mp3-player, creative, play-order, zen-mozaic-ez300How can I externally control MP3 file play order for a Creative ZEN Mozaic EZ300 MP3 player?
By externally I mean one or more of:
setting file and/or folder time stamps (say, modification date or creation date) such that the time stamp order is the required play order
renaming files/folders such that the alphabetical order is the required play order
constructing special files that define the play order.
Is this possible?
I have extensively tried the renaming and time stamping strategy, but with no success. Perhaps I have overlooked something.
I have had the same problem with earlier generations of MP3 players from Creative. But at least on the Creative Zen Stone there was a small button to jump to the next folder (it made this problem bearable). EZ300 does not even have this option (as far as I can tell).
Yes, it is possible using a special file that defines the play order.
It turned out to be deceptively simple.
It can be done with playlists. Creative ZEN Mozaic EZ300 supports M3U playlist files (file extension .m3u). If an M3U file with the right content is copied to folder "Playlist" on the ZEN Mosaic then the MP3 files can be played in the desired order.
A complication is that ZEN Mozaic EZ300 requires 8.3 DOS file names in the M3U file. E.g. the file HerdingCode-0090-Sara-Chipps-on-GirlDevelopIt-and-Girls-Developing-Software.mp3 must be listed as e.g. HERDIN~1.MP3.
Software exists to automate this process, but I describe the manual process below. It also a way to demonstrate what such software does.
Example:
1. The files
ZEN Mozaic EZ300 is connected through USB to a Windows computer, drive G:. There are 6 files in folder G:\Podcasts\temp102:
dotnetrocks_0583_jay_schmelzer.mp3
grammar058-however_StartingA_SentenceWithHowever.mp3
harddisken_2010-08-11.mp3
HerdingCode-0090-Sara-Chipps-on-GirlDevelopIt-and-Girls-Developing-Software.mp3
sn0261.mp3
twig0055.mp3
2. The filename transformation
Find 8.3 names for long file names using a Windows command-line window (Win + R + cmd + Enter):
G:
cd G:\Podcasts\temp102
dir /X
Output is (edited for clarity):
DOTNET~1.MP3 dotnetrocks_0583_jay_schmelzer.mp3
GRAMMA~1.MP3 grammar058-however_StartingA_SentenceWithHowever.mp3
HARDDI~1.MP3 harddisken_2010-08-11.mp3
HERDIN~1.MP3 HerdingCode-0090-Sara-Chipps-on-GirlDevelopIt-and-Girls-Developing-Software.mp3
sn0261.mp3
twig0055.mp3
The alternative to finding 8.3 names is to rename the files.
3. Create the playlist file
Create an empty text file in G:\Playlist and rename it to TechPodcasts1431.m3u. Open it in Notepad (or your favourite text editor) and add:
\PODCASTS\TEMP102\DOTNET~1.MP3
\PODCASTS\TEMP102\GRAMMA~1.MP3
\PODCASTS\TEMP102\HARDDI~1.MP3
\PODCASTS\TEMP102\HERDIN~1.MP3
\PODCASTS\TEMP102\sn0261.mp3
\PODCASTS\TEMP102\twig0055.mp3
There should be a empty line after the last file (twig0055.mp3). I emperically established that the file will not turn up in the playlist if it is left out.
This playlist file will result in a playlist named "TechPodcasts1431".
4. Play
Unmount the ZEN Mosaic and turn it on.
Do:
menu Music/Playlists/<select TechPodcasts1431>/open/select the first/open/Play
With most "simple" players that use the FAT filesystem, they just play in the order the files are in the root directory list. As changing a file will not change the place of the file in there (assuming the name does not get longer in case of vfat), and deleting a file will make a new space where the next file might be stored, the easiest way usually is to create a completely new folder on the device (best with mkdir on the command line) and then use a batch file to move every file into that folder (one file per move command). The files will be played in that order afterwards. To re-order, rename the folder, create a new with the old name again and move the files back.
Can be automated quite well (just leave the batch script on the device).
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