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Zen Vision:M firmware w/ Audible support
comment: 27 | Wednesday, May 24 (2006) 07:18AM | Posted by Lone
As reported by the Zen Masters at epiZENter.net, Creative Labs has released new firmware for its flagship Zen Vision:M, adding support for Audible.com audio content. They have had similiar releases in the past for older players like the Zen Micro and Zen Sleek.


Version 1.40.02

Added Features or Enhancements:

  • Supports the playback of Audible Type 2 and 4 tracks.
    Important: to transfer Audible content, you must have AudibleManager® version 5 or later installed. AudibleManager allows you to download, burn, organize, transfer and hear Audible audio content. Download AudibleManager from Audible.com/software.

Fixes:

  • Ensures proper playback of picture and audio files during a slideshow.
  • Ensures that subscription and purchased audio files can resume playing when you turn your player on after a prolonged period of time.

Unpublished fixes:

-Clock now appears in the Now Playing Screen
-Distortion problems with Bass Boost have been remedied

Download

Comments

mrxiro

Comments: 2
May 24 (2006) 10:39AM  

Cool that they upgraded firmware... but this upgrade means nothing to me... They need the fix the long file bug that no else has caught onto yet.

I record the Howard Stern Show every day (5.5 hours) and then listen to the show throughout the day on my ZVM. Sometimes when I shut down the player, it'll resume the wrong show. It's an odd bug. Irritating though if I'm listening in the car and then stop to go the gym or something and come back to the middle of a previous show. Might have something to do with book marks




Utew
Location: Oregon USA
Comments: 351
May 24 (2006) 01:39PM  

Ok, audible is nice.. but could this have possibly been any more trivial of an update?

Creative needs to take a long hard look at Cowon.. and get with the program.... that program being, what the customers want.... at present..they aren't meeting needs on the software front.




Michael
Location: New York City
Comments: 2802
May 24 (2006) 01:47PM  

Telling Creative to look at Cowon is like telling Apple to do the same. They're in a different league from Cowon in terms of the types of products and customers they are after. Utew you should be aware of that. Cowon has more of an "Underground" feel to them which is why they even helped Rockbox out directly. Creative, like Apple care soley about the prototypical customer. Not the minority of us who want/need FLAC, UMS, Gapless etc... There's simply more profit in doing things this way then wasting money with engineering just to satisfy a few thousand people.





Dominic
Location: Ireland.
Comments: 2408
May 24 (2006) 02:11PM  

ssj, i cannot remember but does mediasource automatically alert you when a new firmware is available?




Michael
Location: New York City
Comments: 2802
May 24 (2006) 02:17PM  

There's some other sync manager thing I believe that will notify you. I'm not sure. I don't use either.




Utew
Location: Oregon USA
Comments: 351
May 24 (2006) 02:32PM  

Michael, I appreciate your comments.. however I was referring to making sure that their software updates and firmware revisions.. solve already existing problems.. perhaps I was not clear on that.

Adding features is secondary... though IMO adding AC3 support (for example) is less a "feature".. than it is just good business sense..

In any case, fix the issues that cause bad publicity first.. this to me, does not seem like an un-reasonable request.. no matter how large of a market share, the company we are discussing..

EDIT: Not to mention the fact that Creative IS competing on features.. which makes the ZVM a more desirable device than say an iPod.. and that takes engineering expertise to manage a more complex device.. so why not make it work the very best.. features.. are.. their competitive advantage...

.
[ edited May 24 (2006) 02:37PM ]




Michael
Location: New York City
Comments: 2802
May 24 (2006) 02:36PM  

I'm sure they did fix some problems. For instance the time is now shown on the Now Playing screen. This was not mentioned in their release notes. It is possible that there are other unmentioned fixes.




Utew
Location: Oregon USA
Comments: 351
May 24 (2006) 02:40PM  

True enough.. I have not played with my ZVM post firmware update, long enough.. to notice anything but surface changes.. the clock.. and the "Purchase this" addition in the right context menu during mp3 playback.. but you may well be correct.. changes not enumerated in the release notes...
[ edited May 24 (2006) 02:41PM ]




Who ME

Comments: 41
May 24 (2006) 02:45PM  

Do you have to back-up your ZV:M before updating the firmware?

I know with my Zen Micro they recommended it sometimes and not others.

Utew? SSJ?

Thanks in advance!




Michael
Location: New York City
Comments: 2802
May 24 (2006) 02:46PM  

Nope you don't really have to. They most likely give that as a saftey warning in case something happens, but nothing will be lost in a sucessful fw upgrade.




Utew
Location: Oregon USA
Comments: 351
May 24 (2006) 02:52PM  

..and just to add... to ssj... updating the firmware couldn't be any easier..




Allen
Location: Dub Vee Ooo
Comments: 1511
May 24 (2006) 03:53PM  

Woot... now for gapless, et cetera




Design Fabulous

Comments: 1038
May 24 (2006) 04:04PM  

All that gapless and crap was a lie then.




zip22

Comments: 1818
May 24 (2006) 04:09PM  

whys that? just because it may have been in an experimental firmware doesnt mean it would ever be implimented, much less that it would have to show up in the next firmware release.




Michael
Location: New York City
Comments: 2802
May 24 (2006) 04:39PM  

Exactly. I don't think I ever expected it to be an official release. If it were not fake it would only be something that an engineer did as a side project.




3284lmm
Location: Pittsburgh, PA
Comments: 358
May 24 (2006) 04:49PM  

Awsome, i'll check it out when I get home from work...




Robert Sinke

Comments: 1221
May 24 (2006) 05:57PM  

I dl'ed the firmware.

All I need now is a ZV:M.




Dominic
Location: Ireland.
Comments: 2408
May 24 (2006) 06:05PM  

Click Your Heels Together Three Times and Repeat After Me
"theres nothing like a Zen Vision:M in my hands, theres nothing like a Zen Vision:M in my hands, theres nothing like a Zen Vision:M in my hands, theres nothing like a Zen Vision:M in my hands"




ilh

Comments: 168
May 24 (2006) 10:47PM  

Yay for the clock being fixed. That's always annoyed me.

".. and the "Purchase this" addition in the right context menu during mp3 playback.."

Hasn't that always been there?




Michael
Location: New York City
Comments: 2802
May 24 (2006) 11:08PM  

yes it has




Utew
Location: Oregon USA
Comments: 351
May 24 (2006) 11:31PM  

oops.. my bad... guess I had been ignoring the "purchase" thing...




akasan

Comments: 6
May 25 (2006) 04:18AM  

most important thing about this is the removal of distortion w/bass boost. Seems like there were some other minor sound enhancements as well




rhymesgalore

Comments: 14
May 25 (2006) 05:05AM  

"There's simply more profit in doing things this way then wasting money with engineering just to satisfy a few thousand people."

I absolutelly disagree with this. you make it sound as if adding gapless to the firmware requires a whole departement of highly trained specialists........
If they would actually do this, and could sell even just a few thousand items (although i think it would be more then just "a few thousand"), i'm pretty shure they'd still make a profit out of it. Just look at Rockbox. You don't need a magical wand to do things like this. just the will to do it...




LiQuiD_FuSioN

Comments: 117
May 25 (2006) 07:04AM  

Hating on a new firmware sounds a bit redundant.. doesn't it?




mysticalpha
Location: NY
Comments: 42
May 25 (2006) 07:04AM  

I don't play audible tracks but I do like that they fixed the clock to show on the now playing screen. That became annoying.




bean

Comments: 1
Jun 22 (2006) 12:50PM  

Adding gapless playback is non-trivial from an engineering point of view. It typically means you need to lead two instances of the decode engine at once and do a transition as opposed to "play a track" then "play the next track." that's why so many players can't do it.

That said, I wish they'd fix the following. I wonder if it's fixed here?

1. Resume the same track after prolonged power off (not just purchased/subscription tracks)
2. Occassionally tracks play with noise until restarted (1/100 times)
3. faster performance loading playlist of "all tracks" - happens when you are in shuffle all and accidentally tap the main scroll bar twice, a 1 minute lockup)




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