Zen Micro

[rwayland]

When my grandson was here this summer, he showed me a Zen Micro, and I dashed out and bought one. Now I can listen to all of my music on mp3, using a device smaller than a pack of cigarettes. I have only around 110 of my own compositions on it so far, plus the entire Well Tempered Clavier as recorded by me, and the Goldberg Variations as well.

The bonus is that I now have an additional place to store my scores and midi files. I have all my Sibelius files and all my Sonar files and the leftover SCORE files on this little gidget. This is in addition to my regular backup on a hard drive. Lots of room left over. I consider this one of the great uses of the Zen Micro, and I guess the same thing could be done with the iPod? Being a great proponent of redundancy of backup, I really recommend this use.

[Godfrey]

Thanks for posting about that; since the headphone jack on my PDA went wonky, I've been looking around for a digital media player. That one looks fantastic for the price.

The only disappointing thing is that it doesn't seem to support Ogg Vorbis media, so I'd have to reëncode everything. :(

[rwayland]

Thanks for posting about that; since the headphone jack on my PDA went wonky, I've been looking around for a digital media player. That one looks fantastic for the price.

The only disappointing thing is that it doesn't seem to support Ogg Vorbis media, so I'd have to reëncode everything. :(

Well, if you could send me a short selection in that format, or tell me where to download one, I would be willing to give it a try.

Richard

[fastlane]

I read that Creative is abandoning the MP3 player market. Their CEO declared war on Apple a while back but I guess they ran out of ammo.

[rwayland]

I read that Creative is abandoning the MP3 player market. Their CEO declared war on Apple a while back but I guess they ran out of ammo.

Well, I just checked their web site, and found quite an array of impressive media players. I am tempted by one which has up to 60 gigabytes of storage, and can play the usual complement of mp3, wma, wav. But that would surely be overkill for me, as 5 gigabytes on my current Zen Micro is more than adequate.

Richard

[capt_hook]

I've never seen the Zen, but it sounds cool. I have a 60 gig ipod and I love it. Apple just came out with the new 60 gigers that play and store videos, TV shows, and movies. I'm kind jelous b/c I just bought my 60 giger but it doesn't play movies.

[SeanHannifin]

I would love a 60 gb iPod!

My GPO demos folder alone, from collecting them on the forum for over a year, total at about 3.5 gb! Whew! All my other music files total to around 9.5 gb, so I'd need at least a 20 gb, but I'd prefer 60, just because it's more space to fill up for the future :D

Those nano's are way too small! :D

This thread is bad for me, it makes me jealous . . . :D

[robgb]

This one has ogg support:

http://www.digitalnetworksna.com/shop/_templates/item_main_Rio.asp?model=261

[rwayland]

This one has ogg support:

http://www.digitalnetworksna.com/shop/_templates/item_main_Rio.asp?model=261


I did not check the price, but I did notice that there was no mention of data storage, only media files. The data storage was a big factor in my choosing Zen Micro.

Richard

[Edi]

The data storage was a big factor in my choosing Zen Micro.

Richard

Have you learned whether the IPOD has data storage? I remember that you asked.

I gather that on the ZEN you can only commit part of the available storage for data. (Inconsistent, I would say, with the mamesake which promotes the notion of the the undifferentiated oneness of the ground of being!) :)

Ed

[rwayland]

Have you learned whether the IPOD has data storage? I remember that you asked.

I gather that on the ZEN you can only commit part of the available storage for data. (Inconsistent, I would say, with the mamesake which promotes the notion of the the undifferentiated oneness of the ground of being!) :)

Ed

Well, there are two ways of handling data on the Zen Micro. You can simply transfer the data to an appropriate folder, and use it more or less as a rewritable CD, in which case it shares the memory pool with the music files. No limit either way other than total memory available. The other way is to reserve a specific amount of memory for use as an external hard drive, read and write same as your C drive or other hard drive. This method I find restrictive. I prefer the first way, since all memory is thus available for which ever purpose suits your needs. I do believe this would fit your description of Zen.

I have not pursued the memory usage on the iPod, I was just mildly curious, since I had not heard of it being available. Maybe later today, after a bit more French Roast coffee, I will look into it.

Richard

[rwayland]

Have you learned whether the IPOD has data storage? I remember that you asked.

I gather that on the ZEN you can only commit part of the available storage for data. (Inconsistent, I would say, with the mamesake which promotes the notion of the the undifferentiated oneness of the ground of being!) :)

Ed

Well, I have had my coffee, walked the dog, and checked out the iPod site. The prices are quite a bit higher, probably because of the additional features that I don't have a need for. You can look at pictures, read Harry Potter, use it as a stop watch, but I find the screen is not really large enough for good viewing of pictures, and reading a book on the iPod would be a formidable challenge, and I have enough books on my shelves, from Plato to Harry Potter. And I certainly don't need a stopwatch to time my 100 yard dash. A calendar would serve better, considering my current speed. I could not find a specific statement about general data storage, but it seems to me that if it can store and retrieve photos, general data storage is also a possiblity. But for the price, and for my needs, Zen Micro is still my choice.

My Zen Micro also contains a good FM radio, at least as good as my various stereo systems, but in my not-quite wilderness situation, radio reception is generally poor. When I was studying communications electronics, the description of where not to place radio equipment was a description of my location.

Richard

[nigamshah]

The iPod can store data as well. you basically mount it as portable hard drive.

I have a 20GB iPod, and I love it. Yes, the Zen are cheaper, but I got mine as a gift. I wish the displays were more customizable, but you can't have everything.

So far, I have about 80% of my CD collection encoded and on the iPod (mostly as AAC files, which takes less space and sounds a little better than mp3).

I highly recommend getting one. :)

[rwayland]

The iPod can store data as well. you basically mount it as portable hard drive.



Well,that is a good feature. Can you do so without assigning a specific amount of memory for the purpose? Can you also use it as a cd-rw for data storage without specific memory allocation? If so, the main differences other than price, would be the book and photo features on the iPod, and the fm radio on the Zen Micro. So it appears that either would be a good choice, depending on preference and budget.

Richard

[LFO]

I read that Creative is abandoning the MP3 player market. Their CEO declared war on Apple a while back but I guess they ran out of ammo.

I don't think that could possibly be true. Creatives MP3 line is highly successful, some reports show Creative with a larger market share than Apple. Apple actually licenses the menu technolgy used on iPod from Creative. I own both brands (a Zen and a Shuffle) and think both are great products. This kind of competition will keep things fresh for us users.

-LFO

[fastlane]

Maybe this is what I read.

http://playlistmag.com/news/2005/08/11/creative/index.php

Here is the interface technology patent awarded to Creative. But it sounds like they probably won't see a dime from Apple or Sony.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/4198360.stm

Apple seems to have a commanding MP3 player market share right now. I think holiday sales will shed more light on this trend.