Creative Technology Zen Micro Photo Red (8 GB) MP3 Player

Well, I've had my Creative Zen Micro Photo for about 2 months now, and I sure don't regret buying it.

The sound quality is the best (and loudest) of any player I've tried. That is probably the most important aspect of any player for me. The sound has to be able to blow me away, or take me away, depending on the music and my mood. The Zen Micro Photo definitely delivers. Most people I know have iPods of some sort, and I take pleasure in showing them my Zen Micro Photo, and watch them drool over the sound quality and volume. And even at the highest volume, the sound is crisp and clear.

The headphones that come with the player make the sound quality even better, although they are a bit large, and can be uncomfortable if used for prolonged periods of time. However, in both this model (Zen Micro Photo) and the previous model I owned (Zen Micro) the headphones didn't last long. Creative makes the headphones with a vertical jack (it comes straight up out of the player). So when I put the player in my pocket, the wire at the top of the jack works back and forth as I walk, and eventually breaks inside the insulation.

The headphones I replaced them with have an L shaped jack, which seems to prevent this problem. Even with different headphones the sound quality is still much better and louder than most other players, so I'm not complaining much.

The player also has a good FM tuner, FM recording and voice recording. I've used the FM tuner a few times with no complaints, but I've not yet used either of the recorders.

I like the interface from a design standpoint. The full color display is easy to read (unless in full sunlight) and easy to use. However, occasionally it tends to be a bit sluggish when playing large files.

Also, the playlists occasionally seem to do strange things. Twice I've had playlists that were created at nearly the same time, with different track lists, suddenly have the exact same track list a few days after creation.

The screen is a bit small to be an effective display for photos in my opinion, but the few photos I've put on the player are quite clear (just small).

The player itself is not quite as compact as some other players, but it's still quite small, fitting easily into the palm of your hand (or your pocket). I have no problems with the physical size of the player.

The space available, 8GB, is great too. I had a Zen Micro 4GB before and found it to be not enough space. I hated having to try to decide what to take off to make room for other music haha. I've not run into that problem with this player yet.

I've no complaints about the battery life. I've had it running (accidentally) for over 12 hours straight with still some green left in the battery indicator at the end. The ability to remove the battery and replace it is a great bonus too. I do miss having an AC adapter though. You need to plug the player into a running computer's USB port to charge it, unless you buy the travel charger from Creative separately.

The software interface with your computer is quite painless. It allows you to add music, create playlists, modify playlists, add files and photos etc quite easily. It even allows you to set aside some space to be used as a USB removeable storage drive.


Overall a very good player. I give it a 4/5.