Creative ZEN
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- http://www.creative.com/products/mp3/zen/ (page starts playing audio on load)
- http://uk.europe.creative.com/products/product.asp?category=213&subcategory=214&product=16999
The Creative ZEN is a digital audio player particularly suited to tango DJing.
- dimensions: 55 x 83 x 12mm
- solid state (no hard drive)
- playback of lossless audio (WAV including metadata) but not compressed
- capacity up to 32Gb - 1500 lossless or 4000 320kbps MP3 tracks)
- 2.5 inch display with white-on-black lettering
- controls are buttons (no wheel) having good haptic (rather "tactile") feedback
- user-programmable button
- play queue
- main menu configurability
- alphabetic 'thumb index' for rapid paged (scroll-free) navigation of lists
- on-device creation of named playlists
Problems (firmware 1.21.03e)
- Charge meter can show three pixels remaining when charge is almost at zero.
- There is no way to set to play just the currently selected track in a list - Play sets the entire list to play, starting at the current track.
- Workaround: On PC, configure a list entry (either a playlist or a Album/Artist/Genre) for each individual track.
- Shortcut button '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.
Manufacturer's resources
- User Guide, Firmware and Support articles [1]