Comments on: My Zen iCro, er… Micro

By: Pepe

Pepe — Mon, 02 May 2005 21:14:48 +0000

Have you at least see pictures of the iPod in its package? Your pictures of the Zen look like crap in comparison!

By: Tom

Tom — Mon, 02 May 2005 23:26:21 +0000

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.

By: Rami Kayyali

Rami Kayyali — Tue, 03 May 2005 08:40:44 +0000

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.

By: Ragheed

Ragheed — Tue, 03 May 2005 10:09:41 +0000

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….

By: Rami Kayyali

Rami Kayyali — Tue, 03 May 2005 17:16:03 +0000

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.

By: murphy

murphy — Thu, 12 May 2005 14:57:26 +0000

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

By: Clark

Clark — Mon, 15 Aug 2005 13:09:49 +0000

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.

By: Rami Kayyali

Rami Kayyali — Mon, 15 Aug 2005 21:42:16 +0000

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.

By: rami c

rami c — Thu, 18 Aug 2005 05:35:01 +0000

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.

By: liviu

liviu — Sat, 10 Sep 2005 09:09:37 +0000

How can I record stuff on my zen touch????????????!!!!!!!