Rating: 
Summary: Not Road worthy
Review: I work in the music business, both in the studio and on the road Internationally.
Thus, the concept of a device that could play thousands of songs, enabling me to listen to board tapes and compare studio mixes was intriguing.
A friend generously gave me an I-Pod for Christmas.
Having heard that there were stability problems with the I-Pod I decided to compare it against other players.
The Creative Labs 40 GB was less than the price of an I-Pod 10 GB with a bit better sound.
Being a grown-up I bought a protective case, never dropped it (or the subsequent units) and was very careful about charging it (them.)
After several returns I decided that, like many expensive sports cars, while a nice unit, (when they work,) the unit's poor reliability record, the time it takes to load and catalogue songs from the computer and the further time consuming hassle through which the stores put the buyer trying find and exchange the units, make them more trouble than they are worth.
Rating: 
Summary: Make sure to get the *NEW* zen xtra (30gb)
Review: If you browse through the amazon reviews, you will notice that the earliest reviews (around August or so) mention the headphone jack failure, hard drive problems, and buggy firmware. Don't worry! Creative re-released the Zen Xtra in 2004. (first ones in 2003) My guess is they fixed most of the problems. (Check the later reviews...much less complaints.) so, with this in mind, buy the NEW ONE!!! yes, the other reviewers are right, make sure the casing is heat sealed and the carrying case has a display for the window. also make sure the manufacturer's # is
*70PD055000031*
amazon got it right. even more so, it states these zen's were available in may 2004. hope this helps.
Rating:
Summary: So far so good
Review: It's passed the 6 month test, no problems w/ it, no shutdown of hard drive. Fingers crossed it can pass the 8 month test...I'm sorry about the horror stories, maybe I just got lucky w/ a functioning Jukebox. I'm pretty active w/ it, jogging, weightlifting, painting w/ it on, even dropped it once or twice, but still works. Course, I don't throw it around or treat it like a stupid little walkman, it *is* a computer and should be treated as such.I have never tried the Ipod, so I can't compare the sound, interface, ect. All I can say, is that this product is a Godsend at 220 bucks. If you are a finnicky listener like me, and you can't stomach listening to the radio because you have to change the station every other song, if not turn off the radio completely, because you are so freaking sick of stupid music passed off as, well, music, then a product like this is mandatory in your life. You need to have the ability to only listen to what you want to listen to. I have a playlist of over 400+ indie-esque rock songs, another of 50+ that lists my current fave songs, and another of 40+ classical and celtic music pieces. It is what it is, a personal jukebox, a personal radio station. No more interchanging CDs while driving (btw, I just used an old car tape-deck adapter from my CD player to adapt the jukebox to the car stereo, no need to buy the accessory car adapter kit), no more tedious and infuriatingly redundant pop-"alternative" rock music while waiting to hear one good song out of thirty, no more 8 minute commercial breaks...just pop in the jukebox and hit shuffle. The interface can be a little messy, but it's still worth it. 80 bucks less than an Ipod and 20+ GB more...yeah, it's definitely worth it (if it works for you).
Rating:
Summary: its better than i pod anytime
Review: its as good as.<br />buttered bread.<br />its beter than 125mb card <br />beter than cdplayers with eq<br />itholds over 400 cds.can be programed to dj.this things beter than any device playable made.you dont have to worri<br />about your cds getting damaged from being mishandeled.i transfered every cd in my colection.to my jukebox.and leave <br />my cds home.ive owned mini discs,cds with mp3 files,rca mp3 players,this jukebox serpasses all of them.if you value your<br />cd collection.get it .it doesent have no movin parts like mini disc.better program than atrac.sonys mini disc data 5gb.jukebox 30gb sonys price 215$ creative zen extra 30gb.<br />256$ with a better program than atrac3.buy it.
Rating:
Summary: A great product--give it a chance
Review: This is a very good product and should not be knocked simply because it isn't the "in" brand at the moment. I've had mine for 6+ months and it has worked great at a fraction of the price of an iPod. <br /><br />I use it in the car daily with a tape adaptor from a portable CD player. I charge it up nightly. It took me on a 980 mile x 2 road trip to Portland, OR with no problem. <br /><br />Think about it: you're getting 8 TIMES the space for songs that you get on an iPod Mini for less $. 8000 songs versus 1000 songs for less money? Doesn't sound like much of a contest to me. Plus, it comes with everything you need, including a case at no extra price. <br /><br />So if you are more concerned about a good buy than what's "in", you'll be very satisfied with this product. But a word of advice: buy the service contract--it's just good sense. Any brand you get is still a fragile item and you'll kick yourself if something goes wrong and you haven't protected your investment. Happy shopping...
Rating:
Summary: If I wanted good looks, I would have bought an Ipod.
Review: upon first glance this review looks long, but pelase read it - generally the longer reviews point out the facts that you really want to know when buying something.
When I first started looking for an mp3 player with a large capacity, i was faced with many choices. I narrowed it down to four-the 20GB MPIO, the 20 GB Ipod, the 20GB Creative Zen Touch, and this, the 30GB Nomad zen Xtra. A few things turned me away from the Ipod. Some friends had it, and complained about short battery life, The back of it scratching easily and showing every single fingerprint, and I read reviews about having to send it away to get the battery replaced. The 20 GB Ipod was $400 (Canadian) at Future shop, plus taxes and a 3 year service plan, it would come out to about $540 total (I would never buy one of these things without a service plan, cause if you dont buy one,. something is bound to go wrong). I didnt really look very hard at the MPIO. It was fairly small, and it was $379 (Cdn). I liked the Creative Zen Touch much better, and being 20GB as well, i figured if I ended up buying a 20GB player, i would pay the extra $20 and get the Creative. So it was down to the two Creatives. The 20 GB zen touch, and the 30 GB Zen Xtra. I went to Future Shop to check them out, and found that the 30GB Xtra was a web-only offer, for $300. I played around with the Zen touch, and liked it very much, but it would have cost me $540 total. I could have paid that, but it seemed impractical when i could get a 30GB player for $300 (with taxes and 3 year service plan it came out to $400). I went home and ordered it online. It came a few days later, and I installed the software, which i found very easy to use, and started burning song to the player. I have tons of albums, and within the first night of owning it I had about 1300 songs on it. When I brought it to school the next day, most of my friends thought it was pretty cool, however, my Ipod friends laughed at me. This thing is quite a bit bulkier than the Ipod, but hey, its still smaller than my discman, and it can fit in my pocket. I just told the ipod ppl that i dont really care what it looks like, i can hold more songs than you, and it cost me less. The touch-wheel on the ipod make it very easy and appealing, but the user interface on the Zen ztra is not all that difficult. It may take a little longer to find a certain song or artist, but I just say thats because i have more songs on it. I really had to rub it in on my Ipod mini friends, because seeing this they realized they have made a fairly stupid purchase. Yes, the mini is small, and it has different colours, but its only 4 GB!! plus, it costs $30 more than my Creative. My one friend paid about $460, because he bought the service plan. Thats $60 more than I paid, and I have 26 GB more than he does. I have had this player only a few days, no problems yet, but i am not worried. The future shop service plan covers everything from hard drive failures to power surges to lightning striking your house while the mp3 player is plugged in to the wall (that happened with my xbox). If anything goes wrong, i can get it replaced. If i have one or more major problems within the 30 exchange period, i will likely upgrade (or downgrade?) to the Zen touch, but i cant see that happening. So heres what I say: If you want good looks, go mainstream and hop on the Ipod bandwagon. But if you want an mp3 player that stores tons of songs for cheaper (not to mention the suberb sound quality - creative in known for making sound cards), then buy the Creative NOMAD Zen Xtra 30GB - you wont be disappointed.
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