many of our disney movies do n 't play on this dvd player .


player has a problem with dual-layer dvd 's such as alias season 1 and season 2 .


i know the saying is `` you get what you pay for `` but at this stage of game dvd players must have better quality than this - there is no excuse .


will never purchase apex again .


customer service and technical support are overloaded and non responsive - tells you about the quality of their products and their willingness to stand behind them .


then my dvds would stop playing in the middle , or not even be read at all .


new cds almost always began skipping after a few plays .


i thought it was just the player , but then i started checking the discs to find that the apex 2600 is actually ruining my media .


this player is not worth any price and i recommend that you do n 't purchase it .


apex does n 't answer the phone .


no way to contact their customer service .


they play just about everything , but # 2 and # 3 died very shortly after getting them .


this item broke just two weeks after i gave it to my kids for christmas .


the door would not close .


unfortunately it turns out to be the `` disposable `` type .


have had problems since the first day


- not playing some dvds and then finally after less than 60 days , it just would not recognize anything i pop in it .


it does tend to run quite hot and should be given lots of room for air circulation .


it did also seem to have a strong `` new electronics `` smell for some time .


the only thing i did experience was a problem of the player freezing while playing , which i was able to clear by opening it up and blowing it out with `` canned air . ``


the remote is okay , but i am not a fan of remotes with tiny buttons .


i especially like the more commonly used buttons , such as play , pause , and stop , to be larger and conveniently placed .


the zoom goes up and down in magnification , which is nice , but there is always a display of the zoom size about one-quarter of the way down from the top of the screen that interferes with viewing at most settings .


having spent considerable time with professional video gear , i find onscreen displays annoying .


i have tried many times to get a hold of apex who does n 't seem to answer their emails and telephone number is constantly busy as ( i believe ) the one lonely customer service rep is probably extremely overworked .


it wo n 't play 80 % of my movies , which are all store bough ten .


tech support from apex is literally - nonexistent .


i bought 2 of this model for christmas presents and neither one of them work ! .


it is embarassing getting phone calls from family members telling you that the dvd player you gave them less that 3 months ago is no longer working .


the dvd player does not work properly .


the player usually plays dvd 's , but has occasional problems such as : 1 ) not recognizing a dvd 2 ) stopping a particular point in a movie every time we played it 3 ) not being able to access certain special features on a rental dvd .


this has happened with several different dvd 's and occasionally if we keep trying something , it will work when it did not work one time before .


after we discovered the problems , we tried to contact apex ( flor 3 months ) , but we never got in touch with them . the customer support telephone number is always busy , and they do not answer their web customer support .


unfortunately it can 't play all of the dvd .


on 2 dvds so far it refuses to play certain episodes with no problems on the others on the dvd .


i hate apex but love amazon , and i tell everyone .


who knows how many uses you 'll get out of it before it craps out , but it probably will .


we 've purchased 3 universal remotes so far-all claiming to work `` apex `` dvd players and none worked .


( on here of course ) also , a couple dvd 's would n 't play and they were new ones ! .


i had to return the remote on this product because it appeared to be defective .


door broke after a month .


unit took forever since the beginning to recognize and play discs .


3 months of use and it no longer recognizes anything .


after @ 3 months , it stopped playing higher number scenes on dvds .


as an engineer , i am embarrassed for the engineering profession when such crap is released for sale .


it sends discontinuous signals to tv , so the tv has the pictures for one moment and has only the white noise for the other moment .


the other thing i do n 't like about this 2600 is that it makes the color look over saturated .


there were sharp screw tips on the underside of the unit coming from inside that were obviously used to anchor the internal control board .


the dvd player just would 't recognize them .


it would spin , read , spin some more and then show on the display that there was no disc .


i have not even used my new dvd player and already i am disappointed ! .


they will not respond to my emails ( promised turnaround time is 24 hours ) and the phone line is constantly busy .


now i know why - they are pieces of junk .


less than a month later the screen freezes and eventually shows `` no disc . ``


this unit was working fine for the 1st month and a half and then the color signal disappeared .


apex has still not responded to my email describing the problem after almost a week and their customer service line is always busy .


this dvd play is basically junk .


it wo n 't play all of my movies .


i tried called apex cu st service , no help .


each of the 4 lasted less than six months .


i have sent my ad2600 back to apex because it wo n 't play certain disney and other dvd movies ( no disc message ) .


one bad thing though , i find the remote-control a bit flimsy and i predict it will most probably ' die ' before the player does .


the first one would n 't work from the start .


the second lasted about two weeks before the video went out ! .


i have tried several times to contact apex digital through their on-line support site and their telephone line , but they wo n 't answer my emails and their telephone line is always busy .


but about 25 % of dvd 's i 've played on it have a problem , when watching a movie the picture will freeze , but the dvd still plays , and eventually the picture kicks back in after skipping a few moments .


we have had this product for over a month and yesterday it stopped working .


there was neither picture nor sound .


i would have rated it five stars but for the poor manual .


i tried calling the support number for a week , several times a day , and always got a busy signal .


neither message was answered ( they ask for 24 hours before replying - i 've been waiting 27 days . )


it only read the dvds 10 % of the time , otherwise i would get a no disc screen .


i 've had this player for several months and it reads most discs , but it would not recognize several discs that were clean and read on other players ( from friends season 2 ) .


my other gripe is the incredibly crappy remote , which is worse than other , cheaper apex units .


you have to press the buttons hard and frequently i end up pressing enter when i meant to scroll .


also , for some reason the picture looks washed out on s-video , with lots of color bleeding , compared to a component connection ( should not be much of a perceptible difference on a 27 `` tv ) .


and the remote is cheap and ch easy - not sure how long it 'll last , but for 50 bucks what the heck ! .


after about an hour it starts skipping like the dvd 's are dirty .


i have ice age and it keeps telling me no disc .


i tried e-mailing apex and they come back saying undeliverable .


i 've tried leaving questions on their site never to have them answered .


i 've attempted to connect this unit to several different tvs , using a multitude of connection methods , and i still can 't get a video signal from the machine .


purchased the ad-2600 about a month ago and have had numerous problems with it .


the most recent is that it will stop responding to the on/off button .


they claim to respond in a 24 hour period yet it 's been 2 weeks without a reply .


i 've sent 10 e-mails to their customer service department requesting an ra with no response .


have tried to contact apex via e-mail ( customerservice @ apexdigital . com ) , but the e-mail address is not valid .


have tried calling ( 866-4apexgo ) , but can 't get through .


this product sucks , the customer service from apex sucks .


after using it for just a month , i could not play any dvd .


i can only hear the sound but no picture ! .


their customer ( www . apex digital inc . com ) service is very poor .


one of the dvd 's i received as a christmas present kept freezing .


some dvd 's i rented would not play .


when the player was working it was great , but .


first of all , i bought this dvd as a christmas present for my girlfriend and i am somewhat disappointed .


for example , i tried playing my new `` pirates of the caribbean `` extra features dvd , but this dvd player can not read it .


at first i thought it is only a isolated incident , but i was proven wrong when the player would not read my `` alias `` dvds as well .


because of this , i am disappointed and would not recommend this product .


apex sucks ! .


unit worked great for 3 weeks then video output failed .


the catch is that , while it plays movies just fine , it has refused to read second discs with the movie `` extras `` on them on the two occasions when i tried to do that .


the remote is a little hard to understand .


my jpeg pictures are viewable ( not so sharp and vivid ) on my 27 `` screen but seem not as clear as when i view them on my 17 `` monitor .


video output stopped working .


this was an awesome player , before the video output no longer worked ( after about 3 weeks ) .


what a disappointment ! .


there was occasionally a lip-sync issue ( the lips were n 't moving in time to the dialog ) .


output went black and white only via both s-video and composite connections , and with no v-hold .


p . s the remote control does seem to get confused at times and doesnt respond but it may be just operator error ? .


what the hell is wrong with this thing .


forget about the sleek looks if it can 't play some of your real dvds .


so now it still plays everything , you just can 't see it ! .


the first one we installed did n 't work , and our kids were devastated to say the least .


update : january 27th 2004 - the second one crapped out only after a week - dont buy this product ! .


i immediately had problems getting the player to recognize two of my favorite dvds .


only one disk played through to completion successfully .


when we tried to hook up the first one , it was broken - the motor would not eject discs or close the door .


when i tried to install the second dvd player in my brothers house , that one didn `` t work either ! .


imagine my shock - and absolute instant disdain for any products made by apex .


the ad-1600 did n 't work correctly from the start and the ad-1220 lasted about a week and a half before it started to act up .


the front door is miss aligned on my unit and you have to manually life it up just so slightly for the door to close , a very annoying thing after ah wile .


i can 't rate it one star only because when it does work it 's pretty good .


only owned it about two weeks so i expect we 're looking at getting another progressive scan dvd player of higher quality very soon .


the player kept displaying `` no disc `` , so i tried the disc in another machine and sure as @ # * ! .


5 ) this apex model 2600 will not work with my universal remote control .


finally you will read a post somewhere that all codes are useless for the apex 2600 .


one still works fine , the other quit after one day .


apex 's website is down and they wo n 't answer their phone .


it seems to be a little slow when identifying a new disc that 's inserted - maybe 10 seconds of wait .


when i hooked it up it only produced sound - a cd played fine , but with a dvd i only got the audio - no picture ! .


seemed like a good deal , but this pps frequently can not recognize dvds and music cds -- takes a long time loading and then concludes , `` no disc `` .


granted , i have only used this dvd player for about 2 hours setting it up for my mom for christmas , but that was long enough for me to find problems with this dvd player .


this is extremely lame .


the remote is flimsy-feeling and awkward to use .


in addition , it only seems to work if you 're about five feet away from the player , although that may have been just the batteries that came with it .


it played only one out of three dvd 's without problems , the other two being afflicted by a number of glitches .


both of the problem dvd 's would repeatedly freeze during playback , while the counter on the player kept going .


i was impressed by this very inexpensive player . for the first three hours , and then it died .


there are a couple of quirks that were a bit annoying like having to actually press the power button before the tray will open ( my perv . machine did it automatically ) , and the fact that the external display is too small and too faded to read from any significant distance .


i try navigating using the player 's built in menu , and it still would n 't work ! .


unfortunately , the player would not read any of my region one dvds . even though they were not damaged in any way .


i called apex 's support number numerous times but it just kept ringing .


the one i purchased for a friend as a gift will not read any dvd disc .


however , it has failed to deliver on quality .


it does not only have difficulty playing jpegs , it even has trouble properly playing dvd movies .


i read in consumer reports that apex is a reliable brand , but with my experience and reading the other reviews , i think i will be doing a little more homework before considering another apex product .


the 2600 had false silver plate instead of play display .


however , it does not play windows media and i can not get it to play any of my dix rips .


* main dial is not backlit .


the lens is visible in the viewfinder when the lens is set to the wide angle , but since i use the lcd most of the time , this is not really much of a bother to me .


1 ) quite bulky ( it 's about the same size as my minolta vectors s-1 aps slr ) and uses a heavy battery , although not very solid as it is contracted mostly of plastic ( unlike canon 's elph line )


2 ) not very ergonomically - you 'll find even for a point-and-shoot lens )


4 ) the viewfinder is bordered lcd skying .


the only two minor issues i have with the camera are the lens cap ( it is not very snug and can come off too easily ) and the lens itself ( it partially obstructs the view through the viewfinder but not views through the lcd ) .


the only drawback is the viewfinder is slightly blocked by the lens .


b ) the lens cover is surely loose , i already accidently finger-printed the len a few times , and au lens ti gt and cause potential damage .


maybe it is my lack of experience , but i found shots with this camera very disappointing .


it was ( i sold it after a few months ) too expensive for the shots that i got .


sure it had all the features , but when i tried to shoot a girl 's basketball game it just wan 't up to the task .


i found that low light situations combined with any sort of action left this camera in the dust .


the grain was terrible .


well flash photos are never great , and there was still a lot of noise .


the two limitations i knew i would have to deal with are the very long lag time before it focus-locks ( even in bright light ) , and the unsatisfactory light quality of the built-in flash .


now there is one more complaint i have about the g3 and that is the software that comes with it for processing raw images ( i only shoot in raw image mode and the first thing i did was replace the 32 mbyte cf with a 512 mbyte cf , which gives me 130 raw images , as opposed to 7 ! .


the canon software for raw images does not present you with a raw image at all , but the raw image after it has been processed by all the image-affecting settings in the camera .


about the only legitimate criticism from the online reviews is that fact that the lens really does obstruct the viewfinder .


the g3 had problems focusing in low light and would not take the picture when the shutter was pressed but after the shutter had been released a few seconds .


it sometimes takes the picture at some indefinite period of time after you press the shutter button .


unfortunately , this digital moment-capturing device called the g3 sometimes captures the moment after the one you wanted .


1 ) the included lens cap is very loose on the camera .


2 ) the body construction - buttons , casing , etc , are too plastic .


it had a heavier and more sturdy casing .


one little minor flaw with this camera is that the lens is visible in the viewfinder , but does not detract from the image at all .


you can see the lens barrel in the view-finder .


( i knew this before hand , and it is not that bad ) there is no tiff format .


one bad thing is that it comes with a pitiful 32mb compactflash card , and for most purposes , it is not enough .


the included memory card is too small .


it is made of plastic .


the zoom lens unit feels fragile and it is worth buying a good camera bag if you are going put to carry it round a lot .


while light , it will not easily go in small handbags or pockets .


the function lever - the one which switches between capture and view mode feels fragile .


flash - as with all built-in flashes in small cameras , you get over illuminated main subjects with depth being lost .


the strap is horrible and gets in the way of parts of the camera you need access to .


when you look through the viewfinder ( not the lcd ) the bottom left corner of the picture ( about 15 % ) is blocked by the lens .


i 've been bothered by blown-out highlights on the s330 , and the g3 seems to do only slightly better .


the on-off button feels somewhat flimsy , and has an awkward , tiny little lock-out button that needs to be depressed to turn on the camera .


and the body / construction in general has quite a bit of plastic , a disappointment after the stainless steel heft of the s330 .


the only minor nits i have with the camera are it is fairly boxy looking , it needs a wrist strap instead of a neck strap , and it is a bit slow between shots .


when i went to put in the new sd card i looked at the lcd screen -- cracked -- and the fluid gave a jackson pollock type appearance to the screen , black and blue and purple blotches and streaks -- useless .


some more manual control would have been nice .


the only knock i have is that the flash is underpowered .


after 57 pictures total the lcd went black except for the icons showing the settings .


you can set the optical zoom before shooting and than while shooting video adjust a digital zoom in and out however due to the cameras light weight camera shake is a problem to contend with .


i would imagine this is a problem with any camera of a compact nature .


the sound is not loud enough when i play back the video clips on the camera .


only downside is when taking pictures in low-light conditions without the flash .


the sd500 has only been in my possession for a little over 3 months , and the lcd has been broken twice .


i took it out one day and the lcd was not working .


although the sd500 takes great quality photos , the sensitivity of the lcd compromises the quality overall .


the only problem i have with the buttons is that the power button and print/share button don 't have a nice click .


the buttons are rather stiff .


i thought this camera was awful and i did tons of research on cnet and other sites .


there were many times when i clicked the automatic shutter and nothing happens .


the controls are hard to manipulate , especially in the dark .


the only thing i don 't like is the small size ( 8 meg ) memory card that comes with it .


i have to move pictures off of it every day so i have room for more pictures the next , and i don 't have enough money to buy the 256 meg card that i 've had my eye on for a while .


a larger memory card and extra battery are good things to buy .


first off , the battery .


this camera uses a lithium battery , i find lithium batteries to be highly inconvenient ; . because what if you are on vacation , where the nearest place to buy batteries is just a gas station -- there is no way that you are going to find lithium batteries there .


not only is it inconvenient , but also the battery life span is short .


such a small zoom length that you would think that the zoom would be silent since it hardly zooms in . . . wrong ! .


the zoom function on this camera is so loud that sometimes you will be unable to use it if you find yourself in a situation where you must be quiet .


even just turning the camera on will move the lens a little , resulting in a noisy start-up .


the last problem i found with this camera was the macro function .


the auto-focus on the camera seems to have trouble focusing on the subject .


to make matters work , there is no manual override to overcome this problem .


it 's not my first choice in cameras ,


1 ) it is perhaps too small .


its size makes holding it steady for long a bit of a challenge ( not enough camera body to grip with more than your finger tips ) .


this is due to the unusually slow autofocus system .


3 ) the lack of an intermediate resolution setting , as other reviewers have suggested , is a problem , but that problem is meaningless with a larger compactflash memory card


4 ) the camera gets really hot when you are busy snapping away .


i left the camera in my car in maine ( not a very hot place ) and the lcd screen cracked ! .


i then realized a major design flaw .


the viewfinder does not accurately represent the picture being taken .


the digital zoom is crap .


the pictures are a little dark sometimes .


the movie mode can only record a max of 30 seconds at 160x120 per clip and a max of 4 seconds at 640x480 .


the price is $ . . . more .


the new drivers on cannon 's site do not help at all but try them if you want they have made me have to use the backup software .


the adobe software also was wonderful in 98 but it will not let you print correctly with xp so you are forced to create your document then either print it from windows or export it to another application .


the only thing i don 't like about it is that you have to buy a larger memory card , first thing ! .


i 've often struggled to get something to work the way i want it , and hate to have to carry the manual with me all the time ! .


all that said , i am a little disappointed with the quality of the pictures from the camera .


when taking pictures of people , however , it shows every flaw in the subject 's skin .


other cameras taking pics of the same subjects turn out looking much better .


for example , in auto mode you can 't use the flash redeye reduction , you must be in manual mode for that .


the auto color balance is often fooled by dense clouds .


8- buttons are little , but if you have steady fingers and deal ed with a casio worst calculator watch , you can deal with almost anything .


buttons size is ok for me , my wife , but not my granny .


i hope it 's because it 's new and they are not out yet , but being without a remote is hard .


it could be a little bit bigger , but it 's easy to get used to .


the screen may be a little smaller , but it is very readable and does n 't come in the overused blue .


it does n 't have firewire , not a real complaint since most windows users do n 't generally have firewire cards themselves .


the only complaint i have is that when you push in the scroll wheel to select , you have to push straight in or it sticks .


the only downside i see is that it does n 't look like you can manage playlists from the nomad , it has to be done from the computer .


the player itself has all sorts of problems .


the face-plate , which pops out for the battery , pops open by itself every 10 minutes or so .


the player hangs up on file transfer every once-in-a-while , prompting a reset .


the scroll button is overly sensitive at times ; . not sensitive enough at others .


depressing the scroll button ( for selecting ) is not always responsive .


the scroll bar problems make the task of creating playlists more frustrating .


overall , a very disappointing product .


the setup process for the nomad is infuriating , and the interface with the player is sub-par .


the player 's mechanics are also flawed .


although the sound-quality is good , it takes more than good sound on a portable-mp 3 player to result in a good product .


one beef is the scroll , it does n 't work as well as i 'd like .


deficiencies with zennx are easily overcome with 3rd-party earphones ( $ 20 + ) and software ( $ 25 ) .


getting the program to install properly has been a living hell experience .


transfering - i could not get my songs to completely transfer via usb 1 . 1 or 2 . 0 .


it would only transfer 30 or so songs , and then come up with an error .


scroll button - the scroll wheel was a nice idea to keep less clutter , but the button would sometimes get stuck or keep scrolling .


size - bigger than the ipod


all i have to say is that i did freeze on me once , but it has n 't done it since .


first , the cons . . . a tad bulky . . . not the most aesthetic looking player . . . and does n 't support a folder structure .


and man . . . i had to work to put my chinese songs on the player . . . because i had the actual chinese names of the songs as the title . .


the only thing i 'm concerned about is the quality / longevity of the buttons on the thing .


my `` fast forward `` button works , but it takes a little extra pressure on it to make it go .


unlike my 3 other mp3 players , this thing will only work properly if you have id3 tags on all of your tracks .


if you do n 't have tags , it 'll lump all of your tracks into the same directory and they can not be searched via artist or album as the zen does not recognize folders .


i did have to put a little work into renaming some duplicate file names to get all my music on my zen xtra but it was n 't a big problem .


the explorer program did shut down a couple times while i was renaming titles and changing genres but i did n 't have to reboot the computer or anything , just open up explorer again .


the unit itself did lock up a few times and i had to hit the reset button but that was a fairly painless process as well .


the little jog dial seems weak and quirky and i hope i do n 't figure out a way to break it .


i have windows xp pro and when installing the enclosed software i did receive a message that there was a problem installing the driver .


- the controls are much inferior to the simple ipod ones .


the locations of various buttons on one side or the other is somewhat illogical


- included creative software is pretty poor .


it would either not play the song at all , or skip wildly , no matter that the unit was resting on my desk .


had there been strange noises , or obvious defects , i would have accepted a replacement , but this is clearly from a defective and inferior operating system and i for one do not intend on waiting for patches .


this product is too fragile for normal use .


however , the creative software is not real intuitive .


if you want to rename a cd title that you have already transferred , you will become frustrated quite quickly .


this is ridiculous .


the scroll wheel , to be blunt , sucks .


seems it is always difficult to press to make a selection .


the interface used could be better designed .


it is a little cumbersome to scroll through so many levels to get to the selection you want .


and the case , how did this ever make it out of quality control .


it is some protection for the unit , but for use ability , forget it .


the cut-outs for the controls is not thought out as there is too much material in the way to adequately access the controls , especially the scroll wheel .


however the main reason i am not satisfied with this product is the fact that it will lock up at odd times .


i know this unit will have problems in the future and the $ 40 for the 2 year `` no questions asked `` replacement warranty will be worth it , since creative will only warrant it for 90 days - which in itself is totally ridiculous ! .


1 . the size is a little bit bigger than the ipod , and it weighs a little bit more .


2 . the scroll button is n 't the best , as it sometimes can be hard to select .


i gave it only 3 stars due to the fact that the 1st one broke when i dropped it from a fairly short distance ( less than 2 ft ) .


1 ) fragile ( i broke the 1st one within 10 days )


3 ) the case hides the display - you have to open it to see what you are doing .


but for now it appears that this player does n 't play well with itunes .


the scroll bar is a bit of a pain .


i was a little disappointed in the low end .


the sound level is also not as high as i would have expected .


in any case , navigation by artist / album is ok however i miss an ability to navigate by folders .


you even can not navigate by genre / artist / album since under genre you get just all tracks in that genre , no other division .


the software , which comes with player is not good at all .


so yes , as with all software bundled with creative products , it was useless and ugly .


this thing is trash .


a ) feel cheap -- the plastic is feels like it would break very easily , and it definately wouldnt survive a drop


b ) the screen is hard to read -- the cover hides it an already annoying poorly lit display


c ) the scroll bar is a travesty -- enough said


e ) the case is too small -- it took me like a half hour just to get this monstrosity to fit in its cage


creative labs customer support website is useless .


software downloads on the site crashed my pc .


on my main computer the software did not work right .


i had to sit on the phone with customer support for 2 hours and they did not help at all .


the environmental audio , however , is almost completely useless and has made most of my songs sound worse than without it ( i encode my songs at 192-256 kbps without variable bit rates . )


yeah i agree the earbuds are pretty crap , replace them .


1 ) a spare battery would have been great .


2 ) no games - it has a cool screen - why not use it .


navigation system - the zen xtra uses id3 tags that are embedded in the mp3 files to organize your songs .


fm receiver - it has none .


cheap construction - they should have made the player out of hard plastic and put some rubber on the corners .


the player feels very delicate , as if i 'm holding an actual hard drive .


as a portable player , it should feel a bit more durable .


otherwise , it is difficult to figure out and awkward .


it sounds decent , but i would estimate you get maybe 80 % of the quality that you would from a true line out jack .


controls are a bit awkward .


crappy headphones .


it is a bit cumbersome , and i can 't get to the songs i want as quickly .


i think this is it 's biggest flaw .


it would have been much nicer if it had a window so you could see the screen , and if the button did n 't cover up the ac jack .


as it stands now , the case is pretty useless unless you 're packing the player up for travel , or if you load up all your songs beforehand .


but the major problem i had was with the software .


the instructions that come with it do n 't explain how to make things simple .


the quick sync is n 't any good because it either needs to be configured properly or just is n 't very useful .


creating playlists using the included software to minimize issue 3 was n 't as easy as i would have liked .


my only significant complaint is sound quality .


the eax sound enhancement feature did n 't do enough for me and the custom eq was a limited 5 band eq .


i was unable achieve a sound quality on par with my simple portable cd player with `` bass boost . ``


well just one con - its not really plug and play at first i mean its very confusing to start the program but one you do it , it will be a breeze .


my only complaint would be that you need id3 tags & that takes a while to do if your mp3 files do n 't have them .


but the earbuds suck ! .


i forgot , the case does n 't fit .


my case doesnt close . . . maybe mine was just faulty , but the case isnt that great .


bookmarks for example , are an excellent feature . . . but not on this player . . .


this makes no sense and sort of defeats the purpose of audio bookmarks . . .


the controls are somewhat harder to use than the ipod , but i have gotten use to them , and even at the beginning did not think would justify the huge difference in price .


loading cds was somewhat time-consuming , but i think it would have been with the ipod as well .


other tagging problems result ( i think ) from the nomad 's operating system .


also , i can 't understand why the software does not ignore `` the `` when it lists the cds in alphabetical order .


finally , making playlists from the computer can be complicated because the tracks are listed individually , and are organized by cd , which are not listed but are organized in alphabetical order .


only thing missing from creative is a cd burner .


the only thing i would complain about the zen xtra is that the controls are n 't as easy as the ipod 's , or as `` sexy `` looking .


as mentioned in other reviews the headphones are useless and need to be replaced right away ! .


the front cover ( which you remove to take out the battery ) feels flimsy but when snapped on , the device still feels pretty solid .


the scroll button is sort of annoying to push - a nice button would be nicer but eh , not a big deal .


it is slightly larger than an ipod , no doubt about it .


its far more difficult to select songs and has no easy to use on the fly playlist creation such as the new ipod not to mention it does n 't since with contact lists , phone numbers , address books , etc . like the ipod ( which eliminated my need for any kind of palm device ) .


it also has unproven battery life .


finally the software used to put all the songs into it is vastly inferior to itunes on two levels , first it is poorly integrated into the overall player and clunky to use especially with tagging and second the wma audio format sucks , flat out sucks in terms of sound quality compared with the vastly superior aac format the apple ipod uses and it sticks you with one of the sub par paid music services such as napster instead of allowing to use the itunes store , which , if you ever plan to pay for your music , is by far the best .


* protective case completely useless as is since it obscures display window .


* scroll button more cumbersome than on earlier models .


* eax equalizer accentuates diminished quality of mp3 files .


* software is absolutely terrible :


-- > will not automatically transfer songs with identical titles ( if you have live albums or greatest hits albums , this will cause you inordinate frustration ) .


-- > does not recognize player at random times , despite being connected and displaying player 's library .


-- > you 'll be changing track information a lot because the cd database information utilized by the software is mediocre at best .


my one issue with the mediasource software is that , despite pulling id3 tag data from the dds service , the ripping process fails to populate the `` year `` field .


navigation could be better , but there is n 't really anything the zen xtra can 't do once you 've gotten comfortable with it .


the only two things that stop me from giving it 5 stars are the ho-hum software that comes with the system , and the traveling case it comes with .


also , the carrying case that came with mine covers up the display , so even though the side controls are reachable , i have to open it up to see the display .


this player is an overall disappointment with a couple of big flaws that potential buyers should be wary of ; . and all readers need to know about a third party software company that resolves virtually all of the creative mediasource file transfer issues .


1 . creative mediasource software is ok to rip , catalog & burn music if you are starting from scratch ; . but i used musicmatch to rip my cds before i bought the zen ( 278 cds ; . 3 , 400 tracks ; . 12 . 5 gb of music all ripped at 128bps ) and guess what ? .


mediasource did not recognize my tags ! .


2 . despite most reviewers giving kudos to the zen for music quality , i experienced a flaw using eax .


3 . mediasource is an application with serious user interface flaws .


4 . the zen * stores * data files , but does not allow a folder structure nor does it allow documents to be opened or programs to be launched from its disk ( they must be copied to another hard drive to be launched ) .


in other words , the zen is not a convenient data storage device ; . only buy the capacity you need for your music collection ( see point 1 . for some sizing information ) .


6 . the zen nx battery requires the ac adapter to recharge ; . it does not charge by usb cable ; . this is not tragic , but usb recharging would be a convenient ( additional ) choice .


7 . mediasource did not install on my personal notebook .


the pc-side software can be goofy and takes a little getting used to but it 's not as bad as some reviewers have indicated .


they have a whole bunch of devices that all have the same-sounding name ( and they are long ) .


- the software that came with it was tough to load .


- the top that covered the battery kept poping off without much of a touch near the bottom latch .


the top did not fit well into the unit . ( felt defective )


- the cover that came with it did n 't fit very well


- the flywheel you use for most of the navigation was n 't in tightly and it was uneven as far as the amount of pressure to make it engage .


- this did not feel like quality construction and i was n 't sure how long it would last .


the construction of the player is the cheesiest i have ever seen -- the front panel refused to clip in correctly , leaving a noticeable gap between the panel and base of the player .


i 'm not willing to accept shoddy construction on something i paid over 250 dollars for .


i 've had this thing just over a month and the headphone jack has already come loose .


i fully expect it to go bad again in the same or some other way in the next 6 months because , as other reviewers have pointed out , the construction is pretty flimsy .


like other reviewers , installation was hell .


about 10 % of the time it can 't find the device when i attach it to my pc .


after i had it a couple weeks , it got into a state where it could never find the device , no matter how often i rebooted my pc , reset the device , reloaded drivers , etc , etc . creative 's online support was no help at all .


in fact , i 'd have to rate it among the worst i 've ever encountered .


to my amazement , even that process was error-prone .


my gut tells me the nomad will in the long run be , at best , a 40gb portable hard drive , albeit one on which i can 't create folders , or , at worst , a very expensive lesson in companies never to buy products from again ( i have their audigy sound card and find it in many ways equally frustrating ) .


i will never buy a creative product again .


i purchased a jukebox , it got fried while being recharged , they asked for $ 20usd just to look at it and said that they would charge me for reaping the damned thing .


1 ) player is not plug and play - need to install nomad explorer first and mediasource to transfer files and i had to be patient as i was used to winxp detecting the player and dragging and dropping the music files into it .


2 ) music organization is based on id3 ( by genre , artist , album , etc . ) and this can be a problem for older downloaded music files with missing or incorrect id3 information .


3 ) folders can not be created for the audio files .


5 ) lack of good accessories - this is more of an oversight of creative 's marketing .


6 ) the case occludes the display screen when it is closed .


not plug & play ; . relies on id3 ; . no fm or recording


nothing but hassle with this company .


the only thing i do n 't like about this is the cover does suck .


it 's kinda heavy , kinda like having a walkman .


headphones suck , i would invest in some cool ones since it has the eax feature .


i 've had this thing for less than a month , treated it quite well , never dropped it , and the headphone jack is all screwed up .


kind of bulky and the wheel is awkward , but i can deal with that .


software definitely sucks , hangs up my notebook about half the time , but i do n 't mind buying notmad .


i am annoyed that the player 's not automatically recognized as a hard drive .


i was willing to live with the larger size ( inconvenient on the road ) but the durability was a big zero .


i am disappointed and looking elsewhere for something that can withstand the `` rigor `` of a business traveler .


minor complaints : 1 ) even though the music is sorted via id3 tag on the player , the option to search for music contained in a folder is unavailable .


2 ) having unfilled id3 tags will cause music to be potentially placed in a folder called `` unknown . ``


3 ) with mediasource being so easy , i found no use for the bundled nomad explorer software .


first , the sound quality is okay , but ( as at least one other reviewer has mentioned ) the eax can cause audio interference after about 30 minutes .


second , the menu system and controls are poorly designed .


the toggle button that is used to scroll is poorly designed and does not work well .


third , the poor design continues with the case .


my biggest complaint is the battery life or lack there of .


i 've also had the nomad zen lock-up several times .


the nomad zen could use a little sturdier construction like the archos jukeboxes or some kind of shock resistant case .


battery life is about 1/4 of that advertised , no operators manual available for any of the nomad zen players ( on or off-line ) , occasional software lockups , replacement battery is expensive


creative zen feedback suffers from construction quality , poor product support , difficulty of using the scroll wheel and reasonably consistent feedback about problems with the headphone jack .


what is added in functionality ( battery replacement ) detracts in build quality as the face plate is prone to popping off .


feedback on creative 's product support is universally poor ; . this is not limited to the zen , it applies to all the company 's products .


the scroll wheel is finicky ; . it works most of the time but there is a learning curve for pressing it just right ; . new users say they have 50 % - 75 % success rate ; . some find it so frustrating that they just return the device .


enough people have reported that their headphone jack does n 't work after a month of using the device to believe that creative has some inbuilt manufacturing or quality control problem .


the zen does n 't support folders so it is not really a storage device ; . even with third party software that `` creates `` folders , documents and programs can 't be launched from the zen , so it is not a hard disk , it 's a storage device at best .


but with a low price , comes lower quality .


the catch is it 's built like a piece of crap .


the software , mediasource , can not work on my pc . ( laptop , intel p4-2 . 0 , xp os ) .


in fact , each of my creative mp3 players had software problem in the first place .


the one and most major thing that i was disappointed with , in this player , is the battery life .


the panel seems like it will come off very easily as other people have said .


you need the software to actually transfer files


the player has its minor glitches like for example when i turn it on , 60 percent of the time , it sis , shutting down , which means i have to turn off , and turn it on again , which is not to my likings .


also , the player sometimes freezes , not a very big problem , but can also be annoying .


yes the included earphones suck but everyone replaces them anyway .


creative software stinks .


the front cover can pop off easily but i always have mine in the case so i did n 't notice after first day .


short warranty ( 3 months , so i got the extended warranty at best buy ) , occasional freeze up ( easily fixed by popping out battery ) , somewhat flimsy navigation wheel .


the only beef i can raise in this regard is the pop-off face , that sometimes comes off a bit easily , but besides that it 's perfect .


the only thing missing is an option to adjust the balance .


do n 't buy this player .


unfortunately , after loading 280 + songs , all i get now is `` player either not connected or busy . ``


i took perfect care of this player and still it died in the week after the lousy 90 day warranty ended .


the software is not good either and the driver has trouble working with other sound blaster products , which is very dumb .


however , my hard drive did fail , and i have not dropped it once .


what a junk .


the controls are somewhat harder to use , and there are some oddities about the software tagging system , but most people can live with this .


typically , the problem is the headphone jack -- it was for me and many others .


the headphone jack seems to be a major problem .


the one other thing i observed while i had the nomad is that the front cover , which is taken off to have access to the battery , seemed to come undone very easily .


the other day when i was listening to a song , it locked up and will not do anything now .


in that model the hard drive just died one morning before my class .


now it will start smelling if you leave it with diapers in it for an extended period but all of them will ! .


the cons , at times the diaper wipes get stuck in the disposal area making it hard to turn the handle back and forth .


in addition , i don 't believe that it is odorless .


my daughter is only 4 months old and we do notice an odor .


it seemed as if we were emoting the pail everyday and it was in no way odorless .


the diaper genie needs it 's own refill bags in order to work and that 's just more money that you don 't have to spend .


i find the major problem with this item is that if you have a very messy diaper and can 't tightly bundle it without a mess , the mess gets all over the module that dumps the diaper and the stink is outside of the diaper pail .


my main complaints are that it should be deeper or wider as it doesn 't even fit a smaller sized garbage bag .


the hole to put the diaper in needs to be larger as i am now using medium diapers ( i have a 3 month old ) and they 're on the brink of being too large to fit no matter how compact i make then and how un-soiled they are .


i have noticed an odor ( one the i expected ! . ) when unloading the diaper champ but at least you don 't smell anything every time you use it .


for my first i had a diaper genie which was not only costly with the refills but it was also very stinky .


but , sometimes , if the champ is too full , the flip handle won 't function .


opening the champ to empty out the bag is a little tricky- i pinched my thumb a few times before i got the hang of it .


as one other reviewer pointed out , it does occasionally take a little effort to push down the `` plunger `` to get the diapers in the pail , even though upon inspection the bag doesn 't really look full .


the opening could be a little wider , i suppose , but i haven 't really seen anything else that could be improved .


solid food poop is very stinky and this diaper pail doesn 't really contain the smell .


i still like it a lot and am not changing it for another , but it is sort of stinky .


i just wished that it didn 't fill up so fast ! .


but now that she is eating solids the odor is escaping out and we are constantly using freshener .


but be prepared to buy something else ( diaper genie ? . ) which can trap the odor better .


the other pail i used started to smell after 2 weeks of use .


we found that when you put a dirty diaper into the top loader , there was a tendency to get streaks which would then get on the plunger which would then have to get cleaned each time it was used .


we resorted to using small plastic bags to store the dirty diapers and dumping them in a trash can and using the diaper champ for wet diapers only .


we also had a problem with diaper wipes getting caught when the top was flipped .


it can be frustrating and messy when you put that last diaper in before realizing the unit is full .


the plug er gets stuck & you have to manually extract the mess .


i registered for this item because of the good reviews it got , however i was not impressed .


for one thing , the diapers always get jammed in it .


the product also leaves a faint smell in the room .


all in all , the diaper champ serves its purpose , but it does not live up to its good reviews .


too costly and not efficient if you ask me ! .


2 . you still have to clean the thing ! . ! .


the only downside to this is that it can get pretty stinky long before the pail is full .


that 's when it went from oder less , to odorous ! .


it still smelled .


then it started to smell whether there were diapers in it or not .


cons - difficult to open to change bag-twice my bags caught on a sharp edge inside and snagged as i was pulling out-leaving dirty diapers all over the floor .


also , diapers tend to stay in the middle , causing the pail to get backed up .


the only problem i have is with the handle you use to open the top compartment .


the way you have to shove your fingers under it and pull is just too tight .


i can 't tell you how many times i 've chipped a nail or hurt my fingertips because of the force needed to open it .


i had never liked the idea of the diaper genie because of the refills .


also , diapers and wipes get stuck in the grove below the piston .


also much less stinky .


don 't buy the diaper champ .


yes , you may get a whiff of a smell when you flip the handle , but then it is gone .


to eliminate any smells we simple stuck a stick up room deodorizer inside the lid .


the adjustment knob seemed ok , but when lowering the router , i have to practically pull it down while turning the knob .


the collet for the 1/4 inch bits is a pain to get in and even harder to get out .


then the most disappointing was trying to use viper raised panel bits that just barely fit , and i mean just barely .


however , it is much bigger , bulkier , and heavier than my other router and i would not like to use it freehand ( i keep it mounted in a table ) .


otherwise , get a smaller single speed router , which will be much easier to use freehand and is all you need for smaller diameter bits .


if you think you are saving $ 40 getting the hitachi , you are right , and you are also getting a router worth $ 40 less than a makita .


it ain 't cutting edge ( no pun intended ) state of the art with all the latest bells & whistles & it definitely ain 't pretty .


i built my own router table with a tilt up top & made a hand crank to replace the height adjustment knob & these two things make it easy to change out & raise or lower the bits .


with the plunge lift all my bit changing has been done above the table , although i still have to reach below the table to operate the spindle lock ( and , of course , the speed and on/off controls ) .


not so nice things : - a bit too much weight and power for easy handheld use - spindle lock makes for awkward bit changing ( outside of a table ) - the 1/4 `` chuck sleeve requires much tightening to keep bits from slipping


the only complaint i have is that the 1/4 `` collet will not sufficiently hold any of my 1/4 `` bits .


the hitachi collet simply was not ground accurately .


the plunge action isn 't smooth unless you make it so .


also , the fit and finish could be better although this doesn 't detract from performance .


the only problem i find with it is that the plunge mechanism will eventually stick due to wood dust .


i find that if you remove the springs it is much easier to adjust and will not stick much .


1 . your hitachi might come to you with a stiff spring mechanism .


mine was so bad i had to to use a hammer to free it ( and this is why i 'm giving it 4 , not 5 stars ) .


not a killer problem , but not well done , either .


the only beef that i have with it is that there is a little too much slop in the columns when the lock is not engaged .


if it weren 't so big i would probably by another since no shop is complete without a handful of routers . .


i did have to cut off the ears that hold the template guide in place so i could get those big panel raising bits in it .


i also removed the springs in the plunge tubes to make it easier to raise .


i added a crank for those times when i need to make fine adjustments , but i seldom use it .


i also put a bend in the wrench so i can remove and install bits from the top of the table .


that said , i am disappointed in the plunging mechanism .


after repeal cleaning and re cleaning , it still stuck after using it for a little while .


if the plunging action is critical to your work , look elsewhere .


it 's oftentimes hard to get a good grip on the router , activate the chuck lock , and get enough muscle behind the wrench to get the collet loosened up .


i was some what sceptically when i seen the price deference between the other makers of comparable hp .


this router was a huge disappointment .


the depth adjustment was sloppy .


the speed control is recessed too far in the housing and required a tool ( screwdriver or dowel rod ) to effect any speed change .


my son tried it and he too couldn 't change the speed without an assist .


i sent it back , as i think that the speed control is either poorly designed or defective .


all in all , not very good .


the only not-so-positive comment i have is about the depth adjustment , it is not easy to micro-adjust accurately .


i replaced it with a router raiser and it works much better .


two , the single wrench just doesn 't work well .


the sliding latch is does not stay in place .


the fine adjustment knob which came with the router was very difficult to use on a router table .


finally , i gave up and i purchased a router racier .


i am seriously considering purchasing another wrench and just not using the `` sliding wrench `` which comes on the router .


recently the variable speed control went out .


it would work fine for a while then as the motor warmed up it would die .


the only other problem with this router that i have encountered is the plunge action will start to stick , then it needs to be cleaned and lubricated .


only problem is that is a bit heavy .


they last about 1 1/2 years until the problems start .


luckily the soft start helped before it took the wood and tossed it or worse case , a finger .


once a depth is locked , it will jump off a little while working .


well , my second one is now beginning to hi cup a bit after about 1 1/2 years .


the electronic speed control is not doing it 's job and the router begins to speed up and slow down at will .


if this machine just stops on you , unplug it quickly and get out of the way ! .


the wizard is particularly sinister .


it just tells you to start disconnecting and attaching cables without any input as to whether your current setup includes a pre-existing router ( mine does ) , without any clarity as to whether you should be running the wizard on a hard-wired pc or a wireless equipped pc .


however , configuration of my system and actual setup of the router for wireless use took me more than 3 hours , and briefly made me reconsider my choice to for ego the airport and its notoriously easy setup .


too bad they don 't mention anything about how the cd can 't be used with a mac .


i even downloaded the product 's user manual - useless .


the linksys technical support site has nothing about configuring the router for use with a mac .


i say adequate because it was enough to get wireless working , but nowhere near enough instruction to do the proper configuration job that i could have done if so ! .


what this product really needs is better documentation for how to set up the router for different operating systems ! .


i had some issues when i had enabled wep encryption and then moved on to wpa .


there were no other obvious setup instructions - though there was a soft copy manual , it did not give an answer readily on what do to .


the only other problem was that security for the wireless connection .


little to no networking experience , just in case the automatic cd method has issues .


this is not an enterprise piece of hardware that you will find in an office or corporate environment .


the new hardware version does not run linux at all and most likely will not since the memory has been cut in half .


i tried the cd setup program without any luck .


essentially , the cd included with the package is , for the most part , worthless .


the achilles heel of this router is its inability to stream music , or copy large files over the local network .


it is not reliable .


a couple of times a week it seems to cease access to the internet .


that is , you can not access the internet at all .


very annoying .


the installation software cd crashed repeatedly .


i couldn 't get the install wizard to work .


knocked 1 star off for the install wizard - it wasted alot of time running it .


there is not a word about satellite issues in either the user guide or the `` knowledge `` database at linksys . com , and first tech support person i spoke with kept me on the phone for an hour , then gave me a web site address to consult -- that turned out to be the one i 'd already found during a search of my own .


i was having intermittent problems with it losing connection .


i 'd recommend this is you want to wireless network your laptop , but if you want to wirelessly network a couple desktops together you might want to wait until linksys improves their desktop software/hardware .


unfortunately , linksys does not write the best documentation .


i tried to do this by instinct and it 's not intuitive unless you are a network geek .


the firmware has bugs too , so download and install the latest firmware from linksys .


the instant setup button in the front of the router messes up the network it is better to configure the router manually .


the internet connection would go down every 5 mins when i used it with a p2p program called bit spirit .


so-so 1 . customer service - 6 calls half were efficient other half were equally incompetent .


both of them keep disconnecting on me and interruptions are 3 or 4 times per day at best .


stay away from this junk .


was a bit wary because the software is windows only and i have an mac .


the downside being that the tito can only connect at 802 . 11b speeds and not 802 . 11g .


( . . . ) like most soho routers , it has nearly non-existant logging .


now this router is not the cheapest on the market .


even the pdf manual that comes with it is pretty vague for someone not familiar with `` mac settings `` , etc .


we bought this about 6 months ago and it 's been worthless .


it constantly drops the internet connection and simple things like walls in our house block the link so everything is very slow .


unfortunately , creative offered scant few pages of instruction , which meant that i was on own from the outset .


after attempting to navigate the clumsy touch-pad system , i could not get the unit to download my wma files .


so , you might inquire , why don 't they make it a first priority to carefully , simply explain how download music from your music library to their device ? . ? . ? . this seems academic to me .


most of us just want to plug and play , not spend a year navigating a maze of complicated options . . . like transfering everything on a hard drive to this stupid thing .


unfortunately , the touch-pad issues [ non-intuitive ] and poor instruction guide killed it .


this one is particularly bothersome : allegedly one can use the zen micro as a portable drive to store and transport data from one computer to another .


who wants to go through the hassles of loading software onto a `` foreign `` computer just to move over some simple ( * . txt ) files ? .


) button sensitivity : even reduced to the lowest sensitivity setting , the buttons are far two sensitive , really takes some getting use to , and even then , it is still too sensitive .


you have to purchase that separately for some outrageous cost .


i have trashed this product on other opinion sites based on this major flaw alone .


) creative , inc . the maker includes the barest of the bare minimum in the box , then through gross profiteering nickles and dimes you on every single accessory at extraordinarily inflated prices .


if you want to purchase a real case or container or clip-on carrier for you zen micro , expect to purchase it separately and to dish out big time . .


iriver has a better fm receiver built in , but the drawback to iriver products is they are flimsy and poorly constructed .


as i wrote , this could have been a great product , but expect hidden charges ( read gross profiteering and price gouging ) as the company royally sticks you on every conceivable accessory necessary for normal daily usage .


and supply those stupid white headphones .


the touch pad does take a little getting used to .


the touch controls took a little getting used to but now i wouldn 't change it for the scroll wheel .


there are 2 things that need fixing first is the battery life . it will run for 6 hrs without problems with medium usage of the buttons .


second might be a problem i might have with my pc but not too sure , when the player is connected on the usb and i start playing on it and also using the windows explorer , it sometimes pauses by itself and tries to synchronize with the pc during play , which is a bit irritating .


however after just one month my headphone jack was broken as a result of normal , every-day use .


the creative mediasource software that comes with the zen micro is cluttered , and excludes my favorite feature in itunes , the ability to automatically copy everything you import into a certain folder .


even on the low sensitive level , a slight touch can skip or pause the track .


first thing i noticed was that the creative wasn 't well made .


cranking the master volume level up past the mark of the bar only leads to distortion and compromised sound quality .


the headphone jack gave out after only a couple weeks of use , and the stock earbuds were replaced same day with some high end sony 's i 'd been having .


if you 've been listening to cd 's in your car for awhile , dealing with the drop-off in sound quality may take some getting used to .


even after all the nightmare sound problems , i 'd still half-way like this product if it kept it 's promise ; . the ability to store 1500 songs .


even the `` shorter `` battery life , though , has not impaired my positive experience with the zen micro in any way .


limitations : - not a lot of original accessories like the ipod .


- the battery life leaves a lot to be desired .


i downloaded the new firmware which was supposed to take care of the problem , but it hasn 't worked .


- the outlook syn ch only works for non recurring appointments , which personally is very annoying to me but probably wont be to most people . -


i occasionally flip songs while working out as i accidently hit the pad even lightly ( yes i have it in maximum desensitized mode ) .


- not compatible with audible . com books .


overall , it does its basic function very well , but we expect more from the mp3 players today and the zen micro does not rise to the occasion .


pc software that comes with the player is not as simple as i tunes but its not bad at all .


the scroll bar again takes some getting used to .


i dont use the belt clip cz it fails to hold the player securely ( design problem ) .


what i dont like : nothing much except headphones , belt clip design .


p . s . the only snag i encountered while initially configuring the device was trying to hook up the micro to a front usb port . the bus for the front port on my motherboard did not have enough power ; . after connecting it to the rear ports , it works perfectly .


the ipod mini is smaller and sexier , albeit limited in supported formats and the rio karma is a far better value .


the karma is only $ 5 more , it 's small , had a 20 gig drive and supports more formats including gog .


the karma doesn 't look as sexy but it 's interface is very efficiently designed .


after a week i tried to load some more songs and delete a few but the auto load didn 't do anything but turn on my player .


it seems like the software is just not responding .


while the software may not be as easy as i-tunes , it is not difficult to use by any stretch .


if i was pressed to find a negative aspect of the zen micro i would probably have to mention weak fm reception , but the building where i primarily use the micro seems to have a history of terrible radio reception anyway , so you can take that for what it 's worth .


the touch-pad would be a great thing if it worked well , and as i never had issues getting songs transferred to the player , i did have problems accessing them from the player .


many other reviewers are mentioning that they have had no problems at all > i would say that the main problem is that this player is just not made very well .


it is the 'first generation ' of the player , and while i still agree that it is a great alternative to the ipod , i think there are many others that would be a much better value for your buck .


if someone asked me flat out , i 'd say to go woth something else .


i 've since replaced it with a pair of black sennheisers . . . not only are the packaged earbuds pretty uncomfortable , but are too similar to ipod 's and can target ipod thieves here in nyc .


although , i thought it could 've been designed a bit better .


it 's perfect for those who aren 't planning on storing tons of music .


weak points : - touch pad : design could be better - volume control : controlled through the vertical strip , but purchasing a headphone with built-in volume control will do the trick .


- radio quality : weak reception


the colors are a joke , and i personally hate the stupid vertical touchpad .


but my biggest gripe is still the extremely ugly design .


still has terrible software .


you have to wonder why creative can 't get this right .


screen review could be better .


the touch buttons do take a little getting used to and i don 't like how the scroll button is the same button used as an `` enter `` key , but you get used to it and it isn 't a big deal .


the fm radio 's reception isn 't spectacular , but it will pick up the most powerful stations in any given metro area .


00 % good though , and the zen does have a few drawbacks .


while transferring songs to the player , the interface has crashed a few times ( 4-5 times in a 4-5 hour period ) normally this would cause me major concern , but it appears that this bug is reproducible , which leads me to believe that creative will fix it with a patched version shortly ( or maybe it 's just my computer ) .


another thing i don 't like is that some of the features take 1-2 seconds to load up .


after consulting with creative 's customer support , they determined that the hard drive was broken and the only recourse was to send it in for repair , which would cost me $ 40 , since it 's past the 90 day warranty ( pretty short warranty ) .


they obviously have quality and reliability problems .


they have a good concept here , and i normally expect a lot better quality from creative , so maybe they will do better with the next gen version , but for now i say buyer beware .


es , the interface took a little getting used to , but once i did , it 's almost second nature now .


only slight negatives i 've had so far is that i haven 't been able to get it to accept any of my wav files yet .


yes , there is a belt clip , but that doesn 't hold the extra battery and usb cable .


it barely holds anything and mine just puts a bunch of thread fuzzes all over the player , because the bag is cheap and seems to be coming apart .


it is not a perfect product but it does have a lot going for it .


on the downside , i think the interface takes some getting used to and the zen software ! .


is not as intuitive as i would like .


also , the earbuds that came with it sound great but are uncomfortable ( although my wife didn 't have a problem ) , so i bought a pair of over-the-ear headphones .


the touch pad is over-sensitive , and is adjustable to only slightly oversensitive .


the machine itself seems fine , but the software that came with it is awful .


i was up all night trying to make the stupid thing work , to no avail .


his is what i get for my $ 200 on this mp3 player ? .


as for the zen micro : \ cons : i read that every button is touch sensitive , and thats very annoying when all the main buttons are on the front .


putting the micro into your pocket could trigger just about anything ( unless the hold feature is improved : it asks if you want to `` unholy `` for every button up press ) second , i 'm worried about the durability of the player .


after research of other creative hard drive players , i found that most of them aren 't very durable and tend to crash ( read most reviews on amazon . com and see for yourself ) .


last , i find the price a bit expensive for a product such as this .


verdict : had i not needed something with a tad bit more space , i consider this player fair game .


whatever . . . on to the negatives : -touchy about charging . . . you can damage the battery and seriously decrease it 's life if you don 't upgrade the firmware or dont ' heed the advice to always plug in the player side of the cord before plugging in the outlet side .


it has the odd side effect of the buttons only partially working ? .


-user 's guide doesn 't cover a lot of important info that is covered on their website .


i tried to use the fm radio option , but it doesn 't seem to really pick up the stations i listen , however i am going to try it in a different location , it may have just been my residential location .


even when i set it to low , it 's still very hard for me to adjust the player to where and what i want it to do .


i 've read about the issues with the scroll bar , but they must have taken care of that now .


another problem is that the latest 2 . 0 firmware upgrade moves you into windows media player 10 which seems to be very , very slow for downloads . charging [ -2 ]


if you buying this player to use with napster to go , wait a while .


a lot of people are having problems with the firmware update required to use the player for napster to go . . the firmware is beta and they are are a lot of bugs in it .


imagine my disappointment , though , when the zen micro proved able to play only the mega-strongest fm signals in my area .


it seems like you need to park yourself right next to a radio tower for the micro to pull in a strong sound .


still , that 's enough time that i 'm still satisfied , if a bit grouchy with creative 's over hyped promises .


respectable , solid , but not awe-inspiring .


where close to 12 hours but at least it is replaceable ( and they included a second one free ) .


the headphones which came with it are mediocre at best but what can you expect from a set of `` ear buds `` .


unfortunately i was wrong .


within one month , my player completely died .


( it had locked up multiple times previously , but always managed to work after wards ) this time , the touch screen wouldn 't respond to me and none of the buttons worked .


i had the second one for less than two weeks when i noticed a rattling/humming/buzzing sound while music was played .


i sent creative customer service 3 emails in which they did not help me one bit and don 't seem to even want to help .


it 's too bad , though , that ! .


the included headphones suck , so get your own .


the touch sarene navigation will take a little getting used to , but once you do , and while the zen is still alive , it 's a great alternative to the marching in lock step with the click wheel commies .


just too numerous to list : fm radio , which has weak reception , but at least it there , and a microphone , to name just two .


but , the creative zen micro is plagued by a serious , serious stupid and elemenatary design flaw , and i 'm going to tell you what it is . . . but first , two more things about this piece of garbage that 's so great and could 've made it a potential ipod killer .


but , all of this means nothing , because of the serious , serious , stupid and ridiculously elemenatary design flaw : after 3 months , give or take a few weeks , you won 't be able to hear anything .


because the `` engineers `` at creative screwed up the design of the headphone jack .


again , the headphone jack on this thing is garbage .


again , this is a design flaw in the headphone ! .


the flaw is inside the zen .


the flaw is in the circuit board that the headphone jack is connected to .


the creative zen micro is a zen micro killer , not an ipod killer .


why would anyone buy this when you can get a 20gb ipod that will hold 4 times the number of songs ( and even more if aac encoding is used ) for the same price ? . ? . ? .


to use the creative zen player with a subscription service , you need to go to creative 's web site , and download new software for your pc .


right now , the creative software transfers subscription music files very slowly .


this doesn 't affect standard mp3 files - just subscription wma files .


the subscription files are still a little slower to transfer , but it 's only by about 10 % or so .


again , this doesn 't affect regular mp3 files - just subscription drm-encoded files , like those from napster-to-go or yahoo music unlimited .


i don 't know , maybe i got a defective one but first , the player would not shut off , next , the player would not come on - i had to send it away to get repaired .


now , the player 's ear phone jack is not working - i have to send it away again .


1 . pictures wo n 't transfer to pc directly from the camera using the included transfer cable .


. this camera keeps on outfoxing in auto mode with a buzzing sound which can 't be stopped .


. even the slightest of the shakes totally distorts your image


. images taken indoor were n 't so clear .


. lens cap is a really annoying


. the movie clips taken will always have some ' noise ' in it - you can 't avoid that .


within a year , there are problems with my menu dial knob .


i send my camera to nikon for servicing , took them a whole 6 weeks to diagnose the problem .


got a `` system error `` problem 30 days after purchase .


made the camera totally inoperable .


also , the lens cap design is flawed .


audio on video also lacking .


1 . pictures taken in an indoor setting are a little dull and rarely hazy if you tend to take photographs from a distance .


3 . the pictures come out hazy if your hands shake even for a moment during the entire process of taking a picture .


focusing on a display rack about 20 feet away in a brightly lit room during day time , pictures produced by this camera were blurry and in a shade of orange .


the only things i have found that i havent liked is that the lcd is hard to read in daylight but everyone else 's is too .


one downside though is that autofocus does not work well when battery is low .


it comes with a rechargable battery that does not seem to last all that long , especially if you use the flash a lot .


it does not have an auto-focus assist light which is nice for taking shots in low-light situations it allows the camera to focus in low light .


it has a 3x optical zoom , which is average for these cameras .


the only drawbacks i 've encountered are : 1 indoor shots from a distance > 8ft lack contrast and color , but i 've found this to be a problem with all cameras with built-in flashes that i 've used even on a nikon slr .


2 the battery life seems to be on the short side but adequate for most situations .


3 the picture editing software it came with is adequate , but not very robust .


on average , indoor shots with a flash are not quite as good as 35mm .


i only have one complaint , and that is the 8mb card included .


8mb for a camera like this is a joke .


the only disappointment so far has been battery life .


mine generally requires a charge every 48 hours or so and i don 't really talk on it that much .


i purchased this phone knowing it was slightly old as compared to the newer models of nokia phones available .


anyhow some demerits of this phone , the phone has a slow processor and the ear volume is lower than 6610 but then the 6610 has the best ear volume among most nokia variants .


the battery life of this phone is at most 2 days and at least one day at excessive use .


video recording is limited at just 9 seconds .


you can upgrade but then there 's a certain level of trouble involved .


i 've had nokia 's for years , and while this one is packed with whiz bang features it is disappointing for its primary use - a phone .


on the plus side it 's packed with features , including bluetooth that works fine - it 's really a tiny computer that is also a phone . . . and that 's the negative .


as a computer , or pda its weak since the screen , while large by phone standards , is still tiny to really do anything on .


when you dial a number , you 'll need to check the screen to see that the number entered is correct .


i hope you have a magnifying glass , because the number displayed as well as most of the pop up options are tiny .


it 's as though nokia has segregated 90 % of the screen for fancy features rarely used and leave just 10 % for the day to day use .


i 've have many nokia 's and while this is the best for features , it 's the worst as a phone .


my old siemens s56 , on the other hand , worked beautifully with all of the above .


who in the hell needs a frigging *vga* camera on their cellphone ? . ? . ? .


only thing i don 't like about it is slow in changing apps , boot up , and sometime it has problem connect thru bluetooth .


i must say , this one is quite slow to open an application .


sometimes , it needs few minutes to open an application .


but not good enough for me .


i have overall been disappointed with nokia in the past , finding that samsung and motorola tended to have better quality phones .


my biggest concern is that i have found nokia phones lower quality construction to lead to lower prices , but they also don 't last as long .


operation : it 's like bmw 's i-drive - it does it 's job , but has the most unintuitive , overly-layered interface .


the phone must be shut down & taken apart to change the memory card . . . and turning the phone back on takes a little while .


even the instruction booklet is out of order .


no matter how accustomed to the phone you become , too much time is required to get to , open and close applications .


the phone does not have an mp3-player , fm radio , 200k+ color screen , megapixel camera , quad band , pda , photo editor .


styling/ergonomics : the keys are small , which generally doesn 't bother me if they are spaced because i can employ a little 'braille , ' but the keys run into each other , so careful attn . must be paid when dialing .


it 's not as stylized as a sony or samsung .


the 6600 will provide similar service in more developed areas of the states and not as well in more remote areas .


the battery life can 't be very long ; . let 's not be greedy .


when you consider expandability ( downloads via computer ) , the numerous features , two transmission programs and multiple storage devices , dependability - this is a phone that isn 't easy to out-grow .


though nearly a dozen different people at both t-mobile and nokia have told me otherwise , it is simply not possible to use this phone as a bluetooth modem for the vast majority of pdas and many other devices .


only then did i learn the truth -- this phone does not work with palm pdas ! .


this simple nuance was too much for nokia , and they still refuse to acknowledge the fact that their technician could have broken the phone or repair the phone for free .


in short - nokia themselves don 't know that this phone doesn 't work with the palm , and if you don 't heed my advice you will spend hours with technicians around the globe reading from scripts , chiding you in broken english for not following their directions exactly .


ultimately you will learn just how bad nokia is , and why their recent loss of market share is so utterly deserved .


the photos in the address book are terribly scaled too ; . they look as though they were built out of lego 's .


it 's important that people know the following : first , the interface is slow .


secondly , in addition to the lag each time you give a command , it 's just not that easily use able on the go .


the number buttons are crammed into a 3x4cm area , the fonts are small , the interface is too convoluted and frustrating , it 's not that customizable as well .


this phone is not suitable for fast people , maybe only for old people .


the menu pops up after 3 seconds the picture takes a while to load from its slow card memory .


the navigation takes so much time that it would eventually drive you crazy .


i can not find a carrier for this phone i like , end up just tossing it in my purse .


this phone doesn 't include phone card calling .


this process can be very annoying and unsafe when you are driving a stick shift on the highway .


my old sony ericsson t610 has this feature .


speaker volume is loud and clear but it sacrifices the battery life .


unfortunately , i sold it exactly a month later .


2- it is bulky and the small buttons on the sides are sloppy to use .


4- my idea was that it was an all-in-one , and that theory -once again- proves wrong , this phone ex cells at nothing , less than average in everything , if you seriously need any of the `` other than phone `` functionalists , you 'll be disappointed . . . . if you have lots of money and bought it for the love of gadgets then fine . . . . but don 't expect to get much done .


i 'm an advocate of nokia , but this phone and the following models ( 7610 ) , are seemingly a desperate trial at squeezing as much under-engineered and experimental technologies in one sloppy phone .


i 'm giving it 1 star because as compared to other nokia phones , its a 1 , compared to other blunders by other companies ( such a samsung and motorola ) it might be good . . . . but if you 're getting a nokia , don 't get this one .


among its weak points is the mmc slot location and a bit vague design .


downside : it takes a long time to start up .


the `` movies `` last about 5 seconds .


i mean , they 're short ! .


i find this feature on this phone useless , but , since i don 't really need this function anyway , i don 't really use it .


also , when i dial an `` 800 `` number like an airline , it will not allow me to use number keys to navigate the prerecorded menu .


finally , after about a week 's use , the screen started to freeze on me .


it would not hang up on calls .


they have the worst service of any of the major companies .


just don 't get drawn into t-mobile 's catchy rebate .


t-mobile wasn 't upfront about some of the terms to qualify for the rebate .


i was using a motorola t720i with verizon and i had alot of dropped calls and i had troubles syncing data .


i saw a few complaints on the load time of menus and i feel people are over-exaggerating the menu load time .


on occasion i 'm not able to connect to the phone with isync via bluetooth but i found that rebooting the phone seems to solve this problem .


the video recorders a bit odd , sometimes i get 9 secs on my recordings , sometimes i get 17 .


i will say that the os that the phone runs does have a few issues .


sometimes , various applications crash .


especially the bluetooth server . . . meaning you have to restart the phone if you want bluetooth to work again .


it takes a while to learn how to use it right , and at this point i am able to make about 70 % of my calls using it .


however , it needs to be quite quiet for it to work at all -- dosn 't work at all in the car , for example .


some people have commented about the size and weight of the phone , and it has rightfully gotten the nick-name `` the bar of soap `` which , it really is .


the only problem is the size of the keys .


my fingers are kind of stubby so it took a while to learn how to hit a key without hitting the adjacent ones .


they really are awfully small .


also the battery life isn 't great but it 's sufficient for my needs .


the only downside i have found with this phone is that it is a bit slow to react , meaning when i push the contacts button , it takes a while to load , this is true for almost all the menus and programs on the phone .


these people takes lest effort to process rebate forms .


for last one month my rebate status showing me that my rebate is approved and check is delivered but still i am waiting for check .


there is no way you can talk with customer care about this .


now the bad : 1 ) as usual , battery power not sufficient for daily usu age .


the battery power discharges rapidly especially on using the web browser .


sometimes when you press buttons , the menu appears after a second or two .


4 ) buttons are quite small and is really a pain exp if one is fond of text messaging .


5 ) video recorder is of no use and one can not record something useful in 10 seconds and it takes a while to send the same through the `` free picture and video messaging `` offered by service provider .


so , right out of the box i had issue .


namely , it wouldnt sync .


but , i am quite unhappy with nokia at the moment .


if there was a zero-star rating i would give it .


downside is the size of the phone , it is big for today 's standard .


and the battery life is bad ! .


i could hardly use it without a recharge in 2 days ! .


the gprs web access is slow ! .


you can 't do that with a sony t610 ( which i traded for a 6600 ) .


t610 supports only midi files .


after several years of torture in the hands of at & t customer service i am delighted to drop them , and look forward to august 2004 when i will convert our other 3 family-phones from at & t to t-mobile ! .


the day finally arrived when i was sure i 'd leave sprint .


after years with that carrier 's expensive plans and horrible customer service , portability seemed heaven-sent .


the colors on the screen are not as crisp as i 'd have liked them to be .


the backlight on the phone goes off way too quickly ( dangerous when you 're driving at night ) , and there 's no way to change this --


the menu options are uncreative , as you can 't see a full screen of menu items to pick from ; . you have to scroll up and down to find what you 're looking for ( yes , this is minor , but not when you 're trying to keep your eye on the road ! . ) .


the volume .


i assumed they had exceptional service , but their reception in my area ( laos angele 's ) is horrendous .


also , their t-zones , although cheap ( $ 4 . 99 / mo . ) never works .


since i received the phone , i spent countless hours on the phone with customer service reps who promised t-zones would work `` in 24 hours `` .


i must have heard this about a dozen times over the span of 2 weeks , when t-zones never worked .


apparently , t-mobile is heavily back-logged and can 't keep up with demands .


however , the calls constantly drop in my area and i experience mega-static , to the point where i 'd have to dial numbers 6-7 times to get a clear line .


some of the higher pitched rings are very easy to hear , but not easy to listen to .


the more subtle tones that were included with the phone are hard to hear at times .


the vibration is not top .


i am bored with the silver look .


they are not wow able good .


we got two phones for the t-mobile family plan ( indeed very easy to switch to the family plan ) and one came with a broken headphone ( can hear but can not be heard ) and one died today after less than two weeks of use .


when i got it home , i discovered that the menu options for sending messages via either text or email simply were n 't there :


only con i can think of is no camera . . . .


the only problem i had was a small glitch with t-mobile .


the phone has a few minor inconveniences , but only because it lacks those features , bluetooth and high spend internet , but there are very few problems with things that you expected this phone to do .


ring tones only come with crazy songs and annoying rings , there is only one ring that sounds close to a regular ring .


the screen is easily scratched but if you have the warranty you should be able to swap it out .


games kind of stink and you cant download them you have to get the link cable to get additional games .


buttons do seem a little sticky tho . . and the hands free kits ' connector might be a problem . .


the fact that the `` 0 `` key is the space key for text input is a bit confusing , as many phones use the `` # `` key instead .


there are some features in the user interface that i find a little inconvenient .


the menu options appear one at a time , taking up the whole screen , and one has to scroll down one by one , or have memorized where they are in the menu order , to select them by using the number keypad .


the vibrate setting is loud ! .


other things that i miss are voice-activated dialing and a standard 2 . 5 mm headset jack .


- some features in the user interface


- no voice activated dialing ( what were they thinking


- no option for caller-id pictures or individualized ringtones .


- no proprietary headset jack


only if we could get one camera in it . .


pc cable is too expensive . . . $ 50 for a usb cable ? .


the 6610 has the radio function which is utterly useless .


regarding pc software support nokia suite does not work with some versions of xp as i tried to connect my phone via infrared port on my laptop .


its quiet .


i do here a constant high-pitched distorted sound , not to mention the volume does not seem to be loud enough .


although i find it more convenient to use 1-touch dialing , this phone does not have voice dialing .


the keypad is a decent size , but the power on/off key is small and difficult to press .


in my opinion the worst issue on this phone is the side-mounted volume control .


one other issue is that the headphone jack is unique to nokia , so standard headphones will not work .


one more thing , the default ringtones that come with the phone are horrible .


the only problem that i have found with the internet service is that it does not access mils ( real estate broker software ) very well at all .


i find the lack of entertaining games on this phone quite disturbing .


my only gripe about the hardware is the buttons .


this model does have the traditional key arrangement , it 's just that they are really close to one another , and have unconventional shapes , so it takes a big getting used to for someone like me with big hands .


finally , i reiterate my thumbs-down rating for t-mobile as a carrier .


their network coverage is very sporadic , and the network always seems overloaded , resulting in very unpleasant calling experience .


unfortunately , the 6610 does not offer voice dialing like my previous phone , but the other features it packs outweighs this shortcoming .


one downside : as of this writing , t-mobile has n 't updated their t-zone system to fully support the 6610 .


the one huge disappointment is that the phones manufactured for t-mobile lack many of the menus and functions that a nokia straight from the manufacturer should have .


however , the main problem that i think is the with the sound quality .


there isn 't much features on the ipod at all , except games .


durability : not good . first problem , if you haven 't seen the news recently , the ipods are being recalled for battery problems and not lasting the advertised 18 months .


another thing you should know , the metal on the flip side of the ipod is very tacky , and scratches very easily .


also , not liking the gel case .


features : really , there aren 't any features , unless you call the games a feature .


there is no fm tuner , while there is no fm tuner on the creative zen ( on the micro version of the zen there is a tuner ) , the iriver h10-20gb , the rio karma , and the audio x5 have fm tuners .


there is also no voice recording , something most if not all mp3 players have that the ipod doesn 't .


there is no photo viewing option , however , there is a 20 gb photo ipod , but it costs $ 20 more .


i 'm probably the only person that dislikes the itunes software .


customer service : awful . listen to this one , remember the battery statement i made earlier .


there technical service isn 't helpful either ; . they just read what 's on their website and charge you $ 50 ( + toll fees ) to do it .


the interface took a little getting used to .


one caveat i have is that i understand the ipod does not save the photos in such a way that the quality of the image is preserved .


3 no voice recorder -- this has also become an important and popular feature that the ipod unfortunately doesn 't have .


no memory stick slots -- although a rare feature , it would be nice to have extra storage , not that it needs it built-in lithium battery -- a huge hassle to bring this back ; . draining the battery once you get it helps , but removable/replaceable ones are a lot more convenient


no in box accessories -- an arm strap , belt strap , case , or anything would be nice , but nope . . . moveable parts -- this makes me almost want to keep my 3rd gen over a 4th ; . with moveable parts , its easy to damage an ipod at a gym , so this is for more casual listeners ; . note the ipod mini doesn 't have moveable parts and is made of titanium .


the battery issue is superficially a concern , but any reasonable solder-jockey ( such as myself : - ) can pop in a new one when the time comes ( based upon the plentiful info gained from a go ogle for 'ipod battery replacement ' ) .


first , let me say that i got the 20gb ipod for christmas , and i most likely would not have spent the $ 300 myself .


in addition , i do not think the battery lasts much more than eight to ten hours , and it can take four hours for a full charge .


the battery does not last 12 hours .


you can 't change the battery , so i don 't know what i 'm going to do in a year or so .


my ipod freezes occasionally , which is especially annoying when you 're in the middle of a game of `` brick . `` *


if you call apple and tell them your ipod has been damaged , they charge you roughly $ 105 . 50 per minute and blame you for `` abusing `` your ipod .


the user support service isn 't too great either .


its steel backing picks up fingerprints and scratches easily , not great from a cosmetic standpoint .


holy cow ! . it really does scratch easily ! .


the thing has survived plenty of falls with little or no damage , except the inevitable scratches .


apple closed their island to anything that resembled microsoft , and clearly let napster know it could not use their products with napster 's services .


as a windows user , i had to install the software including drivers and itunes on my desktop , and this is the only area where i encountered a nuisance .


my only complaint ( really more of an observation ) is that the outside finish of the ipod is rather delicate , so i am going to get a case for mine so it doesn 't get all scratched up .


if there were any complaints i have , they are marginal , but one is apples ' proprietary set-up for music files , their incompatibility with other music services ( i . e . napster ) is down right wrong .


as with most headphones that come with any type of music player , i recommend throwing these into the nearest river , unless you like having hard , round pieces of plastic in your ears .


because steve jobs is a twisted individual and he made sure that he ruined this device by giving it an unrepeatable 18 month battery .


this was obviously a conspiracy as it is freak in ' easy to manufacture a device with replaceable batteries ! . ! .


however , in my mind , $ 299 is a lot to pay for a device that will only last 18 months .


looks and durability : i realize many people are fond of the minimalist white interface .


the biggest red flag for me was the fact that although my cousin 's player was relatively new , it was riddled with scratches .


battery : compared to the other players on the market , the ipod has one of the worst batteries around .


maybe this new design is more durable than the last , but i kind of doubt it .


we can start by losing the shiny miracle-material cover that you can literally scratch just by looking at it wrong , and thus eliminate the need for third-party `` asking `` protective covers for an extra thirty bucks .


first of all , i 've never been big on earbuds - they 're just not that comfortable .


however , the battery life isn 't as good as i would like .


hard drive screws up occasionally


this is only a problem at night , during the day the screen is very easy to see .


the only problem is the battery life .


apple 's ipod battery replacement service costs $ 100 ! .


i have read the installation instructions for both nis 2004 and navy 2004 prior to installation , but still ended up with the same result . . . junk software .


but if i installed either one of these norton products , neither works after installation ? .


during install , nis would either freeze or not reboot properly when asked to do so .


the ms scandisk would appear due to manual shutdown and would only scan to the 2nd bar , over and over ( up to 1 hr , i then shut it down and used go back ) .


i have never had this problem with any other software on my computer .


being a past norton customer , i consider this to be a slap to my face .


buying software that can not be installed normally and being put into the position of having a non-working computer .


norton has been on a downhill slid recently with their products , but with this one , they have fallen off the cliff .