Creative Zen, Part 2

Previously, I had described some of the experiences I have had with my new Creative Zen [creative.com] portable media player (PMP). This is part 2. [Go to part 1, part 3, part 4, part 5, part 6, part 7.]

I use my PMP mostly to listen to talk radio. I have my computer record hour long chunks and covert them to MP3s. New ones are constantly being uploaded to my PMP, while the ones I have already listed to are being deleted. So, there is a constant churn of files on the device. I know that a lot of people use theirs to listen to e-books (which I consider to be a very similar usage pattern), but there wasn't a lot of information out there for people who use PMPs like this (most focused on playing music).

Because the files that I listen to are so big, it is important that the resume function on the PMP work properly; that is, when I turn the player on, I want it to start playing at the exact point in the file where I was when I turned it off. Unfortunately, the Creative Zen fails in this regard.

There appear to be two different shutdowns for the Zen. If you turn it off (or allow it to turn itself off after a configurable period of inactivity), and then turn it back on after a few minutes, it will almost instantly come back on (takes about 1 second). It will start up at the "Now Playing" screen, displaying the file information, and it will be exactly at the point in the file where you last left off:


However, if the player stays off for an extended period of time (say, a few hours), then the Zen will really shutdown. When you turn it back on, instead of almost instantly turning on, it will take about 10 seconds to boot up. The duration required for boot up really doesn't bother me. The thing that DOES bother me is that when it starts up and goes to the "Now Playing" screen, it will start at the beginning of the file (see below image). So, if you don't remember where you were (and hadn't remembered to set a bookmark), you're going to have to manually seek through a big file to find your place again.


And unfortunately, the bookmarks and fast-forward/rewind functions leave a lot to be desired (more on this in another segment of the review).

Similarly, if you connect the PMP to your computer to upload files to it, the player will forget where it was and start you off at the beginning of the file again. THIS IS INCREDIBLY ANNOYING. There have been resume functions built into MP3 players for nearly a decade now. There is absolutely no excuse for having not implemented it correctly in this unit. And yes, I am running the latest firmware (version 1.21.01).

[Go to part 1, part 3, part 4, part 5, part 6, part 7.]