- Average user rating: 3.5 stars out of 42 reviews Back to product review
- My rating: 0 stars
Full user review
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35 out of 35 people found this review helpful
4.0 stars
"Very solid"
Pros: Excellent sound quality, subcription compatible, great features, nice design, 8GB
Cons: Menu can be choppy, can't see screen in sunlight, not best EQ, photo viewing
Summary: So I subscribed to Yahoo! Music Unlimited right before they raised the price, and thus needed a DRM10-compatible player. I wanted superior sound quality, small size, and voice recorder built in. I chose this because it has these features, and the 8GB is very attractive.
Pros: 1) Sound quality. This player has a signal-to-noise ratio of 98dB, which is really high for an mp3 player, especially a hard drive player. I had to adjust the EQ to get the sound I wanted, but once I did the sound is excellent, through both my Sony earbuds (not sure what model, but they?re decent, cost like $40 3 years ago) and my Grado SR-80s. Good detail, though sometimes the low end doesn?t come through as clear. I haven?t really noticed any background noise, though if I start noticing it I?ll update this review.
2) 8GB capacity in the same size package as the other Zen Micros that go up to 6GB. This is huge, especially compared to the irivers that run for the same price as the ZMP ($249).
3) Controls: I think some people find touch controls to be frustrating, but I find them very easy to use on the ZMP. They are significantly better than the touch scroll pad on the iriver H10, and are not prone to being accidentally triggered in your pocket. I find it to be much better than the iPod clickwheel because you can just touch and hold the bottom of the scroll pad to scroll through more rapidly, instead of having to continuously move your thumb/finger in circles.
4) MTP and Subscription compatibility: It?s easy to transfer music or photos to this device through Yahoo Music Engine and through Windows Explorer, which I like. It takes a few seconds to load DRM songs sometimes as it checks the license, but this is unavoidable with these file types.
5) GUI is well laid out, you can make playlists on the go, and everything is easy to access. You can also customize the main menu, which I found to be very nice; for example I put the audio settings on the main menu instead of having to go into the settings menu first. Only saved one step, but the concept is very cool.
6) Size, presentation: It?s slightly smaller than the older Zen Micros, and a little bit heavier. It fits in the hand very well, as well as in jeans or any pockets you have. It?s a sleek looking player, maybe not as sleek as an iPod nano, but it?s more ergonomic and feels very solid. You can see pictures on cnet or on the creative website, it glows blue around the edges and on each of the buttons as you use it, very nice.
Cons: 1) Scrolling through the menu is choppy on the screen when you scroll more rapidly; it reminds me of a computer where the video card can?t keep up with the stuff you?re doing. Not a huge deal as you can still use it very easily and aren?t going to miss your file or anything, but it?s just not very smooth.
2) EQ needs adjustment, at least according to my tastes. I was listening to files on the player vs. from the headphone output on a laptop computer vs. my old iriver cd player. At first I thought maybe I had bought a bad mp3 player, but when I adjusted the custom EQ I got a sound that is actually very good, on par with the sound card. There are only 5 different frequency ranges to adjust, and the settings I have it on right now are 3 2 -3 2 3 for each of 80 250 1k 4k 13k hz respectively. I?m curious as to how other users find the standard EQ and the other EQ settings, but for me this produces the best sound.
3) No photos while listening to music. Now, I don?t look at photos on the mp3 player because I don?t see the point, but still it?s pretty weak that most new mp3 players can handle this but this one can?t. Hopefully Creative will fix this soon enough.
4) The screen is IMPOSSIBLE to see in sunlight. You have to shield it with your hand and then you can make out the characters. I don?t know if different color schemes will make it easier to read in the light or something, but this is annoying when I?m out walking about the city. Otherwise, the screen is fine, I like that there?s a color screen as opposed to the other micros? grayscale screen.
Neutral: Battery life.. I haven?t really been able to test how much life this thing gets. Creative claims 15 hrs, and I feel like it?s less than that. It?s cool that the battery is replaceable, in case you go on a really long flight or know you won?t be able to charge it for awhile.
I still haven?t tried the FM radio or the voice recorder, but will try them soon and perhaps update this review. Also, the battery cover feels like it might come loose after a year or two of use, but we?ll see. I?m very happy with this purchase, it has easily fulfilled my needs in terms of features and performance. I don?t know why cnet hasn?t reviewed it yet, or why Amazon says it hasn?t been released yet, since I?ve seen it at Best Buy as well as the Cambridge Soundworks from which I purchased it. I think the drawbacks of the ZMP are insignificant compared to its solid performance. Yeah it?s kind of expensive at $249, but that?s as much as a 4GB iPod nano and the 6GB iriver H10, and in my opinion it?s the best value of all the microdrive players.Updated
Since I wrote my intitial review, CNET has reviewed the device and given it an 8.3, which I think is appropriate. I have also used both the voice recorder and the FM radio. The radio works very well; the autoscan feature is convenient and the quality of radio is very good (not to mention that you can record from FM). The voice recorder works surprisingly well; I've been using it to record my standup comedy rehearsals/performances (which suck for now) and the quality of the recordings is decent, picking up more audience noise than I expected for a tiny internal mic. The battery life has proven to be very agreeable, and the CNET tests cited in their review demonstrate just that.
To reiterate, this is a very solid microdrive mp3 player.Updated
1) I said the bass doesn't always come through too clear, which was wrong. The bass is actually very precise, but it's not as loud as on other players (iPod, iriver that I've listened to). And just so you know, the bass boost feature is not very good on this player.
2) I said the standard EQ isn't so hot; but I've actually been using it from time to time for some recordings. I still use custom EQ most the time at 3 2 -1 2 3.
After 1.5 months of using this player, I like it even more than when I first bought it. The face of the player is still unscathed, even though I've dropped it. And I finally used the feature of syncing with your Outlook calendar; nothing amazing, but it's nice to have my to-do list on the mp3 player.
- 5 replies to this review
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nice review, very helpful. I'm just wondering how bad or good the bass is. Considering that i have 5gb of just nothing but hip/hop, r n b, and techno, bass is very important to the sound quality. Can someone help me?
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thanks a ton. really considering buying this creative product. And i thought the micro was goood, this is even better! Great, detailed review. Sucks how we can't listen to music and view photos simoultaeneously.
Thanks again. -
I also don't understand why we can't listen to tracks while viewing photos. Do you think Creative will fix this? How long will we have to wait? What about album art? Is it worth waiting for a new version?
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I also can't understand why we can't see photos while listening to tracks. Do you think Creative will endid fix this? How long will we have to wait? What about album art?
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I also can't understand why we can't see photos while listening to tracks. Do you think Creative will endid fix this? How long will we have to wait? What about album art?
Where to buy
Creative Zen Micro Photo (8GB, black):
$299.99
| store | price | in stock? | rating |
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Amazon.com Marketplace
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$299.99 | See Site |
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