Creative Zen V Plus 2GB
Page 6
Installing Software
Software installation sports the usual interface.
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Although this is not specifically mentioned in the installation screens, Creative included MediaSource 5, a new version. The previous version of MediaSource was version 3. Why they skipped a number is beyond me, although it is interesting to note that they also skipped a number for their Audigy sound cards, from Audigy 2 to Audigy 4.
ZENcast is featured during the installation.
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And finally, a mention of the new version of MediaSource. And it seems Creative has finally put in Unicode support.
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Strangely, installing MediaSource 5 does not upgrade the existing MediaSource installation. Instead you end up with two separate installations of MediaSource.
Transferring Files
Creative has always provided choice when it comes to transferring files to their players. On one hand, this may be a bad thing because the average consumer might feel overwhelmed. On the other hand, you are not restricted to one fixed method of doing things, but can use any method that is most comfortable.
There are three main methods available: Creative MediaSource, Creative Zen V Series Media Explorer and Windows Media Player 10.
MediaSource was, and still is, our least favourite method. It still feels as sluggish as the previous version, and we feel the interface is somewhat awkward compared to existing music management software.
To transfer music, you can drag and drop files or folders to the right panel. Or you can select the files and click on the Transfer button.
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Note that MediaSource transfers music to the current folder that is displayed in the right panel. So if you want to organise your music files, you need to manually create folders on the Zen V before transferring the files.
At least MediaSource is now Unicode-friendly.
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Compare this with the old version of MediaSource.
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Next is the Media Explorer.
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"Browse Media" brings up a Windows Explorer-like interface to manipulate files on the Zen V. You can copy and paste, or drag and drop, and delete or rename files and folders.
Alternatively, you can use the "Add Media" option which brings up the Import Wizard.
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The interface is intuitive enough.
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Videos are used for the following example.
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The Video Converter.
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Video is in an uncompressed format at 15 frames per second, and resized to fit the 128x128 screen. Audio is in ADPCM format.
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Converting a WMV file took about 2 minutes, while a XviD file took about 1 minute 30 seconds. The 2-minute video clip resulted in a file size of about 30MB.
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The Media Explorer also has the "Settings and Information" option to set transfer options and configure the Zen V.
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SmartFit is similar to a feature in Windows Media Player 10. What it does is that it will automatically encode files to make them fit on the player, or you can set it to encode every file to the desired bitrate. For example, if your music is in 128kbps MP3 or WMA, you can set SmartFit to encode them to 64kbps WMA, which means you can transfer twice as many songs.
The "Language" section is if you have music files that have tags in other languages, but not in Unicode format. For example, Big5 or GB for Chinese text. Enabling this option will convert them to Unicode tags so they will display properly on the Zen V.
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Finally, Windows Media Player 10.
If you use the "Find Album Info", Windows Media Player will download the cover art for the album.
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When you sync the album to the Zen V, the cover art will be transferred as well. The album art is saved in the same directory as the actual music files, but are marked as hidden. If you use Media Explorer to transfer them to the Zen V, you will also be able to view the cover art on the player.
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Syncing using Windows Media Player 10.
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When you sync using Windows Media Player, the music is organised in folders, first by artist then the album. If your music is disorganised, then using Windows Media Player might be a good option, but if you already organise everything properly into folders, and you use a different naming convention, then you might be better off using Media Explorer.