Hugely disappointed with zen xtra 30

i bought a creative zen xtra 30gb a few days ago, and its possibly the worst consumer electronics product i've ever purchased.
why, why, why does the unit not recognise directory structure? not only does creative force you to use their massi'vely bloated and slow mediasource software, but you cant actually look at any filenames on the unit. why does it function purely on an id3 database? there is no answer for this.
i have approximately a thousand albums organised well into an appropriate directory tree. but this is all useless. why? because a lot of them have missing/inaccurate id3 tags.
the only answer i've been given is to use id3 tagging software to retag all my music. but why on earth am i being forced to jump through hoops to attain even basic functionality from this device? 99% of the software that does this is hugely buggy and terrible regardless.
i didnt even think to check that the unit supported directories. it never crossed my mind that it would lack this obviously critical feature.
that it uses an id3-based database is fine - however, why deos it not also let you use the unit as an external hard dri've? all the iri'vers have this functionality, and im seriously stunned that this mp3 player lacks this.
this is the worst $400 i've ever spent. the software is vile, and i cant even use the player properly due to its nazi restrictions on id3s.
if there was any chance of me returning this for even 2/3rds of the price i paid, id do that without a second thought.
oh, and the headphone jack is losing its sensitivity, and its been approximately two days. thanks creative.

$400? Is that Canadian or Australian? That can't be US dollars?
The Zen Xtra is an older model. Why didn't you choose a Zen Touch or a Zen Sleek?
If you had read reviews about the player before you bought it, then you would have found out how it works. What store wouldn't allow you to get a refund or exchange within a week? In some US stores there is a 5% charge for returning non defecti've open box items. What country is that which allows retailers to sell items without allowing any returns or exchanges? If you are that unhappy with it and can't return it, you could always sell it on ebay.
Message Edited by JK23 on 08-29-2005 02:05 AM

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Issues with Zen Xtra (30GB) PlaysForSure firmw

Apologies if this subject has been covered, but I haven't found any coverage of the particular problems I have with the firmware upgrade (2.0.03).
My main beef is to do with the compatibility with the firmware upgrade and Creative MediaSource. Before I installed the firmware upgrade, along with the drivers and necessary software updates, I was extremely happy with the way MediaSource worked with my Zen Xtra. When I wanted to listen to music through my computer (often), I would simply plug in my player, and using MediaSource, I could navigate through my player's library with ease. It meant it wasn't necessary for me to store music on my computer's hard dri've. Now, while it is still possible to listen to the music on my player using MediaSource, the music library window doesn't feature the Artist/Album/Genre windows for easy navigation (Added to this, due to the way I backed my music up when installing the new firmware, my music is all in Artist/Album folders, making it even more of a nuisance to use).
I know it is the firmware making it do this, because with my friend's Zen Xtra which doesn't have the firmware upgrade, the old style navigation still applied. As it does with my PC Music Library (a function I don't use).
Also, the firmware seems to have made my player much slower and less responsi've, and (this may just be paranoia) the shuffle mode seems much less effecti've.
I wish I could just go back to the way things were, but of course, I can't, because for some reason Creative have made it impossible to revert to the previous firmware!
Can anyone help?

Sounds like an incompatibility with the card, which is surprising as NEC cards are usually no problem. There are various things to try as mentioned in the FAQ post (search on "connection problems") but I think you need to focus on making sure you have the latest drivers for the card, as well as the player itself.

Help me for audible with Zen Xtra 30GB

I have a Zen Xtra 30GB. And I already update lastest firmware.
The lastest firmware have support with Audible format 4, But I can not find any file with that.
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Thanks

funnycool,
You can download Audible content at: http://www.audible.com
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Help with Zen Xtra not connect

Hi,
I have read all of the FAQs and posts reguarding this problem and I just can't seem to get this to work. I have a Creative Labs Nomad Jukebox Zen Xtra 40GB mp3 player. I downloaded and installed the playsforsure firmware yesterday so the mp3 player would be compatible with my Xbox 360. I moved all of my songs from the player to the Creative Mediasource PC music library before the install (sadly, I lost all of the music the Zen cam with). Well, after I installed this firmware, and I plug the Zen Xtra into the computer with the USB cable, it doesn't register that it is connected. For example, when I open the Creative Mediasource PC music library it doesnt have the Zen Xtra listed like it used to, so I cannot put any files back onto the mp3 player, also the Nomad explorer has the Zen listed as "not connected" and same with the Zen Xtra Media Explorer. I then downloaded a new playsforsure plugin for Creative media source and the most updated driver. Still noting... I tried going into device manager, it recognizes the portable media device without any problem, so its not the USB or the computer, its that its not connecting with Creative Media Source, Nomad Explorer or Zen Xtra Media Explorer. I clicked the driver, followed all those steps that were listed in one of the posts on this forum and installed the MTP device. It actually connected this time and I started moving my music back onto the player. Well, I accidently "x'ed" out the program and I went to Creative Media Source again but its not registering the device again. I retried instaling the MTP device again and it didn't work this time. I restarted the computer and tried again but I cannot get this Zen connected anymore. I have never, ever had a problem like this before with my Zen until I got this firmware. Please, if anyone knows what I am doing wrong, please help. Thanks.
--Frank

I believe you are not holding it down long enough----- I think in the manual it says to hold it down until rescue mode comes up..... it took a long tome for mine to come up when i did it
If holding it longer doesnt help, thats all i got

Help with Zen Xtra

I have an old?30GB Zen Xtra NOMAD Jukebox, and I recently tried to update the firmware but accidentally pulled out the USB Cord before it finished updating! Now when I turn it on it's in this "rescue mode" and I can't do anything, and whenever I try to just redo the firmware update it wont recognize it! Does anybody know how I can redo or fix this?

Can the firmware updater software detect your player? If unable to, try running cleanup then a firmware reload if persisted.

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As per the FAQ post if rescue mode functions don't work the player is faulty. You need to contact support.

Help with Zen Xtra (30) *note: stickied topics did not he

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I believe you are not holding it down long enough----- I think in the manual it says to hold it down until rescue mode comes up..... it took a long tome for mine to come up when i did it
If holding it longer doesnt help, thats all i got

Hugely disappointed with Apples lack of Support for iPhone 3G

I am so very disappointed in Apples lack of response or help regarding the OS4 and iphone 3G.
Originally a hugh support of Apple's philosophy and product, I find myself questioning their values and ulterior motives.
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I bring to their attention that on the actual Apple forum, there are others' like myself complaining of the same things! The response I get is that, people on here are not genuine and that you can't believe everything you read. Are they for real? The other responses that I get is to, reboot 3 to 4 times a day, restore, restore to factory, and to wait for the update of OS4.
But if OS4 is the culprit then how can it accommodate my iphone 3G?
Oh and the best response I get from the Apple store is, "if you are unhappy with your phone, you can upgrade to the iphone 4"!
Just recently, I did as told, and updated the OS4 on my phone.. and guess what!? It is worse off than it was previously. I just find it ironic that Apple refused to acknowledge the fact that this operating system (OS4) is rubbish for 3G users.
IM STILL WAITING FOR APPLE TO MAKE IT RIGHT

I can only agree with the above. My iPhone 16gb was fine and after my Wife my best friend to be honest. I've never had a more useful piece of i.t. kit and it's really made a difference to my lifestyle.
My wife's is still on 3.1.2 and comparing our two phones mine *****. My fault for not listening, but you sort of trust Apple until they let you down. OS4 was total crap, 4.0.1 still poor. It's barely faster and several thumbnail photos have gone from the camera roll. Listen to us Mr Jobs!!!
Your iPhone is not like normal phones. Your customers do not simply discard it for a new one, they may well buy a new version, but the old one will pass between family and friends and still be expected to function well many years hence. My current phone is earmarked for my son, my wife's for my daughter and so on as we renew our contracts. We EXPECT these things to work properly, and if you want loyal Apple customers to be retained you must support your older models fully.
A 10 year old with his Dad's old 3g used as an iPod, will be more likely to get a newer iPhone or iMac later on.

Problems with Zen Xtra 30 gig- SL

Today I installed the newest firmware edition on my player and all has seemingly gone wrong. When I click on the player in my explore window, it first takes FOREVER to show me the file content. We're talking between 3 and 5 minutes. When I try using Creative's organize program, it takes the same amount of time but NO mp3s are shown. I have found that all of my mp3s are not being stored in the "music" folder. They are being stored in the parent folder to this one. When I move them into the music folder, they become visible in Organizer. The problem is that I have around 28gigs and I need an easy way to move them over or to get the player to recognize them where they are at. The player still plays all the songs just fine but it can't seem to find them when I hook it up to my computer. I really don't want to reformat and start over. But why is the player moving so slowly? The only change has been upgrades in both the firmware and the computer side software. Thanks in advance for your help!

I have this problem on my player as well. Its either the way MTP was made, or it could be how Creative programmed the players to recognize what files the player should scan in what directory.
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Problems with Zen Xtra 3

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If you dont mind losing your songs you can format. There's a walk throgh on the first page at the locked floating threads.

Zen Xtra 30 GB stuck in recovery m

This thing is driving me NUTS!!? For 2 years it's worked beautifully, love the removable battery, have used it extensi'vely with audio books, *great* player. Last week I made the *hugh* mistake of updating the firmware. I followed directions exactly except for the tiny little thing about having Windows Media Player instead of 0....except the directions didn't *tell* you that you need 0 instead of . It was only through reading the forums that I found out you have to roll your Windows Media Player back to 0 in order for the installation to work. Sheesh!?After spending hours trying to get the thing to work and believing I'd found the solution, the player never worked correctly. It wouldn't save your place on the audio book when you turned it off. It did before I "upgraded". If the player was cold (not freezing.... I'd left it in my car and it got down to about 45 degrees) when you turned it on it'd start rebooting itself over and over until you shut it off and warmed it up. Friday it locked up, freezing in the menu screen. You couldn't turn it off unless you removed the battery. You could turn it *on* by pressing the power button and the back light would come on but none of the other keys were responsi've. You could "reboot" it by putting a paper clip in the "reset" button hole but it would reboot back to the menu screen and freeze. I plugged it in to the USB port and Windows would recognize it in the device manager but Media Player and Audible Manager wouldn't recognize it. I put it into recovery mode and attempted to reload the driver and firmware. When it went into recovery mode Windows quit recognizing it. I've *finally* gotten Windows device manager?and Windows Media Player to recognize it as the Zen Xtra (instead of just a generic "portable?device")?but when I attempt to load the firmware?the installation windows?tells me that my player is not connected. I've set the permissions in the registry just like the directions say to but I still can't load the firmware. I've updated the driver, uninstalled the player from the device manager, let Windows install the driver, basically spent the better part of last night fooling with this thing. I have visions of the view from the living room when this player comes sailing out of the office and shatters into a million pieces against the wall
!!! Naw....this thing is built so well that probably the only thing that'd happen would be the face plate come off and the battery would pop out. ?I read somebody's advice to somebody else that they "knock it around". I think I've tried everything else. When all else fails, kick it's? ?I really do like my Zen and don't have the $200+ that it'd take to replace it, especially since I'd have to replace it with an "upgrade" since the Zen Xtra has been discontinued by Creative. Help? Somebody? Paleeeze?

[size="6">It Works
!!! Thanks so much for your assistance. After reading all the replies and related messages I finally gave up everything and did a search for everything that had to do with Zen Xtra and deleted it.....deleted it from Windows Device Manager, Windows Media Player, Real Player, Audible Manager, all files that had "Zen" in it....gone. I emptied my recycle bin, unpluged the player, rebooted my computer, let Windows find a driver for a "portable device" (I had already rolled Windows Media Player AND the WMP Runtime to version 0 prior to posting to the forum), downloaded the most current driver and firmware for the Zen Xtra, installed them and it works!?The really sad thing is, all this time (and yes, my time is worth something), aggrivation and stress could have been avoided had Creative seen fit to make one little note on their web site where the download is. All they would have to do is put a note in the description that you *must* have Windows Media Player version 0, that it will not work with version . I'm really disappointed in the Creative support...that really sucks. But I really do want to thank you for your assistance. You saved me from denting my wall with this thing and saved me from having to replace it. Thanks,Trax

Zen Xtra 60 GB: battery goes down too quickly, even when inact

Hello, folks, this is my problem with Zen Xtra 60 GB, which I own for more than a year. A week ago I suddenly noticed that the battery is completely down the other morning, after I played music last night for a few hours on AC. So I plugged it to AC again and - differently from the other people's experiences - it started operating and charging. And I could play the music while charging, and manage the tracks with Nomad Explorer as well. After it charged completely, I unplugged it from AC, played a few more tracks and then shut it down. Next morning battery was down again. So I kept experimenting a few days in a row: charged it completely, played a few tracks, shut it down... and next morning all from the beginning again. I also tried continuous playing on battery, after it was fully charged - the playing time is also decreased.
I guess, my battery is damaged (or some settings on my player are wrong? - which seems unlikely to me). So how can I get the battery replacement? Or can I use some other type of battery? If so, what should I know when choosing the other battery?
Many thanks,
jetlag

SSR, your advice was helpful - I was able to access rescue mode. Before that, I thought of this operation as of "press C while holding Ctrl..." - I always released play/stop button after sticking the reset button, but still too quickly, and then player started in normal mode. It appears, that one should not release play/stop still for a few seconds - until the rescue menu appears. Maybe it would be good to emphasize this moment (not releasing too quickly play/stop after sticking reset) in Catherina's instructions about accessing rescue mode?
But this did not solve my problem!
I charged the battery fully, upgraded the firmware to the latest, and did cleanup. The player rebuilt my library. I played two tracks and turned the player off. After 2 hours, turned it on - battery was drained off again.
Then I charged the battery again, removed the battery and put aside. After 24 hours reseated battery, turned the player on - the battery proudly showed all three bars! Then played one track and turned the player off, and after 3 hours turned on. The battery remained with one bar only. And after 8 hours, it was, of course, empty...
So oh, what can I do? My player is more than one year, so out of warranty. And have no idea, who could repair it here in Lithuania, anyway.
Should I buy Xtra with 30 Gb (cheapest option), and then do harddisc transplantation, to save my 35 Gb of music? (Don't tell me about backups - almost all my music is also on CDs, or on my PC - it just was too long and tedious process, to upload all that to the player, and then rename and organize tracks there...)

Jukebox Zen Xtra sound prob

Hi, I've had my Nomad Jukebox Zen Xtra for more than 2 years and have had little problems with it. However, now I cannot get any sound out of the left speaker of any type of speaker/earphones I plug into the audiojack. This is not a speaker/earphone problem, they work with any audio equipment. I can get sound out of both left and right speakers/phones if I plug the jack only 80% into the audiojack. But if I plug the jack all the way into the player, only the right speaker/phone works. Any suggestions as to how to fix this problem?

Hello There,
I am experiencing the exact same problem - "Device not connected, even though I can see the device as a virtual dri've on my XP SP2 PC. I have contacted creative tech support and followed their instructions to the letter with no success.
Creative tech support instructed me to try the following:
MaKe sure that my antivirus software, firewall and spy ware is turned off. Their thinking was that some services are effect the connection between the MP3 device and USB port.</LI>
Also I tried booting my XP PC in safe mode, ensuring the most of the services were turned off .. i.e. firewall, virus protection, etc. Still can not get the device to connect.</LI>
align=center>The Error message on the Device itself (Zen Xtra display) reads as follows:Firmware error on reboot -- error message simply states "firmware problem" then goes to Rescue Mode v.3 - Boot v.4, HW v0.0.displays following 4 options: Clean Up2: Format all3: Reload OS4: RebootTried all four options and still getting same error message.
I am going to try and load the original firmware that came with Zen Xtra, if that works I will try to upgrade the firmware to the latest release.
Later tonight I will get a chance to attempt these actions. I will post my results later.
Message Edited by marcula on 0-24-2006 07:02 AM

Zen Xtra Function Proble

Hi,I order a Creative>Zen Xtra>30GB Nomad Jukebox a week ago. I have few question: How come the time that I set on the MP3, and below it is an alarm, I tried setting the
time on it and until that time I don't see a sound goes off in my MP3 or anything happen
while I listen to music or not.Another is Car Mode, What does that do? I don't see any differences while it's off or on.
Can anyone help me?
Thanks

Now I understand about car mode...thanks
But...about the alarm in the zen xtra, lets put this as an example, I set my current time to be :25 am, and below the time, it have a bell [not acti've], and near that bell is another time [ which means that it's an alarm] so I set it to be :30 am, with a ring bell now acti've. So when the time is up while listening to music or not [the player is still on]. It still doesn't make a ring or anything happen. I think that is problem with Zen Xtra 30GB...
Unless someone have a solution about this.:robotmad:

Zen Xtra Reset Lo

I've had my Zen Xtra 30gb for over .5 years. That means I don't have warranty or email support anymore.
My player has started to act crazy. Sometimes, without any warning, it just restarts. After that, it gets to the EAX screen, but then restarts again. Then, again to the EAX screen and restart. It does this for like 5 minutes if I don't take the battery off. If I leave the battery in, after 5 minutes it either says "Low Battery" (Even if over /2 is left) or just shuts down. Then, it either does the loop a couple of times, or starts normally. If I take the battery off, and don't restart it in about 30 minutes, it starts normally. However if I take it off and put it back in and restart before 30 minutes has passed it just goes to the loop again.
I suspect it's the battery, because when I take it off when it is on loop and put the batterycharger in, it starts normally. I found only one match to this problem with search. Zoinbergs told that he found a way to fix this same issue by taking off the battery, puttin the charger in, waiting till the HDD stops spinning and then putting the battery back in. I tried that, many times, but it still does it. I don't know if it was just a coincidence, but I was able to run the player until the battery was almost depleted before it started the loop at the first time I used that method.
I had this problem only couple times last year, but this year it started to get very common, and now it happens virtually every time I use it over 5 minutes. And there appears to be no reason why it does it. But usually, or always, it happens when it has started to play a new song, after like 4-2 seconds. So the HDD is still spinning when it restarts. But it's not caused by shocks or anything like that, usually it happens in my pocket when nothing touches it and I'm standing still. However I tried to put paper into the hole with the battery to make sure it doesn't move.
Format and firmware update are all that's left. I haven't ever updated my firmware, and I don't see why this would be related to it. And I wouldn't like to update, since they say the original firmware can't be reverted back. But if you think I should update it, which one should I get? There are two, the newer one has lots of unnecessary features, and it says it will decrease my HDD capacity (I only use /2 though), but it says I wouldn't need drivers to transfer data. Does that older firmware have that feature too, altghou it's not listed?
Here's a link:
http://us.creative.com/support/downloads/download.asp?sOSName=Windows+XP&region=&Product_Na me
=Zen+Xtra&Product_ID=9288&modelnumber=&driverlang= 033&OS=0&drivertype=0&Image4.x=34&Image4.y=5
And I have depleted the battery completely and then charged it fully over night many times. It plays a song that's 4:0, 28kbps/s CBR over 4 hours (I tested it before the loop started to happen almost every time), so the battery's play time is ok. I've also done the Clean-Up.Message Edited by DBDX on 03-24-200607:45 PM
Message Edited by DBDX on 03-24-200607:45 PM
Message Edited by DBDX on 03-24-200607:46 PM

Whoa, that's confusing. But it might be the battery, because it works fine with the charger.
You said you tried with two batteries, did you wait like 5 minutes before that? Because in the loop, I can't even get to the recovery screen. And reset doesn't help, I forgot to mention.
Also, my battery plays as always, 4 hours. So if the battery has degraded, it affects only the loop?
I tried the disk clean-up once, but it still did the loop. And the firmware is still the standard one that came with the player, propably the very first firmware ever.
Today, I was skiing (real skiing, not downhill) and the loop started. I was at the exactly same location than exactly a week ago when the loop started back then. That's scary. The battery had less juice, I wasn't going as fast as last time, and it was a lot warmer too, I can't understand why it did it at the same time as last week.
For the buying, it's pretty hard for me to get one. I li've in Finland, and the only way I can get one is by ordering from the Creative's store, it's 47USD + shipping. Pretty expensi've.
But I've thought, can Zen Micro's batteries be used with Zen Xtra? Creative sells them separately, and they are a little thinner. My friend has two, if it's safe I could test with one of them. It says on the battery that it should not be used in a another player.
The bigger one is Xtra's
http://img474.imageshack.us/my.php?image=akut4dm.jpg
And thanks for the replies, I thought I was alone here.
A new thing, I can propably get it fixed, but I found it really strange: I deleted one data folder on my player through Nomad Explorer (latest version), and it kept coming back. I deleted it, quit the window, went back and it was there again. I tried to overwrite it, no use.Message Edited by DBDX on 03-29-200609:07 PM

Hugely disappointed with zen xtra 30

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