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- Average user rating: 3.0 stars out of 515 reviews Back to product review
- My rating: 0 stars
Full user review
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78 out of 87 people found this review helpful
1.0 stars
"Could have been great"
Pros: Great internal software, great sound
Cons: headphone jack problem
Summary: I usually read the negative reviews and find they are from people with ipods who just want to trash the competition so it appears they have the best player. This is not the case with me.
I have had for 30 days and was about to give a great recommendation until the headphone jack started having problems where the sound goes in and out in one ear. A friend of mine has the same player and is also having the same problem. Then when I looked online I see many, many people are having this problem.
Creative support told me the problem is that the player's headset port is very sensitive and if you hit the plug on your headphones where it connects to the player then port will no longer work correctly. They did say they would replace it, but the problem has not been fixed and they are just hoping it won't happen again before my warranty runs out. Well when my warranty runs out and the jack goes, I'm screwed. They also told me to be very careful not to tug on the cord while it is connected and I am using the player. And finally they told me when I turn the player off not to wrapt the headphones around the player, but to unplug the headphones every time so the top won't get hit. LOUSY SOLUTION for an bad and defective design. They should recall the product and fix the design. I have had other portable audio problems for many, many years and have never heard of this problem. It seems it is happening in tons of their players. I bet all of the positive reviews are from people, who haven't experienced this problem, YET, and the key word is YET. If you want to a player for more than a year look elsewhere. If you want a player you have to mail in every few months until 1 year is up, and then be screwed after a year, then this one is for you.
- 14 replies to this review
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I've owned this player since 2004 when it came out and have never experienced this problem, it still works fine today
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Also I do not find this product to be user friendly. I wish I had purchased an Apple iPod.....
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i wish i had read this before buying mine last year, just after my warranty expired my headphone jack started having problems, along with the hard drive freezing and not restarting, and the battery not holding a charge.
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I bet those who gave 8.0 editors' rating did not actually use this player for long.
The headphone jack is overly sensitive due to a poor engineering design. I regret I did not look at the reviews here for this product before I made the purchase; so many people are complaining about this disgusting issue. Apparently, Creative does not want to recall their products, they'll just replace the broken with working ones bearing the same hidden problems, if that's within warranty, or, they will simply do nothing if the warranty has expired. If you want to get it fixed, you will be charged a premium.
I liked my Zen Micro, but that was before the headphone jack went in loose contact with the circuit board. That's right after the 1 year warranty expired. I also found so many people are in the same pitfall; the following are two links to the user forum topics on Creative website. You will see how severe the problem is.
http://forums.creative.com/creativelabs/board/message?board.id=dap&message.id=126167
and
http://forums.creative.com/creativelabs/board/message?board.id=dap&message.id=596 -
I haven't had a Zen Micro, but I currently own a Zen Jukebox. It's on the shelf being used as a portable hard drive because the headphone jack doesn't work. Since the jack is directly connected to the motherboard, only a complete motherboard replacement fixes the problem, and that ran me $150 the first two times. Granted, I've had the thing for four years, but I decided to put that towards another player this time around. I really wish it was an easy to moderate fix-it-yourself problem, because Creative makes such a great player, but I've found the jack only has a life of a year and a half, which puts the limit on the player.
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I've had my Zen Micro for a year and a half now (basically since it was released) and it's just started happening to me recently. There are probably instructions on the internet somewhere for how to solder the headphone jack to get it working again.
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i've had no problems with the headphone jack i've had it since december somebody took it back to the store its like 6 months old
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... long enough already for Creative to have implemented a suitable solution for it. Word was circulated late last summer that Creative had indeed dealt with this problem, but apparently, the facts as stated by users since then strongly refutes Creative's contention.
Creative has long had a pristine opportunity to take a huge chunk of the MP3 player market from Apple, but they keep screwing up and they keep shooting themselves in their collective feet with problems stemming from shoddy quality control and poor customer service response. There are other players in the market now making a stong move.
Creative... put up or be buried by your competitors. -
I experienced this problem to a minor effect from the get-go, but i figured out the problem is mostly remedied when you use your own headphones. This problem to me really doesnt affect me because it's not like a go running with the thing bouncing up and down in my pocket. As long as you keep the device relatively stable the problem won't happen.
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Exactly the same problem as the other users have stated - everything's going with a swing and suddenly I find I have to permanently have my fingers on the headphone jack, holding it in and ready to twist it round when it stops being 'happy' (ie playing music). It did this for a bit, then it wouldn't even turn on. I absolutely loved my zen micro until this moment. I got a replacement, and then another when the same thing happened again. Creative were very nice about it. The third time, I'd had enough. A couple of angry emails later, I was offered an upgrade to either a zen micro photo or a zen touch. I chose the touch, and have my fingers crossed there'll be no problems...
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I bought my micro in Jan of 2005. Six months later the headphone jack went bad. I've been using it since then, but I have to wrap the earphone cord around the device in an exact configuration to keep pressure on the jack so the sound doesn't go out. I'm very dissapointed in this device, and Creative's customer service is caca imo. I'm not going to buy a Creative device ever again.
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all the problems with the headphone jacks are gone now. The problem has been completely fixed. If i had not known this i would never have bought this product. (its coming in the mail if you're wondering about my want it/got it list)
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I think that Creative fixed this problem, I bought my Zen micro when they first came out it was great until the headphone jack messed up, I gave it back to Creative they tried to fix it but couldnt so they gave me a new one and I bought a 3 year warranty for it through the store I bought it at, just incase it happend again so I did not care about it I did not try to take care of the jack like they sugested and its been about a year and nothing. They might have had a mistake but they fixed it. This player deserves at least a 8 out of 10.
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ANY headphone jack will react badly to impact. This one might be more senitive than others but they all do not like it...As far a wrapping the headphones around the unit while plugged in... Not a good idea with any device.
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