Product/Link: Creative's Zen Micro Synopsis: Very cool, very small music player, FM radio, and recorder. Requirements: Microsoft® Windows® 98SE/Me/2000/XP Intel® Pentium® II 350MHz or AMD K6® 450MHz 64MB RAM (128MB recommended) USB 1.1 port (USB 2.0 recommended for faster transfers) 30MB free hard drive space (more for audio content storage) CD-ROM drive with digital audio extraction support Price: $235.00 Rating: Why would you buy an Ipod mini when you can get the Zen? Comment: The Zen holds 2,500 songs, has a built-in FM radio, and has recording capabilities. The Zen is small and lightweight. The battery is replaceable so you can drop-in a backup battery when necessary. The enclosed 5GB hard drive can be used as a portable file storage device. My Zen came with an extra battery. To find a song use the Vertical Touch Pad. Sliding your finger up or down this touch sensitive strip scrolls you through your music collection. The default setting is way too sensitive. The first thing you should do after getting your Zen setup is to change the "Sensitivity" setting to "Low." You'll find this under the main menu, Player Settings, TouchPad. How does it sound? Terrific. The music from those little earbuds transports you to another world. A world where only your favorite songs are playing all the time. Whether you're running with your dogs outside or doing the dishing at the sink, your world is filled with a great musical playlist. Earbud covers may come off. The only other issue with the Zen is the earbud covers. They have a tendency to slip off and get lost. I ended up using very small strips of duct tape to keep them secure. FM Radio The built-in FM radio is a nice feature. Set up to 32 station presets so you can listen to the latest sports results, talk show issues, or get weather and traffic reports. Lastly, I found the easiest way to use the Zen software is from the Windows Explorer screen. You can directly import music files from your computer to the Zen. You can rip audio CD tracks to the Zen. You can directly access files already on the Zen. This enables you to organize them or edit the names of songs and artists. (see image below) I'm listening to Frank Zappa right now. Check Out Last Month's Newsletter Copyright © 1996- thepocket.com