Just ordered my Creative Zen Micro

Greenman

Well I've finally taken the plunge and ordered the Creative Zen Micro. I've been waiting a while for it to become available. Its my first HD mp3 player, When it arrives I'll let you know it goes!!! Paid 248.95 E's all in!!

secret_squirrel

Not bad - I got mine from Peats (Dublin) on tuesday for €280 with the 'free' spare battery. TBH I think the first 30,000 Micros are coming with an extra battery.

Having mixed results with it so far see here

Greenman

secret_squirrel wrote:

Not bad - I got mine from Peats (Dublin) on tuesday for €280 with the 'free' spare battery. TBH I think the first 30,000 Micros are coming with an extra battery.

Having mixed results with it so far see here

Nice to get your feedback, I'm not sure how long you have it but maybe the battery needs a bit of running in before it lives up to your expectations.
If you click here you'll find some interesting reading on the Zen Micro.
As yet mine has not arrived but I'll keep you posted!!!

ZENER

They have a strange pricing policy on these things don't they - Harvet normans have the Micro at 279 and the 20 Gig ZEN at 289 !!! Does that really make sense to anyone?

I don't like the look of the micro, looks like a cheap TV remote control!

ZEN

BolBill

5 Gig !!!!??? Ain't worth Jack !!!!!!!

Greenman

BolBill wrote:

5 Gig !!!!??? Ain't worth Jack !!!!!!!

All a matter of opinion and your needs and wants!!!

Greenman

This is a nice review!!!!

LFCFan

got mine yesterday with the extra battery. The sound is excellent, it looks good and the touch buttons are very easy to use after a bit of messing about with it. When I was in the shop getting it, there was a few other people looking at them and every one of them were of the same opinion. The iPod sucks, Creative is the way to go. You can't go wrong for the same price but with an FM Radio (that you can record), a replaceable battery and an extra battery thrown in and of course you can use it like a Hard Drive and the USB port recharges it as you use it. And of course 1GB bigger. The extras are cool too. A hard case with little stand and a belt clip and a carry pouch.

Greenman

Got mine today!!! its tiny!!! very happy with it. Takes a little getting used to with scrolling down etc. So far so good. On other forums they talked about battery life and that they were not happy with it. Not an issue so far for me, handy to get a spare battery a seperate battery charger attachment would have been nice.:)

secret_squirrel

Notice they are sold out on the creative ireland shop today.

Still dealing with the battery life issue with mine - one battery is almost definately knackered - takes almost as long to charge as it does to discharge - about 5 hours!

the other one seems better. Currently conditioning that as per a mail from thier tech support.

daveg

I had owned the creative jukebox 1 (6GB). Twas a pile of shít. It toally put me off buying a HD MP3 player. However I caved and bought the 4GB MuVo. It amazes me how much the HD MP3 players have come on. I absolutly love the MuVo. Not only a great MP3 player but handy for transfering files from work. Sorry for hijacking the thread. I just thought it was applicable.

Greenman

Just picked up a pair of PX 100´s for my little Micro lovely sound. So far no battery issue. Very handy the way you can charge it via USB. Only wish it was plug and play.the little cradle is very handy.

secret_squirrel

Not sure if anyone has mentioned this but the head phones that come with the Zen Micro are very good - on a par with my Sennheiser MX400's. Kinda shame they are in 'mug me' white. Unless you are completely obsessessed with size and weight I'd say the Zen Touch is the one to go for - same price as the Micro - only a little bigger and 4x the space.
However the micro's small size and weight won it for me. 5Gb is plenty of room for my favourite tracks if not for my entire collection.

Horsefumbler

feel bad knowing that the iRiver is way better?

secret_squirrel

by better you mean fugly and bulky right? Name one iriver player that competes in the same size/storage capacity as the Zen micro?

LFCFan

secret_squirrel wrote:

Not sure if anyone has mentioned this but the head phones that come with the Zen Micro are very good

Agree! I've switched around with a few different headsets and the creative ones are by far the best. You're right though, it's a pity they're in white as people think you're another iPod convert and I hate the iPod

ZENER

LFCFan wrote:

Agree! I've switched around with a few different headsets and the creative ones are by far the best. You're right though, it's a pity they're in white as people think you're another iPod convert and I hate the iPod

Thats a bit strong isn't it. It's not like the iPod is ManU or Chelsea, why do you "hate" it? What does it represent to you that makes you want to "hate" it. OK you can choose not to buy it because of it's features or design or even it's percieved shortcomings - but "hate". Is it possible you are just trying to be part of the herd here ?

On the headphone/earbuds issue did I read somewhere that they were made by a renowned manufacturere of these types of items beginning with S and ending with R ? I bought the Sony MDR-EX71 ear buds for my iPod, nice sound but not particularly loud and a little difficult to get them into my earlugs so that they're comfortable.

ZEN

ZENER

secret_squirrel wrote:

Still dealing with the battery life issue with mine - one battery is almost definately knackered - takes almost as long to charge as it does to discharge - about 5 hours!

the other one seems better. Currently conditioning that as per a mail from thier tech support.

Care to let us know how you were told to do this ?

ZEN

LFCFan

ZENER wrote:

Thats a bit strong isn't it. It's not like the iPod is ManU or Chelsea, why do you "hate" it? What does it represent to you that makes you want to "hate" it. OK you can choose not to buy it because of it's features or design or even it's percieved shortcomings - but "hate". Is it possible you are just trying to be part of the herd here ?

Get a grip! What I said was tongue in cheek, hence the smiley! I don't HATE the ipod. Just don't particulary like them because Apple have done with the iPod what Microsoft have done with their software, ie. Peddled an inferior product through some brilliant marketing. When people think MP3 player now, the majority think iPod. Thing is though, if you break it down, other products, Creative included are superior products. If Apple made the iPod with a replaceable battery things could be different.

mr_angry

Has anybody been able to get their hands on some of the more unusual colours, such as orange or green? All I've seen so far are the black and silver models...

secret_squirrel

aifaik the coloured models are getting drip fed out once demand for the basic colours goes down.

Incidentally - Creative Support suggested I take my micro back and exchange it for another. Did so at peats Today - nice and painless and good customer service from both Creative and Peats.

As a bonus I ended up with the white model that I originally wanted and also have somehow ended up with 3 batteries.

Happy bunny right now.....

Greenman

This might be worth a try!!!

Firstly run down the battery until the unit will not power on. Try
turning it on a number of times just to make sure that the battery is
dead.
Now connect the unit to the power supply and allow it to charge over
night for 12 Hours.
Then run down the battery the next day, and when the battery runs down
just charge it as normal. Then your battery should be fine.

All info found here!!!

secret_squirrel

Been there tried that (thanks tho)- its the exact advice their support service gave me. Before suggesting I exchange it. there was definately something wrong with the player - it drained a full battery when it was switched off in less than 8 hours.

Happy to report that the new one lasts longer with 1 battery than the old one did with 2. Also it doesnt drain the battery when its switched off!

Greenman

secret_squirrel wrote:

Been there tried that (thanks tho)- its the exact advice their support service gave me. Before suggesting I exchange it. there was definately something wrong with the player - it drained a full battery when it was switched off in less than 8 hours.

Happy to report that the new one lasts longer with 1 battery than the old one did with 2. Also it doesnt drain the battery when its switched off!

Well good luck with the new player!!!

Not sure where you are but how do do find the reception on the radio?

Thanks!!!

koneko

Update the firmware aswell, secret squirrel.

secret_squirrel

About as good as the radio reception used to be on my nokia - ie forget any of the good stations the minute you are 5 miles from Dublin Center.

secret_squirrel

koneko wrote:

Update the firmware aswell, secret squirrel.

Yep thanks for reminding me - got a email from the tech support guy today recommending the same.

Kinda at the 'if it aint broke dont fix it' stage right now tho....

Greenman

secret_squirrel wrote:

Yep thanks for reminding me - got a email from the tech support guy today recommending the same.

Kinda at the 'if it aint broke dont fix it' stage right now tho....

Very easy to download and install!!! if you have a few minutes!!!