Easiest way to put my collection of CD's on my Creative Zen

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leafs

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I would like to copy my CD collection onto my Creative Zen. I wish to purchase a cheap laptop to do this. Any ideas?
 
You may not need a laptop to do this. The quote below is for the Creative Zen V and is from [broken link removed]

Line-in encoding
No computers necessary. Record music directly from your CD player or other playback source with the supplied line-in cable instantly, in a few simple steps.
Click to expand...

Other models may have the same feature.
 
Use Windows Media Player 11 -simple. You will have to load all your CD's onto the Laptop/P.C. first of course.
 
The only reasonable way to do this is to rip to MP3 using Creative's software or other software for the same job and then transfer to your player using Creative's MediaSource software. One way or another you'll need access to a PC to do this.
 
Brouhahaha said:
You may not need a laptop to do this. The quote below is for the Creative Zen V and is from [broken link removed]



Other models may have the same feature.
Click to expand...

You are referring to recording from the Line In. This is the technique used to record CDs into an Mini-Disc recorder.

It works, but there are some disadvantages:
  • Unless it's an optical (digital) input, there will be a loss in quality (as it will be analogue).
  • The player will have to "guess" at the track ends (based on 2 seconds of silence, typically) which is not always the case, so you sometimes get 2 or more songs imported as one and have to manually set track skip points, or else a short gap in a song could be mistaken as a new track point.
  • You will have to manually enter the CD name, artist info and track names - a pain in the neck unless there is a keyboard connector which is very unlikely.
  • There will be no way to load album artwork.
All in all, I would say you're much better off with a PC/laptop. The line-in should probably only be used if you have no other choice.
 
The Creative Zen V Plus has software that will allow you to rip the CD directly to the player without downloading it onto your pc. You still need the pc, but its handy if you don't have a lot of space left on your pc.
 
cinders said:
The Creative Zen V Plus has software that will allow you to rip the CD directly to the player without downloading it onto your pc. You still need the pc, but its handy if you don't have a lot of space left on your pc.
Click to expand...

Not so handy if you lose the Zen or it gets corrupt - no backup of the music on your PC.
 
Thanks for feedback. What kind of laptop requirements do i need to copy my CD's before transferring?
 
Practically any currently available laptop will do the job. Ideally one running Windows XP, which has been around for over five years now. Maybe try the [broken link removed]? I recently bought an Inspiron 1501 with a tiny scratch on it for just over €400, including delivery and a standard one-year warranty. As I look now, they've nothing available in the Irish eBay store, only on eBay.co.uk. You could also try directly on their own website, if you don't fancy waiting for an auction to come around...
 
Having done this for my CD collection (500+ CDs) a few years ago, I would recommend you download and install EAC and [broken link removed]. Then encode using the -preset standard for lame.

The EAC website has all the details on how to do this. I don't know what the Creative software is like but it should have no problem using the mp3's you've just created.

To use this the most basic of computers would do. An Dell outlet laptop would be a good option.

I would avoid the line-in option like the plague.
 
diarmuidc said:
Having done this for my CD collection (500+ CDs) a few years ago, I would recommend you download and install EAC and [broken link removed]. Then encode using the -preset standard for lame.
...
Click to expand...
Second this, EAC and lame give best results for compression vs. storage. Seems complicated initially but all the instructions are available on the website
 
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