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Summary: What's the deal with the Nomad 20G?
Review: I've got the standard Nomad 6G and I love it, but it doesn't hold enough. Creative just released a 20G version (Aug 7 press release.) How does one upgrade to the larger hard drive. Otherwise the 2 units look identical.
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Summary: Your COMPLETE GUIDE to evaluating the Nomad Jukebox.
Review: Hello. I ordered the Jukebox from the U.S. to Lebanon, it cost me overall 400$, but I think it was worth it. Before buying the Jukebox, I read almost all the reviews on it [...], they were almost 50% unsatisfied and 50% totally satisfied. That made me a bit sceptic about the product, but it turned out to be a great one. The pro's and cons and some answers to some very stupid problems other reviewers complained about.Pro's: -Amazingly huge amount of memory (5.7GB and not 6GB as Creative claims, but what the heck, 0.3GB!) -Excellent connectivity. The Jukebox can be connected to any stereo or speaker system and it supports Dolby Digital AC-3 and 4point surround. Plus a line in plug so you can record from a mic, from the radio or even from the T.V.!! -Very fast transfer rate (500Kbps!!!!!) via USB port. -The ability to run it direcly from DC unlike the Nomad II MG and many other MP3 players, thus saving battery power and lifespam. -Big display, nice backlight ;) -The three soft buttons that change function according to the mode you're in, thus having less buttons and more stylish look.(just like the NAV key on most Nokia phones like the 3310) -Great software (PC, haven't tested the Mac) nice design unlike many others said, AMAZINGLY CLEAN RIPPING, very high sound quality,in fact, others complained about the software because they hadn't updated it! updates are always available at [their website]! -Exceptional batteies! More power than any othe battery you could imagine! thrash duracell and energizer, the Creative batteries are a power station! (built for a power hog :P ) -Compatibility with WMA format after the upgrade (see above) Ok, now the FEW cons (well, man isn't perfect and never will be. so are his creations! right?) -Battery life...hmmm...well it's not bad at all! but it's still a con compared to other MP3 players who last for 10-12hours. the Jukebox lasts around 4hours of PLAYBACK, and since Creative provides you with 8batteries, you can say it lasts 8hours of PLAYBACK, right? well it's a HARD-DISK running on AA batteries! Quite amazing battery life then! -The carrying case!! OOOOH GOD, that's THE CON. No holes for headphone plug, no place to store headphones nor spare batteries, the strap is so short it is meant to carry it like a handbag. But a SOLUTION to this costs only 19.99$. You can buy one of the other GREAT carrying cases Creative offers at [their website]-I'm not gonna talk about the size and weight because for a jukebox they are pretty cool: weight:14oz, dimensions: 5"x5"x1.5" Well, that's about it. Finally, here is a summary of what you get when you buy the Creative Nomad Jukebox: -The Nomad Jukebox Unit (duh) -Stereo Backphones (which look great but sound a little less great ;) -2 4pack AA NiMH batteries (that makes 8batteries for those who donno math :P) -USB cable, Universal Power Adapter, Installation C.D., installation booklet (quite comprehensive, plus comes in 4 languages) -Carrying Pouch (I wish Creative kept it for them, they would've spared themselves the embarrasment! ) -Preloaded 20 that's TWENTY HOURS of music, including classical, jazz, hip-hop, dance, pop, rock, and two audiobooks(frankenstein and robinson crusoe) Well, I hope this review was of use for you people. Thanx for reading.
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Summary: awsome!
Review: This product was even better than I had anticipated! It is so light weight and I dont have to carry my entire cd collection with me anymore. This is definitely worth the money.
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Summary: The Best...uh okay...I guess
Review: Ok when I received this item I did the battery charges and transfered files. Okay after that was down several hours later, I wanted to see if if could transfer my files back into my PC to avoid clutter. Nope could not do that... I thought this one did that. Anyway, overall a good player. Sound was very good. Bulky? yes very much so. I had to convince my self if I am going to the gym, forget it. Too big. Large capacity. A big turn on to get this product, however. If you are not convinced yet as to which one to buy...Consider the NEW Archos, or settle for this one.
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Summary: As good as it gets
Review: I loved this player. It was pretty easy to set up and use and I was glad that it has rechargeable batteries. I think easier navigation of the files and a little better sound output would be great.. I also wish it had regular input and output jacks could be a little easier but I am nit picking. If you want a large capacity mp3 player this is your best choice
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Summary: Disappointing purchase
Review: I purchased this product three months ago. Organization and downloading of music was time-consuming and very non-intuitive, the process could be greatly improved. Battery life is VERY low, do not expect to get anywhere close to what they claim after a month or two of heavy use. After loading about 4GB of music the unit became very slow and eventually crashed. I had to do a hard reset and start over from scratch. Now it won't load over 1GB of music without having errors. Tech support said to format and defragment the drive, which I have done five times now, and it does not help. Before you purchase, note that there is only a 30 day warranty on the product. I have had normal use of this product, I haven't thrown it around or mishandled it at all. I am currently emailing with their customer service trying to get a replacement unit or be able to ship it back and have them fix it. I did like the product while it worked well but be forewarned if you plan to use it to its touted 'full capabilities'.
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Summary: It's an OK item if you have extra money
Review: Ok, so it does hold about 6 GB of music in one little CD player sized box, but I don't think the money was worth it. I went into buying this thing because I thought, "Wow, I'll never need a memory card again!" I was right, but I paid the price for it (literaly). The menu is hard to use, and when music is playing, the menu is really slow. The batteries don't last very long either. Some details of music can't be changed (like album, artist, and genre), so it makes organization of your music very hard. Because of this, finding music is even harder. Overall, I wouldn't recommend this MP3 player because, for the price, it's more effort than it's worth. I hardly EVER use mine.:)
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Summary: HA ! HA ! Ultimate MP3 player !
Review: Just got the player, also purchased an attachment for a car cassette player (from circuit city and a power adapter (runs off 12v). Its really ideal for me 6GB space, plug in the car radio. Easy transfer from computer, shows titles. Unlike some, I found the software totally easy to use. HA! After Millenium bugs, this thing was a breeze. I transfer whole albums at a time. The batteries are rechargable while playing or off. Perfect.
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Summary: Nomad Jukebox disappointment
Review: I purchased the jukebox as a potential MP3 player for car use during commuting. I was not concerned about weight, and wanted the large capacity to store a wide variety of music that could be tapped into to suit my mood. Thus the terrible battery life (I get 20 minutes of battery lifetime on a very good day) is not a big drawback to me, although it is so poor I wonder why they bother including batteries at all. I have a large legal MP3 library of songs I have already ripped from my CD collection, with CDDB tags inserted during the ripping, so I thought this would be a better solution for the car than taking along a pile of audio CD's. Sadly, this has not proven to be the case. The main drawback I have encountered is the PlayCenter software. I downloaded the latest from the Nomad web site right after purchase (you better have a fast connection, it's a big download). The software is very obscure, and documentation is almost non-existent. It splits into two views, and without useful guidance I set these up as: a 'my computer' view of songs presumably on your computer, and a view that represents what is in the Jukebox. I have a large, organized directory structure of songs on my computer, split out by artist and then album. I have never been able to get the 'my computer' view to work in any sensible way. It sees the songs (though it misses half of the built-in tags - generally it catches the album name but misses the artist name, for example), but using the PlayCenter to play songs on the computer is hopelessly complicated. Building playlists also seems maddeningly complex. I have used MusicMatch software for some time (and have a registered copy), so I am not new to this stuff, but the PlayCenter seems to go out of its way to make things very complicated, and there is no useful on-line help or examples. I eventually gave up and limited myself to uploading completed albums to the Jukebox - which works, but of course as the number of albums grows large it becomes quite unwieldy. The PlayCenter also crashes my Compaq computer fairly frequently (accidentally press a button on the Jukebox while connected and you see the blue screen of death, though it also crashes randomly as well), and it appears to hog resources so that it does not run well in the background. The software is the very weak spot of this unit. The interface on the Jukebox is not quite as obscure but still difficult to use while driving. About all I can reliably do is select albums (by scrolling through an alphabetical list) and play them. Given the large storage capacity of the Jukebox, you would think a functional way of finding and organizing things would be a high priority, but this is clearly not the case. It's not much better than having a stack of CD's to go sorting through. I had high hopes for creating custom playlists, but have been unable to successfully do this through the software. The unit worked for a few weeks and then the USB interface failed, so now I am trying to sort that out through tech support (can't tell if it is the buggy software, or a hardware failure). The Jukebox is a great idea, but this version of the software needs a lot of work to be useful. It could use less splash and more function (and more debugging). It's hard to recommend a product like this, given the cost and the problems it has. Since I can only make albums work, I would probably have done better with a 'CD magazine' player in the car trunk, a less expensive option that does not need buggy software to manage it.
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Summary: Needs product inprovement
Review: I purchased the unit for my wife so she could enjoy her CD collection on the road. Sadly the aformentioned battery life, lack of a true "automobile" solution and cumbersome operating interface has reduced the gift to an expensive paperweight. The complexity is to much for her. The promissed remote, 12 volt adapter and a more sophisticated "battery" sollution would make this a "contender" for those that require a "walkman" type of solution.I am a bit more of a hacker and may find a use for it, but it is not a product for the faint of heart at this time. I do like the company and the "idea" of the product, I wish it would get better "faster". I would even buy another if it was improved.
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