“Electronics maker Creative announced Tuesday that it would drop prices on its Zen Micro, a move that could be seen as a direct response to Apple’s recent changes to its iPod mini line,” Ed Oswald reports for BetaNews. “The 4GB Zen Micro dropped to $199, the 5GB to $229, and a new 6GB version will be introduced at a price of $249. The new pricing structure puts Creative in line with Apple’s latest offerings.”

“To sweeten the deal, Creative is offering a $20 mail in rebate on the 4GB version for players bought before May 30, bringing the price down to $179,” Oswald reports. “Sim Wong Hoo, CEO of Creative, continued to assert that the company is on the offensive rather than playing defense. ‘With the introduction of the Zen Micro 4GB MP3 player at the incredibly low price of only $179, we offer superior features and more than twice the song capacity of the 4GB iPod mini at a substantially better price,’ Hoo said in a statement.”

Full article here.

MacDailyNews Take: Sim Wong Hoo, Creative’s very own Edward John Smith, has obviously lost his mind. Good luck, Creative. More than twice the song capacity in a 4GB Creative Zen Micro than in a 4GB Apple iPod mini? At what bitrate, 64kbps? Have fun listening to that noise. What’s the surest sign that Creative is struggling besides the “twice the song capacity” foolishness? Having to stoop to the level of offering $20 mail-in rebates. Now, that’s sad. What’s next, “Buy one, get one free?”

Oh, and US$199 for a 4GB Zen vs. $199 for a 4GB iPod mini and $249 for a still-vaporous 6GB player vs. $249 for a 6GB iPod mini is supposed to entice whom exactly? Not anywhere low enough, Creative.

Related MacDailyNews articles:
Creative’s self-declared ‘MP3 player war’ against Apple isn’t going very well – January 20, 2005
Creative CEO: Apple iPod shuffle ‘a big let-down, worse than the cheapest Chinese player’ – January 12, 2005
Creative declares ‘war’ on Apple iPod, shoots for 40% market share of MP3 players – December 21, 2004
Creative Technology declares ‘MP3 War’ against market-dominating Apple iPod – November 17, 2004
Mossberg: Dell, Rio, Creative ‘iPod mini killers’ lag badly behind Apple iPod mini – October 27, 2004
Creative pushes to become ‘Pepsi’ to Apple’s ‘Coke’ in digital music player market – August 07, 2004