When I first bought this product a few years ago (more or less as soon as it came out), it was top of the range and I was really impressed. On the first day I did encounter one problem when the Zen wouldn't shut down so i had to remove the battery, although that problem did not occur again for a few months.
The Creative Zen is quite small (still smaller than the I-pod Classic and Touch - just a bit thicker though) and 6GB is probably enough for anyone who uses their mp3 for music only. (It may be an idea to convert to WMA rather than MP3 because WMA takes up a lot less space.). The screen is black and white and this is out-of-date today where all mp3s and I-pods are in colour. Nevertheless, for the first few months I was happy with what I had and I thought it was the best mp3 out there. The Zen has an FM radio built in, along with room for adding contacts and also has the advantage over the I-pod that tracks can be deleted without using a computer and tracks can be copied and pasted onto the Zen with ease. There is also a recorder which came in use on a couple of occasions.
My first doubts were cast over the Zen when my friend had problems with the 'back' button as soon as he bought one. The back button needed to be pressed very hard for anything to happen and even then only continuous pressing would finally get you back. The problem with the battery came back a few times on my own Zen and the 'holder' for the Zen which I very rarely used, broke straight away when I tried to use it. More recently, the sound quality on my Zen seems to have decreased and sometimes I only have sound coming out of one ear (and i have tried changing my earphones). At the moment, I still use my Zen occasionally, although I am looking to get an I-pod very shortly to replace it.
My advice on this product would be if you are not particularly bothered about colour and watching movies etc., and you don't want to put millions of songs on your on mp3, then it probably would be an good idea to purchase the Zen short term (especially as it is a lot chepaer than the I-pod Classic). Although if you want something that will lats you years, then stick with the I-pod because the Zen is prone to problems after a couple of years. Also, it is a bit 'behind the times' at the moment so go for the I-pod. Nonetheless, the Creative Zen Micro has given me a lot of joy over the years and I am still reluctant in binning it for the rival I-pod... so overall I would give this product a 3 star rating.
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Video Quality
Not Helpful at all / Very Complicated
Durability
Satisfactory
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