Zen Hints and Tips

[covertrussian]

I've searched all over the place but still haven't found enough info... I've also looked at many videos, but they usually are pretty crappy...

-When the player is playing music, and you haven't touched it for a bit, does the screen turn off? Or does it just dim to a very low level, or like the Vision M, were its not too dim but pretty bright actually?

-How is the Card support? Would it be possible to survive mainly off of the card? For music pictures etc?

[zhalfim]

it's not out yet, that's why we haven't said anything, we are all just speculating (unless you are talking about a totally different product, if you are, my apologies)

[covertrussian]

Originally Posted by zhalfim

it's not out yet, that's why we haven't said anything, we are all just speculating (unless you are talking about a totally different product, if you are, my apologies)

Its out in the US and quite a few people already have them on hand

BTW the Video is known not to be supported above th 300 by other number resolution

[Giancarlo]

Originally Posted by covertrussian

Its out in the US and quite a few people already have them on hand

BTW the Video is known not to be supported above th 300 by other number resolution

It is out already? I pre-ordered the 16GB version from Amazon. Does anyone have a date on its release here in the US?

I'm very excited about the Creative Zen nonetheless. It's an upgrade from my Vision:M... despite less space, it has the SD option that makes it worth gold to me. I have so many 1GB SD cards everywhere.

And lets face it... despite being an abercrombie jock type, new technology gets my head turning. And besides that I need a smaller mp3 player, and the ipod is an "inot" for me. I want a quality device. Nothing some horrendously expensive and looks like big tic-tac.

[joey301]

I have a question maybe someone can tell me the best software to use with my Zen? I have ordered mine from Creative, their website started yesterday to say they were available for shipment, so I ordered one. Should I use the Creative Media software? What are the disadvantages of using it? Since I have it for my Muvo and for my ZVW, I figured the new Zen would be able to fit right in. Now, I see here that most people are recommending that one use WMP11?? Thanks,

[Giancarlo]

Just a heads up... the 4GB and 8GB are listed as in stock on Amazon. The 16GB is not yet. At the time of this post.

Edit: Nevermind. It seems like the 4GB isn't in stock anymore. Weird. I could of sworn it was.

[charlesryan1]

Originally Posted by joey301

I have a question maybe someone can tell me the best software to use with my Zen? I have ordered mine from Creative, their website started yesterday to say they were available for shipment, so I ordered one. Should I use the Creative Media software? What are the disadvantages of using it? Since I have it for my Muvo and for my ZVW, I figured the new Zen would be able to fit right in. Now, I see here that most people are recommending that one use WMP11?? Thanks,

I just received my Zen yesterday and loaded it primarilly with WMP 10.

I will not use WMP 11 as MS removed the ability to backup and restore your DRM license information. I am a software developer and tend to upgrade/resintall my PC about every 6 months. I have no interest in chasing down new licenses, if I can even get them, every time I want to lay down a fresh OS image.

[covertrussian]

Originally Posted by charlesryan1

I just received my Zen yesterday and loaded it primarilly with WMP 10.

I will not use WMP 11 as MS removed the ability to backup and restore your DRM license information. I am a software developer and tend to upgrade/resintall my PC about every 6 months. I have no interest in chasing down new licenses, if I can even get them, every time I want to lay down a fresh OS image.

With the way windows is, it's best to reformat every 6 months

[Sheila]

Originally Posted by covertrussian

-When the player is playing music, and you haven't touched it for a bit, does the screen turn off? Or does it just dim to a very low level, or like the Vision M, were its not too dim but pretty bright actually?

This is a customizable feature.

The way the default is set up is the backlight comes up at 10 seconds and reduces the screen brightness by 50%. You can change the 10 second default to as low as 5 seconds or as high as 30 seconds. That works in 5 second incrememnts...5, 10, 15, etc.

Also, you can change the screen brightness of the backlight to whatever you want in increments of 10 from 10% up to 100%.

If you never want your screen to dim, these settings give you that option.

[covertrussian]

Originally Posted by Sheila

This is a customizable feature.

The way the default is set up is the backlight comes up at 10 seconds and reduces the screen brightness by 50%. You can change the 10 second default to as low as 5 seconds or as high as 30 seconds. That works in 5 second incrememnts...5, 10, 15, etc.

Also, you can change the screen brightness of the backlight to whatever you want in increments of 10 from 10% up to 100%.

If you never want your screen to dim, these settings give you that option.

Does it have the option of completely turning off though?

My thing is, I drive a long way usually, 12+ hours. I need something that would turn of the screen and still play music. So that the extra light will not be a distraction, and so that it would save battery life.

Now My Vision M would completely turn off the screen only when you put it on hold, that was an extreme annoyance esp when driving.

Either way, due to the Zen draw backs, bad SD support, No MSC, no Filename and folder browsing, I bought a Insignia Pilot. It has all of those features

[Giancarlo]

I think both the Zen and Insignia have their own strong points. It just comes down to personal taste. I still dispute the claim of bad SD support.

[Sheila]

Originally Posted by covertrussian

Does it have the option of completely turning off though?

No, the minimum is 10% lit. But, if you set that to turn on after 5 seconds you will be saving as much power as you can.

The battery lasts 25 hours, so you should be fine for 12 hours drive time.

As far as the complaints in your last sentence, it does have file name browsing. There are two ways to do this: 1) You can choose which letter of the alphabet to browse in; or 2) You can use the Find by Keyword feature.

I have not uploaded a folder to it yet to see what happens, nor have I slapped a SD card in it to see what happens. I'll probably do that tonight. I have no idea what MSC is, so I can't help you there.

I have too many full-size SD cards, so this model was perfect for me. I didn't want to purchase extra micro cards that would limit their use for my purposes to only an MP3 player.

[RJ_Cycle]

If you switch the player to lock then the screen will go completely black after a few seconds.

[covertrussian]

Insignia Pilot is pretty sweet! So far I'm loving it! I did get about 23-24 hours on a battery. With me turning the screen on little too much etc.

Originally Posted by Sheila

No, the minimum is 10% lit. But, if you set that to turn on after 5 seconds you will be saving as much power as you can.

The battery lasts 25 hours, so you should be fine for 12 hours drive time.

As far as the complaints in your last sentence, it does have file name browsing. There are two ways to do this: 1) You can choose which letter of the alphabet to browse in; or 2) You can use the Find by Keyword feature.

I have not uploaded a folder to it yet to see what happens, nor have I slapped a SD card in it to see what happens. I'll probably do that tonight. I have no idea what MSC is, so I can't help you there.

I have too many full-size SD cards, so this model was perfect for me. I didn't want to purchase extra micro cards that would limit their use for my purposes to only an MP3 player.

Thanks for the update!

I do like the choose which letter of the alphabet to browse in or the find keyword. But that is not exactly what I am looking for.

See I have a lot of DJ music, and DJ's love to remix other peoples songs. So the DJ music is sorted by their names on my computer. When it hits the player, it is sorted by the original artist. Because technically the original artist did the song, even though the DJ remixed it.

MSC is UMS - USB Mass Storage Device. Basically no MTP - Microsoft Media Protocol. MTP is slow and buggy and is not compatible natively in Mac or Linux. UMS/MSC allows the player to be mounted on your computer just like flash drive.

Originally Posted by RJ_Cycle

If you switch the player to lock then the screen will go completely black after a few seconds.

When I'm driving and want to quickly switch the song, I don't want to unlock the player, switch song, then lock it back to turn of the screen. See any redundancy there? Plus it could be putting my life in danger haha...

[Giancarlo]

I don't mean to be offensive or anything, but I know you like the insignia pilot... you've told us many times.

[covertrussian]

Originally Posted by Giancarlo

I don't mean to be offensive or anything, but I know you like the insignia pilot... you've told us many times.

Sorry man, just excited to finally find what I was looking for a while. I still do miss the interface and sorting of the Zen

I might get the 8GB Zen if they integrate the SD card with main memory

[Giancarlo]

Originally Posted by covertrussian

Sorry man, just excited to finally find what I was looking for a while. I still do miss the interface and sorting of the Zen

I might get the 8GB Zen if they integrate the SD card with main memory

Ok...

I have heard they have resolved some of that issue with the recent firmware update.

[covertrussian]

Originally Posted by Giancarlo

Ok...

I have heard they have resolved some of that issue with the recent firmware update.

There has been a firmware update?

Do you have the change list?

[Giancarlo]

Originally Posted by covertrussian

There has been a firmware update?

Do you have the change list?

In fact this firmware update has been around since September 14th. I went to Creative, clicked support, downloads (firmware), and picked the Zen 4/8/16GB... and it came up with this:

Click here

This firmware update improves SD card support and has been available for nearly a month. I strongly recommend this for anyone who owns the Zen. In fact always check the firmware on your new player to see if it is up-to-date, some things come out after your player left the factory.

[covertrussian]

Oh I've heard of that update, it came out about 2 days after the player was released.

From what I've heard, it didn't fix anything with the SD card integration....