Hi,
I have Media Center 11.0.316 (registered), and recently got myself a Creative Zen Micro. The player has firmware 2.20.05. When I connected it to the PC (with MC running), MC recognized it without incident. I then created a playlist with most of my favorite songs. But after synchronizing this playlist with the Zen, I noticed a few odd issues in MC:
1) When I click on the Zen Micro in the navigation tree on the left of MC, I see the songs on the device listed on the right, as expected. However, under the "Filename" column, I'm seeing insanely long filenames, such as:
Rolling Stones\Lisa Lisa & Cult Jam\Sade\Mariah Carey Featuring Boyz II Men\Mariah Carey And Whitney Houston\Culture Club\Loreena McKennitt\Barenaked Ladies\Whitney Houston\Bryan Adams And Sting And Rod Stewart\Kitaro\Fine Young Cannibals\Lisa Loeb\Loreena McKennitt\Tag Team\3rd Force\Backstreet Boys\Eric Clapton\Mannheim Steamroller - Chip Davis\Buggles\Windham Hill Artists\Abba\Information Society\Roy Orbison\Melissa Etheridge\Tone Loc\Leann Rimes\Will Smith\Beach Boys\Survivor\Paula Abdul\Bon Jovi\Barry Manilow\Mary Jane Girls\The Bangles\Natalie Cole And Nat King Cole\Enya\Loreena McKennitt\Enigma & Deep Forest\2 Unlimited\Paul Simon\Scandal\Shawn Colvin\Top Gun\Joe Cocker And Jennifer Warnes\Bryan Adams\Yello\Alison Krauss\B-52's\Aerosmith\Michael Jackson\Blondie\Mannheim Steamroller\Asia\Loreena McKennitt\Escape Club\Justin Timberlake And Britney Spears\Eurythmics\The Tompson Twins\Cyndi Lauper\Shedaisy's\Huey Lewis And The News\Chris De Burgh\Bananarama\Bonnie Tyler\Linda Ronstadt And James Ingram\Technotronic\John Williams\Berlin\Jim Brickman\Joe Cocker\Haddaway\Joan Jett\Bryan Adams & Barbara Streisand\Sacred Spirits\Martina Mcbride\Alanis Morissette\Celine Dion & Harry Konnick Jr\Eric Carmen\Blessed Union Of Souls\Olivia Newton John\A Ha\The Belle Stars\Prince\Starship\Bobby Mcferrin\Cathy Dennis\Sarah Mclachlan\Celine Dion\Robert Palmer\Loreena McKennitt\Faith Hill With Vince Gill\Adiemus\Pearl Jam\Dead Or Alive\Bruce Springsteen\R.E.M.\Savage Garden\All 4 One\Sheryl Crow\Jennifer Lopez\Tina Turner\Queen\Elton John\Kylie Minogue\Scatman John\Baltimora\National Lampoon's Vacation\Enigma\Abc\Sophie B. Hawkins\Bonnie Raitt\Righteous Brothers\Hootie And The Blowfish\Faith Hill\Yanni\Brandy\Toto\Martin Page\Pat Benatar\Michael Bolton\The Lion King\Heart\Steppenwolf\Foreigner\C+C Music Factory\N'sync\Kenny Loggins\Scorpions\Don Mclean\Richard Mark\Rod Stewart\Air Supply\Air Supply - Even The Nights Are Better.mp3
Notice how only the very last part contains the actual filename. Why are filenames being displayed this way? In the Zen's user interface, there is no hint of this behavior.
2) In the navigation tree on the left, I see entries under "Creative Zen Micro" for "Music", "My Organizer", "My Playlists", and "My Recordings", as might be expected. However, I ALSO see folder entries for a few albums by a certain artist, when they ought to be listed as subfolders under the artist's name within the "Music" folder. What's more, this same artist is listed multiple times (same spelling and all) within the "Music" folder, each instance containing the same set of songs and albums. Furthermore, one album appears TWICE (same spelling) under each instance of the artist's name, and does not have ANY songs listed, despite their presence on the Zen!
I double-checked, and the artist's songs were not duplicated within the original MC playlist when I sync'ed it to the Zen. The artist's songs don't appear to be duplicated on the player itself, either. As far as I can tell, the songs are not corrupted, play okay in both MC and on the Zen, and have proper tags for artist, title, and album (where known, a couple of songs have a blank album field). The Zen's internal organization by artist, album, and title appears correct.
What could be causing this???
Just as a lark, I tried deleting the artist (including all songs and albums, even duplicates) from the Zen using Media Center, then dragging-and-dropping them again from my library. I wound up with a DIFFERENT set of albums in MC's "Creative Zen Micro" root folder, and a different number of duplicate entries for the artist under "Music".
Wierd...