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ipod mini or zen micro?

S

syn3rgyz

Gawd
Joined
Jun 14, 2005
Messages
763
im going on a summer trip soon for like 3 months gonna be on the plane/ car / airport alot because of going to diff countries and road trips ect. I already own a PSP but i dont plan on using it for music since its huge and i need to buy a 1 gig stick so i might as well buy a new mp3 player. After doing a lot of scouting... i've decided to either buy a 5gb zen micro or a 4gb or 6gb ipod mini. I dont plan on buying it online because i have no access to credit card.. and by the time it gets here im gonna be on the trip already plus i dont wanna pay for the shipping. My local circuit city carries only the models i stated above.
I dont care about the difference in battery life and the FM tuner since i have never used up the batteries for any of my electronic devices and i dont listen to the radio. These are the things i will be consdering and i need your opinions on :)
1. I have 3 gigs of music only i dont think i would have more than 4 gigs of song anytime soon
2. I might use it as a harddrive to backup songs / pictures so i can format my computer.
3. Which mp3 player lasts longer because i heard the zen micro's headphone jack breaks after a while and ipod's battery dies and is not replacable after 90 days. Did either of them fix any of those problems and is there any other problems i should notice?
4. The ipod kind of looks sexier :D
5. which player has a clip avaiable or a case... that protects it well.. does not hide the player fully so i can see the colors and people can actually tell what it is. and if its a clip when it clips onto the player it does not scratch it if im getting the ipod mini have this in mind http://www.iskin.com/mini.html
6. and of course the price

thanks for your help in advance
 
Zen micro comes with a belt clip that is pretty nifty, but doesnt protect the face, ipod mini comes with nothing other than usb/firewire cable, so you need to factor in a mains charger, assuming you dont have access to a pc on your trip. IMHO iPod mini is easier to use, and i dont like plastic things, so all metal FTW.

Youre certainly gonna pay more for the iPod, cos you need to factor in at least a charger, and probably a case.

I dont think the mini works as mass storage (may be wrong) IIRC the micro does

the issue with batteries was i think with the larger iPods, i know a couple of people with micros, and they have had zero issues. Take anything you read online with a pinch of salt, people are far more likely to complain than they are to say yeah, my thing works exactly as it should.

Basically if i had to choose between those id go with a mini, but if i had to choose anything, id grab a 20Gb zen touch again, got mine in deccember and its pretty sweet.
 
syn3rgyz said:
im going on a summer trip soon for like 3 months gonna be on the plane/ car / airport alot because of going to diff countries and road trips ect. I already own a PSP but i dont plan on using it for music since its huge and i need to buy a 1 gig stick so i might as well buy a new mp3 player. After doing a lot of scouting... i've decided to either buy a 5gb zen micro or a 4gb or 6gb ipod mini. I dont plan on buying it online because i have no access to credit card.. and by the time it gets here im gonna be on the trip already plus i dont wanna pay for the shipping. My local circuit city carries only the models i stated above.
I dont care about the difference in battery life and the FM tuner since i have never used up the batteries for any of my electronic devices and i dont listen to the radio. These are the things i will be consdering and i need your opinions on :)
1. I have 3 gigs of music only i dont think i would have more than 4 gigs of song anytime soon
2. I might use it as a harddrive to backup songs / pictures so i can format my computer.
3. Which mp3 player lasts longer because i heard the zen micro's headphone jack breaks after a while and ipod's battery dies and is not replacable after 90 days. Did either of them fix any of those problems and is there any other problems i should notice?
4. The ipod kind of looks sexier :D
5. which player has a clip avaiable or a case... that protects it well.. does not hide the player fully so i can see the colors and people can actually tell what it is. and if its a clip when it clips onto the player it does not scratch it
6. and of course the price

thanks for your help in advance
Click to expand...

I have the 6gb Ipod mini and love it. My buddy had a zen and recently bought an Ipod.
To answer your questions:
1) You may only have 3 gigs now, but collections grow.
2) The Ipod mini works well for a small backup drive (must have usb 2.0)
3) My buddy had no problems with his zen. The ipod battery is warrantied for a year by apple. I got mine at Best Buy with a 3 yr service contract, that includes the battery ($249 + $49). The ipod mini battery can be replaced, if needed. I have read it is best to send it in to a 3rd party to have it done. (I think www.techrestore.com does them)
4) I got the blue, so it is easier to find.
5) There are many, many cases and accessories for the ipod and mini. That was a deciding factor for me, it's kind of the standard now. The belt clip that comes with the ipod mini is what I use for normal use. When I'm not using it, I have a Pelican 1020 micro case. I could stand on this case and it won't break (Only $15 too at Fry's).
6) I paid $249 for the 6gb model. I have not seen the 4 gb model for much less than $195.
I don't know about the zen.

Also the Sound is great, if you use different headphones. The stock ones are average. I like great sound quality.
 
i heard the sound quality for creative players are better than ipods and my collection i dont think it would grow that much cause i usually delete songs that i get bored of. and ipod only supports one format i think. while zen micro supports 2
 
ipod will do AAC/mp3, where as zen does mp3/wma. Signal to noise ratio is better on the micro, and for my money, theres a bti more in the bottom end there, but neither are really noticeable unless you are gonna shell out for a decent pair of headphones, which you should, cos the stock ones suck ass.
 
okay i've decided to go with ipod mini.. but now i gotta decide which capacity to get. :confused:
 
I may or may not have just quit my job as a IPOD repair person for Best Buy.
 
If you haven't already pulled the trigger you ought to read this: http://reviews.cnet.com/Creative_Zen_Micro_5GB_black/4505-6490_7-31151919.html

I'm not really looking for one but this was mentioned in my Ecost ad I get for $179. However, as you probably know it's at Circuit City for $189. I've bought my daughters Creative MuVos, and my wife has an IRiver IFP-190T. I like the design and operation of the Creatives better, and the fact that I generally record in WMA means the Ipod is not an option. I like to have more options and features and it seems that Creative does that better with little to no downside (plus, it's cheaper).
 
I have the zen micro. It's pretty much doing everything it advertises on paper, about 9 hours playback though, that 12 hour thing isn't really reasonable.

The headphone jack issue has been solved in the newer revisions. They weren't soddering the headphone jack securely(and shouldn'tve been relying on simple soddering to hold it in place anyway). They've fixed it though and mine's working just fine. If you get an early one and it breaks within the 90-day warranty(what a crappy warranty), they'll send you a new one from the new fixed batch.

The early firmware versions (1.02)doesn't shut off the micro-harddrive for a long while, so that it uses up power in standby mode, takes about 12 hours for it to truly shut-off. This meant the battery life would underperform the advertisement.

The newer 1.10 firmware fixes this, but adds a new bug where the power is drained ultra-fast if the headphone jack is left in when it goes from standby mode into true shutdown(about 4 hours after turning off).

You should be disconnecting the headphones just to avoid wear and tear anyway. But this is just a heads up for those considering it. They pulled the 1.10 firmware off their main site for this, and it only offers the lessened battery life of the 1.02 firmware. They also have 2.2(IIRC) versions which'll make it easier to use the thing as a portable harddrive, and some interation with WMP10 I think. But this 2.2 doesn't fix the power problems I just mentioned, it just adds some features/compatibility.

The FM tuner blows. It picks up like 2 stations out of the 20+ in the area that my car gets. Don't get the micro for its FM. The microphone's decently clear, it serves its purpose well enough. The stock headphones are good considering they're stock headphones. Still, stock headphones suck in general. The 108 signal-to-noise-ratio only really offers more clarity if your headphones are able to capitalize on that, and I highly recommend you spend the money to do so. The sound is wonderful.

I like my Zen Micro a great deal. The only issue is the 1.10 headphone jack drain, but since I unplug my headphones it means my ZM is working perfectly. Soon enough there'll be a firmware patch to fix it. However, it's stupid that the ZM is still waiting on a firmware that'll let it do exactly what it should.

I like the ZM, but that doesn't mean I have to be a raving !!!!!!, it has flaws like any other product. That said, I'm glad I bought the ZM over the iPod mini.

The pros that made the difference for me:
-The look/feel of the ZM, I went to a store to get to play with one before I bought one online. I love the customizable interface. I also tested the mini but didn't like the wheel touchpad, I preferred the vertical touchpad of the ZM. Others will of course feel differently, but I liked the soft blue backlight lighting up each button and the rim. The picture just don't do justice to the aesthetics of the ZM. Still, some people will prefer the look of the iPod.
-Price to disk space ratio.
-108 signal to noise ratio.
-included the accessories I needed.
-Longer battery life.

But really, the small feature differences weren't critical to me. Aesthetics'll probably be the deciding point for many. These're the two best players in this price range and you can't go wrong with either of them.
 
I have a few questions...
Does the Ipod Mini or the Zen Micro act as a mass storage device so I can just dump music into it? I know the Mini has to use itunes or one of the various hacks but if those utilities are the only way are they reliable? From my reading the Zen Micro seems to have a Mass Storage mode.. but can it be used for storing music?

ID3 tags... I dont really believe in ID3 tags... I know Apples are based on ID3s is the Zen Micro based on ID3 tags?

Does the Zen Micro have a standby battery drain problem still? (In reference to creative forum faq and http://www.seiya-subtitles.net/super-drain.html)
 
Hmm, the headphone jack drain is news to me, then again that might explain why I have been having shitty battery life.

The Zen Micro can also act as a storage device, and a nice one at that. I find the Micro to have some of the best and most simplest software to add files and music to, it really is just a few clicks of a button and it's programed onto the drive.

The other nice thing about the Micro is that it is uber small, I'm talking about a slimmed down flip-phone at most. The touch screen controls take awhile to get use to, but so far I feel comfortable when scrolling.

Belt Clip and charger stand are nice additions to the package (which also includes headphones, software, and at some stores an extra battery - which I believe WalMart carries).

I really suggest going with the Micro, especially for the price $189 is about the lowest I have seen it at retail price. I jsut wish they had more accessories for this badboy i.e. protective covers :(
 
I'd say go for the Zen Micro. I mean, it looks nicer, imo...

the removable battery costs 40 to replace (as apposed to the non removable ipod mini's 100+), its got great sound quality, and it lights up pretty cool. also, I really like the non circular touch pad. extremely easy to use.

and the removable hard disk option is insanely usefull too.

and can you do this with an ipod mini?

share and enjoy

:edit: the battery life drain was fixed in a firmware update thingy, don't worry about that.
also, if you like battery life, get a pair of powered headphones and keep the player volume lower...

-skud
 
Yes, the micro can be used as portable storage. The new 2.xx versions of the firmware allows you to transfer files without having to install anything on other people's computers. However, you need to set aside a certain portion of the disk space to be used as portable storage. So you could have say 3gb of storage and 2gb to put music in. You can put songs in the storage area but it won't be available to be played.
------------------------

The standby battery drain is for the 1.02 firmware which is currently up on the main site. The 1.10 firmware fixes this and it's the one I'm using. However, the 1.10 firmware will /empty/ the battery if you leave the headphones in the player for 4 hours after you turn it off.

See, the micro-drive inside the player goes into standby(i.e it's still spinning) when you turn it off. This allows you to quickboot the player when you use it again. The battery drain in 1.02 was partly because standby lasted about 12 hours! In 1.10 the standby is 4 hours, after which it finally goes into total shutdown. However, at that 4 hour transition in the 1.10 firmware, there's a problem where the player starts rapidly feeding power out the headphone jack(presumably something to do with checking if there's a wired remote plugged in, since it uses the headphone jack).

The 2.xx versions have the standby battery drain of the 1.02 firmware, these 2.xx versions add features to work with WMP10 and not needing to install creative software to transfer files between computers.

You can search through the support forums at creative's site under their mp3 player forums. You can see the tests and reports from the folks who collected this info about the player's firmware versions.

As long as you don't have headphones plugged in at that 4 hour mark when using the 1.10 firmware, the player functions perfectly, and gives me a good 9 hours of play time. Even the 1.02 version works fine, people reported around 5-6 hours of playtime, but no problems aside from that. It's just a pain that they didn't fix this sort of stuff before the player went retail.

As soon as you get the player, ya gotta update the firmware to at least 1.02.
 
I have a zen micro aswell :)

I actually have a mini too, and I prefer my zen. It has built in radio, looks awesome, very light, and very small. the mini is nice, but I didnt want to get the addon for the radio. I hear the zen micro is actually waterproof, but i havent tried it for myself.
 
skudmunky said:
:edit: the battery life drain was fixed in a firmware update thingy, don't worry about that.
Click to expand...

That was a different battery drain problem with the 1.01 version where the ZM's battery would drain quickly if charged with an already plugged in AC adapter. I think all the currently available ZMs start with 1.02 though. But to be sure at least get the 1.02. The 1.10 headjack battery drain is unsolved at this time, which is why you can only get the 1.02 at the moment from the site(I just checked)
 
ehehe I like the altoids feature.

Hmm so overall it seems to have taken care of most of its issues.

And would just need WM10 to xfer music into the device..

Soo tempting... will wait for a good sale. :(
 
How easy is it to remove the Zen from the altoids case? I really should try this out...

I know WalMart has them at $189 currently, and I believe their packages carry an extra battery.
 
I got my Zen Micro back when they were packaged with an extra battery. I love it to death.
 
Does anyone know of a good site or company that carries latex, rubber, silicone, or other similar material coverings for the Zen Micro player? I wish they would release more accessories for this wonderful gadget.
 
Z(+)DIAC said:
Does anyone know of a good site or company that carries latex, rubber, silicone, or other similar material coverings for the Zen Micro player? I wish they would release more accessories for this wonderful gadget.
Click to expand...

I got mine on ebay for like 9$. It really has saved my zen from some huge drops ;)
 
Well I picked up an altoids case and a can of paint. Can anyone tell me how easy it is to remove it from the case? Also what was used to cut through the top of it?
 
Z(+)DIAC said:
Well I picked up an altoids case and a can of paint. Can anyone tell me how easy it is to remove it from the case? Also what was used to cut through the top of it?
Click to expand...

the ZM is sized to perfectly fit inside an altoids tin. For cutting the top I stick a nail thru it and used scissors and pliers, but a dremel works much, much better. you just need a hole for the headphone jack, and if you want holes for the usb plug and/or on/off/lock switch

\if you want like a silicon case or something just Ebay search zen micro case. comes up with anything you'd want.
 
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