back to article How can I get a Creative Zen to work with a Mac?

I've just purchase a Creative Zen and found that the CD doesn't have Mac-compatible drivers, manual etc. What do I need to do to get the Zen to appear on the desktop? Creative ZEN MP3 player

COMMENTS

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  1. Tony Smith, Editor, Reg Hardware (Written by Reg staff)

    @Larry

    We'd recommend you check out Richard Low's excellent XNJB, here:

    http://www.wentnet.com/projects/xnjb/

    It's a Mac app desgned to talk to a range of USB-connected Creative music players, including - thanks to one of the code libraries it incorporates - the Zen.

  2. John Wards
    Stop

    XNJB no workie with Zen

    My boss has one of these Mac things and a Zen. I pointed him in the direction of this thread and he says...

    "That XNJB doesn't show any of the music on it, takes 2 minutes for every action and then freezes the Zen so you have to reset it. It's useless."

    Next?

  3. Jonathan Fingas
    Stop

    You can do it, but...

    As was suggested by Tony, there's software to do it. However...

    The truth is, you bought a player without bothering to check how well it'll work with a Mac, and one that doesn't really work at all without third-party software. Unless you somehow have a chronic aversion, I would think it smarter to get an iPod or (if you must be cross-platform) a Sony Walkman S600 or S700 series player. Those are fine players and at least work on the Mac through drag-and-drop without needing special apps.

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Paris Hilton

    Apple VS all other MP3 players

    i'm in the same boat as you. I moved from a PC to Mac just over a year ago after (what i thought at the time was) a lot of research. Like many, i was suckered into the "It just works" mindset without reading the small print that states "with Apple products".

    Anyway, I found XNJB to be slow and a bit of a headache so I haven't used it for almost a year. To properly load my old Zen Micro Photo i have to use my old XP system and WMP11 (i share an external drive between the 2 systems).

    I don't understand why Apple can't make iTunes work with other players like WMP11 does.

    Paris as she works very well with anything!

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Gates Horns

    Some Suggestions

    You might want to look for some Linux software that works with the Creative player. Some Linux software will work on the mac, due to OSX having an X window system (it comes pre-installed on Leopard 10.5, or you can install it from the installation disc from 10.4 and down) which is used on Linux systems, and Linux and OSX being based on the same basic concept of Unix the software can work cross platform.

    Otherwise, if there's no good OSX sotware on the planet, then you can always try VMware Fusion (or Parallels if you want more frustration) and run windows inside OSX so you can sill manage it without switching computers.

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Gates Horns

    Forgot to point out

    You might want to also check the Wine AppDB (here: http://appdb.winehq.org ) to see if the Creative software is supported. Wine works perfectly well on OS X, I use it myself, with programs such as Notepad++, to run some windows software on my mac without having to use Windows itself.

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