- Average user rating: 3.0 stars out of 515 reviews Back to product review
- My rating: 0 stars
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53 out of 56 people found this review helpful
2.5 stars
"A fairly nice player, but with some serious problems"
Pros: Intuitive interface, good battery life.
Cons: A quite serious design flaw.
Summary: The Micro is indeed a fine player, the touchpad is a little sensitive, but other than that, the interface is fine. The included software is also quite user-friendly. Included earphones are excellent quality (as far as bundled earphones go).
There are a couple problems, however...
1) The battery seems not to hold charge when charged via USB... when charged by mains power this problem does not occur.
2) Far more seriously, the headphone jack on the player is a weak point on the player. 3 seperate Micros owned by some friends of mine have had their headphone jacks fail, and my own is heading that way. After about 1-2 months of use, the headphone jack seemed to become loose, and if the jack is nudged then sometimes 'crackling' occurs. It appears that the headphone jack is not soldered onto the mainboard of the player very securely - and having happened to 4 seperate players, I can only assume this is an inherent flaw in the design.
- 10 replies to this review
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I agree with your comments regarding the poor build quality of the headphone jack. My daughters failed the day before the warranty ran out so it was fixed for about $25.00. My Zen?s headphone jack failed at the 15 month point and I was informed I would have to pay a system board replacement fee of $85 plus shipping. I was very surprised when mine failed because I mainly listen to it in the car while it?s in a cradle. When plugged into my car stereo?s AUX input it actually shorts out to the point where my Alpine reboots itself. When it happens on the headphones you just hear the audio dropouts and clicking. I love the features but can?t accept shoddy parts. Is this the Yugo of MP3 players? Searching for similar features from another brand name currently.
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I just started to have the same problem with my Micro. I thought it was the headphones, but tried other headphones and still the problem continues. Money wasted. Touchpad too sensitive for my taste.
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totally true statement...i got mine from best buy in LA and i live in india....the headphone jack started giving me problems after around 5 months. then creative online people told me to install some FIRMWARE to rectify the problem...how dumb is that....now the indian creative folks say that its outta warranty and it'll cost me a bomb to get it repaired....i dont know how creative could ignore such a wide-spread flaw....i mean its losing loyal customers like me.....damn...
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I have a zen and am looking for another MP3 because the headphone jack failed - just past Creative's warranty period. Seems like a constant Creative Labs problem.
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Yup, I had the same exact problems. After about 2-3 months the jack became a major problem, basically making the player non-useable. Music goes in and out, "crackles" and skips all over the place from song to song, and within the same song! Of course, I tried to return to Frys and they say it's been too long, have to go to Creative.
Does anyone know what does Creative does, do they send you a refurbished or fix your particular unit? Also had same issues with USB charging and way too sensitive touch pad. I always had to have it locked, which is problematic when you're on the treadmill and want to switch songs or whatever. That minor pain in the butt is nothing compared to the headphone jack issue. Needless to say I am pissed and WILL do something cuz I can't afford to eat the $200 I spent on this thing. -
Malafus u are completely right! This Mp3 was great, for about the first month or 2. I've had mine for about 5 months now and it really never works properly. I can never get the headphone jack to work. I constantly need to readjust the headphones an move them around to be able to hear. I might as well have just rented the d*** thing!
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Just a couple of months since I got my zen Micro. But I experienced earphone jack problems as everybody else. This MP3 have the capacity to be better than its competitor the ipod. Hope that Creative found solutions for this problem now they are about to lunch the new zen micro photo.
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This MP3 Player is amazing - It's got great sound that's adjustable, a great look with a blue glow, plenty of storage, and an FM tuner with recording. I don't understand how more people aren't buying it.
The only gripe I would be would be the fact that it has an all-touch interface that sometimes gets annoying. -
Yeah, I had the same problem. Solved it by taking it apart and wodging a folded up piece of papaer in between the jack and its metal cover. A google search should turn up some instructions.
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Same thing happened to me. Charge does not hold when charged using the USB cable and my headphone jack became faulty after about 5 months. It is currently being repaired by Creative. If it is not fixed properly, I will buy another brand. Although I like the creative software etc, I have been disappointed with these 2 flaws.
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