Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

NOTE: this review is for the 5gb player. I wrote this lengthy review for that model, and it didn't show up and I can't re-submit it now. DARN thing! All the specs should be the same though. I've been behind the times using the same portable CD player for the last 6 or 7 years... so this was really a BIG step up for me. Hopefully this review will be helpful if you have never owned an mp3 player before.... I have no idea how this compares to the ipod, but here is a list of the lesser known features of the zen micro: PROS +++ It tells you the number of tracks, albums & playlists uploaded. Total Mb & Mb remaining. +++ FM radio. +++ Removable battery & micro hard disc. +++ If you're halfway through a song (or paused) & you shut it down (or it shuts down after being inactive for a while, IT RESUMES WHERE IT LEFT OFF in the middle of a song when your turn it back on again!! :-) +++ You can change the idle shutdown time, backlight time, contrast, touchpad sensitivity, language (there are 15 languages installed!!) +++ sleep timer +++ You can personalise (configure) menus, much like with mobile phones. +++ PLAY MODES: normal, repeat track, repeat all, shuffle, shuffle repeat & track once. +++ You can find songs by albums, artists, genre, playlist +++ DJ menu: album of the day, random play all, most popular & rarely heard tracks. +++ There are 10 bookmarks, which I have absolutely no idea how to use, but it must be put onto this list anyway. ;-) +++ 12/24hr time, alarm, calendar, date (several date formats and you can even choose between the following separators: space, dot, dash, slash) +++ Variable microphone sensitivity. +++ Organiser; tasks + contact lists. (synchronised with creative sync manager) +++ Smart volume + Equaliser (numerous modes: Off, custom, acoustic, classical, disco, jazz, new age, pop, rock, or vocal) +++ master reset. :-0 +++ track name, title & artist on LCD display.+ battery indication, and various other on-screen icons while a song is playing, such as EQ & repeat modes. +++ Gives the length of a song as a bar graph so you can tell the progress of the song... +++ A lot of stuff in the box: remote control, belt clip & cradle, pouch, usb cable, charger, earphones, software (easy enough to figure out)..... +++ Last but not least: a cool blue glow + white backlit screen!!! +++ There ISN'T a one second delay between playing each song. +++ My zen micro hasn't crashed on me yet (and I have been sucessful in crashing every computer product known to man, eg: my Ericsson T39m phone several times!) CONS: --- The touch pad can be annoying sometimes. So you either have to hold it by the edges when playing a song or put it on hold mode, otherwise your palm will set off a whole bunch of menus. It's okay when you're using it though. --- You can't hear any music while fast-forwarding through a song. I am used to being able to go by ear while doing this, but you can't do that with this thing. Maybe a future firmware upgrade will fix this issue? Please??! Creative???!! --- I walked all around sydney and couldn't find this in *ANY* shop. So I had to buy it online. All the photos of the zen on the 'net are front on.... and I didn't realise until I opened the box that the back & sides of the zen micro were coloured WHITE!!! ARRRRGHHHH! I hate white! Aaaahhh well, I suppose I'll get used to it soon enough. --- I find the lowest volume setting isn't all that low. I can still hear songs well in a fairly quiet room during the daytime. At 3:00am I think this might be just a tad louder than I would have liked. [This is with panasonic earbuds though] --- You have to first aportion (partition) the HDD to be used as an extrenal flash drive. Available sizes are: 128, 256, 512Mb, 1, 2Gb. You should be able to just use whatever is available. This isn't a big problem though. --- Earbuds are too thick for my ears. Wearing them is like stuffing a peanut lengthwise in your ear. It pulls your earlobes out. --- There is practically zero information (on how to use the menus) in the instruction manual.