I brought Creative Zen 5GB from Abu Dhabi, U.A.E. in the first week of Feb’2005.
My experience with Zen Micro is not so good.
As compared to Apple iPOD, Zen Micro has richer features, but still Apple iPOD outperform.
My Friend have Apple iPOD, so I got chance to compare both MP3 Players very closely.
Plus points of Zen Micro
Very Good Sound Quality (tho there are some issues)
1 GB extra storage space
Removable Storage Option
Removable Battery
FM Radio (See Negative also)
Negative points of Zen Micro
Very Very Poor FM reception, hardly catches 2-3 stations out of 6 FM stations of Mumbai, too much distortion, ZERO reception in closed doors/building/office.
(If you are always out on road like Medical Rep. then it is not a problem, on road, in open air reception is better, but don’t except FM reception in train or in office)
Very poor battery life, 4-5 hours against 12 hours claimed by Creative.
Battery dries up during switch off mode, means full charged zen micro get discharged in 5 days without single minutes of MP3 Play (5 days in switch off mode)
Very poor quality control, My wired remote developed internal crack in wire, that also in 2 month of usage. then after six month of usage, Female Earphone Jack developed internal loose connection and because of this my Micro has became completely useless. now I am using this MP3 Player as USB external Hard Drive instead of MP3 Player.
Zen Macro has one more advantage, which some time works as negative also. Advantage is Zen Micro produce High Frequency Notes very very clear, means you can hear Zig Zig Chin Chin very clearly. you will love this while listening English Songs.
But this advance became disadvantage when you listen old hindi songs, there you will hear distortion of old recordings much louder and many times sound cracks due to poor recordings of old songs where as iPOD has excellent NR.
My suggestion is don’t buy this product, buy iPOD with External FM adaptor.
Update On 16th Oct.2005
Few weeks back I went to Milano, Italy for regular business trip, while coming back from Milano, it was a day flight and day flights are always boaring and Zen helped me a lot, I use Zen Micro extensively at airport and in flight and I got excellent battery life of more than 10-11 hours. The conclusion is that if you use Zen Micro for continuous non stop play then it gives very good battery life (it also true that in real life you cannot use MP3 player continously for 8-9 hours except in flights)