories about getting the firmware to upgrade properly, but I've had absolutely no problems with mine (my Mom got one too and she had no problems either). Its great having 1100 songs on my MP3 player. I only own 400 of them, but i get to rent essentially $700-worth of songs for an extra $5 a month. This is an Ipod-killer feature! 4. GREAT WEIGHT & CONTROLS FOR EXERCISING--- I've been walking with my Zen Micro, and it's nice to be able to control everything with my thumb. Also, the DJ feature is great for keeping the music fresh as you're working out/exercising, and so you dont have to keep finding the next song or album to play. 5. EASY TO READ SCREEN--- when in the car, it's imperative to be able to easily see the screen in a quick glance. This screen is essentially a very light blue backlight with dark, dark blue lettering, compared to earlier Creative screens that have dark blue backlight with a slightly darker blue lettering. Still not as nice as Rio Carbon's or Rave/iLo screens, but its vastly improved and easy to read. Too bad you can't set the backlight to stay on all the time (30 sec max). Oh, well, I can't have everything. 6. THE SOUND IS FANTASTIC--- it can get nice and loud, unlike some other players, and the sound quality is about the best I heard (could use a little more bass). 7. NEAT GLOWING FEATURE WHEN RECHARGING--- this was an unexpected feature that has no real usefulness, but it's quite cool. as it's charging the light behind the controls glows brighter, then dimmer...as if it's breathing. useless, but a neat surprise. CONS: 1. HEADPHONE JACK IS THE MOST FRAGILE COMPONENT EVER MADE!!!--- as soon as I got my Zen Micro from Amazon.com, I downloaded a few songs and started playing it... stuck the headphones in the jack and.... no sound out of the right earpiece. Boy was I mad!!! Felt really screwed over by this product, but I informed Amazon.com and they sent me a new one overnite... THANKS AMAZON.COM!!! (Guess that's why you should buy from a reputable seller!!!) The new one has performed flawlessly, and my mom's has also. Be careful using a large-rimmed 1/8" plug while the player is in the plastic case... the rim hits the top part of the plastic case and torques the headphone jack, thus causing the solder connection to break. Use small plugs and don't put ANY force on the headphone plug/jack!!!! (I use a short headphone extension cable that has a small, 90-degree plug from Radio Shack that is taped to the side of my plastic protective case so it has no stress on the jack, can't be jerked (the tape takes the shock instead of the jack) and so I don't have to remove the plug from the jack, since I frequently change from headphones to FM transmitter in the car. It's worked great and hopefully this will prevent any future jack problems, but it's still rediculous that this is even a problem in the year 2005... How long has the headphone jack been in existence??? NO EXCUSE, CREATIVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) For full disclosure, I am in NO way affiliated with any MP3 manufacturer, Amazon.com, nor Napster. Also, I have no ill will against Ipods, I just think being able to "rent" and try music is a great idea after years of having to buy $18 CDs for one or two good songs. I'm just a guy trying to find the "BEST" MP3 player out there that does what I want, and think, it should do. I hope you enjoy whatever MP3 player you purchase. They all have their own great features and headaches, but the Creative Zen Micro satisfies what I want in a mini-jukebox style MP3 player. I hope my "real world" critique is helpful to you. Good luck!

got mine last year when it was a lot more expensive but I still love my Zen Micro. I recently discovered something though, that a lot of people don't seem to recognize. One of the things that happened to me was a firmware problem that was actually my PC's fault. A part of my registry had been deleted by another program which made certain plug and play features not work correctly. So if your Zen isn't recognized by Windows Media Player 10....If it beeps when connected but then disappears the problem is with your registry, not the zen micro. People assume the new product is always a fault, when often it is the machine it is being attached to that has the problem. I wanted to point that out because this truly is a very good piece of equipment, it's just some elements of the PlaysForSure setup in XP and WMP10 have glitches. [...] An outstanding little player. I was using my Dell Pocket PC as an mp3 player, did a good job, but just didn't have the storage capacity, the FM tuner, or the small size, here are my cons and pros: Cons: -FIRMWARE: DO NOT UPDATE YOUR FIRMWARE UNLESS YOU HAVE TO. I made the mistake of updating to version 2.10.05 when my player was working just fine. What suddenly happened is the player worked, but my Dell Inspirion had problems. The computer could find the Micro, but NONE of the programs, including Windows Media Player 10 could detect it. I couldn't even downgrade the firmware. I ended up having to load WMP 10 onto my roommate's computer (without any of the accompanying software) and voila, it found the Micro, so I downgraded the firmware to version 1.01.03. Now everything is peachy. I know we all want the latest and greatest downloads for our equipment but in this case if it ain't broke, don't fix it. MS OUTLOOK: It syncs with my contact list fine, but the calendar leaves something to be desired, mainly half my appointments don't show up. I figured out that for some reason if you have a recurring event, like a weekly meeting, it registers the first instance, but none of the others. There does not appear to be a way to fix this in the software, so my guess is the bugs need to be worked out. PROS: Software: The software it comes with is EASY to use. MUCH easier than Windows Media Player 10. I'm not sure why anyone would want to use Windows Media Player to sync anything. It's got far too many confusing features. Like I thought I was creating a playlist for my micro, but it turns out the "playlist" was actually just the songs I was transferring, and since I had already loaded them into the Micro, it didn't work. I'm an ubergeek, so I'm surprised a simple program is baffling me. The creative software works just fine by itself. Customization: You can create whatever main menu you want. If you want the time and date to be on the main menu, you can add it. Sound Quality: 10 times better than with my pocket pc. The sound has more depth to it, and with all the built in EQ sets, and room for a custom made one, you can have the sound you want. MS OUTLOOK: While the calendar syncs badly, the contacts don't. It's nice to be able to have this information on me should I need it. FM Radio: With all radios, it really depends on where you are. But I got crystal clear reception for local chicago stations, no problem. TOUCHPAD: I know some people hate this feature, but I think it rocks. If you can easily use the touchpad on a laptop computer with rare problems, then the Zen Micro will be a breeze. I haven't needed to adjust the sensitivity, although it did take me about an hour or so of fiddling with it to realize how easy and simple it is to use. If you're having problems, just remember that less is more. You're not pushing buttons, you're gently rubbing a touchpad. I thought about getting the remote, but really I think the player itself is easy. All in all I'd say future versions should be even better, but this one isn't a bad start.

I was looking forward to the Zen Micro as I was going to use it with Napster To Go. I have Napster on two computers at home. When I set up the Micro, the first computer would not allow me to transfer any songs that I had not purchased. Sort of ANTI-Napster To Go. But the other computer did recognize the Zen Micro and would let me transfer all the tracks without buying them (as advertised). Being an easy-going guy, I thought, what the hell, it works on one, I can live with that. I transferred the tracks, maybe sixty at first and started to use the player. The touch screen is everything you've read about: Terrible! Even set on low, you can't operate it. Just a light touch takes you to some menu you didn't want to visit. It's maddening! But still I thought I'm a techy, I can deal with it. Maybe I just have to learn its quirks. After another half hour, I took a rest. Too many quirks. I'll come back and resume training tomorrow. Tomorrow comes and I turn on the Zen Micro (cute as a button, by the way) and it's frozen. It won't play or even show me the songs that I had already transferred. I figured I'd hook it up to Napster again, maybe shock it back to reality, but Napster didn't recognize it anymore, on any computer. So now I look into the future and realize the next week of my life (at least) will be spent with tech support from both Napster and Creative. Each will blame the other, obviously. Life's too short. I just want to listen to a few tunes, hum along, play a little air guitar. I have an older Samsung model which has always worked beautifully. Why did I listen to the hype. Read the other reviews. I'm not alone in these complaints. After I send this one back, I'll probably just try another Samsung.

so i admit it... i wanted a zen micro, because the appeal of the iPod was overshadowed by it's annoying trendy hipster popularity and i felt better about myself for choosing a rip off version of that trendy hipster popularity. anyway, my wife got this for me for my birthday and I love the thing. I mainly only get to listen to music in my car, so it's an awesome replacement for a console full of the same ten cd's that have been in there for the last 8 months that i keep forgetting to replace. she also got me an iRiver FM modulator that plugs into the ligher outlet, so i can play it through my regular radio. anyway, here's the pros and cons: +linux compatible with the 1.x series of firmware. the program is called Gnomad and works great for me and seems to cover all the features the included windows sofware does. +looks snazzy +smaller than a pack of smokes - easily transported +ac charger included as well as a hardshell that comes with a clip and a stand adapter +USB cable included - charges via USB, so whenever you plug it into your computer, it's charging up. +Battery life is awesome IF you upgrade the firmware [requires a windows pc] OR make sure to always plug the ac adapter into the player before plugging into the outlet +Awesome sound quality... I mean it is Creative right? Aren't they something of digital sound experts? +Sorts music by artist, album, genre, etc... it's easy to wade through 5 gigs of tunes to find what you're looking for. Also provides for playlists which are nice, but really only usefully set up through the PC software. before i get into the cons, i'll make a note about the scrollpad. It DOES take some getting used to. my initial reaction was to tap the up and down arrows, when in reality, you need to touch, maintain contact and slide your finger up and down. it's a little counter intuitive at first, but works great when your used to it. it's a neutral feature in my book. simple mechanical buttons would probably work just as well and would be less confusing for new owners, but i guess they wanted to rival the iPod's search wheel. whatever... on to the negatives: -touchy about charging... you can damage the battery and seriously decrease it's life if you don't upgrade the firmware OR dont' heed the advice to always plug in the player side of the cord before plugging in the outlet side. -doesn't like to be charged via USB on non windows PCs or PCs that don't have the Zen Micro driver installed. It has the odd side effect of the buttons only partially working? Simply removing the battery and then replacing it fixes the issue, but it's annoying. The new firmware fixes this as long as you put the player in lock mode before plugging it into said PC. -User's guide doesn't cover a lot of important info that is covered on their website. I definately recommend upgrading the firmware, which is as simple as downloading a program from creatives website and running it with your player plugged in. (linux geeks -> avoid the 2.x series that is aimed at windows media player compatibility, you can't downgrade the firmware.) -Can't be left in the car... it immediately shuts down with an overheating error if left in a hot car for too long. But since it's so small, it isn't a big deal to bring it with me. Overall though, i'm very happy with it and highly recommend it to folks looking for a mp3 player, even if it is to pretend your not a braindead consumer giving into the marketing hype of the iPod. ;)

*** UPDATED ON 03-22-05 I just want you all to know that if you have any problem, the Amazon people are great. My first Zen Micro was just a big ol' mess. It eventually froze up on me, and no amount of Creative tech support could help. I contacted Amazon, and they had me send it back and replaced it at no charge. The new unit is perfect. It worked flawlessly and the songs downloaded perfectly. It's a whole new ballgame. This thing is so very cool. I LOVE using Napster To Go with this MP3. Also... check out Creative's site for the COOLEST matching speakers! They're called the Creative SBS Vivid 60. They come in 10 different colors to match your Micro. I don't see them on Amazon yet, but now that I have a working player, I'm ordering mine right away. And don't be put off about the lack of armband (it frustrated me that Apple had them everywhere for the iPod). I found one at Best Buy that worked just fine with it. I'm sure Creative will be coming out with accessories soon. Oh, by the way... I've never used an iPod, but a friend of mine has the mini. And when she saw that I could delete a song from my player (or from a playlist) without hooking up to the computer, she was jealous. Apparently you can't do that with an iPod. Kudos to Creative! I would now give it 4 stars, and that is only because I still think the product is kind of buggy, and it seems as if a lot of people have had problems. But again, order through Amazon and all will be fine. Believe me, the product is so cool that it will be worth it. (original review, posted in February) I purposely purchased this product to work with Napster-to-Go. I've never been an Apple/iTunes fan, and I liked a lot of the listed features of this MP3. (Such as: removable battery, extra GB, ability to play WMA files, etc.) When I received the player, I charged it and fiddled around with the settings. The touch pad WAS a pain for the first few hours, but as everyone else mentioned, it gets easier and it doesn't take long to feel comfortable with it. After much fiddling around with the software install (which I found to be very cumbersome and time consuming), I then downloaded the Beta firmware to enable this player to work with Napster 2 Go. After more fiddling around, trying to figure out exactly how to proceed without any particular set of directions, I finally managed to transfer about 250 Napster-to-Go songs right from Napster. I have never had a problem with the hard drive crashing or freezing or anything like that. They played beautifully. I honestly love the looks, design, UI, etc. of this MP3. It would have been so perfect... Then three days later I sat down to download more songs. This time when I tried to transfer/sync them, Napster didn't recognize my player. So I tried to transfer them via Windows Media Player 10. That, too, didn't recognize my player. I called Creative tech support, and was run through a battery of uninstalls, reinstalls, restarts to the hard drive, etc. Still ended up in the same place. My Micro knows that it's docked, and it pulses to a charge, but nothing can transfer. I have spent hours fiddling around with it, even trying to use the Creative Systems software that came with it. Even THAT didn't recognize that the player was plugged in. I also went out and bought a new USB 2 cord - yet nothing. If I hadn't have done it just fine the first time, I'd just assume it was a faulty player. Since my errors that I'm getting are generic ("Windows Media has encountered an unknown error), no one seems to be able to help me. So end result? It's been a week and although it plays the files that are on there wonderfully, I haven't done anymore downloading or transferring. There is still PLENTY of space on my hard drive. Everyone told me to go with an iPod, and you know what? I should have. It may not have the removable battery or a multitude of media options, but at least it's reliable. Caveat emptor - this thing still has a lot of bugs to work out... good luck if you still decide to buy it! I'm sending mine back!

I was excited to receive this player. Everyday I would track its progress from KY to my house. Why I bought this player: * Owner exchangeable battery with a longer life than the iPod. Read that as I don't void the warrantee by pulling out a defective batter or get charged 90 bucks to not. * Radio tuner. I like Morning Edition on NPR. * More storage than a Mini. I'm American, bigger is better. * Can also be used as a removable hard drive. * Less expensive than a Mini (in most cases) Finally, it arrived yesterday. And now, the preliminary verdict... * My system configuration is Pro SP2, have Macafee anti-virus, Windows firewall enabled and Office 2003 Pro. * The Creative software is buggy. The reason why I say this is because the software when syncing the Zen to Outlook not only caused Macafee to alert me but also MS Office itself alerted me about this activity (who says that Microsoft is completely vulnerable?). After allowing the sync manager to connect to my Outlook contacts etc. in both Macafee and MS Office, illegal operation error in an MFC class; translation, the coders more than likely didn't sign their application so it looked more like Melissa or code red than an acceptable application. I'm sure they will update the software since my system is not an unusual system configuration. * This morning, arrived at the office pulled out the player and found the stock left ear bud had come apart. This really didn't surprise me since the price you pay is for the player and not the ear buds. I had planned on buying a nicer pair of headphones anyway so, not a big deal to me. * The radio works really well. I'm able to pick up a rather stubbornly weak NPR station. * The transfers are pretty good, it takes less time to rip the CDs than to transfer them to the player. * iTunes is a MUCH better interface to transfer files. It's also much more solid a program than Creative's music manager. But hey, Windows Media Player can work as the music manager for the Zen. Am I still excited? Yes, it is a nice sounding product. The touch pad isn't as bad as many claim. No worse than getting used to a new laptop and the settings do help a lot. I set mine to low and don't seem to fumble much at all. The reason for three stars is because the "package"; the software, player, and included accessories, aren't of the quality I would expect from an iPod killer. If creative polishes up their music manager or just lets Windows Media Player do it all and adds better quality earbuds, there would have been four or five stars to the rating.