I've helped many on the EpiZENter.net forums, and the majority of them need some help on converting videos for the Creative Zen series. So, here I'll tell you how to convert pretty much any video for the Zen, Zen Vision:M and Vision:W using the totally free Any Video Converter. It can also download and convert YouTube/Google Video videos on the fly. Any Video Converter can be most easily found on Download.com. Install this program first.
All of the settings that you will mess with are on the right side of the program.

• First, change the settings for your type of player:

• These are the settings of which you will need to change for the Zen (any size):Change the profile to Customized AVI mode and change the settings to the following:

• For the Zen Vision:M and Vision:W, the only change is the Video Size. For the Vision:M, change to 640x480 if you plan to ever use it to output to TV, if not just leave at 320x240. The Vision:W is a tricky little bugger, since it's widescreen and the odds that the video you are converting is not is high, I would just advise that the video size be kept at "Original".

• The rest seems kinda duh, but here's some info just in case: You'll need to add your videos to the queue by clicking the Add Video button, then adding the files through Windows Explorer. To add a whole folder, go to File then Batch Add Video Files and navigate through the files.
• For YouTube, Any Video Converter is extremely easy. Click the "YouTube" button on the top bar, then copy and paste the URL (www.youtube.com/watch?v=something) into the converter. If you want to add a few videos at a time, then click the folder-looking image right above the URL insertation box. By adding these, it will automatically convert to the current settings. Once you click "OK" and the box is dismissed, the files should show up in red in the main window.
• If you're converting the videos that YouTube requires you to login (mature videos), you'll need to change the options. In the leftmost pane at the bottom, there should be a button for "Output Folder" and "Options". Click options, then navigate to the Online Video tab in that menu. There you'll need to verify your YouTube credentials. Also in that tab, keep both of the options (HTML to Name and System Internal Cache) checked.
  
• Once you've done this, all the files that you need are in the list and queued up and should be checked. Click encode, then wait for the program to convert.

The transfer to the player is simple: Copy and Paste. The trick is finding where the outputted files are. In that left pane aforementioned, click the "Output Folder" and the program will open up a Windows Explorer box with all the converted files inside. Once there, if you have used the CD to install the Zen software, then all you'll need to do is right click then Copy to Zen, then Media Library. If you haven't, either install it by downloading the CD using the link or by doing the hard way and Cut/Paste to the device in My Computer.
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Labels: Any Video Converter, Creative Zen, download.com, Zen, Zen Converter, Zen Vision:M, Zen Vision:M Converter, Zen Vision:W, Zen Vision:W Converter, ZVM, ZVW