Creative ZEN

The Creative ZEN is a digital audio player particularly suited to DJing in the milonga. "Creative ZEN" refers to the model specifically named ZEN from the company Creative, and not to any of the many other Create models having names starting ZEN, e.g. ZEN MX, ZEN X-Fi.

• small and light, with high-quality robust construction
• solid state (no hard drive), for reliability and robustness
• optionally internally powered, eliminating cable-borne electrical interference, with battery capacity of at least 20 hours.
• capacity up to 32Gb, with 96% available for content
  • 8Gb - 1,600 tracks compressed at 256kbps, 250 tracks uncompressed
  • 16Gb - 3,200 tracks compressed at 256kbps, 500 tracks uncompressed
  • 32Gb - 6,400 tracks compressed at 256kbps, 1000 tracks uncompressed
• playback of lossless (uncompressed) audio (WAV including metadata) though not lossless compressed
• 2.5-inch display with large bright clear white-on-black lettering
• physical buttons, not "touch" buttons or wheel
• five-band EQ
• digital clock always on-screen during use
• customisable main menu for compactness, containing only the items needed for DJing
• alphabetic 'thumb index' for rapid pages (scroll-free) navigation of lists
• user-configurable shortcut button for rapid adding of tracks in on-the-fly DJing
• user-configurable menu ('Highly Rated') for rapid access to pre-chosen curtains
• on-the-fly set creation by addition of individual tracks or tandas from custom picklists, tanda playlists or setlists
• single-track playback mode allowing DJ to manually start each track play
• clear graphical display of time to end of current track
• user-installable firmware update to remove the EU statutory volume limit, maximising signal level to PA
• Management on PC does not require manufacturer's own software, allowing standard music librarian programs e.g. MediaMonkey
• comprehensive documentation in many languages

Limitations (firmware 1.21.03e)

• No longer manufactured and purchasable only second-hand e.g. from eBay.
• Charge meter can show 10% remaining when charge is almost at zero.
• No way to set playing just the selected track in a list - the Play command sets the entire list playing, starting at the selected track.
  • Workaround: On PC, configure a list entry (either a playlist or a Album/Artist/Genre) for each individual track.
• With the shortcut button configured 'Add to selected' command issued when the alphabet bar is selected falsely says "Shortcut not applicable here" and does not operate. And leaves the focus confused - cursor is on the item list but input operates the alphabet bar.
• Updating the playlist currently in-view on the device from the PC causes the device to falsely say the playlist is empty. Reselecting the playlist shows the correct content.
• SD Card storage
  • Audio playback is via a folder/filename browser only - no availability of Add to Selected, Save As Playlist, Bookmarks etc.
  • Import All makes copies of audio to main memory but fails to index them (even after Clean Up) hence leaving them completely inaccessible.
• On two units, executing Play within an All Tracks list of 1950 caused freeze requiring reset. This happens apparently only under certain unrecorded conditions.

General info

• Creative ZEN on Wikipedia|[1]
• Creative ZEN User Guide, Firmware and Support articles [2]

Usage

• When connected to the PC, use of a USB lead longer than that supplied by the manufacturer with the device (12cm) can cause errors e.g. in sync.