Suggestions for the Zen Mi

Question

I would like to thank Creative for creating the Zen Micro as I am enjoying it immensely. Course most of that is due to this being my first mp3 player but its still a pretty good player that gets a lot of questions from people who see it. They seem to really like it after I show it to them. (maybe I should be paid an advertising fee =?)
But there are some things that do need some improvement.
Software Suggestions:
SW Suggestion
Allow people to sort songs by folder structure. I did see this suggestion somewhere in another thread but I really can't stress this feature enough. I'm just not impressed by how you can pick the songs in the Micro currently.
SW Suggestion 2
List the Artist with the Album name, I'm sure I'm not the only one who can't remember all the album names. Though I have to say I'm getting really better at it now. Of course, I'd also recommend to marquee the text since it will no doubt be long. It may seem odd since its under the Album sort, but I'd list the Artist then the Album name that way all your (insert Artist) is grouped together. To me that is much easier to find something I want than an alphabetical list of albums I can't always remember.
SW Suggestion 3
Add the time to the player - Saw a petition for this, I'll sign it.
SW Suggestion 4
Re-design the install shield for your software. PLEASE! I hate it. I don't need "an experience" while installing software. I got a computer that is pretty healthy on horsepower (not the best, but pretty good) and your software locked up 4 times when trying to install... 4 TIMES! That's bad! I even disabled my anti-virus every try and it still had problems. And no, the player was not plugged in when it was being installed - i try to keep the variables to a minimum. Software install should be quick and painless - when I did get it to work it took 20-30min to install Media Source. My 3D based games were by far faster.
SW Suggestion 5
Add a feature to disable the Lock Reminder or whatever you call it. I like to keep my player in my pocket and even though I wrap it in the case to help desensitize the touch pad (and to prevent scratches) I can only imagine how many times I trip off "Player is locked". (forgot the actual message) I don't know if it sucks any battery power but I sure don't seem to get good battery life if I have the player in my pocket. Its about a 2-3hr difference if I keep the player by itself with minimal touching.
SW Suggestion 6
This might actually be possible, but I don't have the player in front of me at the moment. Queue up Playlists (PL). For example I may want to play PL# and PL#3 now, PL#2 and PL# afterwards and then PL#, 2 and 3 tonight.
Hardware Suggestions:
HW Suggestion
The earbuds that came with the player are the first earbuds I have ever broken and I been using earbuds since middle school. I didn't even do anything that 'should' of caused this. I did pull but not that hard, mostly just to untangle the wires. So perhaps you can make them more sturdy...
HW Suggestion 2
Some of the other pieces don't seem as sturdy either. I already see a crack developing on the belt clip holder piece and i only used it once - granted it was on the plane but I still didn't think I did anything that could of caused it. (unless bending my leg with it in my pocket did the trick)
HW Suggestion 3
Player just plain looks cool, buut I think my Black player would look even better if it was all black instead of two-toned. But I do have to admit, by itself I do like the white plastic you used - it is pretty slick. Be even slicker in black tho! =P

Answer 1

SW Suggestion
Allow people to sort songs by folder structure. I did see this suggestion somewhere in another thread but I really can't stress this feature enough. I'm just not impressed by how you can pick the songs in the Micro currently.
This is supported (someone correct me if I'm wrong) in the v2 firmware. However, the version 2.x firmware has it's own problems, so I can't recommend it to everyone.
SW Suggestion 2
List the Artist with the Album name, I'm sure I'm not the only one who can't remember all the album names. Though I have to say I'm getting really better at it now. Of course, I'd also recommend to marquee the text since it will no doubt be long. It may seem odd since its under the Album sort, but I'd list the Artist then the Album name that way all your (insert Artist) is grouped together. To me that is much easier to find something I want than an alphabetical list of albums I can't always remember.
Well, as you've already mentioned, the artist sort already sorts first by artist, and then (on the next level) by album. It looks like you already have a solution that works, so I'm not sure why Creative needs to change anything.
SW Suggestion 3
Add the time to the player - Saw a petition for this, I'll sign it.
It's there, it just doesn't show up on the Now Playing screen. If you would like to see the time instead of what's now playing, you can always (after your music has started) keep clicking back until you reach the main menu, and then go to Extras -> Date and Time. This will show the date and time screen while your music is playing.
SW Suggestion 4
Re-design the install shield for your software. PLEASE! I hate it. I don't need "an experience" while installing software. I got a computer that is pretty healthy on horsepower (not the best, but pretty good) and your software locked up 4 times when trying to install... 4 TIMES! That's bad! I even disabled my anti-virus every try and it still had problems. And no, the player was not plugged in when it was being installed - i try to keep the variables to a minimum. Software install should be quick and painless - when I did get it to work it took 20-30min to install Media Source. My 3D based games were by far faster.
Yes, yes, and yes! The main Install Shield program on the CD is a disaster area. I've had much better luck installing just the jukebox drivers by themselves (jb3_drv.exe) and then the updated Micro Explorer found here on the Creative website.
SW Suggestion 5
Add a feature to disable the Lock Reminder or whatever you call it. I like to keep my player in my pocket and even though I wrap it in the case to help desensitize the touch pad (and to prevent scratches) I can only imagine how many times I trip off "Player is locked". (forgot the actual message) I don't know if it sucks any battery power but I sure don't seem to get good battery life if I have the player in my pocket. Its about a 2-3hr difference if I keep the player by itself with minimal touching.
You desperately need to upgrade to firmware version .0.03! Not only does it fix this, but it fixes other charging issues as well.
SW Suggestion 6
This might actually be possible, but I don't have the player in front of me at the moment. Queue up Playlists (PL). For example I may want to play PL# and PL#3 now, PL#2 and PL# afterwards and then PL#, 2 and 3 tonight.
No, it doesn't currently do this, but it's a cool idea.
-Lyle J.P.