Getting Some Zen

I got an 8GB Creative Zen when it went on sale at Future Shop for $180 from $220.

My wife has a 4GB second gen iPod Nano. She got it for $220 a couple weeks before the third gen was announced with the 4GB model priced at $149. Figures.

I like the Nano. It does everything well. My only complaints are that the screens on the second gen models are too small, iPods are priced at a premium, and Apple seems insistent on deliberately leaving out features. So I tested the Creative waters.

So far, I'm happy with my Zen.

Likes:

• Price.
• Small size.
• Big, crisp 2.5" screen.
• Looks cool.
• Nice interface.
• 25 hr. battery life.
• SD slot.
• FM radio.
• Voice recorder.
• Video.
• Photo.
• Podcasts.
• Bookmarks.

Indifferent:

• Syncs with Outlook.

Dislikes:

• The navigation buttons are okay, but a click wheel would be better.
• The firmware is a bit buggy. Creative probably rushed the Zen to market for Christmas.
• Days after I made my purchase, Creative reduced prices and released a 32GB model. Figures.
• It doesn't worked with iTunes.

Since my music library is organized with iTunes, I tried using iTunes Agent. It's a free utility that allows iTunes to recognize non-iPod devices. Unfortunately, it didn't work for my Zen. iTunes Agent and other utilities that do the same thing require that a player be assigned a drive letter when connected to a computer. Many players get a drive letter assignment. Alas, the Zen does not.

I then tried Windows Media Player 11. It's a good jukebox, and it syncs with the Zen, but it really hates Apple and started moving music out of my iTunes directory and into My Music. Hey Bill, hands off my data!

I repaired my music library and tried Winamp 5.5. After the install, all my desktop icons had been shoved into columns at the left of my screen. Argh! Winamp works well, but when displaying content on the Zen, it only displays the music library, playlists, and video. It doesn't display the photo, voice recordings, and other folders. I'm not using them right now, but when I do, I'd like to be able to manage them all with the same software.

The Creative Media Explorer software that came with the player is very 1997. It puts a startup page in Windows Explorer with options like Browse Media, Manage Playlists, etc. It manages media by file and folder, exactly the same way Windows Explorer works. It's very cumbersome for managing a media library. It doesn't have a "smart" playlist function.

So, I'm up and running. I like the player. But the word's still out on media management. For now, I'll use Winamp. I've got my icons back in place and Winamp has behaved itself otherwise.