Creative
Zen Micro 5GB vs. Apple iPod Mini 4GB
Preface
The Zen Micro is Creative's belated answer to the Apple iPod Mini. Coming eleven months late, and about 250,000 units behind, the Zen Micro is certainly a late-comer. But one thing you must understand is that Creative has actually been in the MP3 player market way before Apple did. But what made the Apple iPod so popular was the design, something which Creative is finally learning, or maybe, has learnt.
In our biggest, most comprehensive review ever, we pit the Creative Zen Micro against the Apple iPod Mini in the biggest fight between digital audio players, ever. First, we will touch on the Creative Zen Micro Asia Launch. Next, we take a look at the players, the navigation system. We'll also do some transfer benchmarks as well as battery tests. Read on to find out the outcome.
Creative Zen Micro Asia Launch
As you can tell from the Zen Touch, Creative is trying very hard to muscle in on the large-capacity audio players, having been beaten by Apple's iPod until it was bruised and bleeding. What has Creative Chairman and CEO has to say about that? Well, we were invited to the Creative Zen Micro Asia Launch on 17 November to find out.
The event started off with some marketing hype, which I shall quickly go through.
- the 5GB Zen Micro can store 2500 songs, 1500 more than the competing iPod
Mini
- it is the smallest micro-drive digital audio player
- "mersmerising blue glow"
- curved to fit naturally in the hand. Fifth is the
- vertical touchpad means "no more going round in circles"
- FM tuner, plus FM recording capability
- voice recording
- long playtime of 12 hours, 50% more than the iPod Mini
- organisation. Zen Micro can sync with Microsoft Outlook's Calendar, To-Do
Lists and Address Book
After that, it was time for Mr Sim Wong Hoo, Chairman and CEO of Creative. Mr Sim introduced his "Take No Prisoners" approach. This meant Creative's aim was to "win in every respect". Mr Sim started off on the sound quality of the Creative audio players. He claims no other MP3 player has yet to reach a 98dB Signal-to-Noise ratio, something which Creative has been providing on its players. He also mentioned the "intuitive" verticle touchpad, and how it makes more sense since we scroll vertically on the mouse.
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Next, he touched the USB drive feature of the Zen Micro. This was particularly interesting since so far all the hard disk-based players like the Zen Xtra and Zen Touch require the driver to be installed on the computer to transfer files, whether music or data, to and from the player. On the other hand, the Apple iPod worked as a removable drive. According to Mr Sim, the Zen Micro can be partitioned with vary capacity (up to 2GB), and that partition can be used as a removable drive.
The next thing really made me sit up. It seems the engineers knew there was a big problem with Creative players. They were too complicated. I mentioned in an earlier review of the Apple iPod, that "The Creative Zen Xtra is like a Windows geek, whereas the Apple iPod just oozes Mac simplicity". And they have solved the problem with the "Options" button. Mr Sim called it the "Right-mouse button". For the normal user, this button is not required. Thus, the simplicity of the iPod. For more advanced users, this button would provide the user with more advanced options.
Mr Sim also stressed that the Zen Micro was "mini-er than Mini", and how the Zen Micro was curved to fit the hand naturally, unlike the iPod Mini which looked as if it would cut the hand. And of course, he gushed about the 10 wild colours of the Zen Micro, against the dull, 5 colours of the iPod Mini.
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Next, Mr Sim covered the accessories. At this point I could not help but compare them to Apple's iPod - the accessories are all white. The Zen Micro is charged via its USB port. That is, if you connect it to your computer, it draws power from the computer's USB port. Otherwise, you can use the power adapter, which connects to the Zen Micro's USB port. This concept is similar to the iPod's. But because the Zen Micro is a Windows device, it uses the standard USB port, unlike the iPod's proprietary connector. The power adapter is a "universal power adapter" that comes with interchangeable plugs so you can use it in other countries with different types of plugs. Again, this was a feature of the iPod.
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The Asian version of the Zen Micro also comes with a wired remote. Other accessories include a belt clip, player stand, a pouch and a neckstrap. Optional accessories include bluetooth headphones, an FM transmitter, car charger, colour-matching speakers and flash players, as well as "many, many more to come", promised Mr Sim.
In terms of marketing, Mr Sim said he was promoting an aggresive approach. In addition to the free exchange of iPod for Zen Micro, he had initially proposed giving the customer a free set of TravelSound speakers if he could throw his iPod into a bin. This idea was not implemented, by the way. Mr Sim expected a US$100 million marketing budget. "I declare war on MP3s!" Mr Sim announced.
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