I had exactly the same problem with my creative zen micro about a year ago (having only had it a month). I sent it back to amazon (where i bought it) who replaced it.
I then got about 9 months of good quality sound out of it before the same problem struck again. It was only distorted back then, but has since deteriorated and is now unusable.
So come on you menders out there, help me and nicole out
sean, March 2006