Tech: Creative Zen mp3 player user queries

Subject: RE: Tech: Creative Zen mp3 player user queries
From: MartinRyan
Date: 15 Jan 07 - 08:02 AM

A bit of both, I think! I recently got the same player and found the same problem. I suspect there are several ways around it, - but the one I used was:
- open the Media Source Organiser software (rather than the Explorer)
- rip the tracks into the PC Muisc Libray
- attach the player and open the "Music" folder
- create a suitable named sub-folder
- transfer the files to it.

The disadvantage appears to be that it confuses the "Sync" function, if you use it.

I agree, incidentally, that the touch pad is a bit dodgy. Otherwise I'm delighted with it.

In copying several hundred CD's to the player, I found it helped to refuse to get involved with "problem cases" until all the straightforward (or a very large batch of them) had been processede. Then go back and sort out the problems - which tend to apply to praticular small batches of CD's anyway. Much more efficient!

Regards

Subject: RE: Tech: Creative Zen mp3 player user queries
From: Susan of DT
Date: 15 Jan 07 - 07:54 AM

Assuming it works like the older Creative Zen I have, you can also make playlists, so that would give you more flexibility.

When I go into the organize mode when it is plugged into the computer, it shows what it has by artist or song title. Since I first ripped these with windows media player, various is considered to be one artist. I can add or delete single tracks, if I wish.

Subject: RE: Tech: Creative Zen mp3 player user queries
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 15 Jan 07 - 07:46 AM

I don't think you're with me -

can you move the files from one folder to another ON THE PC till they are where you want, THEN transfer them all to the player - or can you only move them around thru the special appln sw on the PC too?

Subject: RE: Tech: Creative Zen mp3 player user queries
From: Scrump
Date: 15 Jan 07 - 07:09 AM

Yes, you connect the player to a PC via a USB port. Then you can use the Zen software's version of Explorer that allows you to look at and manipulate the files. The problem seems to be that you can't do all the things you want.

You can delete files or folders, you can rename files or folders, with no problem. What you can't do (at least, as far as I've discovered), is transfer files from one folder to another. This seems an annoying and unnecessary restriction. If you end up with files in the 'wrong' folder, all you can do is delete them and then reload them into the 'correct' one (which obviously takes a lot more time). I just can't understand why they make this restriction on movement of files.

As I said, it's particularly annoying if you load an album by various artists. The only way to get them all into the same file would be to rename the artists to be all the same (e.g. make the artist name 'Various' or something), to 'fool' the software into thinking the album is all by the same artist, and get it to put them into the same folder. Then you would have to go through the tedious process of renaming each artist manually, back to the actual artist names (assuming you can be bothered).

If anyone knows how to transfer files from one folder to another, I'd be grateful. Maybe there's a setting that needs changing or something - the user documentation that comes with it is fairly basic btw, and is really only a 'getting started' guide. It doesn't cover all the various menu options, etc., and I've had to find out by trial and error what many of them do. (I was hoping there would be a proper user reference guide on the CD, but no - all there is is a soft copy of the tiny printed guide).

Subject: RE: Tech: Creative Zen mp3 player user queries
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 15 Jan 07 - 06:26 AM

Don't have one, but can you port the contents to a PC, play with them there the way you want, and the purge the mp3 player and reload them?

Subject: Tech: Creative Zen mp3 player user queries
From: Scrump
Date: 15 Jan 07 - 05:50 AM

Thanks to Mrs Scrump, I am the owner of a 'Creative Zen Vision M' 30GB mp3 player, since Christmas. I've been busy transferring CDs onto it and it seems pretty good overall, but I have a few problems in manipulating the files on it, that I hope someone here might be able to advise me on.

So far I've managed to load in lots of albums and get it to retrieve the artist and track titles from the web (apart from any home-made CDs from vinyl records, of course, where I had to enter the details manually). To do this I use the software provided with it, i.e. Zen Vision M Media Explorer.

It normally stores the files in folders, with artist at the top level, and folders for each album by the artist at the next level, with the album tracks in each album folder.

Seems sensible, but I found that if I load in a compilation CD with tracks by different artists, it creates a folder for each artist, and a folder below that for the 'album' by that artist, with maybe only one track on it. Also, I had some albums by the same artist that had a fair amount of overlap (e.g. two different hits compilations) where I wanted to delete the duplicate tracks, and have them all in the same folder.

The problem is, once I've loaded the tracks into the player, I don't seem to be able to move them between folders. In some cases, an artist name has been splet slightly wrongly, which results in two separate folders. I'd like to be able to put the album by the wrongly spelt artist into the correct folder, and delete the 'wrong' one.

The interface allows you to delete folders and files, but seemingly not to move them between folders. I don't know whether there's something I'm missing, but I can't understand why it won't let me move tracks from one folder to another.

The 'various artists' problem is the worst, because if you navigate the list of arists you get a huge list, many of which are just for an artist with a single track on the player. What I'd prefer is to have all these stored in a 'Various Artists' folder, so they don't appear in the albums list, which is so long it is tedious to navigate using the (what I find) slightly dodgy touchpad interface.

If anyone has one of these and can provide any advice I'd be grateful.