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

The creative zen MicroPhoto black 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. also available in a variety of colours including pink and white.

I have owened a zen micro previously and loved it even thought they have broken on me twice and had to be replaced! But that wasn't a problem thanks to Amazon's excellent returns policy so when i returned the last one i decided to spend a bit more and get the microphoto.
Had it a week it feels much stronger because the casing is metal as opposed to plastic on the micro. the screen is cool but to be honest it's just a novelty your not going to rush to show people you holiday snaps on it unless you have to. it would have been very cool if there could have been some sort of moving screen saver or vizualisation. at the end of the day it's fine for looking at a few photo's on the move and it makes the menu look a bit more interesting but it's not going to blow your socks off.
The radio i have noticed has a much better reception than the micro and the touch sensative scrollers etc feel more in tune with your finger movments.
sound is crisp and bass boost adds a bit of extra enjoyment. battery life is better too. so far got 10 hours out of it and still some to spare. not the quoted 15 but it never is.
it's a fantastic player and i still feel it is worth the extra money. could of got a 20gb player for the same but honestly i'm not going to use it all so whats the point 8gb is loads.
However the one thing i was very dissappointed at was the fact that it dosen't come with a separate AC charger as the originals did. you have to charge it through the USB cable which is pretty rubbish in my view what if you have a PC and can't take a USB every where? the answer of course is you have to buy a charger sepperatley and thats right it costs about £30!!!!! big let down!!!!
that is however the only dissapointment so all in all it's worth it but if your strapped for cash and not as bothered about the colour screen get the old micro it just as good and does the job well.

Having had the device now for 3 weeks and having tried out all the functionality I feel in a position to give a realistic view on the Creative Zen Microphoto. I purchased the Creative Zen Microphoto to replace my Creative 512 MB USB MP3 Player. I shopped around for a high capacity mp3 player and settled on the Creative Zen Microphoto mainly because of the favourable reviews, the ability to use it as an external hard drive and my satisfaction with my previous Creative mp3 player. The pros are very much the sound quality, the display, the mp3 player's software system which is very intuitive and the value for money of the Zen when compared to an Ipod. The build quality is good and feels solid in your hand and I have since brought a Belkin case from Creative to protect my £120 investment.
The cons is the control method as when you scroll to select options such as albums and artists the controls are somewhat unwieldy but although this is never mastered it has got easier to use with time. Be aware that the in built organiser is a very limited feature and the voice recorder I find a rarely used function by most people I know with mp3 players.
A word of advice is to shop around on the net for a Creative Zen Microphoto as prices vary considerably and huge savings can be made especially since the release of the Creative Zen Vision M device. In addition test the device at your local retailer to test out control system as this may sway your choice.

the 8gb storage is a bit overated as it claims the hold 4000 songs, this figure is more like 2500 if they are resonably good quality. But thats plenty of songs for me and probably most of you.
This player is brilliant! Removable battery which isnt expensive like the ipods to replace and you can easily do it yourself. It is also the perfect size and its really light.
The software is easy to use and you dont need to convert WMA's like you do on ipods and you can synchornise with Windows Media Player.
Overall i rate this 10 out of 10 beacause you get so much for the price you pay. It also has built in radio which ipods dont have as you have to buy an extra accessory. It charges in less than 4 hours and is a superb player.
I wouldnt swap for any other player

This is really my first experience of a proper MP3 player and I was truly impressed. The only reason I didn't give it five stars was because of the extreme sensitivity of the touch-pad - even on the lowest setting. Luckily for me, I have a light touch and good powers of concentration but I can see why a previous reviewer referred to the need for "zen-like" patience! Because of the sensitive touch-pad I wouldn't bother to set up a playlist within the MP3 player itself but to use the PC software to do it for you (Creative MediaSource Organizer) - much easier that way. I bought this specifically for the "Napster to Go" service and it synchs perfectly. I also love the photo viewer and the ability to zoom in on pictures which makes up for the small screen.

I had no problem uploading the software from the CD although it did take quite a while to install - gave me time to read the instructions and play with my new toy in the meantime.

Overall - very impressed indeed and am already having hours of fun with all my favourite MP3's!