WorldCAD Access

Replace Zen Micro's Hard Drive with CompactFlash

Over on the Nomadness forum, people are taking about their experiences with replacing the Zen Micro's hard drive with a CompactFlash memory card. There's two reason's you'd wanna do this surgery: 1. The hard drive has died. 2. You want to increase the capacity of your Zen Micro. One user was able to upgrade the 5GB hard drive to an 8GB memory card. A third reason is that the battery lasts longer, and that music starts much faster. Warning! Some users have found that certain CompactFlash cards do not work. Read the posting to get brand names and model numbers... Read more →

Xfer Photos from Cameras to Zen Micro?

A strange tip over at Popular Photography.com: Using select camera cables, I can connect digital cameras from several makers to my Creative Zen Micro music player, and their image files are transferred automatically. I have both -- several digital cameras and the Zen Micro -- but I haven't been able to try this tip, because the cables are a problem. The Zen Micro has the miniUSB female connector; most cameras have the same or a proprietary connector. Thus, an adapter cable is needed, which I don't have. But, I can't see this tip working, because neither the camera nor the... Read more →

In for Warranty Repairs

My Zen Micro MP3 player is a victim of the headphone connector flaw: after a few months of use, its headphone connector wears out. Typically, you hear just one channel; the music sounds weak. On mine, the breakdown had to occur during our 3.500-km drive into northern Canada -- we made it as far as Hyder, the most southernly town in Alaska that can be reached by road. We had the Zen Micro hooked up to the rental car's stereo through the iRock fm transmitter. But it wasn't much fun reaching down every few minutes to readjust the connector; with... Read more →

Video Zen

The Register reveals that Creative has designed a 30GB version of the Zen Micro with 3.7" color screen and video playback. Screen resolution is 640x480, and takes up most of the front of the unit. USB 2 (for connection to computer) and CompactFlash slot (for reading files from digital cameras).Apparently shipping end of August. It plays back: Audio - MP3 - WMA - WAV Video - MPEG 4 - WMV - DIVx - XviD Images JPEG TIFF Read more →

Firmware Upgrade for Zen Micro

It's a week late, but Creative finally released the promised firmware update that fixes the battery rundown problem. You can access the 1.10.02 firmware starting from here. New features include: - driverless charging: plug into any USB port, and push the Micro's switch to Hold. - quicker charging both from AC and USB - longer playback time at higher bitrates (11+ hours playback time at 192kbs tracks.) - unit shuts down after 4 hours (instead of the previous 24-hour wait) for longer standby battery life. Update Oops! After people began installing the firmware update, they began experiencing problems, like the... Read more →

20GB Zen (Micro)

Blowing away Apple: Creative on Monday revealed the 20GB version of its Zen Micro, upping the capacity from 4GB-5GB-6GB. Same body as the Zen Micro, 4x-larger hard drive, but a shorter name: just plain "Zen." I notice that the battery life is shorter by 1 hour (from 12 to 11 hours), and that removability is not explicitly stated. I wonder if it uses a smaller battery, built-in to accomodate the large hard drive? And the body is magnesium, allowing its walls to be thinner than the double-layer plastic used for the Zen Micro(*). Ship date was not announced. Also announced,... Read more →

Lower Bitrates = Power Savings

"Purists" like to record MP3 files at 320kbps (aka bitrate). This is the highest bitrate available for MP3, and involves the least compression. The theory is that the music sounds better because of less compression. In practice, some people cannot hear any difference above 192kbps; you may want to try compressing a song at different rates -- 128, 196, 320 -- to determine if you can hear the difference. (I write "purists" in quote marks, because if they truly were music purists, they would not be listening to music in MP3 format at all.) The drawback to 320kbps is that... Read more →

Color Obsession

The good thing about the Internet is that it lets people with strange obsessions find like-minded ones. Here's an example: SHARE YOUR ZEN MICRO PICTURES! has hundreds of photos of Zen Micros. There is also a poll on the favorite color, although it is a bit strange in that the vote has to be based on the photos, and cannot be the color of your own Zen Micro. Results thus far: 1. Black - the color of mine! 2. Dark Blue 3. Silver 3. Red 5. White - would be my second choice. 5. Lime Green 7. Orange 8. Purple... Read more →

Zen Micro Power Issues

Creative boasts 12-hour battery life for its Zen Micro -- true, for continuous use. Their Web site proclaims, "Extend your playtime another 12 hours with each additional battery you buy"! But a flaw in the firmware reduces that claimed 12-hour life to half, if you use the MP3 player for a short time every day. Amazing! A device whose battery life shortens the less often you use it. Customers figured out the problem, but it was not until last week that Creative belatedly promised a firmware upgrade (by end of May) that helps reduce (not eliminate) the problem. (The problem:... Read more →

Zen Micro: The Innards

Step-by-step photos of taking apart a Zen Micro 5GB MP3 player: Anatomy of Creative's Zen Micro Audio Player. Taking it apart reveals these tech specs: * 5GB hard drive is made by Seagate, also used in the Rio Carbon. It looks to me that the drive could be pulled and used in digital cameras that support CompactFlash Type II memory cards. * The Zen Micro has a 16MB RAM buffer. * Touchpad uses the controller chip from Synaptics. * FM radio is by Phillips. The disassembly is interesting, because it might be possible to subsitute other drives, such as a... Read more →

Zen Micro Battery Drain

January thru June is the mad book writing season for me. This year I have four books to update for publishers, plus another four of my own. And later on, yet another book for a corporate client. Writing and updating that much is a task that takes up 10 to 14-hours a day, six to seven days a week. Typically, I get up at 6:30, write some, take the kids to school, and then write (with breaks) until 10pm. To celebrate the completion of the first two books in this marathon, I rewarded myself with the Zen Micro MP3 player... Read more →