Have charged Polaroid Z340 battery...camera not used for a year....won't turn on unless linked to charger. Battery need replacement???

Are you sure you did put in the battery correct and not the wrong way around? could be a mechanical block, to avoid damage to the camera, by wrongly placed battery.

Did you try to charge the battery. For printing the battery, needs enough power. If the camera senses there is not enough power to print one complete picture, it will shut down. Sometimes you could shoot 10 or 20 pictures, but you can't print one picture, for the lack of power.

Replace the battery.

If the rechargeable battery is more than 3 - 4 years old then the battery could be worn out. Rechargeable batteries have a finite number of charge and discharge cycles and will lose their charge capacity over time, i.e. won't charge to 100% and gradually the charge reduces until the battery won't charge up at all. OR The battery shows a 100% charge but when the adapter is disconnected the battery drops off to zero capacity in a very short time. If the battery drops to an unacceptable charge level then the battery needs to be replaced. Rechargeable batteries will fail if stored in a discharged state for long periods.

If the recharageable battery is more than 3 - 4 years old then the battery could be worn out.Rechargeable batteries have a finite number of charge and discharge cycles andwill lose their charge capacity over time, i.e. won't charge to 100% and graduallythe charge reduces until the battery won't charge up at all. OR The batteryshows a 100% charge but when the adapter is disconnected the battery drops offto zero capacity in a very short time. If the battery drops to an unacceptablecharge level then the battery needs to be replaced.

If you can't neither charge the battery through USB nor the wall charger, I would advise to first replace the battery. If that does not help, it will be difficult to tell if it's worth repairing or replacing the camera.

The specs on this camera say that it has an external charger. Sometimes the usb cord will also charge the camera, but not all the time (depends on manufacturer). You will have to contact Polaroid, most likely, unless you can find a generic charger at Best Buy, etc.
Here is some information about the internal charger of the camera from redpowers.com:
The Lifespan of the Polaroid T737 Battery The life of a rechargeable battery for Polaroid T737 Digital Camera operating under normal conditions is generally between 500 to 800 charge-discharge cycles.
This translates into one and a half to three years of battery life for the average user. As the T737 battery begins to die, the user will notice a decline in the running time of the battery. When a battery that originally operated the device for two hours is only supplying the user with an hour's worth of use, it's time for a new Polaroid T737 replacement battery.
Is it Possible to Upgrade the Digital Camera Battery to a Newer Chemistry? NiCad, NiMH and Li-Ion are all fundamentally different from one another and cannot be substituted unless the Digital Camera has been pre-configured from the factory to accept more than one type of rechargeable battery technology. The difference between them stems from the fact that each type requires a different charging pattern to be properly recharged. Therefore, the Polaroid T737 Digital Camera internal charger must be properly configured to handle a given type of rechargeable battery.

They didn't explain how to configure, but it should be in the software menu of the camera.

I found batteries for this camera on google, but couldn't find a charger. Looks like if you have the right type of battery, the internal charger (through the usb port) will work.
Good luck, thanks for using FixYa, and hope this helps.

Having the exact same problem. Ordering a new battery but I suspect its the charger. If I figure this out I will post my answer.

You cannot charge this camera through a USB cable, you need to use the battery charger that comes with it. If they didn't give you a separate charger, you need to call Polaroid and order a new one, but be prepared to pay almost $30.

From what you say I imagine this is built into the case with no opening to allow removal. So that it is recharged in situ. It that right. If so Polaroid is the only place to go- unless you can open up the camera to see what the battery is like. I imagine that in fact it can only be a standard type of battery but perhaps modified to fit he Polaroid housing. Have you actually checked Polaroid Tech Support Team re this