Home > Consumer Reviews > Creative Zen MicroPhoto 8GB MP3 Player - DarkBlue

The creative zen MicroPhoto white has a good music storage capacity of around 4000 songs and a battery life of around 15 hours from creatives rechargeable and removable lithium battery. The use of coloured menus and inovative vertical touch pad make this mp3 player extremmely easy to use. The creative has a built in voice recorder so you can record those boring lectures and it also has a built in fm radio, that allows you to preset up to 32 of your favourite stations and if you like to listen to your morning shows at night then the creative lets you to record the show for playback later on. Other features of this mp3 player are a choice of 8 equaliser presets to fine tune your listening, use the device as a portable storage device and why not synch your calendars and contacts from microsoft outlook. In all of this so far we are overlooking what creative see as one of the main selling points of this mp3 player and that is the units ability to store and display photos on creatives vivid colour display and i confirm this is an excellent feature. The creative can play the following audio formats; mp3, wma, janus, wav, ima adpcm. In order to use the creative you need the following specification: microsoft windows xp (service pack 1 or higher) / XP 64-bit, Intel Pentium II 350 MHz or AMD K6-2 450 MHz (Pentium III 450 MHz or higher, 64mb ram, USB port, CD-ROM drive with digital audio extraction support. In the box you get Zen MicroPhoto, earphones, rechargeable Lithium battery, USB Cable, Pouch, Installation CD and Quick Start Guide. The unit lost a star for a couple of reasons for example: no charger or wired remote so charging is only available through usb but this can be sorted as a charger and remote are available at extra cost and In my opinion the fm radio on the creative is flawed as it can barely pick up stations however I recommend this unit as on mp3 playback the unit sounds exceptional. If you can overlook the cost of the missing accs and dont want the creative for the fm function then the creative is definitly a heavyweight contendor.

Sound is good, holds a decent amount of music but the touch sensitive pad is much too sensitive, the hold button (which is essential due to the sensitive pad) is too fiddly, the screen cannot be viewed well in broad daylight and it has to be charged via USB meaning it's not great for taking on holidays.

The sound quality is as perfect as you would expect from a sound company with 8 equaliser settings to make it even better. The storage capacity of 4000 songs is very good for the price and much more than most people would use. The battery life is reasonable but can only be charged by usb although people who travel with it often have the option of buying another battery because it is replacable or buying a travel dock. The colour screen and ability to look at photos is an added bonus but nothing special because the screen is quite small. Overall, I think this is a fantastic product for the price and can rival the mighty ipod, especially on sound quality.

I have had my Creative Zen for a week now and I absolutely love it. Some say that having to charge the battery through USB port is annoying, but it's perfect for me because I use my laptop a lot of the time. Transfering music and pictures is really easy and getting used to the touchpad comes quickly. Sound quality is perfect and the design is really nice. I would highly recommend getting this mp3 player over any others, as you get more for your money and a stunning piece of equipment.

Everything was fine until one day this little device decided to go crazy and it hasnt worked since after only 5 months and hardly any use. And when it does go wrong boy are you in trouble because creative will make it a difficult as possible for you to return it to either get it fixed or replace.
So pray it doesnt go wrong or take my advise and buy something more reliable.