Zen Microphoto (Creative Zen Microphoto 8 GB)

Member Name: bluice12

Product:	Creative Zen Microphoto 8 GB
Date:	15/04/07 (92 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Sound quality and battery life

Disadvantages: Small screen size and touchpad sensitivity

I purchased my microphoto about 6 months ago as a replacement for my much loved ipod mini. To be honest I have always been an ipod fan, however I had problems with the ipod breaking, therefore upon choosing a replacement I decided to shop around for a different brand. The result - a Zen microphoto. It appeared to be a smart looking, reasonably priced player, with loads of cool 'extra' features, which really grabbed my attention, such as a radio, voice recorder and the ability to store photos. Generally, I am pleased with the purchase, and it certainly matches if not exceeds my previous ipod, however it is not perfect, and as always there are some negatives to the player.

The first positive of the microphoto is its relatively small size, meaning that it can easily fit into most pockets, however it is quite bulky (it has a depth of 1.7cm), therefore if wearing tighter fitting clothing such as jeans, fitting it into the pocket can sometimes be an issue.
The microphoto also looks extremely smart and stylish compared with many other mp3's in the same price bracket, and you can choose from a choice 10 different cover colours, which I think makes the microphoto feel much more personal to you.
The battery life of the microphoto also first rate, and far exceeds any of my previous mp3 players. I have often used it for seemingly days on end before having to recharge the battery. Also an added benefit is that you can take the battery out yourself (unlike ipods), and so if the player does ever need a replacement battery, this can be done quickly and without having to send the microphoto away to have it changed.
The 262,144 colour OLED display means that the screen quality of the Zen is fantastic, and this means that any photos uploaded onto the player look equally good. Sound quality on the Zen is also of an excellent standard, however I found that that the supplied earphones didn't fit my ears very well, and they felt rather large and uncomfortable after using ipod headphones for so long (although they're probably fine if you get used to them).

On the other hand however, I feel the microphoto's screen size is rather small, meaning that although picture quality is excellent; the size of the photos is slightly disappointing. Though if like me and you're not all that concerned about using the Zen to view photo's, then this shouldn't be too much of an issue.
Another downside is that the player will not enable you to view any photos while listening to music, only one or the other. This can be annoying, although you perhaps have to ask yourself just how frequently you will want to do both things at the same time, and whether this is a valid reason not to buy one.

The final negative aspect to the microphoto is the touchpad sensitivity, meaning that scrolling through to find a particular song can be difficult (you can alter the touchpad sensitivity but I don't find this helps greatly). However, again this probably just takes time to get to grips with, and I have to admit that scrolling through to find a particular song has become much easier the more I have used the player.

Therefore, overall the Zen microphoto is relatively good value for money, as it is smart and compact, with a excellent screen and sound quality. However the drawbacks are its limited screen size, coupled the fact that music and photos cannot be accessed at the same time, and the sensitivity of the touchpad, which can make selecting songs a challenge.

Summary: A superb and reasonably priced mp3 player, and a great alternative to ipod's.

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