Creative Zen Micro 6 GB MP3 Player Black

• 12 hours continuous playtime using the supplied rechargeable lithium-ion battery; extend your listening using multiple batteries (sold separately)
• Includes high fidelity earphones and USB 2.0 cable
• Micro-sized 6 GB digital-music player holds 3000 songs at 64 Kbps WMA or 1500 songs at 128 Kbps MP3
• Vertical touch pad simplifies navigation; body is curved to fit your hand
• FM radio with 32 station presets for listening and recording; 10-hour voice recording through built-in microphone

Amazon Product Description:
The Zen Micro digital music player from Creative Labs packs an incredible 6 GB of storage capacity into a shell small enough to sit comfortably in your jeans pocket. It also rides nicely in your hand, with a palm-fitting profile and thumb-friendly front-panel controls. It's a bit shorter than an Apple iPod Mini, yet its rechargeable lithium-ion battery provides 12 hours of continuous playback--50 percent more than iPod Mini's. The Zen Micro is compatible not merely with MP3s and WAV files, but with WMA as well. Toss in USB 2.0 connectivity and you're looking at one spiffy portable music player. But playing isn't all the Zen Micro does. You can use it to receive FM radio (with 32 station presets to keep your favorites at the ready), and to record, either from the radio or from live sources such as voice dictation or lectures using the built-in condenser microphone. Trimmed in a luminescent blue glow and with easily visible backlit buttons, this stylish orange player holds up to 1,500 songs (99 hours) at 128 kbps or 3,000 songs (198 hours) at lower-fidelity 64 kbps (MP3/WMA)--that's a solid week's worth of music listening, never playing the same song twice. Compatibility with Microsoft's WMA compressed-audio format grants access to over 2 million downloadable songs offered promotionally or for sale online. Perhaps the Zen Micro's coolest attribute is its DJ feature, which will shuffle not only all the songs you've loaded or all the songs on a given album, but also, at your discretion, only the tracks you listen to most or the ones you rarely hear, taking the work out of selecting your favorites or hunting out all the music you're still getting to know. For navigation, the device features a vertical, linear touchpad designed to make searching through songs or playlists easy, quick, and fun. The unit's blue, 160 x 104-pixel, electroluminescent LCD shows key functions and song details at a glance, and you can even customize the main menu to keep right at your fingertips the features that matter most to you. Another of the Zen Micro's handy features is its personal organizer. You'll never forget an important anniversary with the onboard calendar, and it also includes a to-do list and a contacts list, all of which sync seamlessly with Microsoft Outlook (Outlook thus required for use of these features). Further, the device offers a sleep timer and alarm so you can drift off to sleep to the strains of one playlist and wake to a completely different one. The Zen Micro's removable battery is easy to swap with another fully charged battery (additional batteries sold separately), extending your listening by a half-day per swap. Zen Micro's rechargeable battery is easy to replace. Zen Micro's Removable Disk mode lets you connect your player to the computer and directly copy the files you need. Vertical touch pad No more going round in circles to find the song you want, we all know that the quickest distance between two points is a straight line. Zen Micro's vertical touch pad and touch sensitive controls are designed to be intuitive so that searching through songs or playlists is easy, quick and fun - try taking a cruise down this strip. Removable Disk Store and transfer not only your favorite tunes, but important data files as well. Zen Micro's Removable Disk mode lets you connect your player to the computer and directly copy the files you need. Highest audio quality of any MP3 player Zen MP3 players are renowned for their superior audio quality, and the Zen Micro is no exception. With an outstanding industry leading 98dB signal to noise ratio, you can achieve audio bliss with clarity as good as expensive hi-fi systems. That coupled with high fidelity earphones with dynamic bass response, the Zen Micro not only sets a new standard for sheer style, but for unmatched audio perfection. What's in the Box The Zen Micro player, stereo earbud headphones, a rechargeable lithium-ion battery, a USB 2.0 cable, an installation CD, a quick- start guide, and Creative MediaSource software.

One of the worst MP3 players ever made:
I'm a big techno-geek, but this is been one of the most awkward, horrible experiences I've had trying to get this device to do the simplist things. The application to get your MP3s on this is not user friendly, not intuitive. It's like it's strived to be so different from the ipod that it took out all of the good and left the bad. The player doesn't even register half the time with my computer. It takes a good half hour of messing around with the device and the settings to get it to work. I plug in the Ipod and it takes maybe 30 seconds. 1 minute tops. Save your money. Save your aggravation. Get something, anything else.

It'll do:
I've have my ZEN Micro for over 2 years. I've sent mine back twice (without charge) for software issues. I can no longer use the Creative computer software to upload music because it doesn't recognize my player. But I with Windows Media Player Sync and that works out fine. I just learned to let it be and not mess with it too much. I have it filled to the max with music and listen to it daily. The charge life is less than i had hoped, barely making it thru an 8 hour work day. Favorite part: it is orange!

I love my Zen.:
There may be MP3 players with much larger capacity or that play video or do other things, but I don't really need any of those features/functions, and honestly, 6 gigs of music is plenty for my purposes. I've been reading some of the other reviews of this product, and it almost seems like they're talking about a different product than the one that i own... or perhaps some people are simply much more careless with their gadgets than i am, because i've been using this thing more or less every day for over two years and have never had a problem with it. I haven't even needed to replace the battery yet (although with the cost of replacement batteries currently down to about 13 bucks or so, i might just pick up a spare anyway), but it is reassuring to know that it is an option. This factor is one of the main things that i took into consideration when choosing between the various MP3 devices that were available when i made my purchase. I will admit that, at first, the menus and interface were a bit clunky, but after a day or so i was completely used to it. Many people seem to complain that the buttons are too sensitive, but perhaps they do not realize that there is a way to adjust the sensitivity... Or perhaps they just like to have something to (...) about. Personally, i'm extremely satisfied with this product.

Creative Zen Micro...best if purchased new:
No doubt about it, this is an excellent mp3 player. I have owned many kinds of audio equipment made by Creative, and my favorite purchase is still some awesome Creative surround sound speakers I have hooked up to my computer. Now, my second favorite item by Creative is the Zen Micro, (I have the 6GB, Dark Blue player) and it is up to the task. First, the bad: 1. I believe this is because I didn't buy it new, but there have been two times now (out of two months of use, so not a real bad track record) when the player freezes up after turning it on. Creative programmed this really cool little opening graphic that displays every time you turn the player on, and twice it has frozen halfway through. It was unresponsive to any button, including the power switch, and I had to pop open the back cover and remove the battery to shut it off. After popping in the battery, placing the back cover on it, and turning it on again, no big deal. The player works again without a hitch. 2. Vista sucks. Not Creative's fault, but it took me about 4 hours to install the drivers and software for the Zen Micro because the install cd wouldn't work in my computer. I even tried the "Run as Administrator" trick that supposedly helps every problem on Vista, and it still didn't work. So I went online and found the drivers. The only reason it took me so long is because I was on a relatively weak wifi signal at the time. It shouldn't take very long in a normal situation if anyone else has similar trouble with Vista. The good: 1. It is just like the other reviews mentioned -- This thing is for true audiophiles! Excellent sound quality, and the included creative earbuds have good sound. For me, the earbuds aren't right, and I can't wear them for more than an hour or two without my ears starting to hurt. But I have some Sony earbuds that are perfect for me, and also some big gaming headphones that are a perfect match for this player. 2. The included earbuds are white, and look like ipod headphones. When the player is in my pocket, people think I have an ipod, and then when I bring it out to browse through my music and such, people are really impressed. I have received tons of comments at night from people who LOVE the blue glow from the panel. 3. Size. My expectations were for a larger player, because of a Zen my friend had and the pictures. I expected the Micro to be similar to the Zen because it doesn't look that small in pictures. It is definitely as thick if not thicker than the earlier generations of the ipod, but it is quite small. I am able to stick it in a tiny pocket in one of my jackets that I previously only used for sticking spare change into. Deal Maker/Breaker: If you want to go against the groove and choose something other than the ipod, definitely choose Creative. Excellent sound and quality. If you want a smaller, less expensive and yet still aesthetically pleasing player, the Zen Micro is a good choice. If you want to be noticed, choose the Dark Blue color, it will get comments!

Bought it as a gift- She likes it and I'm jealous:
I have a Sansa mp3 player which blows ($90 piece of plastic). This player feels much higher quality (and it is) and personally I found the menu system more powerful than the Ipod. Another advantage to this player is that the battery is replaceable. The Ipod you have to send in, go without it for a week or two, and be charged both for labor and the parts. The blue/white lighting looks fantastic as well!! I wish I got one... lol =(