But playing isn't all the Zen Micro does. You can use it to receive FM radio (with 32 station presets to keep your favorites at the ready), and to record, either from the radio or from live sources such as voice dictation or lectures using the built-in condenser microphone.

Trimmed in a luminescent blue glow and with easily visible backlit buttons, this stylish orange player holds up to 1,500 songs (99 hours) at 128 kbps or 3,000 songs (198 hours) at lower-fidelity 64 kbps (MP3/WMA)--that's a solid week's worth of music listening, never playing the same song twice. Compatibility with Microsoft's WMA compressed-audio format grants access to over 2 million downloadable songs offered promotionally or for sale online.

Perhaps the Zen Micro's coolest attribute is its DJ feature, which will shuffle not only all the songs you've loaded or all the songs on a given album, but also, at your discretion, only the tracks you listen to most or the ones you rarely hear, taking the work out of selecting your favorites or hunting out all the music you're still getting to know.

Another of the Zen Micro's handy features is its personal organizer. You'll never forget an important anniversary with the onboard calendar, and it also includes a to-do list and a contacts list, all of which sync seamlessly with Microsoft Outlook (Outlook thus required for use of these features). Further, the device offers a sleep timer and alarm so you can drift off to sleep to the strains of one playlist and wake to a completely different one.

The Zen Micro's removable battery is easy to swap with another fully charged battery (additional batteries sold separately), extending your listening by a half-day per swap.

Zen Micro's rechargeable battery is easy to replace.

Zen Micro's Removable Disk mode lets you connect your player to the computer and directly copy the files you need.

Vertical touch pad
No more going round in circles to find the song you want, we all know that the quickest distance between two points is a straight line. Zen Micro's vertical touch pad and touch sensitive controls are designed to be intuitive so that searching through songs or playlists is easy, quick and fun - try taking a cruise down this strip.

Removable Disk
Store and transfer not only your favorite tunes, but important data files as well. Zen Micro's Removable Disk mode lets you connect your player to the computer and directly copy the files you need.

Highest audio quality of any MP3 player
Zen MP3 players are renowned for their superior audio quality, and the Zen Micro is no exception. With an outstanding industry leading 98dB signal to noise ratio, you can achieve audio bliss with clarity as good as expensive hi-fi systems. That coupled with high fidelity earphones with dynamic bass response, the Zen Micro not only sets a new standard for sheer style, but for unmatched audio perfection.