HQRP Replacement Battery for Creative Zen Vision M MP3 Player + HQRP Screen Protector

Have had my Zen Vision M for about 2 years and never had a problem with charging the battery until recently. I went to use it one day and it was completely dead. When I plugged it in to charge it, the blue LCD light flashed on and off with the battery icon showing a red line for a charge. The player would not charge and I was getting no player response at all if unplugged the charger. My laptop wasn't recognizing it either which I knew wasn't good. I wasn't sure if it was a software issue or what but figured I'd try replacing the battery first before buying another MP3 player. I can't say how glad I am I did this. Wasn't sure what to expect since pricing was so low for the battery (and tools!!) Shipping was fast and easy to use instructions on battery replacement. I'm not the most computer savvy/DIY type person but this was easy to do. AND it was a heck of a lot cheaper than replacing my MP3 player. Battery worked immediately and player is as good as new!! Woohoo!! If you have a dead/non respondant Vision M player, I highly recomm trying this first before buying another player.

EDIT: Instead of the instructions below, one could also downgrade the firmware on the Zen. See one of the reviews below.The small circuit board on the battery may NOT be recognized by your Creative Zen Vision M. I had to swap the circuit board on this battery with the one from the original battery. It is however not that straightforward as the connectors are placed in different locations. Further, this battery is thicker than the original one. It will be a very tight fit inside the Zen. I can't say whether this will have a long term impact on the player. Hope not!Here are some step-by-step directions to adapt this battery to the Zen Vision M. You will need a soldering iron and some, well, solder. You will also need a couple of thin, short (about 1 inch) wires (see step 3 below).0. If you are looking at this battery you most likely have searched the web for "Replace Creative Zen Vision M Battery". The instructions below are in addition to those on that video guide.1. Once you have taken out the old (original) battery, carefully peel off the tape around the wires. The circuit board should be visible now. Cut the thin foils that connect the + and - poles on the battery to the board.2. Repeat step 1. on the new battery.3. At this point you will notice that the pole connectors are in slightly different locations on the two batteries. This is where the soldering kit comes in handy. Get a couple of thin wires (I just pulled out the red and black wires from the circuit board on the new battery) to connect the old board to the new battery. This is where the soldering iron is useful to ensure a proper connection. IMPORTANT: MAKE SURE THE POLARITY IS CORRECT.Once this is done properly the battery works as it should. Given the price of the battery, though, I expected it to work out of the box. Hence, the 3-star rating. Hope this helps. Good luck!

I bought two of these batteries for Creative Zen Vision:M MP3 players. The installation instructions were easy to follow.The only trouble is that both of these batteries would not charge or work in the Zen. I put the original battery back in an it works.I would have considered a single failure as simply defective; but two!?

Like others have said in the comments, you need to downgrade your Creative Zen firmware to 1.41.01 in order to use this battery. Sadly, the original battery for me was dead, and so there's so no way for me to downgrade due to the Creative software's requirement to have a fully charged battery before changing the firmware. I can't return it since there was still some glue on the Zen's back case and removing it bent it and shorted it. I've purchased a different battery that is closer to the original's specifications. I blame Creative mostly for this, since it's their firmware updates that have disabled large batteries from being used.