Sorting songs as you go, playlists, DJ

[FishDK]

Hello everybody

I am very happy with my Zen as sound goes, but the software is kinda eh. I don't really do synch software - I'm more of a drag and drop person and my mp3 collection is horribly messy. I don't rename songs and I have no idea what albums or artist my songs are from and I like to have big chunks of new music where I discover the ONE good song that I will love for the rest of my life, which leads to me wanting to sort songs in an "on-the-fly" way, which also leads to these problems I have described below.

- Is it possible to search a song by the number the Zen gave it. Lets say I noticed that song 1298 was good but don't remember the name. Can I do a search on that?

- Is it possible to create a playlist as you go? Meaning discovering a song you would like to add to a playlist. I tried to make a playlist by selecting a song, then another song by overwriting the playlist, but I ended up with every song on the Zen on the playlist. An "add to playlist" feature would be nice...

- Is there any way at all to expand the 20 song limit on the DJ favorite? Is there anyway to tell it only to include say, only 3 star rated songs or only 5 star rated songs?

I also have some issues with the word search feature, but I know it's because many of the songs I have are not tagged right, so that's mainly my fault.

Thanks.

[BobbyRS]

Originally Posted by FishDK

Hello everybody

Hello.

Originally Posted by FishDK

- Is it possible to search a song by the number the Zen gave it. Lets say I noticed that song 1298 was good but don't remember the name. Can I do a search on that?

You NEED to have the ID3 tags correctly filled in.

From the Zen FAQ:

Why can’t I view my audio folders and files?

The Zen supports being an MTP (Message Transfer Protocol) device. The Zen does not support being an MSC (Mass Storage Class)/UMS (Universal Mass Storage) device for its internal flash based memory storage. This means, for music files, it organizes by ID3 Tags and not by files/folders.

However, the Zen does support being a UMS device when enabled as a Removable Disk from the Memory Card menu for the SD card. Enabling this will allow the Zen to be connected to the UMS supported USB ports on car stereos and play songs stored on the SD card. (Big thanks to Kevo777 on this!)

What's the difference between an MTP and a MSC/UMS device? See here.

For more information on UMS/MSC.

For more information on MTP.

For more information on ID3 Tags and here.

How do I get my ID3 Tags tagged correctly?

You have to use a ID3 Tag editing program. This can be done using many different programs. I prefer using MP3Tag for editing all my MP3 files. WMP11 is also good at editing ID3 Tags.

See Tagging FAQ here.

Originally Posted by FishDK

- Is it possible to create a playlist as you go? Meaning discovering a song you would like to add to a playlist. I tried to make a playlist by selecting a song, then another song by overwriting the playlist, but I ended up with every song on the Zen on the playlist. An "add to playlist" feature would be nice...

Again, from the Zen FAQ:

How do you add to and take advantage of the Zen's OTG (On-The-Go) Playlists?

1. Begin playback of an existing Playlist.
2. Then navigate to the song you want to add to that playlist.
3. Use the context menu option and select "Add To Selected".
(This will add the track to the end of the Now Playing list)
4. Navigate back to the Now Playing list and enter through the current song playing (3 clicks) until you get to the Selected Music list.
(From there you should see the tracks included in the current playlist, including the song you added at the end)
5. Use the context menu option again and select "Save As Playlist".
6. Type in either a new Playlist name or the same name of an existing Playlist title.
7. If you want it to be the same, after you type in the same title, it will ask if you want to overwrite the current playlist with the same name; Select Yes.
8. Then if you navigate to the Playlists section again and look at the Playlist now, you should see the new song added.

Originally Posted by FishDK

-- Is there any way at all to expand the 20 song limit on the DJ favorite? Is there anyway to tell it only to include say, only 3 star rated songs or only 5 star rated songs?

Not that I'm aware of. However, I have never really used it.