What's better? The iPod or The Creative Lab Micro Zen?

Question

Just bought the Creative Lab. I like it because it holds more songs for the same price as those little iPod doo-hickeys. What's your opinion?

Answer 1

I own the Creative Zen Microphoto (my Wife's) and I have the Creative Zen Vision M.

I think the Zen Micro is better than an iPod because:

1) you can replace the battery yourself vs sending your player in and paying Apple $65 to do it. BTW, you don't get your player back from Apple. You get a remanufactured player from Apple which means all your songs on the iPod will be gone. Better have a back up.

2) If you are going to fill the Micro with music (say 1000 songs), it is WAY less expensive to do this with a subscription music service such as Yahoo Music Unlimited To Go, Rhapsody To Go, or Napster To Go, than it is to purchase the songs on iTunes. For as little as $10 a month, you can fill the player today rather spending $1000 to buy all of those songs. And if you ever lose the tunes due to a hard drive failure or player failuer, you can just download them again for no additional cost. That $1000 on iTunes will get you about 8 years of subscription music and a virtually unlimited number of songs and album downloads.

The Micro has a very simple user interface too. There's only one feature that the iPod has that I wish the Micro had and that is album art. But Creative's newer players including the Creative Zen Vision M and the new Zen V and Zen V Plus support album art. Album art is a nicety, not a necessity in an MP3 player.

The Apple iPod is not THAT much easier to use nor does it have more superior features than a Zen Micro to warrant spending more money for less. In fact, I'm not sure an iPod is truly "easier" to use. The UI is pretty simple. This is more opinion than hard cold fact.

You made a great choice based on features and price rather than fashion. Good for you!

Answer 2

The Zen Micro is excellent...the iPod is a ripoff, and Apple was sued by Creative for patent infringement...a patent is like a copyright but for an invention. The "invention" that Creative sued apple over was the way the music is catalogued in the player.

Answer 3

I love my iPod, so i must say that it is better. The UI is superior.

Answer 4

uhh well one creative has more experience with mp3 layers and sound soo diffinetly creatve since they are masters of sound technology

Answer 5

iPod, definitely.

Answer 6

iPod