Creative zen touch mp3 player

Zen Micro is Minnier Than Mini

There's never a second chance to make a first impression, and our first impression of the new Creative Zen Micro can best be summed up in one word: "Sweet."

Creative's ultra-small MP3/WMA player, which will be a direct competitor of Apple's iPod mini, is priced at $249.99 (direct), and will ship in early November. The little player was a big hit at our Digital Life expo in New York City over the weekend, winning the award for Best Portable Music Player in our Best Of Show competition.

The technical specs for the Zen Micro are best understood through comparison. It looks like the people at Creative studied the specs for the iPod mini and decided to go one better on each of them. For instance, the Zen Micro boasts a 5GB hard drive, compared with the iPod mini's 4GB. It's also 6mm shorter than the mini, and has a claimed battery life of 12 hours, four hours more than the mini does. Better yet, the rechargeable battery is replaceable, so users can swap out dead batteries themselves without sending the unit to a service center. The Zen Micro is also available in 10 colors instead of five, and gives off a cool neon-blue glow when in use, reminiscent of undercarriage lights on a tricked-out car.

For navigating through menus and scroll lists, Creative's player utilizes a vertical touch pad; whether it's better than Apple's scroll wheel will probably come down to a matter of preference. And the sound quality? The claimed 98-dB signal-to-noise ratio would set it apart as an industry leader, though our PC Labs experts will test that claim in our upcoming review. The Zen Micro plays WMA, MP3, and WAV files, and is compatible with MSN Music, Napster, MusicMatch, and other online music services.

The portable audio player features FM radio and voice record/playback capabilities, a sleep timer and alarm, and a built-in address book, calendar, and to-do list (through Microsoft Outlook). The included belt clip doubles as a stand, and the player also comes with a USB 2.0 cable.

Check back soon for a full review of the Creative Zen Micro.