Rating: 
Summary: the bundled software blows, yes...
Review: ...but i heard of notmad explorer (http://redchairsoftware.com) from the creative tech support people.i downloaded the trial version, and after less than 10 minutes of using it, decided it was well worth the price. so yes, as with all software bundled with creative products, it was useless and ugly. for once, though, this 3rd party software is excellent. dont let the bad reviews of the software change your mind. zens rule.
Rating: 
Summary: It is ok, but...
Review: I got my zen xtra a little bit more then a week ago. It was not my first choice. I have done a lot of research before I decided to buy the Nomad zen xtra. One good thing, it is 40 Gb of disk space (well, it is 38 gb in reality). For the price and features it is really good. One thing, before buying this player I have called the Creative tech. support and asked them if I can navigate by folders beside artist/album and answer was Yes. Sure enough there is no such ability. Not sure, if customer rep. did not know the product exactly, it is still new or they just give an anser which users would like to hear. In any case, navigation by artist/album is ok however I miss an ability to navigate by folders. You even can not navigate by genre/artist/album since under genre you get just all tracks in that genre, no other division. Creative is talking about updating it via firmware, however after following some while the descussion groups for Nomad players, looks like Creative represents mostly bug fixes in their firmware updates, not too much of new features. The software, which comes with player is not good at all. I did not managed to make Creative nomad explorer to work. After installing it and trying to make it working for 30 minutes I went and bought Notmad. Notmad worked right away after install and it is what I would like to see from the product. Transfer files is easy using Notmad, however again, would be great if Nomad supported folders like Iriver, RCA Lyra and some other. Often I fill I need to have better organization for the library and there is not enought of variables. Artist, album and Genre are only mp3 tags which are supported buy this player, and if you have 100 artists would be good to have another subcategory. After all those players have 40-60 GB of hard drive, so better organization is required. The bottom line, I'll still watch the progress of Iriver hdd players and if they produce 40 GB player I'll will sell my nomad and buy Iriver.
Rating:
Summary: searching for dennis!!!
Review: wow, dennis sure is great! slowly yet surely my unit engorged as I read my own review, similar to when I look in the mirror. this thing is great, i like to use it to pick up tough stains on my countertop and also to listen to my old 8-track records. sometimes when I get really lonely, i like to put on some kenny G and light some candles, and while this doesn't help, i am a capitalist pig and like buying things too, nah mean!? i did have some problems figuring out how to turn the unit on, but Creative did a good job with this, as they had a clearly labled "ON" button that I found when i left my cellar for the first time in years. there was very little light in there. anyway, im gonna go find dennis now, have a nice day!!!
Rating:
Summary: Another electronics fan
Review: Summary Overall I like the unit. I gave it only 3 stars due to the fact that the 1st one broke when I dropped it from a fairly short distance (less than 2 ft). If it were not for that I would have given it 4. Pros:
1) Price / GB of Storage
2) Storage Capacity
3) User replaceable battery Cons:
1) Fragile (I broke the 1st one within 10 days)
2) Scroll button / switch
3) The case hides the display - you have to open it to see what you are doing. Features that would have been nice:
1) FM receiver - some models out there have this.
2) FM transmitter - so you can place the unit in your car and listen to the unit through your car stereo. They sell an adapter unit to use with your car's cassette deck. But who wants the wires involved. A short range FM transmitter would be much nicer. I believe the Napster MP3 player has this feature. Details: Don't drop this unit:
I've had the player for about a month now. Overall I like it. As mentioned above I broke the player within the 1st 10 days. I was sitting on a train and it fell off my lap and broke. I think it fell right on the earphone plug when it fell (Murphy strikes again). I was able to return it to the retailer where I bought it and got a replacement. If you are going to need a player that is rugged this may not be the one for you. I purchased the extended warranty (something I almost never do) when I returned the unit to get the replacement. Updating the unit's firmware:
When I first purchased the unit I downloaded the firmware update that was available on their website. The upgrade went smoothly and was easy to do if you can follow directions. I would recommend doing the upgrade to be sure you have the best chance at trouble free operation. Storage:
The storage capacity is great. I don't think I will ever use the full 30GB. I currently have ~ 1100 songs encoded mostly at 196 kpbs and I haven't even used 10GB of storage yet. I'm starting to listen to CD's that I haven't listened to in years now that I have them all handy in one place. For those out there that are not familiar with MP3 encoding, you can encode your CD's at varying quality levels. Typically people use 96kbs to 320 kps. The higher the number the better the quality (less data compression is used) and the larger the file size. If you decide to encode at 320 you will fit less on this device than someone who encodes at 128kps. You should consider this when deciding what bit rate you want to use and how much you want to put on the player. If you're someone who wants to put 10,000 songs on this thing you may want to encode at the lower end (typically 128 is considered close to CD quality). Price:
The price compared to the iPod is great. Price, along with the replaceable battery (which I understand Apple charges a small fortune to replace - as well as the hassle of returning it) were the two main factors on why I picked the Nomad. One word of caution with regards to using the Nomad with iTunes. I discovered this weekend that iTunes does not sell MP3's in the MP3 format. It using something called AC3 (at least the trial song I purchased was in this format) which is not a compatible format for the Nomad. I haven't figured out if this is the case for all the songs on iTunes. But for now it appears that this player doesn't play well with iTunes. Scroll Bar:
The scroll bar is a bit of a pain. Sometimes you skip past things or have to press it twice to select items. It's not the end of the world, but a better design sure would be nice. Software:
I've had no problems with the software. I found it intuitive to use (I didn't read any documentation for it and was using it successfully within a few minutes). The software will convert your CD's to MP3 and put them on the player as well as your hard disk if you want it to. My 2.6 MHz Pentium 4 with USB 2.0 was able to perform the task pretty quickly (I would estimate ~ 5 - 8 minutes per CD). Through the software you can classify songs in genres. This is a nice feature (i.e. it's early in the morning and you rather listen to "easy listening" rather than "heavy metal" - no problem. The software comes with plenty of defaults genres. You can also create your own if you don't like their classifications. You can edit the genres once the songs are on the play if you decide to re-classify things later. This can be done on a song by song basis or in mass. In addition, you can create play lists where you can create the equivalent to a compilation CD right on your player. This is pretty cool. Sound:
The sound from the player is ok. I was a little disappointed in the low end. I did buy separate headphones as other have recommended. I was able to improve things a bit by using the units equalizer and boosting the base. The sound level is also not as high as I would have expected. It's probably good for the health of your ears, however I consistently play it near the high end of the volume range (and my hearing is fine).
Rating:
Summary: Difficulties With Tags
Review: If you purchase this product, definitely rip your songs through windows media player. Otherwise, you'll have to mess around a lot with filenames inside the (decent) nomad explorer, which is not fun at all. This thing seriously is a good player though.
Rating:
Summary: EXCELLENT PRODUCT
Review: This is my second Creative Labs MP3 player, and it is definitely a fine product. First let me give you the bad things:
1. The size is a little bit bigger than the iPod, and it weighs a little bit more.
2. The scroll button isn't the best, as it sometimes can be hard to select.
3. That's pretty much all the negatives
The positive things truly outnumber the negatives, and the negatives aren't that bad. First of all the player's sound quality is superior to the iPod. The player's software is very easy to use and very good. Compared to musicmatch, the software has a better filing system and easier to use. To keep it short, this is cheaper, and in my opinion a better choice than an iPod.
Rating:
Summary: Good player, but this technology is not yet great.
Review: I received this as a gift. I had no problems setting up the software and getting my favorite CD's transferred. However, the Creative software is not real intuitive. The software is somewhat nice to look at, using it is not the easiest. If you want to rename a CD title that you have already transferred, you will become frustrated quite quickly. You are better off deleting it, re-ripping it with the new title and then transferring it to the player.
Transfers are surprisingly quick through USB 2.0. It is great sounding, even with the supplied earbuds. I must have differing preferences than others here, as I prefer the supplied earbuds to the Sony's that I thought sounded good on other players. I love the storage in this thing. I have 100 of my CD's transferred and haven't made a dent in the 30 GB drive. I doubt I will use half of the storage capacity, but you never know. this is definitely opening up possibilities to obtaining MP3's in which I would have never purchased the CD. Now my dissapointments. The description of the Warranty is buried on the supplied set up CD. The warranty is 90 days. This is ridiculous. To me this alludes to the manufacturer's confidence that the product will last for a year. Buy the re-seller's extended warranty and save yourself a headache for the problems you will have later, after all it is a hard drive and it will die or have issues over time (probably sooner than later). The scroll wheel, to be blunt, sucks. Seems it is always difficult to press to make a selection. The interface used could be better designed. It is a little cumbersome to scroll through so many levels to get to the selection you want. I am a software engineer and if I wrote an interface to my software that worked like this, there would be hell to pay, not to mention the ridicule from my peers. AND the case, how did this ever make it out of Quality Control. It is some protection for the unit, but for useability, forget it. The screen is covered, so to make any new selections you have to open it. The cut-outs for the controls is not thought out as there is too much material in the way to adequately access the controls, especially the scroll wheel. There are no other aftermarket cases available for this model yet, so you have to live with it.
Despite the things that I have listed so far, I could live with this item since it saves me from lugging a CD case to work, to the gym, in the car, etc.. However the main reason I am not satisfied with this product is the fact that it will lock up at odd times. I have had it lock up after a transfer of music. The files are there, but I could not access the player without removing the battery, waiting a short period and re-inserting the battery. Also have had it lock up when I shut it down to attend to a phone call. Left it set on my desk came back five minutes later and it just wanted to keep playing the same song over and over. Could not stop it, could not get out of the "Now Playing" screen. Again had to remove the battery. There have been other occurrences of locking, but I will not bore you with the details. Quite simply, the firmware and/or the OS that control this thing is not ready for prime time. There have also been times that the unit has been turned off for some period of time, upon powering it up it starts on the "Now Playing" screen with a song or CD that I had been playing days before. I haven't quite figured this one out yet, but it is probably operator error.
Now I have not owned other MP3 players as I was waiting until they matured, but since I received it as a gift I now have this one. I would suspect that there are similar problems with all of the other brands as this is somewhat new technology. And we all know about the rush to market on new products. I have had this player for 2 weeks, I will be returning it for an exchange in the hopes that the locking problem and scroll wheel are problems with this particular unit. While I am at the store I will definitely get the extended warranty as I have another day or so (from the purchase date) to obtain one. I know this unit will have problems in the future and the $40 for the 2 year "No Questions Asked" replacement warranty will be worth it, since Creative will only warrant it for 90 days - which in itself is totally ridiculous!
Rating: 
Summary: Poor Reliability
Review: I bought this only to have it break within a month. This product is too fragile for normal use.
Rating: 
Summary: Creative ok but ipod much better
Review: I have both and although the ipod is only 40gigs it is twice the player of the nomad.The jog wheel on the nomad is a joke and will break very easy,you see my nomad has been replaced twice because of that wheel,I am glad I got it from Best Buy where with the extended warranty they replace it with no problem.
The poor build of the nomad is why I got the ipod.To all who swear by WMA files they must be tone deaf,AAC(MP4)that ipod uses is so much better sound and itunes works so much better than the creative software even the explorer that people are saying is so great.And yes I am a windows user and the windows itunes works great.It takes Apple to make good software for a windows machine does not say much for microsoft or creative.As for sound the person who said that creative has to be good because they make sound cards is tone deaf,the sound is crap compaired to ipod.
If you are afraid to spend money and want marginal buy this other wise buy a ipod and have the best,you get what you pay for.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful
Review: Charged my battery. Plugged it in. Installed software. Started ripping and transferring. If you arent hooked up to CDDB to get the album info I guess you have to manually input the stuff, but that little work will save you looking for songs. I've got 1200 songs on it now and about 4000 more to go. Working for 10 hours with it on "shuffle" totally rocks!! I love it!!
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