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Having failed to completely knock Apple's iPod off the top slot, Creative is gunning for its younger sibling with the launch of the 5GB Zen Micro. The product is a direct competitor to the iPod mini - it's even available in a range of 10 colours.
The Zen Micro certainly oozes style. The small compact design looks great, while the pulsating blue light when it's charging gives an extra touch of class.
Creative has removed all the buttons you'd expect at the front of the unit, following Apple's lead with a completely touch-sensitive design. Although it's an attention grabber, trying to skip tracks with the player still in your pocket is almost impossible.
We also found the vertical scroll pad in the middle too fiddly; unlike the circular scroll wheel on the iPod, you have to stroke the pad numerous times when scrolling through tracks. Even on its lowest sensitivity setting, accidental button presses were frequent.
As well as playing MP3 and WMA tracks, the Zen Micro houses an FM radio. You can record broadcasts directly to the hard disk, but the lack of a line-in socket means you can't record from any other source.
Creative claims a battery life of 12 hours, but in tests we struggled to reach much more than six. Thankfully, it's easy to replace the battery and Creative is including a spare with the first 40,000 units to hit the country. This will then be replaced by a wired remote; don't ask us why.
The Zen Micro has a lot going for it and beats the Apple iPod mini in a variety of categories. The hard drive is 1GB larger, it has an FM radio and the battery can be swapped out easily.
The Zen Micro is, at present, the biggest threat to the iPod mini.
Contact:
Creative
europe.creative.com
Specifications:
- 5GB hard disk
- MP3/WMA
- Voice recorder
- FM radio (including recorder)
- Organiser
- USB2
- Li-ion battery (removable)
- 84 x 51 x 19mm (h x w x d)
- 108g
See also:
All MP3 Players
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