Rating: 
Summary: The player is great, I've tried them all..
Review: I note that some of the complaints about the menu setups of the Nomad 3 reflect the fact that the users did not know that the first thing they could have done is go to Nomad's website and download an upgrade for the firmware which make the players menu display the individual albums or track for each artist.
I frequently check their site for upgrades but the capacity is enormous, I even have audiobooks downloaded onto this thing. I've owned all the Nomads since the first 6 Gig unit and this one is by far the best.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent Player Except for the Firwire Connections Problems
Review: I now have two 40Gb players and have used them alot in order to fault find my Firwire connection problem.... I have done all the A-B-C's off fault finding including updating my software, drivers etc but all without success. Both players suffer from a firwire connection problem. Windows XP dings when the connection is made almost everytime without fail, but the software which reads the contents of the player doesn't always recognise its been connected.....very fustrating!! Apart from the fact that I can't always make a good connection between player and PC I have another similar problem. After creating some Wav files internally through its recording feature, I can't always download back to PC when connected to firwire either. I may get a lost connection error box or the transfer will stop part way through and then tell me the player is not connected. ... Even though I need to overcome these faults in order to keep the unit, I do believe it's one of the best players of it's kind.
Rating:
Summary: Forget iPod, This Is The Real Deal
Review: I purchased my Creative Nomad Jukebox 3 almost a year ago in January of 2003. Before that I had a Creative Nomad Jukebox C refitted with a 30GB hard drive that I bought on eBay. I was looking to upgrade since the battery life of the Jukebox C was pretty terrible. The Jukebox 3 I purchased was refitted with a larger 60GB hard drive. The first noticible difference is the battery life. At close to 22 hours of continuous play, EVERY OTHER MP3 PLAYER BECOMES OBSOLETE! Of course this will fluctuate depending on your backlight settings and such. I was very hesitant of the side scrolling wheel since the Jukebox C came with up and down arrow buttons. After getting used to using the scroll wheel I am convinced nothing else is better. Driving down the Autobahn in Germany and being able to locate and play artists and albums with one hand while driving 130KPH is a godsend. As of now I have 10,000 songs, 40284MB on my Jukebox 3. The user interface software, Creative Playcenter, is very user friendly. I initially used Firewire but had some problems so I only use the USB interface now. I think it is only 1.1 speed, though it is noticibly faster than loading songs to the Jukebox C. I have had a few problems connecting to Playcenter, but nothing that can't be solved with patience. I was impatient once and found some different Third-Party software called NOTMAD. This NOTMAD software allows the user to use a drag and drop interface like Windows Explorer as well as transfer regular computer files, a feature NOT allowed by Creative Playcenter for the Jukebox 3. I prefer using Playcenter and using cut/paste to input Artist and Album information. Using the Jukebox 3 to play songs or albums is very easy. Anyone who rides in my car can learn to use it very quickly. I don't use the playlist option that much, but it was easy to make a playlist. I heard an ugly rumor that the iPod can only utilize playlists made on the computer and is unable to make playlists on the iPod itself. There is one detractor to the Jukebox 3 which starts to occur when around 8,000 are loaded onto it. There is a utility called "rebuilding library" which starts when you turn on the Jukebox 3 within 24-48 hours after loading new songs. This can happen with as little as adding 2 albums. From my understanding this utility is much like defragmenting the hard drive, moving the bits of information closer to the middle of the hard disk. This utility takes approximately 2-3 hours to complete and has the backlight on so it is best to have your battery adapter plugged in when this occurs. You can manually initiate this along with other utilities by using the included manual (but who reads those?) I only note this as a detractor because unless you manually initiate it after loading new songs, it will self-initiate within 24-48 hours at the most inopportune times like Trans-Atlantic flights, long road trip in Germany. Yes i am bitter. I use my Jukbox 3 every single day so this bugs me when it happens. Support for the Jukebox 3 is outstanding. Updates to all drivers and firmware are easy to locate based on model and operating system on the Creative website. The physical durability of the Jukebox 3 is outstanding. My Jukebox 3 has been all over Europe, trips back to the States, Saudi Arabia and more recently Iraq. In especially dry or dusty environments I try to keep it covered and/or enclosed as much as possible. It has dropped a few times, once on a hard tile floor, and never skipped! The scroll wheel has held up great, I foresee this as a possible problem in the far future. An important note is operation in cold environments. DO NOT LEAVE OUTSIDE OR IN A CAR OVERNIGHT IN A COLD ENVIRONMENT! When you turn it on the next morning it'll be slow and the screen will look like it is broke. I paid $600 for mine so I baby it so it will last for a long time. In short, the battery life is the best out there at nearly 22 hours. Support, usability, durability are 1st class in my opinion. As i stated before, I paid $600 for a refitted 60GB Jukebox 3. So the price you pay for any Jukebox 3 model now is a steal. Hope this is more a helpful review than a sales pitch. Enjoy!
Rating:
Summary: Incredible Machine
Review: I purchased this product about 2 months ago right here from amazon.com, and have no regretted it for an instant. As soon as I received it, I couldn't put all the CD's I owned onto it fast enough. You may think 40 gigs will never be utilized, but that's the great part. I'm going to own this thing till I drop or go deaf. The mechanics of it are great, as well as easy to use. The sheer sturdiness of the player enables me to take it anywhere, in my car (there goes the need for a CD stereo in the car!) to the gym every day, and in bed at night, and hooked up to the stereo in my room. What a time and money saver this thing really is in the long run. I highly recommend the product to anyone who enjoys a lot of music. Amazing product overall
Rating:
Summary: THE MP3 Player
Review: Let me start this review by saying that I cannot possibly explain just how much I like the NOMAD 3. Having said that, let me explain just how much I like the NOMAD 3. This player is unbelievable...everything a music-lover needs. I don't want to ramble on about all of its features, besides, there's too many (and they're all listed on Amazon). Maybe the best feature of this player is its upgradability (besides the sound quality, wheel button interface, I could go on...). For example, look back at all the other reviews that have been written on it, and focus on all the negatives. Now, forget the negatives, because the NOMAD 3's latest firmware upgrades solve these problems! When I first bought the NOMAD 3, I was dissapointed by it's lack of a graphic equalizer...I figured an equalizer would be essential in a player like this. After a few months, however, Creative Labs announced a new upgrade...and guess what? Now my player has an on-screen 4-band graphic equalizer! I'm already looking forward to the next upgrade! Transferring songs is easier than you might think. Hook the NOMAD to your computer, and the file-transferring software automatically opens. The screen is divided into two windows, with selectable sources of music for each (for example, CD track listing on the left, NOMAD 3 track listing on the right). Simply select the tracks you want to copy from the CD, hit "Transfer", and that's it!! For the inexperienced, let me give you an idea of how much music this thing holds. My player is a little over half full. If I load up all the tracks, and set it to "shuffle", I could listen to no-repeat music for 27 days. Non-stop. Finally, I can safely say this is the last MP3 player (or any kind of music player, for that matter) that I will ever buy. Ever. This is my second one (my first was destroyed, long story)...and if anything ever happened to it, I would be right back here that day to order another one.
Rating:
Summary: THE MP3 Player
Review: Let me start this review by saying that I cannot possibly explain just how much I like the NOMAD 3. Having said that, let me explain just how much I like the NOMAD 3. This player is unbelievable...everything a music-lover needs. I don't want to ramble on about all of its features, besides, there's too many (and they're all listed on Amazon). Maybe the best feature of this player is its upgradability (besides the sound quality, wheel button interface, I could go on...). For example, look back at all the other reviews that have been written on it, and focus on all the negatives. Now, forget the negatives, because the NOMAD 3's latest firmware upgrades solve these problems! When I first bought the NOMAD 3, I was dissapointed by it's lack of a graphic equalizer...I figured an equalizer would be essential in a player like this. After a few months, however, Creative Labs announced a new upgrade...and guess what? Now my player has an on-screen 4-band graphic equalizer! I'm already looking forward to the next upgrade! Transferring songs is easier than you might think. Hook the NOMAD to your computer, and the file-transferring software automatically opens. The screen is divided into two windows, with selectable sources of music for each (for example, CD track listing on the left, NOMAD 3 track listing on the right). Simply select the tracks you want to copy from the CD, hit "Transfer", and that's it!! For the inexperienced, let me give you an idea of how much music this thing holds. My player is a little over half full. If I load up all the tracks, and set it to "shuffle", I could listen to no-repeat music for 27 days. Non-stop. Finally, I can safely say this is the last MP3 player (or any kind of music player, for that matter) that I will ever buy. Ever. This is my second one (my first was destroyed, long story)...and if anything ever happened to it, I would be right back here that day to order another one.
Rating:
Summary: Apparently no usability people on staff at Creative
Review: My wife purchased this for me as a gift. I found this device difficult to use and the software that goes along with it even harder to use. It is not intuitive. Apple's iPod will probably eat their lunch - I don't own an iPod, but I'm sure they've explored usability. I could not get the device to power up after charging it, after a while I found the reset button on the back and that did the trick. Fast forward a year, I still don't have all my music collection on the device -I get error messages using the PC software and haven't had time to call their tech support during work hours. Online help and their website don't come close to addressing the issue. Thanks to Amazon reviewers, I'll try the firmware update - which seems like I should have heard about from Creative since I registered the product, no? I went skiing with the MP3 player up to Tahoe and in the cold, my one battery lasted about 7 hours - better than I expected. I'm going to try adding the second battery if I can get the firmware updated and hopefully that will take it through the day. Sound quality once you learn how to use it is great. I had to sit through the online tutorial to learn how to use it. I don't expect to need training on consumer products like these anymore - they should be much more intuitive. You also need to outlay additional $$ for a car adapter if you want one, there isn't one included.
Rating:
Summary: Apparently no usability people on staff at Creative
Review: My wife purchased this for me as a gift. I found this device difficult to use and the software that goes along with it even harder to use. It is not intuitive. Apple's iPod will probably eat their lunch - I don't own an iPod, but I'm sure they've explored usability. I could not get the device to power up after charging it, after a while I found the reset button on the back and that did the trick. Fast forward a year, I still don't have all my music collection on the device -I get error messages using the PC software and haven't had time to call their tech support during work hours. Online help and their website don't come close to addressing the issue. Thanks to Amazon reviewers, I'll try the firmware update - which seems like I should have heard about from Creative since I registered the product, no? I went skiing with the MP3 player up to Tahoe and in the cold, my one battery lasted about 7 hours - better than I expected. I'm going to try adding the second battery if I can get the firmware updated and hopefully that will take it through the day. Sound quality once you learn how to use it is great. I had to sit through the online tutorial to learn how to use it. I don't expect to need training on consumer products like these anymore - they should be much more intuitive. You also need to outlay additional $$ for a car adapter if you want one, there isn't one included.
Rating: 
Summary: Great once you get the firmware update!
Review: Once I got the firmware update, the line-in record became line-in or mic-in record turning this machine into both a portable record collection AND a portable digital recording deck, which makes it possible for me to sample interesting things out in the world and bring back to use in my home studio. I suppose you could bootleg concerts as well, but I'm not a bootlegging type. The lockups and short battery life mentioned in other reviews goes away once you get the firmware update. It's not hard to install and not a big deal unless you're REALLY uncomfortable with technology (in which case, I'd recommend a CD player). The update left my music collection alone and now the player runs beautifully. The sound is very transparent. It's made me a fan of the mp3 format for music enjoyment, not just convenience. I've used my pocket pc, a mid-range mp3/cd player and now this and the Nomad 3 is the only one that sounds even close to musical. The reason this player gets 4 stars instead of 5 is for poor user interface/user experience consideration. WHY does it have to look like a Discman? The software is easy enough to use, but not particularly flexible, the data transfer is a little slow and shouldn't require additional software to use this as a hard drive and I could never get the CDDB feature to work, so I still use Musicmatch to rip my CDs with Tag & Rename to touch up the ID tags. The menu is clumsy, the toggle is okay, but uncomfortable to use for long (I have a big record collection, so scrolling to the middle of the alphabet gets tiresome fast) even for right handed people and the non-play buttons (of which there are 7) are hard to find in the dark. The Fastforward and Rewind work great though as does the resume, although it's only triggered by turning off the power, not pressing the Stop button. Minor, very minor. If you're looking for a great workout player, this isn't it. This is more of an all-purpose home system in a small form factor. I do go out into the world with it and even put it in my fanny pack while riding my bike, but I can see how it's CD player design could annoy some folks. I'm glad I have one, and if mine were damaged or lost, I'd happily buy another one knowing everything I know now. In fact, I'd like a second one just for sampling. Are there somethings I wish they'd done differently? Sure, but that's the case with most things, isn't it? Great music system, great value and once you get used to it, easy and fun to own.
Rating:
Summary: WOW!!! BEST PURCHASE I HAVE EVER MADE!!!!
Review: Storage:
Decent. I have the 40GB and there are already 60 gig drives out there. However, this will last a while and, hey, in five years all of our digital information will no doubt be available Wi-Fi style.
I am at 5200 titles now and have about 40% space left. Sound:
Absolutely amazing. Now I know what Queensryche would sound like in my living room. And I heard it on the train. I spoke with a Creative Labs designer for this model, and evidently the "EAX" function almost didn't make the cut. I am thrilled it did. This feature alone makes up for the lack of compactness the iPod/mini offers. Price:
Still high. Was $372 (now $399 again) on Amazon in March 2004. That's way above the price for a similar Nomad Zen. Connectivity:
None better on the market. USB 1.0, 2.0 and Firewire. Software:
Horrid. It seems like the designers just found their 256 color pallate. The interface is not intuitive and is clunky. Get Notmad from Red Chair and you will see your Nomad as you should -- as an external drive to your PC. The Ripping function on the Creative software hangs once every five times or so. Firmware:
The upgrades make this a solid interface. Be sure to upgrade online. (Apr. 2004 version is 1.40.p) Design:
Clunky. The NJ3 is still compact enough to stow in a jacket pocket or front pocket of a briefcase. It looks like a CD Player, which is fine. I suppose it is less likely to be thieved off me on the street since it looks like a $20 piece of merchandise. Durability:
This puts the Nomad Jukebox 3 over the top...and perhaps is a benefit of the CD-tank-like shell. While grooving out the other night, my buddy grabbed the attached speakers (Panasonic, $39, Creative's are baaad and costly) off of my garage fridge -- thinking they were wireless. He launched the player 8 feet out and 6+ feet down. At what seemed like 30MPH.
There's barely a scuff on her and she's played tremendously for several days since. Bottom line: Pricey. But, in this case, with cost comes incredible hardware/firmware quality. This product is worth the purchase.
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