Zen Micro 6GB Ipod Alternative (Creative Zen Micro 6 GB)

Member Name: sifair

Product:	Creative Zen Micro 6 GB
Date:	26/04/07 (121 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: great sound and ease of use

Disadvantages: no colour screen

This little mp3 player is a great alternative to an iPod Nano.
Although it is not the nicest looking mp3 player it offers great value for money. As you would want the device is fairly small and will easily fit into your pocket. You can get the zen micro in 10 different colours so don't be put off if you don't like the red one.

THE CONTROLS:
Instead of a scroll wheel, creative have opted for a nice selection of touch sensitive buttons giving the player a classy feel. There is a menu button in the bottom right corner, a back button in the bottom left corner and the scroll pad is in the middle which all control navigation around the player. There is a reverse button a fast forward button and a play/pause button to control your music. I found this very easy to use and it is one of the best control panels I have used on any mp3 player. There is three speed settings for the controls so you can make the controls more sensitive or less sensitive to suit your needs.

THE COLOURS:
You can get this player in:
Black
White
Dark Blue
Red
Lime Green
Pink
Light Blue
Purple
Orange
Grey

THE HARD DISK SPACE:
The creative zen micro comes in 3 different sizes:
4gb = 1000 songs
5gb = 1250 songs
6gb = 1500 songs
I personally like the 6gb model as I have about 1500 songs in my music collection but you can choose which size you like based on your music collection. If you have a bigger music collection than this it doesn't matter because you can constantly change what music you have on your player using the handy creative software that comes with the player.

ACCESSORIES:
With the zen micro you recieve the creative software that is absolutely brilliant for putting music on your mp3 player. Creative have also made this player compatible with Napster and Windows Media Player so it is easier than ever before to get music on your zen micro. With the zen micro you also get some good headphones which produce decent sound. There is also a handy little pouch in the box so you can transport your zen mcro without it getting scratched.

FEATURES:
As well as music playing abilities there is a handy little DJ feature which allows you to play your top 20 most listened to songs as well as your 20 least played songs. There is also a shuffle mode where the player will play every track in a random order. On the zen micro you can create playlists of songs that go together well or you can put any tracks you like on them and you can create an unlimited number. The zen micro also sports a handy little FM radio so you can listen to the local and national music stations and it is suprisingly good. There is also a personal organizer where you can store contacts remember important dates and write notes/reminders to yourself and this woks well with Outlook software as you can import all your contacts straight off the computer onto the zen micro if you wish.

BATTERY LIFE:
The battery life is stated as being upto 11 hours but I have never got 11 hours out of the battery. The average time the battery lasts is about 10 hours which is quite good but you will have to charge it up on a regular basis which can get quite annoying. Handily you can charge the zen micro on the computer but this is the only way you can do it as there is no mains plug that comes with the zen micro. The battery is also replaceable so when it starts running dry you can get and install replacements easily.

Although the player isn't the coolest or best looking it has a great set of features and is cheaper than an iPod of the same size and it offers great value for money.

Summary: A great little mp3 player only lacking a colour screen

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