The PacketShaper sessions that I was attending currently were very important to me, at least from a business prespective, so I needed to record them one way or another. Well, my laptop isn’t much capable of doing that, first, the microphone isn’t really that good, and the battery lifetime wouldn’t handle a 9am-6pm session. So I figured this time I should buy myself an iPod.
I can’t really talk much about the iPod, I mean I tried it a couple of times, some of my friends have it, but I didn’t have a chance to try it on a daily basis. I’ve heard so much about this “thing” called iPod, and I thought since everybody loved it this much then it should be my best option. Problem is, it’s not.
I know, I know, 20/40GB of space, clickwheel, cool earbuds and everything, and you can even buy an iTalk for it. Wait a second, “buy” an iWhat?! I’m not buying anything extra with a player that costs this much, I mean come on Apple, I know it’s about trend but I’d expect at least a recorder in return. So I decided to take a look at other, smaller devices. The iPod Mini was an option, until I discovered that not only you can’t record, but you can’t get the iThing to work with it, no recording, period. That made me feel bad, I was starting to like the iPod Mini, it looks good, it has enough capacity for storing a week’s long of my music (at least according to my listening habits), and it comes in colors, but you can forget about getting any audio from the outside unless its coming from iTunes.
I understand what’s all the hype is about, I can perfectly see what Apple is doing here, and to be fair, they’re doing a damn good job at it, they know how to sell to all these people, but I can’t understand, what about us? The long tail, remember? Oh well, it was time for me to find something else, and quick, before my sessions start.
Ahhh, the Zen Micro. Thank you Creative. I don’t think I liked a product as much as liked the Zen; ok, the Micro Zen. Creative’s Zen itself is an iPod competitor (but I’m sure you already know that), it’s just as big, just as bulky, but maybe just not as sexy. Honestly, Zen doesn’t look all that good, not me. But its little brother is a much better option. For one thing, it can record! Don’t be surprised by the “!” mark, when you need something badly, you find yourself putting “!” marks all! over! the! place!
Let me clear something up first, I do not work at Creative, I am not in anyway associated with them, and I assure you they don’t even know who I am.
Now let me start with the packging. The Zen Micro’s package is very neat, and is in fact has a charatcer to it. When you open it up, the first things you see are the player itself, and a nice white envelope with a quick-start guide, as if it’s a welcome message. Beneath that, you’ll find all sorts of accessories, a wired remote, earphones with a short cable, a hard case where you can attach the belt clip or a stand, a charger of course, and my personal favorite, a small black pouch to drop you Zen into.
Zen’s menu is fairly simple, I can browse your music library by artist, album and genre. One thing I liked is that the Zen tracks play count and uses it to create 2 lists, most popular and rarely heard songs, in addition to my own playlists. Did I mention it can record?! Yep, for at least 10 hours! Ok, ok, enough with the “!” marks! Basically, that’s all I need in a music player, to play music and do it well (doh), record, and maybe FM, which of course Zen gives you 32 presets for.
I don’t know why Creative added organizer features in Zen, most of the people I know use their cell phone’s calendar and address book, but maybe that’s just the long tail, it’s all good though, I don’t have to use it; the alarm with a random song everyday is useful though, when you connect it to huge speakers.
The only thing that I think Creative could’ve done better with is the touch scroll, it’s a little too sensetive, nothing that I can’t get used to, but it’s still annoying to find yourself at the last song when you only wanted to get to the next one. But other than that, I can’t find anything else wrong with the Zen.
Next time you think you want to buy an iPod Mini or a Shuffle, I’d suggest you give it some more thought. I know I’m not the best person to say that, since I never owned an iPod, but to me Zen Micro does everything I need, maybe it’ll do everything you need, just give it a try.
Package Photos
Comments (10)
Have you at least see pictures of the iPod in its package? Your pictures of the Zen look like crap in comparison!
When it came time for me to choose a portable music player, I looked at the iPod first, too—but it is too expensive! Conveniently enough, I spotted an advertisement for Dell’s Digital DJ in the mail one day at $215 for the 20GB model. How could I refuse?
Well, once I got it, it wasn’t all I had hoped for. The interface stinks, the scroll button isn’t the most accurate, and it doesn’t include any ‘extras’ like recording or the nifty least-played playlist. It’s obvious that some of that functionality is available somehow, since items like “Recordings” are in the menu, but they do nothing when I try to use them.
Perhaps I should have looked into the Zen, too… I mostly overlooked it since I don’t like how it looks very much. I’m glad you’re happy with it.
Actually, the only package pictures I found were these:
http://www.whiningdog.net/Reviews/Audio/MP3/20040225-iPodmini/index.php
I’m not a professional photographer, probably that’s why my pictures look like crap, but to be honest, I liked Zen’s package more than iPod Mini’s, iPod’s gave me the feeling that all they did was to stuff everything into a box and sell it; but then again, that’s just me.
I’m not saying one’s better than the other, I can’t really judge the iPod since I haven’t tried it much, I’m only saying that Zen Micro delivers exactly what I need for the price I paid.
Well… to tell the truth ….. Creative was an industry leader and will always be …. i have nothing to do with Creative, but i only like it’s products, i mean have you tried the first “Nomad” and “Nomad 2″ man those tow was great .. and they really hit off and was one of the first “and best” MP3 players.
well …. iPod really IS a cool thing… but i’ve seen USB mass storage devises that can record…. man recorder IS useful sometimes….
Thing is, Creative’s Nomad was way too overpriced for what it can do, Zen is Nomad’s successor. The only think that Creative lacks (IMHO) is the “cool” factor, which iPod clearly dominates.
Well, I guess I wasn’t looking for cool as much as I was looking for useful.
The package isn’t importent. I think the indegrents are the importent thing. I own a creative zen touch and i’m very happy with it. Its a little weighty, but i have 24h playback. The normal iPod has only 18-20h playback. Zen Touch wins :)
Cheers, murphy
I’d be compelled to agree. I looked at getting an iPod mini, because my university has some partnership with Apple to allow discounts or whatever. I’d end up paying $222 CAD for an iPod mini, but I chose to get the Zen Micro for $218 CAD. Not that I’m insinuating a price-comparison; both of those prices were fairly good deals (the iPod and the Zen both retail for about $250).
I’m a proud owner of a Zen Micro. I have a bunch of different reasons, aside from being able to record(!), that make my purchase well worth it. I only had it out of the box for 20 minutes before i found a reason to use the removable disk mode. How else can you transport a 2GB file without having a DVDR set up handy? Not with an iPod mini, unfortunately.
Another reason worth drawing attention to is the fact that iPods batteries DIE (after an average of 18 months, sometimes a lot less). Unfortunately, the bastards at Apple made it impossible to change the battery, short of throwing your player at a wall and collecting the pieces. I’m sure there’s some great money to be made having people pay 100 US (plus shipping) to have their batteries replaced, but it’s not something I’m into.
The other thing I don’t like about the iPods is the fact that they are incredibly over-hyped. It seems like everyone either has one, wants one, or is desperately saving up money to buy one.
On the plus side… the iPod mini has a few interesting games. But I’ve got sweet lady H to keep me company during the long bus rides home.
I agree that iPods are a bit overhyped, but damn that thing has style. A friend of mine bought his iPod Photo a few months ago, it’s huge, it’s bulky, but it’s stylish. Apple isn’t trying to sell people an electronic device that happens to play music, they’re selling a fashion statement first and foremost, and I think that’s the reason why you can’t change the batteries, they decided that it would ruin the iPods slick cover.
I’m not sure what exactly is wrong with Creative’s marketing, but they think that stuffing more features in a Zen will work. Well, it helps, but it doesn’t work, they should figure out how to keep people emotionally attached to a Zen rather than an iPod.
well the thing is that, as you said, apple and the ipod have the emotional commitment and awareness zones tied down more or less - it’s quite tough to argue with it when every other person seems to have one and can argue with you! so i think creative’s marketing people are trying to beat apple at their weak spot - their builtin features - though i agree that’s not likely to be the most useful of attempts when the ipod really is a fashion statement first and a music player second.
How can I record stuff on my zen touch????????????!!!!!!!