Rating: 
Summary: Excellent player (feature rich) but too big!
Review: I shopped alot before buying this player, and finally decided to get it over the Nomad Zen and the iPod due to the fact that it had a removable lithium ion battery and was very feature-rich. Since the Zen and iPod have an internal battery, once the charge capacity lessens over the course of 2 to 3 years, you're basically left with a near-useless player...I'm pretty satisfied with this player, it has great sound quality and the battery lasts for at least 8 hours of continuous play. It also has EAX, which is basically Smart Volume... Creative makes too big a deal over it, but its a nifty feature for sound control. There are several negative aspects to this player. The one that immediately comes to mind is size. It's pretty huge. Imagine a CD player, but half an inch thicker (It's actually a bit smaller than a CD player). It's possible to carry it around in your pocket and all, but it's not a very confortable endeavor. The menus are also a bit cumbersome, with too many menus withins menus with scroll down lists. The menu system is downright prehistoric compared to what Apple came up with for the iPod. The release of the Creative Zen NX has made this player a bit obsolete, since the Zen NX with the same amount of storage space goes for the same price, and the 30 GB one goes for [$$$] more [$$$]. The new Zen NX also has a removable lithium-ion battery, which means no more burnt-out irreplaceable battery after 2-3 yrs of use... So basically the Zen NX is a better player for the same price (smaller). However, it's only USB 2.0 compatible, no Firewire. I advise anyone planning on purchasing this player to also buy the protective leather cover for it [$$$].
Rating: 
Summary: It's everywhere I want my music to be!
Review: After living with my Jukebox 3 for about nine months, I'm just now beginning to appreciate its full capabilities. In addition to listening through headphones, I also purchased the accessory Home Kit which allows me to play through speakers using a remote control, as well as the Car Kit which comes with a cassette adapter and power cord for playing the Jukebox 3 in my car. I've loaded every piece of music I own -- as well as my own custom playlists -- into the Jukebox 3 -- so I can now enjoy all of these everywhere I go. No more CD's to catalog or change. No more stations (in my car) to tune. The Jukebox 3 has even begun to replace my home stereo -- as my music player of choice around the house. To make sure that ambient noise isn't a problem, I also purchased a set of Sennheiser HDC 451 Noise Canceling headphones which work great, both indoors and out. (Other brands incidentally are junk.) There almost isn't a place where I can't listen to my Jukebox 3 -- except maybe, of course, underwater. The Creative software is very intuitive. It will load both WMA (Window Media) and MP3 files with ease. Transferring songs utilizing the Firewire connection (which I use) is seemingly instantaneous. And the EAX (music equalizer) settings offer a variety of modes that increase the highs, lows, stereo separation and reverb (echo) to match the type of music, the quality of the speakers, or the acoustics of the room (or car) in which I'll be listening. Before I acquired the Jukebox 3, enjoying my entire music list was often times a challenge. Today, since any song in my collection is now easily accessible -- my desire for new music has become almost insatiable. And with its 20 Gb hard drive, so too (it seems) is my Jukebox 3. To utilize my Jukebox 3 more, I've begun to scatter stereo PC speakers around my home and office. And I've also purchased a set of Sony portable units for use on business trips (in my hotel room). When I originally obtained the Jukebox 3, I never imagined that it would revolutionize the way I listen to music. I went from a casual listener -- to a super heavy music lover. I now listen to music everywhere I go -- just the songs I like -- because it's now so easy! I love it! Other jukeboxes (hard drive MP3 players) will probably sound just as good through headphones. But when it comes to listening to my tunes at home (through speakers) or in my car -- the Jukebox 3's EAX equalizer settings and the Home Kit's remote control -- make my music sound better and easier to control -- than would be possible with other jukebox brands. I don't mean to sound cornier than I already have, but when it comes to music -- and my Jukebox 3 -- I literally won't leave home without it! Enjoy.
Rating:
Summary: Still the best...
Review: The Nomad Jukebox 3 may be old but it's still, in my opinion, the best portable player around.
The player comes with 1 Lithium Removable Battery, and that's one of it's saving graces. You'll receive about 11 hours on it, however, this player allows for a second battery, giving you 22 hours of playback. This is great if you're on a plane or on the road a lot. Unfortunately, this also leads to the players only fault; the size. The thing is massive compared to today's players. It measures at 5.1 x 4.8 x 1.4 inches and weighs in at 10.2 ounces(without batteries). Needless to say, if you'll mainly be using it for walking, don't bother with it. It's possible, but a little uncomfortable. The screen measures 38x19mm(132x64 Pixel, Greyscale) and offers both a blue and green backlight. In my opinion, the user interface is very easy, however some people don't think so. You get the option of choosing Playlist, Artist, Album, Title, or Genre. From Playlist, you...choose a playlist. One advantage of the NJB3 is that you can create Playlists on-the-fly. From Artist, you, obviously, choose the Artist. When you open the Artists folder, you can see all of the songs by the artists in alphabetical order, or choose the Albums of the Artist and get the songs on Track Order(Great for Zeppelin albums). From Albums, choose your album of course. From Title, you get a list of every single track on your player in alphabetical order. From Genre, you choose your genre. Unfortunately, you can't select Artists from here, it just lists the songs.
Navigation is done with a speed sensitive 360° Scroll-Wheel on the side of the player. Press the wheel in to select. Other buttons on the player include Back, Home, Volume Up, Volume Down, Play/Pause, Backwards (Rewind/Backtrack), Forwards (Fast Forward/Skip Track), Find (Find artist, album, stc.), Stop, EAX, and Menu.
The player also features 2 3.5mm Analog Outputs, an Analog/Optical 3.5mm Input and Headphone/Remote input. Creative does offer a remote but I don't own it so I can't comment.
The player's sound quality is top notch, and vastly superior to the iPod, but the iPod kills it with size and iTunes supports. Music transfer is possible with USB 1.1 or FireWire.
One more thing I would really suggest is buying RedChair's Notmad Explorer for use with it. It's way, way, way better than the software Creative includes.
Basically, I definitely recommend this player if size doesn't matter to you.
Rating:
Summary: Still great, but there are now some better alternatives
Review: Many reviewers here have said that the software is buggy and/or doesn't work under Windows XP. I have installed and used the software on 3 computers (legally! I promise!) and it works fine. It is not as elegant as some, but it works great for ripping and transferring music from original CDs to the player. The JB3 sounds great, whether through headphones or plugged into an expensive hi-end home stereo. In fact, once you get your cd collection onto the player, you can just plug it into the stereo and not bother with CDs anymore - the player's sound is indistinguishable from the original CDs!! People who complain that the JB3 is bigger than the IPOD are forgetting that the IPOD cost nearly twice as much. However, Creative's latest version of the Zen (the Creative Nomad Jukebox Zen NX) is probably a better choice. It has the same great sound, the same easy-to-use interface. It costs about the same as the JB3. But it is smaller and lighter than the JB3. The original Zen was also smaller and lighter than the JB3, but the internal battery could not be replaced. The new NX model does have a replaceable battery, so when the battery dies (as it will in 1.5-2.5 years), you just get a new one rather than a whole new player.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent player, just too big
Review: What I like about this product: -- Excellent, top-notch sound output, both through a good set of headphones and through the two analog output jacks in the back of the unit -- Can play WMA format in addition to MP3 -- Firewire interface included -- Good battery life: I get about 9 hours, less than the 11 claimed by Creative, but still good -- Ability to add a 2nd battery -- Optical/analog input jack for recordings -- 20GB at an attractive price What I don't like: -- Still too big and too heavy, esp. compared to the 20GB Apple iPod. The iPod uses Toshiba's PC card hard disk, which is much smaller and quieter than the Fujitsu 2.5-inch disk used by Jukebox 3 -- Uninspiring styling -- Lacks driver to allow Windows to recognize the device as an external drive. Archos gets A+ for getting this right: all Archos MP3 players can be used as an external drive, plug-n-go. Jukebox 3, in contrast, only comes with a clumsy file transfer tool, unless you buy the commerical third-party software Nomad Explorer Conclusion: A very good value considering it has 20GB of space which allows up to 8000 songs and can be used as external storage (if you can live with the awkward file transfer program). Still too big for the pocket, though.
Rating: 
Summary: for the love of god, don't buy it
Review: Having had my jukebox for 5 months until it absoutely died, leaving me with a large space in my pocket and the loss of music I'd spent hours transferring, I have to say that the fragility of this player absolutely negates any enjoyment you might have while it works. My player was very gently used, it now only boots in Rescue Mode and gives me a 'hard disk problem' message for all functions on that menu. Creative technical support insists that the player must have been dropped (which is apparently enough to completely destroy the hundred-dollar hard drive) and the warranty does not apply - you have to pay for all repair - over two months after the date of purchase. In a case like mine this probably means paying about half the original cost of the jukebox to replace the hard drive with a new one under a similarly scanty warranty. For the investment value of an mp3 player, my jukebox leads me to believe that you'd be better off with an I-Pod. Don't buy it.
Rating:
Summary: This deserves nothing less than a 5
Review: Well, back in the day, I used to own the original Nomad. Granted the battery life was horrid, but the thing had more than decent sound. I had that for about a year and half (no lie) but I finally filled it up and had to upgrade. Two days ago, after drooling over it for an eternity, I got my Nomad Jukebox 3. Lets start with sound quality. This thing's headphone amp is the most powerful I've ever heard. It can drive any pair of headphones to ear shattering levels, and I listen to a lot of hardcore metal (among other things). The sound quality itself is phenomenal. There's no distortion at high volume, and that's a huge plus for me. Of course, by the unwritten law of bundled headphones, the ones that come with this MP3 player [are not good]. I bought new ones the next day. Now, the software. The bundled software was what I was used to using for the first Nomad. The software isn't buggy for me, even though my computer is ancient. To tell you the truth, I love Creative Playcenter. It's very easy to use and it's organized. Windows Media Player will work too, but I don't like it, its fast but you cant organize anything with it. I have to use USB 1.1 because my OS (Windows 98) is too old to use FireWire. The CD encoding goes slow too, but I have a slow computer. I installed all the software on my Grandmas computer as well (who has Windows XP). I experienced no problems with Windows XP, and the CD encoding went insanely fast. The transfer was still slow because she doesnt have FireWire, but other than that it's very nice. Basically it all depends on your style whether or not you want to use the bundled software. Back to the player itself. It's very easy to use. It's icon diven and the menu is set up nicely, but one word of advice. DOWNLOAD FIRMWARE AHEAD OF TIME. I didnt even bother trying to use it until my firmware was up to date. If you scan throught the rest of these reviews you will see why. The blue backlight is pretty, and you can change it to green too! The display size is nice, it works for me at least. The EAX is nice too, but mainly for the EQ. The OS boots up quite fast, especially compared to the first Nomad. Granted I dont have all my CD's on there yet, but there is a more than noticable difference. The thing also loads songs really fast, and there is almost no noticable gap when the songs switch. The scroller thing was something I was a little worried about, I thought it would be excruciatingly annoying to use. Supprisingly, it's not. As long as you aren't trying to browse through a playlist of 5000 songs, the thing works great. Again, download firmware first. For accesories, I bought the extra battery and leather case (also ahead of time) and I strongly recommend both. Also, if your computer can support it (which it probably can), get a FireWire adapter, it will make it so much better. Now I know that some people's NJB3's apparently died on them after a month or so, but I think if you take care of it, it will last you forever like my orginal Nomad did (which people also claimed to die after a month). I say if you have the money, BUY THIS! It really is great. I love it so much; I consider it my child. "You need look no further", this is the god of MP3 players. Remeber though, buy headphones, the extra battery, and the case; and get the firmware ahead of time. If you are thinking of the iPod, it's way too over-rated. The five GB iPod is the same price as the NJB3, and it has a quarter of the space. The Archos isn't any better, infact, its worse. The sound [is not good] on the Archos. The iPod has sound ALMOST as good as the NJB3, but not quite as good. So...buy the Nomad Jukebox 3!
Rating:
Summary: Awesome extras, but size still a problem
Review: I bought this player after deliberating about 3 weeks. The Nomad Zen caught my eye with its USB 2.0, styling and size, but it didn't have all the features I wanted, in particular the ability to record lectures at college. With this player I found the best sound quality, as well as a decent amount of space with all the extra features I needed. The scrolling control is handy for quickly moving through menus, and the backlit screen is easy to see. The remote that retails extra should have come included with the jukebox because it's basically already configured for it. The software isn't terribly bad, transferring is good and ripping is easy, editing tags is also quick. The actual layout of the program on the screen is annoying because you can't see a whole lot with all the borders and stuff on it. It isn't recognized as an external drive, but apparently Notmad Explorer will fix this. The included headphones are decent but of course, not audiophile quality. My main gripe: the player is just too big. I look at it sometimes and wish it could be smaller, because it seems that the rectangular drive in the back takes up the most space and that the curved part in the front is "decorative"? I've gotten it stuck in my pockets before and not been able to remove it for a few minutes. The weight isn't too much of a problem, just don't jog with it or you'll knock yourself out. I fall asleep with it, or plug it into speakers as my entire CD collection digitized. So, if you're willing to accept the extra volume in return for the extras, get this. But if you want a sleek player minus recording, an extra line out and firewire (BUT USB 2.0!!! YES!!)with tons of space, get the Zen USB 2.0.
Rating:
Summary: Don't Waste your Money!!!!
Review: Bought this product one night before a trip that was to last me 2 weeks. I stayed up until 1:40am in the morning trying to figure out how this product worked, only to end up getting an error message on the player that don't me the hardware was not working. I cannot belive that i wasted an entire friday night trying to figure out this piece of junk. ON a plus side the software that it comes with was excellent at making MP3s.
Rating:
Summary: total junk
Review: I wish no stars were an option becuase giving it one star is a stretch. I have had problems since the moment I bought it and foolishly didn't retunr it before the warranty was up because I thought their customer support team could help. They didn't...in fact they once made the problem worse and then had no more suggestions except to send it in..of course at a high charge. I have had problems loading music, faulty batteries, faulty AC adapter, faulty firmware, etc...and the problems continue to arise. I almost want to cry when I think of how much money I spent on this thing. So whatever you do DO NOT buy this product and after my experience with this Nomad Jukebox, I am going to avoid Creative products in general. They are a complete and total waste of money.
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