ZEN X-fi 32 GB complaints

I can't believe a product as awesome as the ZEN was ruined with the next model by forcing the use of a software program that is almost impossible to use.
Why are there no 32 GB ZEN's? I would gladly trade my brand new ZEN X-fi for one.
I can't put album art on the player, it has to be copied and pasted to the same album in the "library" on your hard driove and then supposedly it gets transferred to the player, except it doesn't show up. The ZEN Media Explorer was a fantasctic app. ZEN Centrale is absolute crap. Also, Zencast was not included?
Every time I turn on the unit it comes on with the speaker turned on, even though I had it turned off when I shut it down and I have it permanently turned off in the system settings. So everytime I turn on the unit I have to hunt for the "Turn off speaker" function in the menu. This is insane.
I went through the difficult process of making a playlist (this was SO MUCH EASIER in Media Explorer) and then made a new playlist and spent about an hour hunting for the music I wanted because this unit will not show you the music in FOLDERS like ME did, and then when I turned the unit back on that playlist was gone, it never wrote it to the unit.
The unit is ugly compared to the original ZEN also, the silver back looks cheap and the buttons are always going to be smeared with fingerprints. I tried to use the wireless server even though I will never need it or want to use it AND IT DOESN'T WORK.
Basically Creative took a product that was the best of its kind and made it as bad as the rest of the market. It might as well be an iPod or a SanDisk the way it works now.
This is a major downgrade in my opinion.
Why did the 32GB ZEN dissappear so fast? Did it have some problem or was it not profitable to make? That was the best MP3 player ever.
I'm thinking I'll get a ZEN 6 and return this X-fi if the 32 is not going to be available. This is depressing. I loved the ZEN but the X-fi is just awful to try to set up. I still can't get any album art to show up on it except a few random albums that already had an image in the folder before I copied it. None of the .ALB files worked from my old ZEN.
None of the playlists worked either. My attempts at making new ones has been a nightmare since ths unit does not show you a folder tree, only albums and artists and a few other useless genre type sortings that make no sense for how I use a music player.
The Photo function was also made stupid and now has ridiculous sortings based on Year, People, and a bunch of other worthless categories that you can't delete or change. I only need folders and a folder tree, like the old ZEN.
What a shame, plus it looks really cheap compared to the old unit.
sorry, but I'm being honest and I'm really unhappy with it. I don't need the wireless, or the iTunes clone interface that is buggy and impossible to work with, and I loved the look and feel off the old ZEN. I expected this to be an improvement. It is not.
Even the controls were much better on the other one. The finish was much nicer and the software was wonderful!
Maybe Creative could make this unit work with Media Explorer? Please? At least then the software issue would be handled.
edited to correct some typos and to add: I am an enthusiastic supporter of Creative MP3 players and I hope my being honest about my impressions in this forum won't get me banned. I was also a bit critical in another thread (white screen) when I found that my one year and two month old $200 ZEN 8GB was not going to have a chance at being repaired, I was told to buy a new one. I ignored the insult in the email and bought this unity and now I'm shocked at how much it is a downgrade from the original slimmer and classier design of the original ZEN. Please don't ban me, and please, consider addressing some of these issues, especially the software, the speaker not turning off and the album art not being able to be put on the unit. If you would make the old playlists work it would have been simple since I made a backup iof everything on my 6GB unit that I gave to my wife to replace her shunned and defecti've 8GB.
The white screen problem on the early 8GB units is a manufacturing defect... I'm still not happy about how I was blown off when I asked for service.

lightstream wrote:
...edited to correct some typos and to add: I am an enthusiastic supporter of Creative MP3 players and I hope my being honest about my impressions in this forum won't get me banned. I was also a bit critical in another thread (white screen) when I found that my one year and two month old $200 ZEN 8GB was not going to have a chance at being repaired, I was told to buy a new one. I ignored the insult in the email and bought this unity and now I'm shocked at how much it is a downgrade from the original slimmer and classier design of the original ZEN. Please don't ban me, and please, consider addressing some of these issues, especially the software, the speaker not turning off and the album art not being able to be put on the unit. If you would make the old playlists work it would have been simple since I made a backup iof everything on my 6GB unit that I gave to my wife to replace her shunned and defecti've 8GB.
The white screen problem on the early 8GB units is a manufacturing defect... I'm still not happy about how I was blown off when I asked for service.
I'm sorry to hear your exprience with support and you ZEN X-Fi. I understand how you feel and if I am in your shoes, definitely I will be insulted reading the kind of reply I received from the email support. My apologies for the inconvenieces that we've caused you. I already forwarded this to the department in charge and hopefully this will be an opportunity for the customer service to look back and conduct performance improvement plans for our advisers.
As far as I know, we accept out of warranty repairs for the ZEN. It's just that the OOW repair charge cost as much as a brand new unit (if there's a difference, it's very slim). I think this is the reason why the adviser who replied to you suggested to buy another one but even though, he/she should have informed you about the repair and the cost. The thing is if you will call the tech support line, there is a big chance that they will give you a discount if you decide to purchase a new unit rather than sending the defecti've one for repair.
Why ban you? We don't ban people needlessly. We should read up their post first. We don't ban people just because they aren't fans of Creative or they posted some negati've criticism. We welcome feedback be it positi've or negati've as long as it's done in a constructi've manner. Just to let you know that the feedback we're getting in the forums are forwarded to the development team and I don't think they will let it pass.

Similar Messages

Zen Neeon Suggesti

I am very happy with my Zen Neeon and have no complaints as of yet.
Here are two suggestions I have thought of:
. I listen to electronic music among millions of other people. Often times they are recorded as sets, up to hour or so long. If there could be faster 'fastfoward' times, or perhaps some sort of skip by percentage or something to that effect it would help greatly. Many car cd/mp3 players have this feature available now. This way you dont have to listen to the first 20 minutes of every set, but never hear the finish.
2. Put the volume buttons in a different location or change the interface. Your hand generally cover the volume buttons when pushing in the scroll wheel, and if a volume button is pressed in the scroll wheel will not select.
Hopefully these suggestions are in the right place, I had a look around but could not find anywhere else to put them. Thanks.Message Edited by Phikticious on -4-2005 05:48 PM

I'm not quite happy with my neeon. My current firmware version is .009.
Here are the features that I think creative should have already included on it Neeon:
. Neeon should remember where it was when I turn it off. Let's me give you an example. Suppose you are listening to a 2 hours audio progrom (Audio Book, Blog, etc) and at some point, you have to stop listen to it and do something else, what should happen. For iPod (even the shuffle one), when you turn the player back again, it will continue where it left. For Neeon?, First you have to browse for the record first (If you play the program from the playlist) then you have to manually scroll through the record until it reach the point that you have left, via the scroll botton. And suppose you do one too more click and it go to the next record, you have to do this whole thing again.
2. It should remember the playlist. As I've already mention in the st features: When you play from a playlist, the Neeon will not remember that it 's play from the playlist. So, when you turn off your and turn it on later, it will just goto the first music/song/program on your neeon, not the first one on the playlist.
3. It should support audible just like other mp3 in the Zen series or even the low-end muvo.
I've already contact their technical support and here is a quote from them:
"As regards to your request, what we can assist you is to feedback the information to the relevant development department. As such it will be up to the development team to determine if this is within the product means. If this is possible then, perhaps they may be able to implement in the update."
The last sentence is great :: it says if we can and we want to, perhap we maybe do it.
I'm considering these lack features as a bug in design/implement. Maybe my expectation is too high as I'm a previous iPod user and such a stupid problem have never occur to me. Maybe yo wonder why I switch to zen Neeon. The reason is at that time, iPod Nano 4 GB is out of stock in Thailand, so I pick up this one (since the shop owner only tell it's good point, like sound quality is good, it have one GB more, etc).
I do really hope that the creative's "Development Team" is capable, willing, and do implement these features, in order to make the Neeon be what it should already be or put it the other way round, just to make it work, at least as best as, the entry level iPod Shuffle.
I know that Neeon have more features comparing to iPod (and it is what lure me) but as an mp3 player, I think it should focus most on mp3 features. All other features is just an add-on.
I believe creative do have a future, but it should know where to focus.

Problems downloading firmware to Zen Vision:M... PLEASE HE

?I have had 3 different Creative products, and they all have left me unsatisfied. The first Creative player that I owned was a Christmas gift from my parents, it was a Zen Micro. I believe I got it in 2005. I loved this music player. It was easy to use, and the sound quality was excellent. In 2006, I purchased a Zen Vision:M. My only complaint was that the screen scratched very easily, but that problem was easily prevented with a screen cover. However, it began to delete my music, over 800 songs at a time. And, however hard I tried I could not get it to cooperate with my new Windows Vista computer. I am quite young, and have no knowledge of computers (although I am a master at PowerPoint), so all of the helpful tips provided here on the message boards are/were of no help to me. So now, my "baby" is sitting in its box waiting to be fixed.
After my new player (Zen Vision:M) crashed, I went back to using my Zen Micro about 2 weeks ago. Within the past week, it has started to freeze up when I turn it off and I have to resort to taking out the battery, and I am always afraid that I will lose songs when it re-builds the library. Just now I plugged it in to my Windows XP machine, because I cannot get it to work on my Windows Vista, and it wasn't recognized so I had to take out the battery and try it again. Luckily it worked... but I still do not know what to do. Creative is only going to fix my player, and this is of no help to me because I will not be able to download all of my songs I had on it before.
Being a teenager, music is my life, and my mp3 is the air I breathe. ( I am not that weird, I am just using this point to emphasize my problems.) I am so frustrated with these products that I am about to just give up on them all together. So... this "life history" ends with my true question. I know that there are zillions of posts on this message board dealing with the same issue, but how exactly do I get my Zen Vision:M recognized on my Windows Vista computer? I am willing to try to fix this problem on my own, one last time, but first I have to get my player recognized by my computer. I erased the firmware, which was what I was told to do by other owners of Creative products, ( I have no idea what?firmware is anyway ), and my Window's XP and Window's Vista machines would not recognize it so I could download the new firmware. Maybe there is an easy solution to this problem... but I need help. Once I accomplish this, I will no longer need to use my Zen Micro, so I will no longer have a problem with that device. Help me please. I need easy steps, because like I said, I am not computer savvy.

Arty wrote:
Hi! I just bought my Zen Vision: M and tried to install the new firmware. I keep receiving an error message: "Your player is not connected, please connect your player." I know my player is connected and Zen Vision: M Media Explorer recognizes it. Is there any way for me to install the new firmware? Please help...
can someone please advise me on an issue i have, i bought my M at christmas from Singapore and works well until i installed the new downloaded firmware , it continued for a week then the other day when i plugged it in it was not recognized and the player frooze and had to be reset to turn it off.
I have tried reinstalling the firmware ( original) but nothing , i even formated the player but of course now there is no content and the player is not recognized.
Any help will be appreiciated,
Regards Kennz.

Complaint: No DRM10 Yet for Zen Tou

I have a complaint. Why has firmware upgrade promised for the Zen Touch in the fall of 2004 not been released yet? Why has there been no communication about the fact that we are now well beyond the Q date promised in the press release?
Not having DRM0 for a player is one thing. That's fine. But, to commit to DRM0 for a product and then not deli'ver in anything like the timeframe promised in a press release is pretty awful business. On top of that, to not communicate new expectations to your users while simultaneously proving that you are capable of putting DRM0 on devices (like the Micro) is very bad business.
I appreciate that I am a fool for buying a product because Creative promised an upgrade within a certain tim frame, but if Creative wants me to be a fool who buys any of their products again, they will (a) communicate with their users and (b) release DRM0 firmware upgrades for the products they promised they would provide them for (c) stop making promises they are not willing to deli'ver on.
I purchased my Zen Touch specifically so I could use services like Yahoo! Music Engine. I love YME, but my investment there is going to waste because my Zen Touch does not work as promised.
If this is not the appropriate forum for this comment, please direct me to someone at Creative who can fix this.

daphy,
I know my post is a bit of a rant, and I am sure that no one on this board can fix the problem. But if I know companies and marketers in particular (and I do) they know that customers who are so annoyed that they are willing to be vocal about it are bad for business and they allocate resources accordingly. I have never before complained about a product, and I have long been a fan of Creative. Precisely because I think Creative is so great, I feel they need to know how badly they are screwing up.
The marketers and execs (who can fix the communications and resource issues that have caused me and other users to become annoyed) may not frequent these boards, but enough complaints from enough channels will get through to them.
So, I encourage everyone else who is waiting to post or to write Creative.

COMPLAINT: NO RADIO RECORDING FOR 60GB ZEN VISION:M MO

It seems that although creative has restored radio recording for the 30gb models, the 60 gb ones are shipping with the function disabled! I strongly believe this function is still present in the hardware, since it is much cheaper and less risky for creative corporation to just eliminate it from the firmware instead of tinkering with the hardware.
After I bought my 60gb zen vision:m (November 8, 2006), I updated the firmware to the latest version for the 60GB model, and still no radio recording. so it seems that Creative has real plans to make radio recording permanently disabled, but perhaps its legal advisers have suggested that a class-action lawsuit would occur if they took away a feature off the 30gb model that came packaged with the product.
As a result I will try to return my player and find an alternati've that allows for radio recording. If I can't find another player that does it, I will still choose a non-Creative (perhaps iPod?) device, due to my frustration with this corporation.Message Edited by arbguy on -9-200604:22 PM
Message Edited by arbguy on -9-200604:23 PM

can the mods or anyone shut this thread. there is already another thread of the same in the portable forum by this user/

Creative Zen Sl

i bought a zen sleek in august last year, since then I've had two replacements. The first player gathered so much dust between the screen cover and the LCD screen that it obscured the menu, the second player had the wrong firmware and was incompatible with my existing software from the first player, and the last player has recently frozen on me.
over the months I've owned a Sleek, its been in Creatives testing labs more than I've had it. Not only did they manage to send me a replacement with the wrong firmware (i assume it was meant for the American market and so had a slightly different version of firmware) but they managed to almost lose that player when i sent it off to be replaced for the second time.
they have misled me concerning refund requests, sent the replacements to the wrong address after i specified a new one, bribed me with an in-line control i didn't need and refused but which they still sent (also to the wrong address) and now after three players they are refusing to refund me on the grounds that the latest player has a very small shatter in the plastic screen.
they don't have a complaints address on this site, and the phone number for their customer help people is hidden on this link at the bottom off the main page, and is only meant for people with a MegaWorks 50D speaker system they are recalling. They are also about to phase the phone support out completely btw, and anyone who has dealt with their email support system will know how painfully slow it is and how every time you get a reply its from a different person, making it extremely inefficient.
if i were you, i would think twice before buying a Creative player.....they bring too many players out each year, and that means none of them are well designed. The Sleeks have a design flaw in the screen which traps loads of dust, and their customer support is terrible and its set to get worse.Message Edited by WilliamLockwood on 07-20-2006 03:53 AM

hey im completely in your boat, i too bought a zen sleek in august last year, i have sent it back 3 times due to dust getting under the screen and 3 days ago my player wouldnt load new firmware so it was rendered useless ( oh yeah an it had dust under the screen also but i'd learned to li've with it ), i sent it back yesterday but even worse timing, i am going on holiday on the 28th an i dont know how im going to cope without my mp3 player as i needed it more than ever (the sort of reasons i bought it was to take on holidays and stuff).So presuming creative will send me a new one by the 28th i will be ok. I was planning on buying a creative vision:m but i've been put off so im gona wait till/if that toshiba gigabeat s comes out in the uk.

A post, Zen Touch Owners might consider and an Open Letter to Creative. L

Creative needs to take some COORPERATE PRIDE as regards one of their products, that until recently was the FLAG SHIP of their hard-dri've based line of D.A.P. s,
By using the Napster-To-Go Subscription Service, I spent the better part of last weekend loading up my Touch 40 GB player with reams of music. At about the 9 GB point on the hard dri've, the seek head would no longer write to the platters and after a time out, stopped with a subsequent TRANSFER ERROR coming up.
Bummer.
OK.
I phoned Creative, got an RMA number and shipped it off for a hard-dri've replacement at the least, a totally new unit sent promptly back at the best.
Being bummed out that I probably wouldn?t see a new TOUCH 40 GB returned to me for the most part of two weeks to a month (by some of the reports via this thread), and being that I wanted a FLASH DRIVE so I could use a D.A.P. in places where intelligence dictated that a hard-dri've based player is going to experience hard-dri've shock/abuse (like being on your bicycle, jogging, cross-country skiing, etc?.all forms of outdoor activity) so?being that I did not now have my TOUCH to listen to (I am a music-aholic) I went out on Saturday and purchased an IRIVER T0 GB flash player.
Being this is a Creative board, I won?t go into a RAVE on how good and feature packed this D.A.P. is. Just suffice to say that if you would like a D.A.P. for when being acti've, or as a back-up to the TOUCH 40/20, THIS IS THE PLAYER TO CONSIDER.
Now, amongst features heaped upon features this player has, never mind the FANTASTIC sonic output it puts out in sound fidelity and reams of non-distorted volume (I use a set of BOSE TRI-PORTS that need a setting of 8 on the Zen Touch, but with the Iri'ver T0, I am right now (as I type) listening to Gloria Estefan?s CONGA at a volume setting of 2 out of a possible 30!!!! It is just that good!
Now, what is this post doing on a Creative Forum board?
The answer lays in the next few sentences/thoughts?.
Amongst 2 EQUALIZATION presets, that ALL so differently shape the sound wave (they again, are THAT good, including SRS (WOW) is a CUSTOM EQUALIZATION pad that covers the following frequency ranges:
50K /200K/ K/ 3K/ 4K/ (adjustable from ?0/+0
It was in using this EQUALIZATION PAD, that is was so totally demonstrated to myself how truly abused we are as Creative Ltd. Customers having all of us, purchased a Zen Touch D.A.P. from this company. I paid $300.00 dollars for my Zen Touch 40 GB and it was deli'vered to me straight out of the package with a DEFECTIVE Custom Equalization feature, that is made defecti've by inferiorly produced Creative code in their Zen Touch Firmware, the very ?heart? of the product, driving and deli'vering all the features(?) on the Zen TOUCH 20/40 GB.
It is one thing to release defecti've code, if the defect was not caught by (hopefully) Creative upon the launch of the product, but with ENOUGH paying customers having made this defect well known and so WELL DOCUMENTED back to Creative Ltd. and in the many MONTHS since the defect was found in the FIRMWARE that dri'ves the TOUCH, and yet, and UNBELIEVABLY so, the defect yet remains (if in fact now even more profound!) in their latest version of the Zen TOUCH firmware!!!
Ladies and Gentlemen, who are now reading this post, ------by having had the extreme PLEASURE in owning a D.A.P. (newly acquired Iri'ver T0) with all features advertised upon the package ***WORKING***, right out of that package, let alone with such amazing performance deli'very, I now declare that I will wait a reasonable (not months any more, BUT ONLY A FEW WEEKS FROM THIS POST DATE) period of time to elapse before I see a FIRMWARE release and/or patch from this company, Creative Ltd., to ***FINALLY*** address this broken Custom Equalization feature ?offered? within the Zen Touch firmware.
Now in having custom set the ranges of frequencies in the Iri'ver T0 to JUST how I like my music----I have to tell you Folks----IT DOES make a TREMENDOUS difference to the sound and your PERSONAL expectations of it!
A Custom Equalization feature is THAT important to have on a sonic device, let alone a fully WORKING ONE, bug free!
To Creative:----a personal comment:
 I have been a loyal customer of yours from the mid 90?s by having purchased EXCLUSIVELY from you, my sound cards, as well as your line of VIDEO CARDS. I have been a most faithful repeat customer having never seen to date your company so delaying/ignoring the defecti've broken issues from one of your FLAG SHIP sonic products.
I spent $79.00 (far below the asking price of your Zen Touch product line) last Saturday on an Iri'ver T0 GB flash player that (with obvious pride of manufacture from Iri'ver Ltd.) works as advertised, works with the present FIRMWARE installed in the device at the TIME OF PURCHASE and PRODUCT RELEASE, and has earned my respect in putting out such a feature-rich product and with obviously, such Cooperate Pride.
Creative Ltd, if you do not put human resources immediately on releasing a patch that brings the Zen Touch FIRMWARE to a bug-free condition that it should have been when having been released with the product launch, I will consider no longer you as the stalwart CREATIVE company of old, that once DID HAVE SUCH COOPERATE PRIDE in any and all models of hardware they produced or sent out with their name upon it.
I will no longer purchase from your company, fearing that as I hold the product in my hands at the store, the features that I am there to purchase will NOT be deli'vered ?out of the box? due to inferior workmanship in materials, in SOFTWARE CODING, and a lack of Quality Control that dictates nothing leaves the plant until the Chief Technology Officer and his staff can sign off on that product?s quality and being fit for release to the Consumer and potential Customer.
I hope that the Moderator of this forum sends this post to whomever it will have cause to see the crippled firmware inside the Touch finally be brought up to quality standards that was the mandate of the Creative Ltd. of past years.
If this post has to reach the desk of the C.E.O of CREATIVE Ltd., then let it be sent there!
Creative Ltd, you are losing Customers hand-over-fist that won?t bother to sit down and type out/compose this letter/post, but will merely resolve to NEVER AGAIN look at, let alone buy one of your present, or future products. Nobody likes to have a ?broken and crippled? product---RIGHT OUT OF THE PACKAGE! Nobody should have to experience that when hard-earned money is being exchanged for it!
A present Creative Ltd. financial supporter,
(Sesquash)
Michigan, U.S.A.


I wrote the following e-mail to Creative Support today. If they can't respond to a polite, reasoned e-mail like this then I will never buy another Creative product again!
I will post again when Creative respond to me, with a bit (well, more than a bit, more like a billion tonnes) of luck they will be able to say whether they even PLAN to fix the Custom EQ problem.
All the best, everyone.
<E-mail>
Dear Support,
I recently (0-Nov-05) purchased a Creative Zen Touch 40GB mp3 player, and I am generally very happy with it. The battery life is great, and I was happy with the quality of design and build compared to the (relati'vely) affordable purchase price.
However, my query/complaint concerns the new firmware release for the Zen Touch, version 2.0.05 (MTP support for Zen Touch). I have uploaded the new firmware to my Zen Touch (and also the relevant updates for the Creative software: Media Organiser, Zen Touch Explorer etc), and have experienced no problems in loading this new firmware to my player or my computer.
Generally, I have no problems with the performance of the new firmware: my files transfer easily and quickly between my mp3 player and my computer, and (using Windows XP SP2, and WMPv0) I have experience no compatibility issues, as one would hope.
However, I do take issue with the Custom EQ bug that the new firmware accentuates on the Zen Touch. I am sure that Support has doubtless been contacted by other people regarding this problem, but to summarise, with version 2.0.05 of the firmware installed, usage of the Custom EQ function on the Zen Touch severely impaires the volume of the player, and consequently the enjoyment of myself, the customer.
I would like to ask Support whether Creative plans a 'fix' firmware update to eliminate this bug in the firmware in the near future? I am not concerned with any new features to the player with a future firware 'fix' release (although they would not be unwelcome!), since Creative did not promise any such features in the first place. However, I feel that since Creative advertised the Zen Touch as having a customisable graphic equaliser - from Creative's own press release: "Supporting both WMA and MP3 formats, the Zen Touch deli'vers crystal-clear audio, thanks to a signal to noise ratio of 98dB, which can be customised using the built-in, four-band graphic equalizer with eight equalization presets." - a firmware update should not render an advertised feature of the product effecti'vely useless.
Please could Support acknowledge the disappointment I feel with this fairly fundamental flaw to an official product upgrade, and provide assurances (or take measures to seek assurances from whoever makes decisions upon such issues) that a firmware 'fix' update will be released in the near future?
I end by saying that I have only ever bought Creative mp3 players, and to date I have been happy with the products I have purchased, but if basic product flaws such as the Custom EQ being 'broken' by official firmware updates are allowed to go unaddressed (especially with the fact that this has doubtless come to Creative's attention through Support/the official discussion forums etc) then Creative may lose customers like myself in the future to rival companies.
Thanks for your time, and I await your reply.
Kind regards,
Lawrie Ward
</E-mail>

'Creative Zen V Plus' Recovery, from Creative Labs that

Hi,
I love my Creative mp3 player, but I haven't seen it for ages. The crappy joystick needed repairing (the only badly designed bit).
I took it in to JB Hi-Fi for them to send off and they told me it would take 6-8 weeks (this was December 27).
Anyway, to cut a long story short, 3 weeks have passed and I still don't have it.
I've rung JB Hi-Fi constantly and the Storeperson tried to help me out, gave me the Creative Labs number and I phoned them.
So I rang them and a (presumabley) Asian guy answers. I am not racist but **bleep**, he was hard to understand (phones should have inbuilt subtitles). He tried to help me out and to the best of my knowledge he said they were processing my product and it would take another 2 to 4 weeks to get my mp3 player back to me (on top of the 3 weeks!)
Now you can propably see why I'm royally peeved.
What I want to know is why Creative Labs have such crap service No joke, it sounded to me like they off-sourced people's queries to other countries and in the rinkiest dinkiest places possible (the audio quality was disqusting).
Enough ranting from me.
Anyone have a similar experience or know what I can do about it's (I'm definitely going to write a letter of complaint).
Thanks all

First, I got a? RMA number by e-mail and sent in my Zen V Plus 4GB?(refurbished) directly to Creative by UPS on a Thursday (3/28/08)?and they received it by the following Monday 3/3/08. It was back to me yesterday 4/07/08. Very fast service, only it wasn't fixed and it still locks up my computer and my player?when I download my audiobooks. Only way to get it running again is to reset, go to recovery mode?and then do a full format. Then, the next time I try to reload the books, it locks up again at GB. Now, I am trying to get Creative to pay for shipping both ways, because they didn't fix the player the first time.
It probably would have much faster for you to have?delt with Creative directly instead of using the JB Hi Fi shop. At least yours is just a problem with the?joy stick and not the electronic parts.
Good luck.
luvmyrescuedogs

Full revision list of the Zen Micro's firmware?

/ I've been digging up various firmwares, and I'll be honest and say that because I use an AC Adaptor that 2.2.02 and ..0 are not in my best interests. While I have no tested whether .02.05 retains charge over time I will probably do so tomorrow. I'd like to know the full history of the device so I know where to stand on this. I like to have the 4 hour standby, but not the 'shorter' charge span simply because all Creative did was drop the peak voltage from 4.9V (Li-Po can take up to 4.235V) to 4.2V. Granted the slope of the charging curve gets very flat at that level, but I do feel that it is best to inform geeks so they know what to expect.
Version (Recovery Mode version)
..0 (0.0.65)
2.2.02 (0.0.65)
.0.02 (0.0.63) (Pulled off due to complaints)
.02.05 (0.0.58)
2.00.2 (Cannot be installed)
I know I missed a few, but because the Zen Micro is past its life cycle I doubt there will be any customizations to the device.

what problems?
Spending time on a support forum like this, that covers the full gamut of the customer base, you are going to see probably 80% of the posts from folks having problems ranging from minor pilot error to real hardware failure. The 20% with tips, kudos etc are all in the minority and will not be very visible.
Creative has probably sold over 5 million Micro's since inception. There are definitely going to be problems with that many units in the general population. And some of the problems have been real issues such as the battery drain and the issue of headphone jacks. The latest firmware v . has fixed the battery problem, and on the 3 Micros in our household we are all seeing over hours playback time, excellent battery hold time, good charging characteristics etc etc. The headphone jack issue seems to have become a lot less of a topic the past month or so. Noting that Creative sold probably about .5 million of the earliest Micros, and these were the units that seemed to have headphone jacks go bad, if at all, all the later products may have enough of a redesign that the jacks are OK. Certainly we are fine over here with the new revisions.
The pluses of the Micro are many, and the diminuti've size and excellent UI makes using this player a pleasure. Audio quality is excellent, and other than sheer output power is right up there with the JB3 (IMO the best ever mp3 player - irregardless of brand).
Hope this rambling note can help you with your decision.
jake

Spontaneous black screen with Zen V Plus. / Where do I send it

Dear Creative,
I purchased a 2GB Zen V Plus roughly four months ago. It was a present to myself and a tool to accompany me on my long flight. (You see, I was about to spend 9 hours on a plane as I moved to the United Kingdom.) Before I purchased this lovely device, I did extensi've research. I had planned on buying an MP3 player that exhibited the features I wanted AND would last quite a while. Everything I read about the Zen V Plus was perfect. Not a complaint in sight.
Until today.
Over these past few months, I haven't actually used my Zen V very often. I can count on one hand the amount that I actually have used it. Once on a short walk to post office. Once on a walk to ASDA. Once whilst I was hoovering and waiting for my laptop to come in the post. Plus, the flight across the Atlantic -- about 2 hours continuous use. The rest of these four months, my little Zen V has been nestled away in its case, in my nightstand drawer, next to my bed.
Now that you know all this, I'm sure you can imagine my surprise when I pulled it out of its case this afternoon and discovered my screen was drastically faded. My initial thought was that it may be a problem with the contrast. So I inserted a thin object into the reset slot and powered my Zen V back on. This is when I discovered, well, nothing. A plain black screen. No lines, no text, no glow -- nothing. My buttons still glow with the blue color they always have when my Zen is powered on. Plus, when I push 'play' music happily sounds through my earbuds.
After I discovered that my precious Zen was broken, I quickly took to the Internet to find a solution. But what do I find? Several cases like mine strewn across message board after message board. Even a search for 'black screen' on the forum I'm currently posting this to returns with ten results.
Is this a problem with 'firmware' or is this a problem with design? Did you acti'vely know about this problem when these devices were tested and 'OK'd to ship? A better question is, do you care? Why is there no recall and why is there no repair time faster than two months?
Furthermore, I'm well under my warranty expiration date. It comes with a year from the date of purchase, no? The downside of this is that every bit of my Zen V paperwork is back in a box, within a box, within my storage unit in the USA.
So now that you know my problem, please help with a solution. How do I pursue repairs on my Zen V Plus? Where would I send it within the UK? Is my warranty still valid now that I've moved? If not, what will the price be to repair? Etc etc.
Don't get this letter wrong. The times that I've used my Zen V, I've absolutely loved it. It's a very nicely packaged mp3 player with some equally nice features. Trouble is, I expected it to hold out a bit longer than /3 of a year.
Love,
Vrai

Yep. Tried that. A few of times, actually. I tried to 'update the firmware' also. I did this blindly (more or less) as I couldn't actually see the screen. I just followed the physical instructions and tried each possible thing you could. I'm not actually sure if I ended up repeating myself. Did it about eight to be sure. I think there are only four options on the menu where you can access the firmware.

Zen V Plus firmware wishl

I could not find a wishlist for the Zen V / V Plus, so here it is.
Plain and simple just like the other player wishlists. No questions and no discussions. Just topics with firmware improvements for Zen V / V Plus. Hopefully, the Creative developers will see this.
The Zen V Plus is a great multi-function DAP, almost perfect for its niche. It only needs a few improvements.
A list in order of importance to me (most important first):
) Improve the current bookmarking mechanism by saving the current playlist along with the current audio track position. Currently, if you are listening to track number 0 out of 20 tracks for an audiobook and save it to a bookmark, restoring that bookmark will restore only the one saved track to the current playlist. You have to manually add back the other tracks to the current playlist.
2) When powering-off on a paused audio track, the Zen should power-on paused to the same position in the audio track. Currently, the Zen V powers-on paused to the beginning of the same audio track. I listen to a lot of audio books and track position is important in a power-on resume.
2a) Option to treat an album as continuous audio content so that a rewind started in track 6 will back into track 5 continuously (in other words from the beginning of track 6 to the end of track 5 and so on). This is very important for listening to audio books.
3) Add FM tuner radio recording.
4) When scrolling a long list of songs, the scrolling should accelerate.
5) The lower end of the volume scale in terms of loudness should be quieter. I listen with high sensitivity IEMs at night and level one is too loud.
6) Audible.com tracks should be in their own album named Audible. Right now they fill up the Album selection list. I have about 40 Audible.com tracks on my Zen V Plus and about 20 music albums. The Audible.com tracks clutter up the album list.
7) When configuring the menu, unchecked top level items should move into the EXTRAS menu. In other words, unchecking PHOTO would move it into EXTRAS.
8) Option to backup all Zen V settings and radio presets to the PC.
9) Allow charging of the Zen V from an ordinary (not Win XP) USB port or from an ordinary USB charger.
0) Add a sensitivity (low and high) option and/or an AGC (auto gain control) option to voice recording for close and distant recording.
) An option to select all tracks EXCEPT speech tracks like Audible.com tracks, podcasts, and audiobook tracks, so that Shuffle mode will play only music. This might be done by having a setting for genre exclusions (speech, audiobook, podcast, and so on)
2) A fade in/fade out option.
3) A configurable HOLD option (lock all, not volume, not play/pause, not both).
4) Scheduled FM recording.
It would be nice if the Zen V Plus could play compressed video, but I presume that with a small battery and low power processor, this is not possible.Message Edited by IpaqMan on 2-05-200609:2 AM

Glad this form is here. I was considering buying a Zen V Plus. I currently use a zen nano plus to listen mostly to audible books. My complaints:. Can't lock it so that if it's sitting in a purse it sometimes accidently turns on and then keeps going until it sues up the battery2. You have to scroll through everything on the zen nano plus in order to get to the book you want to listen to.I thought I would change to the Zen V Plus but am very concerned that you can't rewind within a track. Iuse that a lot and don't want to only be able to go back or forward to a a chapter or track. I tried using a Sandisk Sansa?c40 which had this characteristic and it drove me crazy and I went back to my Zen Nano.
I 'd like a player that has a menu so that you can choose the book or music you want to go to from a menue - withhout scrolling , but that allows you to rewind\fastforward inside the book by the second. ANy ideas?Thanks?Message Edited by lisamp3 on 05-0-20072:26 PM

Creative Zen's clock gets reset after being plugged into the w

I bought the wall recharger for my Creative Zen 8 GB, as I had another MP3 player (SanDisk Sansa e260) die mysteriously after being plugged into the computer's USB port.
The only complaint I have is that if I leave the Zen plugged in, after it finishes recharging, the screen goes blank and when I unplug it and turn it on, the clock and calendar are reset to their default (March 7, 2008).
I am on a Vista Home Premium computer (no service pack). I have the latest the firmware on the player and use the latest version of Media Explorer.
Does this happen to anyone else who uses the wall charger?

Hello, I read your post & am replying to it because I too am having a clock syncronization issue but mine is not related to plugging it into a wall charger. My date AND time resets too to April 7, 2008 for some reason. I reset it yesterday to the correct date and time for yesterday (May 8, 2008) and now it is reset back to the previous date I mentioned. It couldn't even keep the time/date accurate for 24 hours! My battery was already charged however several days ago and is no where near being finished (it says half full). My firmware version is .2.0.
Anyhow I know this doesn't help you at all, but at least you're not alone on this issue...mine doesn't originate with charging it though...maybe that will help you at the very least.
Drew

Read before you buy a Zen Mi

Here's the experience of one really unhappy customer. Haven't yet had a reply to my last message to Customer Support, but don't really expect to receive anything helpful.
MESSAGE :
I bought my Zen Micro in April, have used it to read about 5 NetLibrary audiobooks and nothing else, and already it's giving me a 'Hardware Error' message when I turn it on. That's the last in a long list of problems:
* The earphone jack caused problems almost from the first. I assumed it was just the cheap little earbuds that came with the product, and bought some new, good-quality ones last month. The problem, instead of going away, just got worse.
* Also about a month ago, it started to have problems shutting down. It would show the "Shutting Down" message, but just stay like that until I removed the battery or hit reset. An extreme annoyance with an audiobook when you don't know exactly where you were when you left off since the bookmarks I set weren't saved.
* The software can't handle large audiobooks. With the .* firmware, I could upload a big book (28 hours), but it only showed about 0 hours, after which the remaining time was zero and the fast forward and seek features no longer worked. Combine this with the problem shutting down, and I was ready to pull out my hair.
* The software won't even upload that 28-hour book with the 2.* firmware, nor will WMP0. I had to use RealPlayer, but then the Zen wouldn't recognize the track length at all. Again, no fast forward or seek, even through the first 0 hours. Had to go back to the old firmware just so I could get back to where I was in the my book.
I feel ripped off-about $200 for being able to listen to 5 books! The warranty says I'll have to pay labor costs to get the hardware error fixed, but even if I do, I'll still be left with a bad earphone jack, no support for big audiobooks and probably more problems shutting down in the future. Oh yes, and no indication that Creative even knows that people like to listen to audiobooks. Not everyone in the MP3 market is a music-mad teenager, you know. Or well, you don't, but I sure wish you would figure it out. Check out your own forums, CNet's and any number others, and you'll see how many frustrated readers are out there.
REPLY FROM A CUSTOMER SUPPORT REP:
The problem you described indicates your unit may require repair or replacement. If possible, try exchanging the product for another from the vendor, for this may be much quicker and easier than having an RMA (Return Merchandise Authorization) issued. If this is not possible, an RMA will need to be arranged to have your product tested for repair/replacement.
If the product has exceeded its three month labor warranty period, a non-refundable US $25.00 diagnostics and handling fee will be required.
The fee is applied toward the complete cost of repair/replacement. If the cost of the repair/replacement exceeds the initial diagnostic fee, the RMA department will contact you to obtain your authorization for finance of the remaining fee. If the product is still within the year hardware warranty, as long as there is no physical damage, all hardware component replacement costs will be covered by the hardware warranty. If the product is not outside its three month labor warranty, no diagnostic fee is required. ..
(Detailed instructions omitted)
Once this information is applied to the RMA database, we will reply to you with an RMA reference number and shipping instructions.
* Please note that an estimation of repair costs cannot be made without the above information.
If you still require assistance, please reply to this email with any previous correspondence to ensure the quickest and most accurate service.
MESSAGE 2:
This reply is NOT helpful, and it suggests you have not read everything I wrote. I did not contact Customer Service in order to receive a form letter. If Creative wishes hopes to keep me as a customer who will buy future products, it will have to do a great deal better than that!
Of course, the unit needs fixing. It does not work. Though more than three months old (as I already told you), it has not been used all that much, and yet it has multiple problems that did not show up until after the warranty expired. The fact that I am expected to pay anything at all when you offer no explanation of why I am experiencing the other problems I described astonishes me. As my original e-mail pointed out, even if the problem that causes it to display 'Hardware Problem,' is fixed, there are other problems as well, including the one with the software which will not function properly in importing large books. My paying you $25 to fix what is obviously a defecti've product will still leave me which a player that is less than satisfactory.
It is clear from Creative's forums that the Zen Micro line has experienced repeated problems with defecti've headphone jacks, and I have read a great deal that suggests this has in turn led to the failure of the entire unit. I do not know whether this is a design flaw or a manufacturing problem, but it scarcely seems like something I should have to pay to correct.
I have also read that Creative is aware of the problems with importing large files. Well, they can hardly fail to be aware of it, since there plenty of complaints about this in your own forums. And yet Creative does not appear to be doing anything to fix the problem, and doesn't even acknowledge it on their Web site. Are there any plans to address this bug? If so, what are they?
Service, please.
REPLY 2 FROM A CUSTOMER SUPPORT REP (different person):
Thank you for contacting us. As your player is reading an error message that states "hard disc problem", this is specifically an issue that requires your product to be sent in, as there may be an issue with the internal hard disc dri've on the player. At that time, you may also have the head phone jack loss issue repaired under the warranty. There is a $25.00 labor fee after 90 days from purchase date shown on your receipt.
This is a standard fee for anyone outside the labor period (90 days), as stated clearly on our website at us.creative.com, SUPPORT, under WARRANTY AND RETURNS.
These are your options at this time, if you wish to proceed with an RMA, we will be happy to assist you. Please let us know if you have further questions or concerns.
If you still require assistance, please reply to this email with any previous correspondence to ensure the quickest and most accurate service.
MESSAGE 3:
Of course, I have futher concerns.
. I did not receive a message that states "hard disc problem"; it says "hardware error," as I wrote. Is anyone actually paying attention to what I write?
2. There are additional hardware issues that preceded that one. If I pay the $25, even if you send me a new Micro, it appears that these problems are common in the Micro and likely to occur again. Am I about to may more money just to continue having the same problems? I want some explanation of what is going on before I spend another penny and some assurance that I will not simply be throwing good money after bad.
3. There is still the issue of the software/firmware, which cannot handle large audiobooks. What does Creative plan to do about this? Anything? So far, I have had two responses, and no one has even had the courtesy to acknowledge what I wrote, much less to provide me with any answers. This has nothing to do with any warranty.
4. My player was out of warranty for one lousy month when I wrote you. I have a player with multiple problems, all of which the company appears to have been aware of when they sold me the unit, and Creative is insisting on sticking to the fine print. Why on earth would I want to do further business with such a company?
I want this issue escalated to a manager or someone who will actually address ALL the issues I have raised.

He is she and a grandmother, not some kid on the prowl. What kind of free stuff do you think I'm after? What I want is for them to wai've the $25 fee for fixing a problem that in most products would lead to a recall. They've known about the problem for some time, and it is one that, by its very nature, is likely to occur after the three-month warranty is up. I might not have felt so strongly about this, though, if the first two replies from Customer Service hadn't sounded as if they didn't even bother to read what I wrote. That is certainly not what I would consider good service.

Zen nano plus suddenly isn't recognized by WMP 11

Hi there. I have Windows Vista Home Premium 32 bit on my PC. And I've had no issues with Windows Media Player recognizing my Zen Nano Plus - until this week. It just isn't. All of a sudden it's only showing as a removeable disk. I can access music files and what not - but I'd really like to be able to sync again. Has anyone experienced this problem?
I did download the new firmware and install it - but still having the issue. I'd appreciate your help and feedback thanks!

Re: zen nano plus suddenly isn't recognized by WMP n I do have that and while I can still add music and what not - I honestly just prefer going in one way through WMP . However, I did a System Restore Point today to a point to which I had thought I could still sync - and now when I open Windows Media Player it does recognize my device.
Interesting point - my device now has the udpated firmware; because I had updated last week. And AFTER I did the System Restore, and then plugged in my device, it reinstalled the driver and Windows Media Player did recognize it. So I wonder if this has to do with the new firmware installation; although WMP did stop recognizing my device prior to my updating the firmware. (That is what led me to look for the update in the first place)
However, this seems to have fixed my complaint. For the moment. Thank you for your response and suggestion!

I've got a Zen 8gb, but probably going for an iPod because.

My Zen 8GB is my first mp3 player. This player is really something when it comes to watching videos and movies. I have no major complaints.... But searching the net and discovering more about ipod i finally quit the idea of buying the new Zen 32GB and going for an ipod classic 80GB. Probalby i'll give the Zen to my wife. The reasons that push me to that are: . In my opinion an ipod is more stylish than Zen. Zen is plastic while an ipod (6th generation) is metallic. 2. No card integration to the players library so far (and i don't know if it ever that happens). At least the moderators here in this forum should post something like "ok boys and girls, we are working on this, stay cool". No news about that. 3. When it comes to fast forwarding in a movie you can not see at wich point is the movie. No preview while fast forwarding while an ipod can do that. 4. The wheel button on the ipod is really something and much more handy than the cross-square button on Zen. 5. 80GB versus 32GB...big difference. I need more space...! 6. The price of an ipod classic 80GB is much lower than the 32GB Zen. I know (as a friend in here replied to me) that the flash memory Zen uses is of a better quality than the hard dri've of the ipod and i respect that...i really do...but i think i am sticking at the older technology. The only thing that for the moment i see as a minor concerning the ipod, is that you have to use itunes to do everything. For the moment, and not seeing that in act, that worries me a bit. Zen is purely drag and drop into the player...no worries! But i think i can manage that when i get the hung of it. I don't know if my thoughts are right or i've been brain washed by all that apple-propaganda. The thing is that apple's products are everywhere. Here in Greece you can find anything on apple's product but concerning Zen...we stuck on the 8GB version. No 6 or 32GB versions yet...! Why I think that this shows people's petition here in Greece and it's not satisfying. I heard that especially when it comes to player like Zen V Plus and Zen V (and that comes from a people that works in a store selling electronics and computers)... "people are bringing them like crazies back to as for refund or to give them a new one cause 50% of those players are faulty" Anyway...if someone has a different view on that matter i would be glad to hear it. I am not against Creative, i really do like the product but i just don't think it can reach the ipod classic.
Message Edited by sambora on 0-28-200803:59 PM
Message Edited by sambora on 0-28-200804:03 PM

---------------------------------------[color="#000099">6. The price of an ipod classic 80GB is much lower than the 32GB Zen. I know (as a friend in here replied to me) that the flash memory Zen uses is of a better quality than the hard dri've of the ipod and i respect that...i really do...but i think i am sticking at the older technology.[color="#000099">---------------------------------------[color="#000099">?[color="#000099">I would not dispute the fact that harddisk based players are cheaper than flash memory and it has nothing to do with flash memory being of better quality, it is just a different technology.
When Creative had their harddisk players they are cheaper than the flash memory versions but there are several limitations to harddisk based players.
Firstly, a harddisk has moving parts and a small size harddisk used by the MP3 players would inevitably be more sensiti've and face a higher probably of damage. It all depends on how you plan to use the player. If you are going to place the player on a table while you listen to it then the harddisk based players would work fine. However, if you plan to be on the move while listening to your music then this type of activity would increase the possibly of harddisk damage. Just jogging or cycling with your harddisk based MP3 players may be enough to damage the harddisk and render the player unusable. Dropping it would indeed be a big no-no. However if the player is flash memory based, you can shake it, drop it (within a reasonable distance) and so on would not damage the player. You may scratch the exterior but that pretty much all the damage you would cause.
Secondly, because a harddisk player has moving parts, it would inevitable draw more power and thus you will need a huge and powerful battery in order to provide sufficient power and thus the harddisk based players are bigger and bulkier. The flash memory does not use as much power and thus the battery used can be smaller. Besides flash memory are thin and thus you can get smaller and lighter players which can fit nicely in the pocket.
Thirdly, the harddisk typically would have a lower Meantime Before Failure compared to Flash memory and thus it would mean the flash memory based players would typically last a lot longer.
The harddisk manufacturers from what I read are scaling down on harddisk for mp3 players as the prices of flash memory comes down and rendering the cost benefits of the harddisk redundant.
?However, in the end, the choice is pretty much yours.
Message Edited by eddy2099 on 0-29-200807:50 PM

ZEN X-fi 32 GB complaints

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