Creative Zen + Vista

jodie

I am thinking of getting a Creative Zen MP3 player and am a bit worried it wont work with Vista, does anyone know if it does?

toasterman

jodie wrote: »

I am thinking of getting a Creative Zen MP3 player and am a bit worried it wont work with Vista, does anyone know if it does?

Creative's website doesn't seem to say it does.
Personally even if someone told me they had it working, I'd be reluctant to buy one if Creative themselves don't actually support it.

Idiophreak

I did a quick google and it seems that you can get Creative Mediasource (creative's "itunes") on vista, so I guess they should have support for the zens themselves...

C00kie_2

My bf has a Creative mp3 player, he's tried various ways and software and has had no luck using it with his new laptop using Vista. He even contacted Creative and they replied that they don't have a patch at the moment, and could only suggest "using a XP machine to transfer media".

*frowny face* Looks like i'll have to install it on my machine for him to use... even tho i already have my own creative with different music... sighhhh

Edit: just bumped this thread as i was about to pop on asking myself if anyone else knew of a way to do it, but searched and found this.

Mags_cat

I'm having the same trouble....

I have a (excellent) Zen Xtra which is a few years old, but compared to a lot of the i-thingies is almost bulletproof.

But, I can't get it to work with Vista. Apparently there's a firmware update on the Creative web site BUT it wipes all the data and appears to need an XP machine to install it....

Arrghhh - I don't want to have to get rid of my Zen - does anyone know how I can update the drivers from my new Vista PC without access to an XP PC? If I have to re-upload everything it won't be the end of the world. Damn close...but not the end :rotfl:

OneADay

I had a Creative Nomad Jukebox (not same as the Zen). I got it in 2003 I think from memory - I had XP then, drivers and everything I downloaded from their site.

I recently decided to sell it off on ebay. But I had switched to Vista without any trouble I can think. The drivers and software (creative mediasource) appeared to work fine in Windows vista.

So I am somewhat surprised people are having trouble with the newer Zen.

Mags_cat - Possible solution - if you download the firmware onto your PC under vista. Say the file is called setup.exe. Open file explorer, right click the file and select properties and in there change the Compatibility mode to XP. Then run the update.

HOLD ON - didnt think - you will need to backup that data if you have not already got a backup - so above not a good idea. Sorry. If you know someone with XP - thats probably going to be likely solution. If you do have a backup, then try the above.

OneADay

This might help http://www.opendrivers.com/driver/290372/creative-zen-firmware-1.21.03-windows-xp-vista-free-download.html

If the driver is for your device - it says windows vista.

PROLIANT

Got one, works fine.

Mags_cat

OneADay wrote: »

Mags_cat - Possible solution - if you download the firmware onto your PC under vista. Say the file is called setup.exe. Open file explorer, right click the file and select properties and in there change the Compatibility mode to XP. Then run the update.

HOLD ON - didnt think - you will need to backup that data if you have not already got a backup - so above not a good idea. Sorry. If you know someone with XP - thats probably going to be likely solution. If you do have a backup, then try the above.

Thanks for your help, OneADay, but my Vista PC refuses to believe that the Xtra is connected, so the firmware won't install....:mad:

Ho hum, back to the drawing board...

culpepper

My DH has a creative Zen. It was having trouble on vista and wouldnt upgrade the firmware or transfer tunes but I have an earlier version of media player on my XP computer and it recognised the zen and upgraded the firmware fine and now works on his vista laptop okay.
I wonder if you can use it with linux because you could possibly boot from a live linux CD and then install the firmware ,then it would hopefully work on vista.

Swan_2

which model are you thinking of getting?

my daughter has a Zen x-fi & she's had no problems at all using it with Vista