Industry guru Dave Taylor answers free tech support questions about a wide variety of business and technical topics, including blogging, Google AdSense, MySpace, Sony PSP, Apple iPod, Mp3 players, management, Linux, SEO, Mac OS X, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Microsoft Windows.

How do I download music onto my Creative Zen MP3 Player?

Dave, help! How do I download the music already on my computer to my creative zen mp3 player?


Dave's Answer:

According to Creative Labs, you should either be using the Creative Media Explorer if you are new to MP3 and WMA ripping and want to build up a library or prefer to manage your Zen player as a removable disk drive, or using the Creative MediaSource Player/Organizer if you "frequently need to playback or organize music in your computer".

Neither really makes much sense to me, but both of these programs have the key essential capability that you need: to open up your existing audio files and copy them or sync them with your Creative Zen player.

The Zen player can handle three primary types of audio files too, the common MP3 format, WMA format and the more unusual WAV format. It's quite likely that your existing audio files are in one of these formats, probably WMA if you've been using Windows Media Player to rip your CDs. If you've purchased your music, it'll be in WMA DRM, that is, a version of the WMA format that includes digital rights management (so you can't just email a copy of the audio file to your pals once you've purchased and downloaded it). Those can play on the Creative Zen too, fortunately.

To actually hook up your Creative Zen MP3 player to your computer, you'll need the included USB cable, which should connect as shown in this spiffo Creative illustration:

Creative Zen MP3 Player: USB connection

Once you've hooked it up, the Zen unit should automatically go into USB connection mode (wouldn't be very zen-like if it didn't!) and then you should be able to find the device by opening up My Computer on your desktop.

When you really dig into the Zen user's guides, you'll find that they recommend Creative Media Explorer for transfering audio files: just click on the "Import Media" button in the application, find the MP3, WAV or WMA files already on your computer, and it should be darn easy to then copy them onto the player.

That should get you going. If you find that your audio files are in a format other than MP3, WMA or WAV, you might need to check out my audio conversion tips. Otherwise, this should get you going!

Good luck.



Help others find this article at Del.icio.us, Digg, Netscape, Reddit, and Simpy.
Still Have Sony PSP Questions?
Looking for all your Sony PSP answers in one place, organized as a convenient quick reference work? Then you need Dave's Everything Guide to the Sony PSP, a 150-page ebook ready for you to download right now!
buy now!

Subscribe!

Never miss another useful Q&A article again! Subscribe to AskDaveTaylor with Google Reader.

Comments

Hey Dave,

I'm wondering if it's possible to upload music from my creative zen 20GB mp3 player to my new PC which doesn't have my old library on it. I understand it will void my warranty but I don't care about that.

Thanks bud

Posted by: sam grover at May 12, 2006 9:39 PM

I like it

Posted by: Rahul at August 21, 2006 5:06 AM

I have crative media soource to make mp3's on my pc. My problem is this. When i copy stuff from the lplay list to the burn list creative puts it in alphabetical order. For a regular burn it stays in the order I move them over in but switch to mp3 and wham-o it goes alphabetical. I put different sections in separate files and it alphbetizes the files and then the songs to. Would you know how I can control the burning to the new disc order?

Thanks Peter

Posted by: Peter at November 3, 2006 12:46 PM

Dave, Help!

When I try to download wma files to my Creative Zen the Zen Vision:M Series Media Explorer returns an "unknown error." The music was purchased from Napster and downloaded to my computer. What do I do now?

Posted by: kendra at December 27, 2006 5:22 PM

I Have A Mac So Im Wondering How To Do That From A Mac?

Posted by: Julian at January 21, 2007 8:24 PM

my zen vision M will not do nothing the batteray is red that means dead so what should i do it wont turn off or nothing!!!!!!!!! HELP!

Posted by: zach at January 23, 2007 2:22 PM

Hey dave I have a problem my computer doesn't recognizes the zen vision m...I connected the zen through the usb and put it to charge over night... but it didn't charge at all.. When I try turnin it on the little blue light flicks but the zen doesn't turn on... can you help??

Posted by: raquel at March 4, 2007 7:45 AM

I need the driver for CREATIVE ZEN V for windows 2000 becuase the cd-rom of the zen is for windows xp and I cann“t to use it in me windows 2000

Anybody know where can install in windows 2000 ?

Posted by: victor at March 7, 2007 4:11 PM

I have a the creative zen xtra , I've installed the disk that came with it but the media source organizer wont come up

Posted by: Connie at March 10, 2007 12:54 PM

How to connect my Mac with Zen Nano PLus!
or my Cen Nano to Mac...

Posted by: d at March 13, 2007 8:51 AM

where can I get the driver for Creative Zen V. I have Windows XP Professional.
plis advise

Posted by: asena at March 21, 2007 2:24 PM

Recently bought a mac. Wanted to transfer my music files from my creative Zen Micro to my macbook. And save up until i get an ipod. Is there a way to do this? Im not really good with computers. Maybe a step by step tutorial will help. Thanks

Posted by: jm1979 at March 25, 2007 10:13 PM

yes i have a question.. i can not get it to download anything onto the mp3 player,, what am i doing wrong???

Posted by: lesley at April 11, 2007 8:03 AM

Hi raquel ..were u able to find the solution. I am facing exactly the same problem as u faced..
"I have a problem my computer doesn't recognizes the zen vision m...I connected the zen through the usb and put it to charge over night... but it didn't charge at all.. When I try turnin it on the little blue light flicks but the zen doesn't turn on... can you help??"
All,
Do you have a solution?

Posted by: Ashish at April 13, 2007 9:34 PM

I threw my usb cable away by mistake and now i can't download any songs and i have been listening to the same song for 4 months now....where can i buy a ne one?

Posted by: Ashley at April 23, 2007 9:57 AM

how do i make my mac compatible with my creative zen?

Posted by: caz at April 24, 2007 7:39 AM

heeeeeeeeeeelp i have a lap top and i dont know if it works on 'em

Posted by: Elisabeth at May 4, 2007 1:37 PM

Hello Raquel and Ashish..... I have THE SAME problem: "I have a problem my computer doesn't recognizes the zen vision m...I connected the zen through the usb and put it to charge over night... but it didn't charge at all.. When I try turnin it on the little blue light flicks but the zen doesn't turn on... can you help??"
ALL, please we need help on this!

Posted by: Edgar at May 7, 2007 1:09 PM

why cant my compputer fined the creative zen v software or file.. everytime i connect the usb to my creative mp3 is says i have to unstill it so i did.. but i says that it can't reconized or find the file... how am i supose to put songs on the mp3 noww???!?!?! please answer this!!!1

Posted by: LAMAR at May 9, 2007 3:18 PM

I see that people here are also having problems with configuring their macbooks with the creative zen m. I have no idea how to do it and was wondering if anyone in the same situation would like to talk about things they've tried. Please help!

Posted by: Bamba at May 14, 2007 11:00 AM

get the zen v plus driver / cd here http://xxmycreativexx.blogspot.com/2007/05/creative-zen-v-plus-installation-cd.html

Posted by: ylloh at May 17, 2007 8:35 AM

hey, i'm trying to find good FREE sites to purchuse my zen music from, but i can't find any good free music sites to download music from.
Also i would like sites with the new top 40 music whats like just been released a week or so ago!!!

Posted by: Zoe at May 19, 2007 10:05 AM

i don't have the installation cd anymore to install my zen to my computer, can i download the same material anywhere for free?

Posted by: sarah at May 31, 2007 8:05 PM

Definitely. Go to the Creative Labs site and pop into the download area:

http://www.creative.com/language.asp?sDestUrl=/support/downloads

Posted by: Dave Taylor at May 31, 2007 8:36 PM

When I try to download wma files to my Creative Zen the Zen Vision:M Series Media Explorer returns an "unknown error." I saw that someone else had this problem. Any ideas?

Posted by: Trevor at May 31, 2007 10:26 PM

ihave a mp3 player,i've tried everythig to download on to it on my laptop. can u help lps urgent

Posted by: may at June 30, 2007 9:00 AM

When I try to download music on my creative Zen while the USB cable is connected to the computer it will be at 100 percent downloaded and there will be no song that i had downloaded. The site I tried to download music on is limewire. Thanks

Posted by: Jesse at July 7, 2007 11:40 PM

i don't have the installation cd anymore to install my zen to my computer, can i download the same material anywhere for free
thanks alot.

Posted by: chris at July 10, 2007 6:43 PM

to anyone having trouble with their creative zen on a mac: download XNJB. It should detect your player

Posted by: aalok at July 22, 2007 10:10 PM

How do you download free music to the mp3 zen player. My friend can do it without paying.
Help

Posted by: Van at July 29, 2007 6:50 PM

ive bought a second hand zen vplus but cant download tunes i have jukebox but it freezes the computer help what do i do???thanks dave.

Posted by: john at August 11, 2007 9:48 AM

to "raquel":

hold down the side button for 2 seconds or so, if you just slide it down once, blue light will just light once.

that worked for me...

Posted by: Jason at August 22, 2007 6:09 AM

i was wondering if you can help me.
i am trying to add songs to my playlist, but it keeps adding all the songs. when i have now playing it doesnt show 1/1 but rather 1/283 or 1/64. can you help me?
thank you

Posted by: fay at September 3, 2007 8:51 AM

I've lost the installation cd and when i managed to download the creative mediasource from the web it wrote : Setup is unable to detect a supported product on your system. What should i do?

Posted by: Asd at September 7, 2007 12:06 PM

hello, I have the same problem as Victor - I bought a Creative Zen Vision M 60gb and I can't use it under my windows 2000 because the cd-rom is for win xp. do you know where i can find drivers for win 2000/NT ?

Posted by: kacper at September 11, 2007 10:23 AM

i just got a brand new mp3 player but i don't no how to download music on it can u help me plz

Posted by: marlona at September 26, 2007 1:00 PM

hi dave
i have a apple mac laptop
and the cd wont upload onto the mac
does the zen mp3 upload onto macs??
thanx

Posted by: robin clark at September 26, 2007 4:22 PM

Im very dissopinted in getting the zenv. I have had the zenv for almost two years, and I still don't know how to download music from the internet onto my mp3 player. I have been patient for a long time I could cry. I would appriciate it if you would email me some websites on how to do so, and that would make me so happy I will by products from you all the time, thank you for your time.(if you were listening).

Posted by: kendra at October 9, 2007 7:29 PM

Dave please help me! I have bought a Creative Zen (the latest one) and it uploaded fine on my desktop - but when I try to upload any music onto it, it says unknown error.... Please tell me how to find out whats going so I can get it working properly. Thank you!

Posted by: Catherine-Anne at November 12, 2007 2:15 PM

i always have my friends load my mp3 plyer. i think i'm ready to do it myself. ihave a sansdisk mp3 player(2 gb)

Posted by: bonnie at November 24, 2007 5:35 PM

i just got the creative zen v plus. i have windows 2000 so the software won't install. can i just plug it in and use it as a removable hardrive or do i need to install something.

Posted by: wollypongo2 at November 29, 2007 6:10 PM

Hi i just got the zen 4 gb and im tyring to download songs on to it ive made a mistake and downloaded the wrong song how do i delete song from my zen? please reply asap. Thanks

Posted by: Lauren at December 25, 2007 1:56 PM

HOW do i download music in my mp3 help please

Posted by: moris at December 29, 2007 12:33 PM

Help! In the media explorer window, it says that my device is not connected. But it really is. What do I do? I really want to put new music on it.

Posted by: Anna at December 30, 2007 10:57 AM

Dave, how do i download songs in my zen v creative when i dont have any songs already in my computer or any c-ds

Posted by: neha at December 31, 2007 4:33 AM

i know how to put music on now but what about videos? And where do you get the videos to put on?

Beth

Posted by: Beth at January 20, 2008 9:43 AM

Dave, if I had a new mp3 player how do I download music into it?

Posted by: Helen at February 9, 2008 1:42 PM

how do i download music in my MP3 Player? HELP ME!

Posted by: margarita at February 24, 2008 11:04 AM

when i plug my creative zen v on the computer it dosnt work why

Posted by: keny at February 29, 2008 11:37 AM

I've lost the installation cd and when i managed to download the creative mediasource from the web it wrote : Setup is unable to detect a supported product on your system. What should i do?

Posted by: son tran at March 17, 2008 3:48 PM

I charged my creative zen last night and this morrning it wouldnt turn on. What do I do?

Posted by: Rahel at March 22, 2008 9:02 AM

I have successfully downloaded 22 out of 23 tracks of the 1st cd of a book. It uploaded into the computer and transferred to My Zen. How can I get that last track from the cd onto the Zen? When I try it just goes into the computer files. Maybe I should erase it and try again.

Posted by: Rebecca at March 27, 2008 2:16 PM

How do you deleate songs off the creative zen mp3 player? i have deleated songs out of my computer permanently just to try to get them out of my player

Posted by: Mia at March 31, 2008 1:47 PM

DUDE CAN ANYONE TELL ME WHATS WRONG WITH MY MP3 PLAYER?!?! ok so i got my music and picture and all of that but how the hell do i put videos on it?? ive tryed compressed and uncompress AVI. files and the convertion that it says you have to do and neither work ive try everything(the mp3 player is ZEN)

Posted by: Jonny at April 17, 2008 7:04 PM

I have an old creative zen (big chunky white model).
I have software on my pc and connect my player up via the usb.
I now want to copy all my mp3 player to my computer
1. in case anything happens to my mp3 player
2. as I am looking at getting new mp3 player and want all my songs to transfer onto my new player

When I connect up, it recognises the player and I am able to view all the tracks on my mp3 player.
I then try to drag on drop all songs/drag and drop some somes/use the import/export wizard but all seem to fail??
It starts copying a few songs then comes up with an error saying Transfer Error "Unable to read File. File maybe in use, missing or corrupted". This happens for different files, but if I try again, this file works and another fails.

I have tried over and over again... after about 100 tries it works and copies, but since the last time I've had my pc rebuilt.

Can you please help me ?

Many thanks

Posted by: Messy at April 18, 2008 2:49 AM

i have lost my zen creative installation cd.how can i get it

Posted by: wzizy at May 11, 2008 10:27 AM

I have a lot to say, but ...
Starbucks coffee cup I have a lot to say, and questions of my own for that matter, but most of all I'd like to say thank you for all your efforts on this Web site by buying you a chai!

I do have a comment, now that you mention it!









Remember personal info?


Please note that I will never send you any unsolicited commercial email. Ever.

While I'm at it, please note that by submitting a question or comment you're agreeing to my terms of service, which are: you relinquish any subsequent rights of ownership to your material by submitting it on this site.









Search
Find just the answers you seek from among our 1700+ free tech support articles by using our Lijit search engine.


Help!





Subscribe to
Ask Dave Taylor!

Add to Google Reader
Add to My Yahoo!
Subscribe in NewsGator Online

RDF   XML

Free Updates!
Sign up and get free weekly updates and special offers on books, seminars, workshops and more.


Recent Entries
Join the List!
Join my author info mailing list, where you'll learn about my upcoming books, speaking gigs, and more!


Book Links
© 2002 - 2008 by Dave Taylor. All Rights Reserved.

Note: This web site is for the purpose of disseminating information for educational purposes, free of charge, for the benefit of all visitors. We take great care to provide quality information. However, we do not guarantee, and accept no legal liability whatsoever arising from or connected to, the accuracy, reliability, currency or completeness of any material contained on this web site or on any linked site.

[whiteboard marker tray]