Firmware Suggestions and Bug Fixes

[awkenney]

I would also like to see support for Xvid files encoded using Global Motion Compensation.

[CrowdAds]

[stueyf]

to be able to use WMP11 in Vista to sync playlists without all the crashes and freezes that the ZEN seems to suffer from!

[EternalWanderer]

(to add to my list) And the ability to set time on the device, which seems like a stupid omission, given that my old school Zen Xtra could do it. Unless I just missed how to do it, and it is already possible...

[BobbyRS]

Of course you can set the time (and date for that matter).

1. On the main menu, select Extras > Date & Time.
2. Press and select Set Date or Set Time.
3. Use the Directional Pad to select a date or time field.
4. Press or to change the value of the field, and press OK.

[.PoNeH]

Originally Posted by EternalWanderer

(to add to my list) And the ability to set time on the device, which seems like a stupid omission, given that my old school Zen Xtra could do it. Unless I just missed how to do it, and it is already possible...

No comment...

[Octafish]

The really big thing I want is more sensible music search categories. It's weird because the UI is otherwise really well thought-out and top-notch (the customisable button in the lower left is a particularly nice touch), but where it really counts - in the music sorting categories - it drops the ball completely. In a dream world, fully customisable sort strings ala foobar2000 would be perfect; but realistically, a few extras here would make a world of difference:

1) A browse by folder option. This is the one thing that would make me pretty much completely satisfied with this player. For me, this (or something very similar) is the only really sensible way to browse through 32gb of music, and its absence is really glaring. The thing that really hurts about this is that they've already got this functionality beautifully integrated, but only when you're streaming via wi-fi.

2) Show the artist name when browsing by album (even better, be able to browse through albums as sorted by title or artist - title)

3) Read DISC tags - currently if you've got a double album done as (disc 1 1-x) and (disc 2 1-x) it will mash the two discs in with each other rather than playing in the proper order

4) Have some sort of different sort options with the "all tracks" browse option, since its default sort string is entirely useless - particularly when the main reason you'd resort to it is for finding badly-tagged files that don't show up properly via the other sort criteria

5) The "find keyword" option could be a great function with mobile-phone style use of the 9 buttons

Other than that:
- SD integration would be very nice
- finding album art from folder.jpg (it does photos really well already, so I don't see why not)
- having an option to have the speaker off by default when you pull out the earphones (I looooove the speaker, but not when I accidentally yank the earphones out on the bus)

[iamsmrtk]

I got my 32 gb Zen X-fi last month and I'm mostly satisfied but there are a lot of little things (and some big) that need to be fixed:

1) Creative Centrale: Seriously, this software is godawful. At one point it refused to transfer an album so I had to do each song individually but it would freeze after transferring one song. It took 20 min of my time to transfer an album when it should've taken < 1 min. I saw someone mention mediamonkey, I'll probably give that a try. I dual boot Ubuntu/XP and would prefer to use Ubuntu to update my zen x-fi but I doubt that support's going to happen anytime soon.

2) Sometimes when I'm listening to a song, it'll randomly restart it for no reason. It may just be something in my pocket hitting the back button but I'm not so sure about that.

3) Why is the screen always on except when put on hold when listening to music? It's such a waste of battery. When put on hold while using the mic, the screen also stays on. At least give us the option to turn it off without having to do something weird like putting it on hold.

4) When sorted by Artist, to view all the songs by that artist I have to go to options -> view all songs. There really should be an "All" in the album list.

5) Sometimes when I start up my zen x-fi and try to go up a menu (expecting to get to an album list) it'll bring me to the main menu with the cursor on the video menu. It used to be so that it'd bring it to the main menu, cursor on the x-fi menu. Why would they add this? To push the x-fi function? It's just annoying. If I wanted to go back to the x-fi menu, I'd look for it, I don't need to go to the x-fi menu that much (or at all, I took that and the wireless out of the main menu because they're pretty useless and gimmicky).

I don't understand how to use the "Add to selected" option. I made a new playlist through the player and wanted to add more songs but apparently that's not how you do it. Also, when getting rid of songs on a playlist, I somehow managed to remove the songs from my library =/. I've removed songs from my playlist before doing the same thing and it kept the songs on my player.

It's really not surprising that Creative can't really compete with Apple in the mp3 player market. Apple doesn't release their products with this many glaring problems/gimmicky features (seriously, why don't they make better use of the 9 buttons for entering text?).

[Xennon]

I don't understand how to use the "Add to selected" option. I made a new playlist through the player and wanted to add more songs but apparently that's not how you do it. Also, when getting rid of songs on a playlist, I somehow managed to remove the songs from my library =/. I've removed songs from my playlist before doing the same thing and it kept the songs on my player.

When the playlist is in the "now playing screen", you can remove the music from the playlist. But you can not edit your playlist if its not in your now playing list at the same time [so you'll delete them - not remove, and you wont be able to add a track to your playlist].

To see the now playing list: Press the center button two times when you're in the now playing screen...

[iamsmrtk]

Originally Posted by Xennon

When the playlist is in the "now playing screen", you can remove the music from the playlist. But you can not edit your playlist if its not in your now playing list at the same time [so you'll delete them - not remove, and you wont be able to add a track to your playlist].

To see the now playing list: Press the center button two times when you're in the now playing screen...

Ah I see, thanks.

[EternalWanderer]

Originally Posted by BobbyRS

Of course you can set the time (and date for that matter).

1. On the main menu, select Extras > Date & Time.
2. Press and select Set Date or Set Time.
3. Use the Directional Pad to select a date or time field.
4. Press or to change the value of the field, and press OK.

Thank you so much for the info! I assumed it would be under settings, I'd never even looked under extras. Ugh, that's kinda counter-intuitive.

[BobbyRS]

Originally Posted by EternalWanderer

Thank you so much for the info! I assumed it would be under settings, I'd never even looked under extras. Ugh, that's kinda counter-intuitive.

No problem. At least on the regular Zen, it is under System -> Clock Settings.

[NauticusLX]

It seems files can't be added to an existing playlist, is this right? And there doesn't seem to be a way to isolate recently added tracks either.

Is there a way to prevent certain files from being in the random play?

[Xennon]

It seems files can't be added to an existing playlist, is this right?

As I said, you need to put your playlist to the now playing list again, so firstly you'll play something in it. When its in the now playing list, add the new tracks and overwrite the playlist.

[NauticusLX]

But you have to type in a name for the playlist, right? I'm surprised you can't select an existing playlist from a pulldown list. I experimented with this and this seems to be the case. Retyping the name for a playlist is so freakin tedious, I reject that method off hand.

I copy about 1 very long file per day, but it starts with a number, and is therfore at the top of the "all tracks" list even if I don't tag it (I delete these files immediately after listening to them and I don't want to have to tag it). I'll just have to use the "all tracks" list to access these files, after which they'll appear in the bookmarks list. At least this strategy doesn't require time at the PC.

[Cyphox]

Folder navigation!

I've got about 11gigs of music, mostly WITHOUT correct id3-tags.

I'm doomed. Tagging MP3s is so much fun. Disgusting. Thank god for tools like mp3tag, which makes it quite comfortable at least.

[BobbyRS]

I'm doomed. Tagging MP3s is so much fun. Disgusting. Thank god for tools like mp3tag, which makes it quite comfortable at least.

Yeah, it is tedious, but well worth it in the end. Programs like MP3Tag are a blessing!

[Xennon]

But you have to type in a name for the playlist, right? I'm surprised you can't select an existing playlist from a pulldown list. I experimented with this and this seems to be the case. Retyping the name for a playlist is so freakin tedious, I reject that method off hand.

Unfortunately, yes. Therefore, I save my playlists as "A", "B" etc...

[sgmax]

N-thing the audio-video sync request for the next firmware update.

question for you guys with the audio/video sync problems..... have you actually tested your files on your pc? playback fine? i just find it hard to believe that a file that plays fine on a pc would go out of sync on your zen????

Yup - this happens on every video I have played on the Zen. They play fine on the PC, but get more and more out of sync after about 5 minutes in. By 30 minutes in, they are unwatchable.
Is this a general problem for most people -- or are most people just not using the player for videos?

[Cyphox]

i haven't tested this with creative's shitty software, but with the DivX Converter from DivX Labs i got the same effect. I can't say for sure if the video is played correctly on PC, but on the X-Fi it gets COMPLETELY async after some time.

I convert my videos now with virtual dub and everything works fine, video and audio is perfect sync.

[BobbyRS]

You guys may want to take a look at this thread for more information regarding the out of sync issue.