HiFi Blog: digital audio goodness

Let’s start from the good, and easy, stuff that one can deduce for Austin’s review. The build quality ensures it’s not as prone to scratches as—say—the Nano. DRM10 support means you tracks from subscription services will play fine. And it’s good to know that the battery is (easily) removable. Oh, and you can drag and drop your tunes and data files to the device (though this could be considered a con in a way; MTP interface means this happens for XP only).

But it seems that the Zen Micro Photo disappoints where it matters most. Sound quality is reported to be average, which is a surprise to me: Creative’s offerings always excel in the SQ department no matter what. The OLED screen leaves much to be desired; low-res (128×128 vs Nano’s 176×132) and dim, it’s not really meant to see pictures (the picture at the end of this post speaks for itself). The device’s GUI and the touch controls could use some work too. And recording is fixed to low-quality WAV. Overall, there a few contradictions with the first look on the device we posted a month ago.

I could excuse them if the Zen Micro Photo was a product that went from idea-to-market in zero time (i.e. rushed out); but it’s been 10 months since we first spotted it (CES 2005). This is simply a case where they failed to deliver.