Rating: 
Summary: What a great toy!
Review: I had an RCA mp3 player that used cards. I decided to purchase this one based on its reviews and cost. I'm not sorry. The only thing I had challenges with was transferring music from my PC and CD's to the player. I searched and searched and finally figured it out. I think Creative needs to have a picture of the software in the quick guide so people know which window is which.I love the ability to organize and listen to music using several options: genre, artist, etc.. It transfers very quickly (using a 2.0 USB hook-up) and sounds great. I'm just beginning to play with it so I'm looking forward to finding out everything I can about it. It isn't much larger/heavier than an IPOD and is very versatile (not to mention a whole lot less expansive). I also like the fact that it's a "mini" external hard drive so I can store large files on it if necessary.
Rating: 
Summary: Worth every penny and more
Review: I have not compared my player to other brands, but I am very happy with it. I have not experienced any of the problems discussed in the negative reviews. The cover has never come open accidentally. I have also dropped it dozens of times and it still keeps going. Of course, I always keep it in the leather case, which seems to absorb the force of the impact. My only complaint is that the headphones were not durable at all. They went bad within a week. No problem though, since headphones are really inexpensive. I go through a pair of Sony headphones every few months. What I love most about the player is that it contains my entire music collection with lots of room to spare. I store my mp3's at 96 kbps, so I have room for about 13,000 tracks. I can't tell the difference between the mp3 and the CD in terms of sound quality. When I meet other people on campus with mp3 players, almost all of them tell me that they paid close to the same price for a unit with much less memory. Freud might have a field day, because when I see other people with mp3 players, I think to myself, "Mine is bigger than yours." And I smile at that thought.
Rating:
Summary: Zen and the art of noise - close to the edit
Review: I got this back in March when Creative themselves were running a big sale on their site. I had most of my CDs already ripped on my PC in WMA and this player supported them fine. Most people compare this to the iPod though it really it is like the Dell Jukebox just slightly cheaper (the sizes are almost identical). The iRiver could also be compared to this. Pros
Almost half the price of the iPod of the same capacity. Sound quality much better than the iPod. Controls on the side mean you don't have to take it out to change tracks. They are not totally intuitive but when you get use to them you can navigate very fast. Battery life great (I'm getting about 14+ hours out of it.) USB2 transfer does about a track in under a second. Cons
Only currently supports MP3 and WMA, though Real seem to have an update on their site but I have not tried it. It requires drivers installed on any machine you want to dock with. Software is not great. Although much better than previous Creative outtings it still has limitations. For example you can't have two tracks on an album with the same title. Doesn't link to WindowsMedia library correctly if you rip in WM9 (you have to import the tracks - using the watch facility doesn't get the tags). Slightly larger than the iPod. I also have a strange issue on Nomadworld where there is an autoupdate facility for the firmware. Whenever I use it my system reboots! In all I can live with the limitations because of the huge price difference and significantly better sound quality. By the way if you register your player you get a discount on their site for a select set of their other products.
Rating: 
Summary: BASIC DESIGN FLAW
Review: Forget how this unit works because it has a basic design flaw that will drive users crazy! The front cover has a release button that allows removal of the front cover to access the removable battery. Forget about the release button. You don't need it. just tap the lower left hand corner of the case and the cover pops open! Convenient, huh? No way! This design flaw is a total pain in the ass! And it's not just my unit. I tested two other new, out of the box units and both did the same thing. Simply bad design and no quality testing. Do yourself a favor and avoid this unit at all costs unless you don't mind continually closing the case after it has popped open on it's own.
Rating:
Summary: Wandering the world with my Nomad Zen
Review: Purchased: December 2003 I have not had any major problems with this device at all. It's amazing that people whine about the poor design of this device. I have never had the front cover "pop" off acidentally. Neither have I had software or hardware issues of any kind. People, if you drop an electronic device it will break! Wow that is common sense right? The software is really easy to figure out and I had no problem loading my very very large music collection onto the Nomad. I also have taken this to Europe and Thailand and have had no issues with charging using the AC adapter. The earplugs are mediocre and were replaced by headphones but that is only because I am an audiophile. One of these reviews actually said that the button that you use to scroll hurts their finger... ummm yeah never had that issue... time for a little workout or something....
The size could be smaller I suppose but I don't think that its a major issue. The player fits into my front pocket without problem.
I had my first dj experience using two Nomads hooked to a fader to cue music for a prom and i had no problems at all the entire night long. The quality of the sound was excellent and the ability to see the next song in the player was excellent.
In reference to another post, to stop the song simply press the pause button and then the FF button (skip forward) That will bring the song to a stop and you are free to navigate as you wish.
The price of the player also impressed me and the fact that I wouldn't have to worry about any troublesome battery issues. I highly recommend this mp3/wma player to others.
See ipod's www.ipodsdirtysecret.com to see why I really don't like the ipod.
Thanks and enjoi the music.
Rating:
Summary: Not as good as it seems
Review: When I first got this in January I thought it was the greatest little machine ever invented and that I'd never need to use my minidisc player again. How wrong I was. It doesn't work now. Why? Because it is simply not durable like a minidisc player. I made the mistake of dropping it by accident, something I'm sure everyone has done to their Discman, Walkman or Minidisc. It's so easy for such a small item to get dropped. Trouble with the Jukebox is that it is simply not built to sustain being dropped. I've been told by Creative's very poor support team that the hard disk needs to be replaced at the cost of $150, half the price the unit costs, the warranty doesn't cover the unit being dropped. Well maybe it should, because the damn thing is simply not durable. This also means that all the hours I spent ripping my CD collection onto it were wasted because the disc is damaged from one unfortunate drop. Don't get me wrong, I think these players are great ideas, but more thought needs to go into the durability. All I want to know now is if the iPod is built to sustain being dropped.
Rating:
Summary: I am in a state of Zen of my Zen
Review: I love my Zen. No problems what so ever. The only negative is the case. I wish it had a window on the front cover so I could see the song playing with out having to open it.
Rating:
Summary: Good while it lasted
Review: I read a lot of reviews before I purchased the Nomad. The iPod seemed to be a better device but I couldn't justify the extra money and the Nomad seemed to be pretty good. The Nomad software and the device itself aren't the greatest but once I learned how to use them it was acceptable. I used it mainly at the gym so I just wanted it to play when I hit go and it did this okay......for 4 months. One night it stopped playing in the middle of a song and all attempts to restore, reload, format etc. just got me the message "hard drive damaged". Nothing happened to the Nomad to damage the hard drive so evidently it just took it upon itself to die. After the hours I spent going through my CD's and loading the device I am not a happy camper. Luckily I bought at Best Buy and got the extended warrenty so I'll get my money back but that doesn't replace all the wasted time. Ironically the day after it died Creative sent me an e-mail asking me to complete a survey about the Nomad. Needless to say it wasn't very good. I certainly won't get another one. If I buy another mp3 player at all it will be the iPod 20GB. Other than the battery life issue it appears to be far superior.
Rating:
Summary: Shudda gone iPod!
Review: Bought this item on December 7th, 2003. Thought I'd done one better than my friends, who went iPod. I told them they could have their cute little iPod while I had my Zen, at only half the price.
Well, my friends are still listening to music and downloading new tracks to their iPod, while I've got a $250 paper weight.
Below are the comments I sent Creative; my latest in a long string of comments sent to them. NOTHING they've told me yet to fix any of my problems with this player has worked. Caveat emptor.
Dear Creative,
How do you guys expect to defeat iPod in the mp3 market? I've had nothing but problems with my jukebox since buying it in December of last year:
1) Ever since trying to update drivers and firmware yesterday, something you guys told me to do, my computer has not recognized the player when I plug it in.
2) My player won't even turn on without the AC adaptor being plugged in.
3) My player ALWAYS rebuilds library when turned on (and don't tell me to update my software, because now I can't--see number 1 above).
4) The AC adaptor that came with my player stopped working, only three months after buying the darn thing, and the only thing you can tell me is to buy a new AC adaptor?!?!!! What great service! There's $15 plus shipping down the drain.
5) Now what are you gonna tell me about my battery? Buy a new one? There's another $50 down the drain...
6) In the end, I should have just bought an iPod. My friends who own iPods (four people so far, two of which own Mac computers, two of which own windows) are all laughing at me and the problems I'm having and the LACK of customer support I'm getting.
This e-mail, and ANY response I actually get from you at Creative/Nomad will be forwarded to the Amazon.com customer service, since I bought this POS from them.
Shudda-gone-iPod,
Michael Tyson
Rating:
Summary: good value
Review: i was looking for an ipod when i saw this player on the index page. i bought it mainly because of the price and now that i've had it for a while it seems pretty sturdy and easy to use.(although the software is not very user-friendly i just use my computer and drag-drop)the case that comes with it is really the only complaint that i have it would be nice if you could see the screen but that is easily fixed with a x-acto knife, some plastic and thread. all in all it's a good value for the money.
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