Rating: 
Summary: Very bad company
Review: I will never buy a Creative product again. I purchased a Jukebox, it got fried while being recharged, they asked for $20USD just to look at it and said that they would charge me for repaing the damned thing. No way, now I have an iPod and I'm a very happy man. Also bought a soundblaster card that they sold for the Mac. Within months they stopped supporting the new Mac OS. What kind of a company does that!!
Rating:
Summary: The 3 (?!) month warranty should be a warning
Review: Like many reviewers, I really wanted to like this product. The price/performance looked just right. When I bought it late last year, there were enough reviews that I knew the navigation wheel and software would be less than ideal, but it sounded like a fair tradeoff. Boy was I wrong. Reading the reviews, it looks as though people really love this device for a month or two and then come to hate it. That's been my experience. If I'd been paying attention, I would have noticed the 3 month warranty. But I didn't because I'm used to electronic products having a 12 month warranty. Now I know better. I've had this thing just over a month and the headphone jack has already come loose. A $300 device and they skimped on the headphone jack? So now I've got to call their customer "service" (of course, no 800 number) to send the thing back. From the other reviews I've read, it sounds like that won't be the end of my troubles. I fully expect it to go bad again in the same or some other way in the next 6 months because, as other reviewers have pointed out, the construction is pretty flimsy. Now let's talk about the software. Like other reviewers, installation was hell. Subsequent behavior even worse. About 10% of the time it can't find the device when I attach it to my PC. After I had it a couple weeks, it got into a state where it could never find the device, no matter how often I rebooted my PC, reset the device, reloaded drivers, etc, etc. Creative's online support was no help at all. In fact, I'd have to rate it among the worst I've ever encountered. Finally, I uninstalled and reinstalled the software, the usual measure of last resort for this sort of thing. To my amazement, even that process was error-prone. It took several days of attempts before things finally "worked" again and I haven't a clue why. That doesn't leave me with a good feeling about its future stability. I did buy the Notmad software a week ago and found that a vast improvement. But that's a moot point now. My gut tells me the Nomad will in the long run be, at best, a 40GB portable hard drive, albeit one on which I can't create folders, or, at worst, a very expensive lesson in companies never to buy products from again (I have their Audigy sound card and find it in many ways equally frustrating). My gut tells me I'll also end up buying an iPod. Which means that in trying to save a few hundred dollars, I'll end up spending more than twice that. Be forewarned. I would have given a 3 to 5 star review in my first few weeks, depending on how mad I felt about the crummy software. Now, even 1 star seems like I'm giving Creative the benefit of the doubt.
Rating: 
Summary: Flimsy product
Review: I recently bought the Nomad Jukebox Zen Xtra, and didn't even get as far as charging the battery. The construction of the player is the cheesiest I have ever seen--the front panel refused to clip in correctly, leaving a noticeable gap between the panel and base of the player. This gap allowed the front panel to fly off after barely being touched. I can't comment on the quality of the audio, because it was back at the store before I ripped a single CD. I'm not willing to accept shoddy construction on something I paid over 250 dollars for. If the casing of the player is this bad, I can't image that the hardware is of very good quality. Don't be pulled in by the great price--you get what you pay for, and there's a reason this model is so cheap.
Rating: 
Summary: Great Product Great Price
Review: I spent much time debating on whether I should go with the Zen Xtra or the iPod. I decided to save the $$ and opted for the Zen Xtra...and I was not disappointed. The player is intuitive and outputs great sound quality. Navigation is easy and I found that syncing files from the player to the computer (and vice versa) was easy too. Many have complained about the software included but in my opinion it's easy to use and effective. I LOVE this player and am extremely happy with my decision. I cannot recommend it enough!!
Rating:
Summary: Great memory, quality?
Review: I just bought one and returned it as defective for good reason. In a quick summation, here is what I found. + the memory (40 gb) is staggering. I had downloaded about 1000 songs and had room for another 9000! It may have taken several years to fill this up.
+ I had no problem using musicmatch software already on my computer to load songs and albums onto this unit + Screen was good, easy to read +/- Sound quality was good but it was going to take some tweakings with settings to try to make it great. - The software that came with it was tough to load. I got weird messages about it not being ok'd by microsoft (or something like that), then I thought it failed to load, then it loaded.
- The top that covered the battery kept poping off without much of a touch near the bottom latch. Not good if you're taking this traveling. the top did not fit well into the unit. (felt defective)
- the cover that came with it didn't fit very well
- the flywheel you use for most of the navigation wasn't in tightly and it was uneven as far as the amount of pressure to make it engage. I wasn't sure how long it would take before it would break.
- this DID NOT feel like quality construction and I wasn't sure how long it would last.
Rating:
Summary: How did I get by without this?
Review: This is one of those items that, at first glance, looked cool but didn't really ring a bell with me. Now that I own it, however, I can't imagine being without it! I have stored around 60 CD's (at 160kbps) on this and have barely touched the available memory. The sound quality is fantastic (CD quality) and it is really great to carry this around instead of stacks of CD's or tapes! It is exceedingly simple to navigate around in this device. I didn't read a thing about how to operate it--it was just intuitive. I was cruising around the device within 20 minutes. The PC-side software can be goofy and takes a little getting used to but it's not as bad as some reviewers have indicated. One other plus is that Napster now supports this device via their software. My one recommendation to Creative is to get some marketing people to work on the names of these things. They have a whole bunch of devices that all have the same-sounding name (and they are long). Whereas some folks have the "iPod", I have the "Nomad Jukebox Zen Xtra" (not to be confused with the "Nomad Jukebox Zen NX"). Minor gripe. I can't imagine why I would spend hundreds of dollars more to have an iPod.
Rating:
Summary: Important Zen Information
Review: This player is an overall disappointment with a couple of big flaws that potential buyers should be wary of; and all readers need to know about a third party software company that resolves virtually all of the Creative MediaSource file transfer issues. Zen Good points: 1. I achieved my basic objective; my entire CD collection is on a portable device with lots of room to store more. 2. Most MP3 players have a gap between the end of one track and the start of the next; it's annoying in music that is intended to be continuous. The Zen has minimal stoppage between tracks; when listening to music that continues from one track to the next the gap is just a hesitation - a slightly audible click; if I am not listening for the progress from one track to the next I don't even notice the click. Flaws: 1. Creative MediaSource software is OK to rip, catalog & burn music if you are starting from scratch; but I used MusicMatch to rip my CDs before I bought the Zen (272 CDs; 3,350 tracks; 12Gb of music all ripped at 128bps) and guess what? MediaSource did not recognize my tags; my choices at that moment would have been to manually re-tag my music or re-rip using MediaSource. I don't think so. BTW, if you *are* ripping your CDs, MediaSource accesses the CDDB music catalog over the Internet and the few CDs I experimented with all provided good quality [correct & uncluttered] tag information. 2. Despite most reviewers giving kudos to the Zen for music quality, I experienced a flaw using EAX. After about 45 mins of listening there was audible static in the player. When I turned EAX off the static disappeared. When I turned EAX back on the static was also not present. Creative are *the* sound people for computers, I can't understand why EAX would introduce static. Is EAX faulty? Is my unit defective? Was I just unlucky at that moment? Was it a full moon that night? I haven't figured it out yet. 3. MediaSource is an application with serious user interface flaws. Do not underestimate this in your purchase decision. Many reviewers refer to it as "clunky" or "difficult" - heed their warnings. 4. The Zen *stores* data files, but does not allow a folder structure nor does it allow documents to be opened or programs to be launched from its disk (they must be copied to another hard drive to be launched). In other words, the Zen is not a convenient data storage device; only buy the capacity you need for your music collection (see point 2. for some sizing information). My goal of using it as a music player *and* data storage device has not been met; don't make the same mistake. 5. The Zen does not have a Stop button! You can stop playback by pressing 2 buttons, first the Pause button, then the "Next Track" or "Previous Track" button. But this is *not documented* in the Zen manual - neither the hard copy nor the CD version. To discover this I had to read about 10 online reviews (with many complaints about the lack of Stop button) before I found one reviewer who was smart enough to both figure it out & document it. 6. The Zen NX battery requires the AC adapter to recharge; it does not charge by USB cable; this is not tragic, but USB recharging would be a convenient (additional) choice. If you are buying a Zen Xtra check whether the battery recharges via USB; it does not on the Zen NX. 7. MediaSource did not install on my personal notebook. It referred to a "Microsoft Jet Database Engine" error and the install program suggested I download a service pack from the MS website to fix the problem; I did that and re-installed the software but had the same error. Creative provided e-mail support; I followed their advice but that failed, too. I experimented with installing MediaSource on 2 other computers at home and it worked fine. So it is probably "just bad luck" on my part that the personal notebook I own had this install error. However, it did motivate me to find a work-around solution. Third Party Software To The Rescue After much frustration (above) I found the Notmad Explorer; cute product name for software that resolves virtually all of the Creative MediaSource FILE TRANSFER & ORGANIZATION problems. I am not associated with the company, I am not providing a URL, but search for NotMad and you should find it pretty easily. This provides drag & drop transfers of music between the computer & Zen; each time it transfers music to the Zen it asks if you want to generate a playlist; it allows playlists developed in other software to be transferred to the Zen (.m3u files are used by most mp3 players like MusicMatch and Winamp, but not Creative); it doesn't care what software you use to rip or catalog your music - Creative or any other company - all my 12Gb of music were transferred to the Zen with correct tags - hooray! Notmad has other features too, but this is not an advertisement so please see the company's web site for more information ... Conclusion: If I knew then what I know now I would have paid the extra to get an iPod & avoided the Zen. Given that I already have the Zen the only reason I am happy with it is because of the Notmad software. And I am hoping the static I heard when using EAX was a blip ... To summarize, I am using the Creative Zen as a mobile device; I am using MusicMatch to rip & catalog (and if I choose, download) music; I am using Notmad Explorer to move music & playlists between the Zen & my computer. The only Creative software I am using is the device driver(s).
Rating:
Summary: Not impressed
Review: Get to know the Rescue Mode, you'll need it alot.
Rating:
Summary: Headphone Jack / Jog Wheel
Review: Not sure how to rate this.
I bought the player for my husband at Christmas and he loved it...Downloaded nearly 300 albums since opening it...The sound is great and size is comparable to all except the slim ipods but that is okay. There are concerns though. The side jog wheel is kind of tricky and cheap feeling - if you don't press it just right you wont be able to select the menu options - works about 75% of the time but can get frustrating. The other concern is the reason I am on the site today. We have to exchange it (I hope so anyhow) because the headphone jack has stopped working and music is not coming out of the left side of headphones and speakers. I can't believe is under a month of use it seems to have broken. Concerns me even if I do get it replaced but he has had a blast with it and it has such an upside we will see if we have better luck with a replacement...
Rating:
Summary: Nomad vs iPod - My Comparison
Review: If you read the reviews for both the iPod and the Nomad, it is obvous that there are a fair share of lovers and haters of both MP3 players. Both players have people who have no complaints and think they have the best MP3 player available, and both have those who were never able to get there's to work properly or those who's broke after little use. But here is what I have found: - For those who complain about the leather case: The iPod's is no better. - For those who complain about the buttons/jog wheel/interface: they both have their problems. The iPod may have a better jog wheel (it may not), but if you read the iPod reveiws, people have lots of complaints about the vitual buttons and poor button placement. I have no complaints with the Nomad buttons. - About the batteries: The more full your hard drive is, the more battery power you use. This is a fact. Fore those who compain about Nomad battery time - you will have the same problem with iPod. But at least the Nomad battery is easy to remove when it eventually dies. The iPod battery needs to be replaced by the manufacturer for $99 - and it supposedly only lasts a year and a half. Also, I can charge my Nomad anywhere, but the newer iPods need to charged in their docking stations (from what I understand). The Nomad is a clear winner in this category. - Software: Sure, the Creative software is not perfect, but neither is Apple's. I have had no problems or complaints. You can use any MP3 encoder you like (although I have no complaints with Creative's - it uses the Fraunhofer IIS encoder, which is a pretty good one. Dragging and dropping works fine with the Nomad Explorer (I have had occasional crashes, but they do not bring the computer down with them - I just open the Explorer up again and continue where I left off). With iPod, I have learned that the software can only be used on one computer. Installing it on another computer or reinstalling it on the original computer will cause the iPod to reset itself and erase all of the music when you connect it to the computer with the newly installed software. I consider this a major problem. - Size: Sure, the iPod is smaller, but not so much as to influence my decision. Neither machine is large or bulky. - Price: $500 for iPod (40GB)
$350-400 for Nomad (60GB)
This is a no-brainer. Overall they both have there pluses and minuses, and everybody's experiences with these machines are different. My take is that with the Nomad you get more Storage and less headache for the dollar.
| 
