Great for audio books and for music!

INTRO:
I last owned a Creative Zen Micro that quit working all together for no apparent reason. It was purchased at Best Buy with the extended warranty. And to my surprise, what they do is offer me an in store purchase for the amount of the Zen Micro, which was $179. This time I thought I’d try something different since I wasn’t totally happy with the Zen’s ability to play audio books from audible.com. It was between the 20gig iPod for $299, or the 6gig iPod mini for $249. The 20gig seemed so huge, and wouldn’t be well traveled in a shirt pocket. So I purchased the silver iPod mini. And again, paid an extra $50 for the extended 3yr warranty, the Zen Micro was $40 for the warranty. This also covers replacing the battery as well. So this review I have something to compare the iPod mini against, the Creative Zen Micro.


OUT OF THE BOX:
It’s a fairly small box maybe six inches by six inches and three inches wide. It’s sealed in clear plastic wrap that cuts off easily. The box slides out of a cardboard advertising shell to expose another cardboard white box that flips open like a book. Inside, I found the iPod mini, a plastic belt clip that looked pretty strong, wired earplugs with two sponge covers, a manual I have yet to open, USB 2.0 cable, and CD software. On the bottom you’ll find the serial number, which you’ll need to both setup your iPod and to register it with Apple.


INSTALLATION:
I did not open the manual at all to install this. Before plugging your iPod mini into the USB port, install the software drivers and iTunes. The setup wizard will ask for the iPod mini’s serial number, and what you want to call it. Once installed, reboot, and plug in the USB cable to the PC. One tricky thing, this USB cable needs to be plugged directly into the computer, not into a hub. Initially, I plugged it into my USB 2.0 hub, and it would not be recognized. But once I plugged it directly into the PC, it installed fine. Some devices do not like USB hubs, and this isn’t the first product I’ve seen do this. Once install, you will see the hardware icon installing the iPod mini. After this startup iTunes, and it will want to know if you’d like to scan your drive for audio files, my preference was no. It defaults to C:\My Documents\My Music\iTunes for it’s download and sync directory. I changed this to my second larger hard drive in iTunes under Edit pulldown/ Preferences / Advance Tab / Change Button. Bang, I was up and syncing audio files in about a half twenty minutes of tinkering and no reading of the manual.

LEARNING CURVE:
The learning curve just depends on the person. I was already somewhat familiar with an MP3 player, and work with hardware on computers daily. For me, the menu was very much like my previous Zen Micro, but easier to use and see. Actually, I read where Creative and Apple went to court over the rights to the menu. And I guess Creative won the suit that Creative was the originator of it. But the menu is very quickly learned. The middle button is like the enter key to select things. The top is the menu button, and also acts like an escape key to take you back one level. Hold down the play button, and that turns it off. I found it smarter than the Zen Micro because it could easily remember where I left off in each audio book I played. The left and right side of the big round button will take you back and forth on tracks. Moving your finger in a circle motion on the big button controls the volume. It also helped for me to go under settings on the iPod, and turn the backlight on to five seconds. So when I touch the pad, it will stay lighted for five seconds before automatically turning off.


THE PLAYER:
The player itself is pretty slick, mine is silver. The sound is great to me, and totally satisfied with it. The top of the player offers a jack for the headset, a hole that I wasn’t sure of, but the manual said it’s an iPod remote; which I’m not positive what to do with it yet. And a sliding switch that is used to disable the buttons so you don’t hit them by accident. The front of the player offers an LCD that looks to be three by two inches. And below are two buttons, one smaller one in the middle, and a larger button. The bottom offers a connector used for data and recharging. The back will read iPod and the hard drive size.

USING IT:
Comparing this iPod min to my previous Zen Micro, the iPod is a joy to use. The menu is very easy and responsive. On sound, this can be tricky to review, because sound depends on many things. The compression, the bitrate used, the headset used. But using the same headset as my Zen Micro, I have to go with the iPod mini on clarity. And for me, one of the best features, it plays audio books from audible.com direct. Meaning I can just download the audio book directly into the sync directory, and the iPod plays them with any conversations. And it also remembers where I left off in each audio book, which is a big deal to me. It will not play Windows popular WMA files though, so I switched over the MP3’s which the player handles fine. I wanted something as universal as possible in an audio file format.

FEATURES:
Well, this iPod mini offers some great sound, and is great for audio books. The LCD is very easy to use and read. The headsets are okay, not fantastic earbuds, but are good. The size of the player is just right for a front shirt pocket. And not too small, like the Zen Micro I had to struggle to use the menu because it was so tiny and sensitive. The cons in features would be unable to freely use other services outside of iTunes. This player is unable to play WMA files like it’s competitors. Though this is only my second day owning this unit, I have to say I totally enjoy it. The downfall would be that the battery is not easily replaced, and may cost more than Apple’s competitors

REFERENCE:
If enjoyed this review, you may also enjoy:
Micro Zen Review - http://www.epinions.com/content_189178875524
Sony Walkman Radio - http://www.epinions.com/content_76848336516
Sony Earbuds - http://www.epinions.com/content_76313759364
Creative Nomad 2 MP3 - http://www.epinions.com/content_70751981188


CONCLUSION:
For me, weighting the pros and cons, my new silver iPod mini wins hands down when weighting it against the previous Creative Zen Micro. And though I had to pay more for this unit when compared to the other prices. This is a case where you get what you pay for. The iPod mini is just a fun unit, and works as advertised. If you enjoy audio books, then you really need to take a strong look at the iPod line. This vote gets all the stars available.