X-bit labs

ZEN Micro: New Digital Player from Creative Reviewed (page 5)

Category: Multimedia

by Sergey Samarin

[ 02/04/2005 | 10:19 AM ]

Conclusion

So, we’ve met an excellent new representative of the Zen family of portable audio players. The Micro model is a result of a new round of miniaturization in this class of products, thanks to the 1” hard disk drive employed. Of course, this approach has its pros (small size and weight) and cons (a rather high price of the player and a small max capacity of the drive; the Micro is equipped with a 5GB drive, while the Zen Xtra with a 60GB one, for example).

Still, I think the Creative Zen Micro has got a step closer to perfection and I’m really at a loss thinking of what new the company can show us next time. A color graphics OLED display maybe?

I have no doubts many people will like such a cute and high-functionality player as the Zen Micro, and maybe you will also prefer this HDD-based player to flash-based devices?

Highs:

• Cute and original design;
• Sharp and informative LC-display;
• Very handy touchpad controls;
• One button can disable/enable the touch pads;
• High-Speed USB 2.0 interface;
• Small dimensions and weight.

Lows:

• Special software needed to transfer the musical content;
• The generic OS driver is only supported when you partition the disk space;
• Doesn’t support lossless formats;
• Rather high price.