Creative ZEN User manual

creAtive
Z E N
Training Guide
Document Prepared at School Technology Services
Written by Alex Harris.
2008.

2
Introduction
PLEASE INSTALL SOFTWARE BEFORE CONNECTING TO PC! Or so it says on the packaging
before you even open your new Creative Zen! From the creators of one of the most successful
sound boards for your computer (the SoundBlaster series) comes a new way to listen to your
music. Okay, not so new, but definitely more budget friendly than the iPod.™ Get ready to rock
your way to enlightenment with the Creative Zen™!
What’s in the box?
1x Creative Zen™ Media Player
1x Pair of Earbud Headphones
1x USB Cord
1x 3.5mm to 3.5mm Stereo mini plug
1x Wrist Strap
1x Software CD
1x Carrying Case
Install the software FIRST!
Do not connect the Creative Zen into your computer without installing the software first. This is
written on the box, on the player, and throughout the manuals.
While I’m not entirely sure what will happen if you do plug it in without the software –I’m sure
it will make things a little more difficult later. Best to follow the directions and install the
software first.
Once all of the software is installed and ready, locate the USB cord that came with the Zen and
plug it into the computer!

3
Ready… Set… Ooh!
Ready to play with your new Creative Zen right out of the box!? Haha, too bad!
As it turns out, the Creative Zen has a built in rechargeable battery pack, and guess what, it
doesn’t come charged! Plug the USB cord into the Zen, then into your computer to begin the
charge. After you plug into the USB, slide the power switch on then look at the OLED Screen on
the front of the player. Did it say CREATIVE Zen for a second before flashing off? If it didn’t you
might not have it plugged into a USB 2.0 bus. Take it out and plug it into another USB port,
then try again.
Now that that is done, right click on your computer’s desktop and go to Properties, then Screen
Saver. At the bottom of the properties window, you’ll see a button that says Power. Hit it.
Make sure that you’re Power Schemes setting is Always On. You’re Zen might not charge if
your computer is running on batteries, and it’s power settings aren’t Always on!
Now we wait…
…still waiting…
The Zen’s batteries should charge fairly quickly. You can probably use it for a little bit after only
30 minutes. However for the best results let it charge for at least four hours, or better yet,
overnight!
Once you’ve charged up the Zen, it’s time for some action.
Face-Off!
The Zen has a very simple interface. A Play Button, a Back Button, and a Joystick. On the side
you’ll notice an Power/Locking Slide that you use to turn the Zen on, off, and lock the interface
(so you can’t accidentally hit buttons while it’s in your pocket).
On the opposite side, you’ll find the Volume Controls, indicated by a plus and minus, and a
Record Button so you can use the Zen to make personal recordings.
And lastly on the top you’ll find the USB, headphones, line-in (for an external microphone), and
an opening for the built in microphone.
Slide the power switch down to turn your player on. Later on, when you’re ready to shut the
Zen down, slide the power switch down and hold it down until the Zen begins to power-off.

4
Zen and the Art of Media Synchronization
Whenever you add music, pictures, video, or media in general to a
portable media player, you are enjoying a process called Synchronizing.
To put it more simply, to get your music from your computer to your
player, you need to sync it first.
This can be done via the Sync Tab in Windows Media Player. But since
you’ve just installed all that software, why not try it out?
Go to Start > All Programs > Creative > Creative Sync Manager or click on the Sync Manager
Icon in the taskbar (near the clock).
This is the Sync Manager. A nifty
program that allows you to sync media
files to your player quickly and easily.
When you first start it, you’ll see that
you have two choices: Customize, and
Default.
Default searches your entire My
Documents folder and syncs everything.
This will take a long time, and way too
much space on your Zen’s hard drive!
For now, let’s go with Customize!
After hitting next, you’ll be asked what kind of media you want to sync. You can choose from
Audio, Video, Pictures, and Organizer Data. Let’s just stick with Audio for now.
Sync Manager will find you’re My Music folder
automatically. I recommend keeping it on this folder!!
However, if you want to specify a specific folder, you can
hit browse, find your folder, and then hit OK.
BEFORE you go on, notice the checkbox that says Include
tracks that do not have ID3 tags. Depending on what
you’re syncing, you might need this…
You see, whenever you “Rip” a CD, it creates a unique
folder automatically and names all of the music tracks
inside. Almost all CDs come with encoded ID3 tags which
store the song title, artist, copyright info, etc.

5
Sometimes, CDs do not have this ID3 tag
encoded into the tracks. And when you try to
rip it, it will go to a folder called Unknown Artist.
Even though you might have renamed them all,
these tracks will still not have an ID3 tag until
you create it specifically.
So, if you have any music that ripped into an
Unknown Artist folder, or any music that you
acquired by less-than-ethical means (burns,
torrents, P2P software, etc.) then you
need to check the box that says “Include tracks that do not have ID3 tags.” If all of your music
was acquired legally, and you ripped it without any problems, then don’t worry about it!
Automatic or Manual…
After hitting next you are taken to a screen that gives you a choice, Automatic or Manual
Synchronization. Pick Manual to avoid confusion for now. If you pick automatic your Zen will
start syncing every time you plug it in! And we don’t really want that.
After that, you are taken to a review screen where you can confirm all of the folders and
checkboxes are correct. If they are, check the box at the bottom of the screen that says
Synchronize Now and then hit Finish!
Again?
Interestingly enough, you can’t run the manager again! At least not the way you just saw it.
That’s why it’s recommended you keep the My Music folder as the default! However, if you
pointed to another folder, you are far from out of luck!
With your Zen plugged in, go to My Computer and then look for a black Zen icon that
says Zen V Series Media Explorer.
Voila! This opens up the Media Explorer tool. From here you can drag and drop your
media, Rip CDs (that means copy music from them) and even convert video files so
that you can play them on your Zen!

6
Click on the Add Media button.
This opens up the Import
Wizard.
This tool makes syncing
anything to your Zen
extremely easy! Simply
select the file, group, or
folder and then hit Add.
Once you’ve added
everything you want, hit the
Next button and then watch
as your files are all Sync’d
automatically! No messy
menus, no annoying wizards.
Just drag, drop, sync!

7
More to Explore…
The Media Explorer tool comes with several other useful tools...
Rip Audio CD’s
Say you just bought a new CD, and you want to get the music from it, onto the Zen. You can’t
just drag and drop! You have to RIP the CD first.
To do this, go back into your Media Explorer and hit the button that says Rip Audio CDs.
You will be asked if you want to register with Gracenote. YOU DO! Keep hitting Okay and Next
until it goes away. Don’t worry, it’s harmless – and it makes ripping a lot easier!
Once Gracenote has been
registered, you’ll be taken to the
Creative Audio CD Ripper tool.
If you didn’t register with
Gracenote, all of the fields here
will just say “Track 1, 2, etc.”
instead of the actual song titles.
Not necessarily a bad thing, but it
will be annoying when you don’t
know what you’re listening to,
and all you see on the Zen screen
is Track 5.
Creative products can only create
Windows Media Audio files!
They can’t create MP3s without
purchasing a 10$ add-on online.
Ironically, if you want to rip to MP3 files, you’ll need to use Windows Media Player! Although
the automatic ID3 tagging are a bit more complex there, and won’t be explained in this guide.

8
Adding Video
Your Zen comes with an Organic Light Emitting Diode (OLED) Screen that is able to display
video. This can be anything from commercials, music videos, maybe even full length movies (if
you can compress them enough)!
ALL VIDEO MUST BE CONVERTED BEFORE YOU PUT IT ON YOUR ZEN!
Yes, all of your video must be converted into a proprietary format just for the Zen before you
can actually watch it on the Zen. It seems to work best with Windows Media files (WMVs). If
you’re lucky you might get an AVI to work out for you. I could never get Quicktime MOVs to
convert properly.
That being said, the process of conversion is extremely simple! Hit the Convert Video for Zen V
Plus button in the Media Explorer and then simply add the file. After that hit Next and you’re in
business.
Create/Manage Playlists
After you’ve sync’d some music to your
Zen, you can go back and create
customized playlists. Only like six songs
out of the albums you sync’d? Make a
playlist and you can listen to them without
having to navigate through the albums.
To make one, hit the Create Playlists
button in the Media Explorer. Then add
your music.
Hit OK when you’re done!
Manage Playlists lets you edit a list you
have already made. NOTE: You have to
create a list before you can manage one!

9
Organizer Data?
The Zen has an Outlook-like calendar function to remind you when to do things. It might be
useful… maybe.If you decide to use it, hit the Manage Organizer Data button in the Media
Explorer. You can create, edit, or delete events in here, just like in Outlook.
Voice Recording
One of the unique features of the Zen is it’s voice recording capabilities. To record your voice
hit the Record Button (tiny red circle) on the side of your Zen. It will automatically start
recording after that.
For reference, the microphone is that tiny hole at the top of the device. You’ll notice is has a
picture of a mic underneath it.
Hit the Back Button to stop recording.
All of your Recordings are stored in the Recordings Folder. Hit the Back Button until you get to
the main menu, then scroll down until you see the Music Library folder –open it, and then go
down to the Recordings Folder. Your file will be named as the date and time when it was
recorded.
Video Killed the Radio Star
But you can still listen to FM Radio on the Zen! Hit the Back Button until you’re at the Main
Menu, then scroll down to FM Radio. You can set up to 32 preset stations. For now, just pick
one and start scanning.
Your headphone cord acts as your antenna. Move it around until you get the best signal. You
may not be able to listen to some channels clearly. It generally helps if your cord is stretched
out, and not overlapping itself. Hence, radio will work best if you’re standing, and the Zen is in
your pocket! It’s not perfect, but it’s better than nothing, right? You could always watch your
videos!

10
Advanced Tactics
Media Creation
VIDEO
As long as you have a .wmv file you can use the Video Converter to create a Zen-
compatible movie. If you have an avi file you can open up Windows Movie Maker and
convert it to a wmv easily! Just Import it, drag it to the timeline, and then Save Movie
File.
AUDIO
Audacity is great for recording and editing sound and music. If you have it, and the
lame.dll codec (available on the Audacity website) you can make Mp3s for your zen!
If you have another microphone that has a 3.5mm miniplug on it, you can plug that into
the LINE IN port on the top of your Zen, and record your voice from that instead. These
can include desktop mics, all the way to SM-57s with adapters! The built in mic will
work fine for most purposes, hoever.
Button Trouble?
Can you not figure out what the buttons do? The Play/Pause Button starts and stops a song.
You could also think of it as an Enter button.
The Button that looks like a left-turn arrow is the Back Button. It will take you back one step in
the Zen’s menu’s. Keep pressing back to get to the Main Menu again.
The Joystick functions as a directional pad, a play button, and a back button. Use it in Menus to
move up and down and press left or right to go back or forward respectively. Easy!
In the end…
Now that you know how to use your new Zen, go and put some music on it, and start enjoying!
Make sure you follow the ethics guidelines though!