3. Zen Micro: The Perfect Clone?

The Zen Micro came out only a few weeks after the iPod mini, and seems to be an exact copy of it. It has the same functions, similar capacities - 4, 5 or 6 GB for the Zen as opposed to 4 or 6 GB for the iPod mini - and a similar touchpad. Even the sound quality is so similar that it is hard to tell them apart. While the Zen Micro lacks a little power in the bass compared to the iPod, it makes up for that with an equalizer that's customizable on the player, and best of all, with earphones that are better than the iPod's. They're still not perfect, but unless you're especially demanding, they're perfectly fine for listening to your music on the go. The Zen Micro also offers a radio and voice recorder, but no photo browser or color display - we'll have to wait until September for those.

Comparing the price per GB, the Zen Micro costs slightly less. Otherwise, in terms of quality, choosing one over the other is akin to the choice between a Mac and a PC. As in the computer world, aficionados of one or the other will point to subjective criteria like looks, or less subjective but just as personal ones like ergonomics. Objectively, with its 10 available colors, Creative offers its users the widest aesthetic choice. Personally, I find the Zen too flashy, and I don't like the compulsory white plastic shell. But then you might like the "80s retro" style. As for ergonomics, the Zen Micro's removable battery is a real convenience; if it gives up the ghost, you can buy a new one on the Creative site without having to bring in the unit for service. And if the player freezes up, you can do what you do with your cell phone - remove the battery and reinstall it, and you've reset the unit.

On the other hand, unless you do a firmware update yourself, your computer won't recognize the Zen Micro as an external hard disk. To be able to store files other than music, you need to specifically allocate a part of the disk. For those who also want to use their player as a backup storage medium, that's something of a bother.