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19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Zen-tastic, 7 Feb 2005
Having spent a long time researching MP3 players, & reading other reviews, there was a lot of expectation upon the little box of tricks when it arrived. I must say that I'm not disappointed with my choice.Being a confirmed gadgeteer, I was sorely tempted by the Ipod. After all, it must be good if it is the top selling MP3 player in the world. BUT - why be like the rest of the crowd? Okay, Creative may have taken a few leads from Apple (touchpad, white headphones etc), but they seem to have made a product which has evolved the concept. There are no worries over what happens in a year or 2 when the battery life ends, you can have a spare battery to swap if you're not near a charger, there's a built in radio, it has it's own style. All things that make it that little bit better. The little Zen is actually very cool to look at & hold. Not that it really matters, when we're considering a music player. Okay, maybe a little, but the main thing is that it sounds good. The headphones are a little big for my ears, but sound quality is not a problem. The player handles a wide range of music styles with ease, but you can also change the settings to make the most of Rock/Jazz etc by using presets, or by changing the settings yourself. The battery life is perfectly acceptable, and I feel comforted by the fact that it is removable (unlike the Ipod's). The added bonus is that if the limited edition is still available, you get a 2nd battery free. 5 gig drive may seem measly compared to the 20s & 40s on the market, but unless you want to have yours & your neighbours entire music collections in your pocket, 5 is enough. When I was looking at my CDs to decide what to rip I found that I really didn't want to listen to half of it. It depends on the quality you rip the music in, but my Zen should hold 60-80 albums - enough to keep the boredom from creeping into the train journeys. The bottom line is, if there were the Zen Micro & an Ipod Mini on the table now, I'd leave the Ipod behind, click up the volume on the Zen & never look back.
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