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How to Get Your Creative ZEN Touch to Work in Windows Vista

Microsoft's new Vista operating system is a huge improvement over its buggy XP operating system. However, it can be infuriating when you discover that many pieces of your older equipment no longer work!

Case in point is the Creative ZEN Touch MP3 player. Unfortunately, if you install the Creative Jukebox software from the CD that came with it, you will find that Vista does not recognize the MP3 player.

To remedy that migraine-inducing situation, here is how to get your Creative Zen to work in Windows Vista. Instructions Difficulty: Moderate Things You'll Need Creative ZEN Touch MP3 player Computer with Windows Vista Creative MediaSource 5.10.38 Creative PlaysForSure Devices Plugin 5.00.36 Steps 1 Step One Your first step is to determine which version of Creative MediaSource you are trying to get to work. If it is a version prior to the 5.10.38 release, then Windows Vista will not recognize your Zen Touch MP3 player. 2 Step Two You can download a new version of Creative MediaSource by visiting the company's website at www.creative.com. You want to look for the file under the "support" tab and then under "download." 3 Step Three Fill out the relevant information to get to the download page for the Creative ZEN Touch. 4 Step Four Download the files titled "Creative PlaysForSure Devices Plugin 5.00.36 for Creative MediaSource 5 Player/Organizer" and "Creative MediaSource Player/Organizer 5.10.38." 5 Step Five First, install the Creative MediaSource software. Then, connect your ZEN Touch MP3 player to your computer. 6 Step Six Next, run the PlaysForSure Device Plugin software.

IMPORTANT - This will change the firmware version on your Creative ZEN Touch, thus it will also ERASE ALL OF YOUR SONGS. Even though it asks you to back up the files, you will find that it can't do it in Vista until the firmware is updated. Try backing up your Creative ZEN Touch on a Windows XP computer. 7 Step Seven FYI - My backup wouldn't reload after I updated the firmware, so you may have to do like me and reload all of your music to the player individually. But, at least your Creative ZEN Touch will work in Vista now.