Creative 30gig Zen Xtra mp3 player

[cambo357]

I already posted about my attempt at a PM at CC. no go, even with a reciept in hand. can't blame them though.
the only thing that MIGHT fly, is a PM from your credti card company. I know that AE has a good rep for it, and BB is a legit store to PM as well.

-Cambo

 

[newParadigm]

QFT

 

[QueHuong]

Anyone getting only about 4-5 hr battery life? It advertises up to 12 hrs.

 

[BraveSirRobbin]

I'm not sure exactly, but I know it's not anywhere near 12 hours.

 

[mscdex0]

Originally posted by: BraveSirRobbin
I'm not sure exactly, but I know it's not anywhere near 12 hours.

I get at least 12 hours with mine... and I've had mine for well over 6 months now.

 

[straubs]

I haven't tested the battery time yet, but the software blows goats. I was expecting that from Creative, though. I might end up ebaying and getting an ipod, which I have used and is pretty much better in every way (except for non removable battery, but a little tinkering never stopped me)...or just keep the cash.

 

[gorcorps]

The software does blow, but ipod makes it just as bad if not worse with all the spyware ridden itunes that needs to be installed. I'd personally look towards an iriver mp3 player if you don't like a lot of software. The h120s and h320s work like flash hard drives. There's no software at all, its just drag and drop from windows explorer. Plus, you get ogg vorbis support, wma support, and w/ the h320s you get video playback too!

W/ the battery problems, what bitrate and file types are you using? Battery ratings are done using 128kb mp3 at a fairly low volume using normal eq. If any of those things are different, battery life is expected.

 

[straubs]

Originally posted by: gorcorps
The software does blow, but ipod makes it just as bad if not worse with all the spyware ridden itunes that needs to be installed.

Please tell me you're joking. iTunes installs 2 extra services that are easily disabled, but they have absolutely nothing to do with spyware! I don't know where you get that idea?

Originally posted by: gorcorps
I'd personally look towards an iriver mp3 player if you don't like a lot of software. The h120s and h320s work like flash hard drives. There's no software at all, its just drag and drop from windows explorer.

I like having the ability to drag and drop but I don't want to be forced to use that route either. Sync is the only way to go. I can tell you don't like iTunes, but I think it's great for portable music player management. (I still use winamp for my standalone player.) Why would I want to piddle around through directories and use drag and drop everytime I add new songs. Just go to iTunes with my already configured smart lists, sync, and I'm done.

Imagine how useless a PDA would be if every time you changed a file on the PDA or your PC you had to figure out which one is current and which ones need to move from one device to the other. That's totally lame!

I imagine the people who are "drag and drop only" probably either A) haven't used smart play lists or B) don't have a library of 10,000 or more songs to deal with.

 

[Nebben]

Damn. Wish there were a BB in my city. Closest one is 2 1/2 hours away, and I'm not about to drive that far on the slim chance that they have one in stock. But this gets my vote for best deal of the year

 

[leonc]

Originally posted by: Nebben
Damn. Wish there were a BB in my city. Closest one is 2 1/2 hours away, and I'm not about to drive that far on the slim chance that they have one in stock. But this gets my vote for best deal of the year

Definitely don't drive 2-1/2 hours since this deal was dead nearly a week ago.

 

[gibster]

Originally posted by: straubs

Originally posted by: gorcorps
The software does blow, but ipod makes it just as bad if not worse with all the spyware ridden itunes that needs to be installed.

Please tell me you're joking. iTunes installs 2 extra services that are easily disabled, but they have absolutely nothing to do with spyware! I don't know where you get that idea?

Originally posted by: gorcorps
I'd personally look towards an iriver mp3 player if you don't like a lot of software. The h120s and h320s work like flash hard drives. There's no software at all, its just drag and drop from windows explorer.

I like having the ability to drag and drop but I don't want to be forced to use that route either. Sync is the only way to go. I can tell you don't like iTunes, but I think it's great for portable music player management. (I still use winamp for my standalone player.) Why would I want to piddle around through directories and use drag and drop everytime I add new songs. Just go to iTunes with my already configured smart lists, sync, and I'm done.

Imagine how useless a PDA would be if every time you changed a file on the PDA or your PC you had to figure out which one is current and which ones need to move from one device to the other. That's totally lame!

I imagine the people who are "drag and drop only" probably either A) haven't used smart play lists or B) don't have a library of 10,000 or more songs to deal with.

The PDA analogy is totally bogus in this case, makes you sound like an Apple brainwashed zombie. Next you will tell me iTunes sounds better than MP3 and they are a better value. Ha HA hAha Ha ha.

 

[drewstylz]

Originally posted by: gibster

Originally posted by: straubs

Originally posted by: gorcorps
The software does blow, but ipod makes it just as bad if not worse with all the spyware ridden itunes that needs to be installed.

Please tell me you're joking. iTunes installs 2 extra services that are easily disabled, but they have absolutely nothing to do with spyware! I don't know where you get that idea?

Originally posted by: gorcorps
I'd personally look towards an iriver mp3 player if you don't like a lot of software. The h120s and h320s work like flash hard drives. There's no software at all, its just drag and drop from windows explorer.

I like having the ability to drag and drop but I don't want to be forced to use that route either. Sync is the only way to go. I can tell you don't like iTunes, but I think it's great for portable music player management. (I still use winamp for my standalone player.) Why would I want to piddle around through directories and use drag and drop everytime I add new songs. Just go to iTunes with my already configured smart lists, sync, and I'm done.

Imagine how useless a PDA would be if every time you changed a file on the PDA or your PC you had to figure out which one is current and which ones need to move from one device to the other. That's totally lame!

I imagine the people who are "drag and drop only" probably either A) haven't used smart play lists or B) don't have a library of 10,000 or more songs to deal with.

The PDA analogy is totally bogus in this case, makes you sound like an Apple brainwashed zombie. Next you will tell me iTunes sounds better than MP3 and they are a better value. Ha HA hAha Ha ha.

Why is the PDA analogy totally bogus? You use software to sync files in both cases. I'm sure he's an apple brainwashed zombie when he still uses winamp. It sounds more like you are an anti-apple brainwashed zombie. (and your last sentence makes no sense)

Why are the iPods so popular? They're damn sexy

What makes them even better? The software that comes with it. iTunes is great software for like 99% of the population because it organizes AND syncs music along with many other features.

If you don't like iTunes you've probably never used it. It's great software and I haven't found anything that comes close to it in terms of organization and ease of use. This being said, there are still many features which I would like apple to include (but then again, 99% of the population probably wouldn't use them).

 

[gorcorps]

Originally posted by: straubs

Originally posted by: gorcorps
The software does blow, but ipod makes it just as bad if not worse with all the spyware ridden itunes that needs to be installed.

Please tell me you're joking. iTunes installs 2 extra services that are easily disabled, but they have absolutely nothing to do with spyware! I don't know where you get that idea?

Originally posted by: gorcorps
I'd personally look towards an iriver mp3 player if you don't like a lot of software. The h120s and h320s work like flash hard drives. There's no software at all, its just drag and drop from windows explorer.

I like having the ability to drag and drop but I don't want to be forced to use that route either. Sync is the only way to go. I can tell you don't like iTunes, but I think it's great for portable music player management. (I still use winamp for my standalone player.) Why would I want to piddle around through directories and use drag and drop everytime I add new songs. Just go to iTunes with my already configured smart lists, sync, and I'm done.

Imagine how useless a PDA would be if every time you changed a file on the PDA or your PC you had to figure out which one is current and which ones need to move from one device to the other. That's totally lame!

I imagine the people who are "drag and drop only" probably either A) haven't used smart play lists or B) don't have a library of 10,000 or more songs to deal with.

It's not the only way. It has plenty of software to sync and such as well. You can use playlists too made by an program: winamp, WMP, itunes, etc. The best thing about drag and drop is that you can use any program you want, even itunes , to encode music and the like. As for itunes, the only time I installed it, it completely messed up my PC so I'll never do it again. Any mp3 player that requires that unstable of software is not good for me.

"Drag and drop only people" like simplicity and want things their own way.

 

[straubs]

Originally posted by: gorcorps

It's not the only way. It has plenty of software to sync and such as well. You can use playlists too made by an program: winamp, WMP, itunes, etc. The best thing about drag and drop is that you can use any program you want, even itunes , to encode music and the like.

(Note that I am NOT being sarcastic here, so don't read it that way please)

You're saying the iRiver software can read playlists generated by winamp, wmp, and itunes and that it is smart enough to be able to grab those songs from where ever they actually reside on disk and transfer them to the iRiver all in one command?

If it does that, it is easily trumps ipod and nomad, although this ability is extremely hard to believe... Now if you're talking about some third party software you can buy to gain this ability, it sounds more believable.

I would like to hear more about how I would use my already created itunes and winamp playlists in order to sync my iRiver, or if you provide a link I'll go read about it.

Originally posted by: gorcorps
"Drag and drop only people" like simplicity and want things their own way.

I think I know what you are trying to say, but sync IS simplicity. I just manually transferred 30 gb to my nomad last night and it was extremely painful with drag and drop. I had to baby the thing the whole time. We're talking hours here. It complained about duplicate files because some of the ID3 tags were the same for 2 different versions of a song, even though the actual file name was always different. It was anything but simple.

 

[QueHuong]

For those who won't use Creative's software and for those who don't want to pay for Red Chair's Nomat, try NomadSync

http://nomadsync.sourceforge.net/

It's a very ugly program, GUI-wise. But it does sync it for you. It can scan a specified directory to look for music not on your Nomad, and scan your Nomad to look for music not on your computer. Then you can tell it to sync. Very minimal program, does what you need to, and nothing more. And it's free.

 

[straubs]

Originally posted by: QueHuong
For those who won't use Creative's software and for those who don't want to pay for Red Chair's Nomat, try NomadSync

http://nomadsync.sourceforge.net/

It's a very ugly program, GUI-wise. But it does sync it for you. It can scan a specified directory to look for music not on your Nomad, and scan your Nomad to look for music not on your computer. Then you can tell it to sync. Very minimal program, does what you need to, and nothing more. And it's free.

I am going to try it. Thanks!

 

[kevman]

all my complaining to BB corporate led me to a $100 gift card.

not too shabby....thanks OP

 

[gorcorps]

Originally posted by: straubs

Originally posted by: gorcorps

It's not the only way. It has plenty of software to sync and such as well. You can use playlists too made by an program: winamp, WMP, itunes, etc. The best thing about drag and drop is that you can use any program you want, even itunes , to encode music and the like.

(Note that I am NOT being sarcastic here, so don't read it that way please)

You're saying the iRiver software can read playlists generated by winamp, wmp, and itunes and that it is smart enough to be able to grab those songs from where ever they actually reside on disk and transfer them to the iRiver all in one command?

If it does that, it is easily trumps ipod and nomad, although this ability is extremely hard to believe... Now if you're talking about some third party software you can buy to gain this ability, it sounds more believable.

Well in that case irivers do trump the hell outta ipod and nomad... It automatically reads .m3u playlists. .m3u playlists are the most common and are supported by all the major media players. Here's the thing, if you make the playlist from the files on the player, the playlist will be ready to go already. But, if you make the playlist from the files on the computer, then you have to change a few little things.

When you open a m3u playlist w/ wordpad, it looks like this:

#EXTM3U
#EXTINF:0,17 Oh the Guilt.wma
\Nirvana\With the Lights Out Disc 2\17 Oh the Guilt.wma

#EXTINF:0,17 Dive [#][Demo Version].wma
\Nirvana\With the Lights Out Disc 1\17 Dive [#][Demo Version].wma

#EXTINF:0,09 Pennyroyal Tea.wma
\Nirvana\In Utero\09 Pennyroyal Tea.wma

If you made the playlist w/ files on your PC, then it will point to a directory... which you'll have to change to this. So, as long as you make the playlist w/ the mp3 player connected and use those files it will work flawlessly. Now you know why iriver is the superior brand.

And now for your other thing... the syncing. I have yet to find a program that syncs at the same speed as strait up windows explorer. They're always slow... itunes is slower than explorer. Now, that doesn't mean I can't sync. There are tons of programs that allow us iriver users to sync our players w/ certain files on our PC. My fave is called "TDT (tag database tool)"

 

[Foladar]

Damn, wish I'd seen this when it happened .. I have $75 in BestBuy GiftCards, could have nabbed atleast one from the many Best Buys around here in South Fla.

 

[straubs]

Originally posted by: gorcorps
If you made the playlist w/ files on your PC, then it will point to a directory... which you'll have to change to this. So, as long as you make the playlist w/ the mp3 player connected and use those files it will work flawlessly. Now you know why iriver is the superior brand.

I don't know about superior brand just for that!
You just explained a (small) hack you have to do to get it to work. That may be fine for you and I, but it's still a hack. The iriver people should be able to have their software work with m3u or any other playlist format without us touching notepad.

And if you remove the directory structure from the m3u file, does it still work with winamp? How can the software (iriver or winamp) find the file without the directory structure? I'm certainly not going to put 35+ gb of music in one folder.

 

[gorcorps]

Originally posted by: straubs

Originally posted by: gorcorps
If you made the playlist w/ files on your PC, then it will point to a directory... which you'll have to change to this. So, as long as you make the playlist w/ the mp3 player connected and use those files it will work flawlessly. Now you know why iriver is the superior brand.

I don't know about superior brand just for that!
You just explained a (small) hack you have to do to get it to work. That may be fine for you and I, but it's still a hack. The iriver people should be able to have their software work with m3u or any other playlist format without us touching notepad.

And if you remove the directory structure from the m3u file, does it still work with winamp? How can the software (iriver or winamp) find the file without the directory structure? I'm certainly not going to put 35+ gb of music in one folder.

It all depends on how organized your music collection is. The "superior player" comment was just a joke to go along w/ his "if this does that then it trumps everything else."