Technology Rant

I'm miffed about mp3 players, Windows XP, Dell, Overdrive downloadable books, and the folks at Creative.

Our Samsung player died while we were on vacation. We were in our tent at the campsite one evening, listening to a downloaded recorded book, when the player died in the middle of a crucial scene. Even the Geek Squad at Best Buy couldn't resuscitate it. So when we got home, I set out to buy a replacement. Only a few models are guaranteed to play secure WMA files (i.e., as verified by Overdrive or whomever). I learned this to my dismay a few years ago when I purchased a player that supposedly played WMA DRM files, but didn't play downloaded recorded books. I had to return that player and by the Samsung.

Anyway, none of the "guaranteed" models were available at local stores, so I ordered the reasonably priced ($50) Creative Zen Nano Plus from J & R Electronics' online store. (How can Creative and Apple both have players named Nano? It's all about bad blood over patent infringement.) I received the player, plugged it in to my laptop at home and...it didn't work. The computer recognized the device, but didn't assign a drive letter. Since the Nano Plus is actually a modified flash drive, the computer should see it as a removable drive. I tried the device on my desktop PC and still it didn't work. I called Creative. They gave me two things to try: assigning a drive letter manually (couldn't get there because the device was hung up in limbo and actually kept freezing the computer... Couldn't shut down or boot up with the device attached, let alone assign a drive letter.) and altering something in the registry. Both failed. Then they told me the device was defective. I returned the player to J & R, who sent a new one. It also had the same problem, suggesting that it wasn't a faulty device, but something in the communication between the device and my computers (yes, both of them). After 5 more hours on the phone with Creative and attempting their recommended fixes, the problem still remained. Their technical expert said: "Maybe it's voodoo or something, but maybe this device is damaged too." He suggested I try it on a third computer, this time at work. I did and...it worked fine on our HPs at work. So I've narrowed it down to my specific computers at home (a Dell Inspiron 6000 and a Dell Dimensions 3000). I searched the web for fixes, but all the advice was the same as the unsuccessful advice given to me by Creative, the Dell website, and the Microsoft website.

This is not an isolated incident. My web search suggested that many people are having the exact same problem with this device. Others say they love it and it works fine. It's a maddening feature of the tech world--too little standardization. Remember when you bought a TV, turned it on, select a channel and sat down to watch--and that was it? (No, not that far back, when you'd have to get up repeatedly to fix the vertical hold.)