30GB hard drive holds approximately 1,000 hours of music at 64 Kbps (or 500 hours at 128 Kbps) * plays MP3, WMA, and WAV files * backlit LCD displays track info * adjustable 4-band EQ with 8 presets * USB 2.0 interface (cable included) *
1 Great Item If You Have a Brain...
When one reads the reviews on this site, one needs to take into account what else might be going on behind the scenes that affects one's experience with the product. Never has this been so true as in the case of the Creative Nomad.
I bought mine almost three months ago and have had ZERO problems. The hard drive has never frozen or crashed. I bought Sony earbuds to use with it and it sounds great. I use my car kit from an old cd player to play it in the tape deck and it's perfect for my commute. I have never dropped it or handled it roughly. I always keep it in the case.
I have used it while walking or lifting weights at the gym and it is too bulky to work that well for this. I recommend a flashcard-based player for working out. Furthermore, if you are a runner, all of the joistling will hurt the hard drive, if not make it skip. Would you go running with your laptop strapped on you? I would imagine not! Hard drive players aren't meant for that kind of use.
The only complaints I have are the lack of a line-in jack, the size, and the battery life. I have to charge mine once every two days after 3-4 hours of use. I do have the EAX on, scroll around a lot on the songs, and have the volume up, so it stands to reason the battery is getting drained quicker.
I fully reccommend this mp3 player to the person who knows that it isn't indestructable and has common sense as far as to how it should be handled. Ipod isn't the be-all end-all of mp3 players and Creative shows that in this product.
2 I-Pod Killer
I got mine for christmas of 04 and have loved it since. I have about 2500 songs on mine NOW and i have seen no problems,skipping,slow-downs or anything not working correctly. Its very easy to navigate from menu to menu. The sound quality is top notch and it even plays big high quality .WAV files. The battery life is very long i have played it for hours on end and the battery meter didnt even drop a single bar. and for 200$ it is the one u should buy. Creative Labs rock!
3 BEST PLAYER
I love this little gizmo... I have everything I own on this... I only wish it could be embedded in my brain...
4 I agree with J. Judge
I had brought the Zen Xtra and had it replaced 3 times!! For the 1st one I called Creative's tech support (which is horrible) they did't know what I ment by skipping and the songs cutting off. I really like the unit so, as a last resort I contacted customer service where I purchased the unit. They sent out a replacement immediately and a prepaid return for the unit.
I rcv'd the 2nd unit it did the same thing! I had purchased a seperate drive to hold my transferred cd's which was about 200 until the new unit came. I just couldn't believe it!!! After all the trouble calling Creative the 1st time and worrying about running out of the 30 day time period that they would talk with me, I didn't even bother to to call them. I e-mailed customer service where I got unit from and asked if maybe there was a problem with the units. I've been in retail so I know these things happen. When I had asked Creative they said no there was no problem and rushed me off the phone.
To my suprise my email was returned from where I purchased the Zen xtra and they stated there was a wide spread problem with the units. They wouldn't be able to supply me with a new one because they wouldn't have them for about 4-8weeks. My hats off to them for there honesty. Because of there great customer service I put another on on order and this time the 60GB.
I waited patiently everyday checking stock. When I rec'vd the 3rd unit it did the same thing. Skipping songs, cutting them of I just couldn't believe it. That unit has been returned and I will no longer purchase from CREATIVE!!!!! You don't even diserve the 1 star. Hopefully your service and products will knock you out of the MP3 business!!!!!
I will continue to check amazon's reviews for an MP3 that is worthy of my time and money. I'm hoping the iAudio increases ther product line to include 40GB or 60GB. I'll keep checking because there reviews are good and they also include an FM radio.
W
5 Creative Nomad, Good Buy
So,like many others, I was new to the MP3 Scene, my younger sis has the Ipod and I used hers a few times but that round wheel thing got quite annoying(to me at least). So I looked around and read reviews and looked to Creative, the Nomad 30g was less expensive than the Zen 5g, and I figured, well I only want to have to really ever buy One Mp3 Player, and extra space is way better than not enough, so Amazon had a sale and that was the point where I said, OK i'll buy it!
I got it yesterday, charged up the battery and started loading songs. I hadn't really ever used transferring music software, took a few mins to get used to the included software with the player, but it wasn't hard at all, and tranferring became quite easy.
I loaded a bunch of stuff, and still have tons of room left. (tip: use the wall charger when you're tranferring songs using your PC, seems to drain the battery quickly. Since you've already got the USB plugged in, its not really hard to have one more plug nearby)
The sound quality is very good, the case that comes with it seems like it's going to protect the player very nicely. I have small hands, it is slightly wide, but it's no big deal since I really have nothing to compare it to. The playlists are easy to create and the player sorts your music in several different ways to be able to find it easily.
Here at work, I plugged some small desktop speakers into the headset jack, and voila' audio comes thru just fine!
I only gave it four starts and not five, because the plastic scroll button on the side seems like it could be sturdier, although I have had no problems with it. Also i'd like Creative to come out with interchangeable faceplates for the front, since the front plate comes off, which is where the battery is.
All in all, I've had it for about 24 Hours now and think it will become a trusted sidekick, esp. in the car where the endless commercials and flipping stations had become a daily routine.
For the features, the price and the storage, I think it's a pretty good deal.
6 Get you money back before something goes wrong.
I'm really sad that I have to return this unit. If it delivered on its promises it would be great. At first it didn't work. I updated the firmware. (A newbie wouldn't know to do this and would go nuts.)Then I read the fine print: You can't go jogging with this thing (which is why I got it)it's too delicate. Looking on various forums I find, ALL Creative players have faulty headphone jacks-- just a matter of time before you lose sound in one channel. People have gotten 2 & 3 replacements with the same problem! After the 90-day warranty, cost of repair is $95! Huh? For a $200 device? I now wonder if ANY hard drive MP3 player, including ipod, is durable enough for people on the go and into gyms & jogging. Corps want suckers to buy it, have it die, then buy another. I'm sticking with my ol' reliable 128 mb solid state player.
7 Good, but not perfect
I've had this for about 2 months and I'm very pleased with it. It was half the price of a 20GB ipod and had 10 more GB. First some of the negatives. I had to change the meta data on my ahem.. less than legal songs so that they were sorted correctly. Also it locks up occasionally while transferring songs.
Despite the negatives, it gives you great value for your money and the software that comes with it is pretty good. It allows you to choose what you want to load on the player instead of automatically deleting your songs like itunes. I would highly recommend this product for anyone not looking to spend a ton of money on an ipod.
8 Nothing beats the iPod
The Creative NOMAD is a cheap iPod knockoff, and everyone knows this. Why buy this garbage when the iPod is better? The Apple iPod has everything you want in an MP3 player: easy click wheel, great sound quality, and you can store up to 1,000, 5,000, 7,500, or 15,000 tunes! PC and Mac. Easy to install. Stylish white earbud headphones. And affordable prices that can't be beat. Don't fall for the Creative NOMAD. It's no match for the Apple iPod, which is THE definitive MP3 player in the market.
9 Sort of like it
I purchased the 30gb Nomad jukebox because of Creative Labs' reputation for high sound quality, and the nice price/memory ratio.
I was mostly pleased with my jukebox when i received it in the mail. The sound is great, the controls are functional and easy to master, the software worked on my Windows XP with no glitches. However, I have to say that, I wish it was just a little bit smaller and sleeker...that's right, like the ipod. These are just minor aesthetic gripes.
About two weeks into using my Nomad, the headphone jack stopped working, no sound at all. I could tell that the hardware was still functioning (responded to controls, little hard drive whirring sound, etc...), but there was just no sound. I got a quick response from Creative's returns department and had a replacement jukebox in about 10 days. Inconvenient, yes, but they handled my claim quickly.
Occasionally, my jukebox freezes up (maybe once a week), but everytime, I've used the tiny reset button to restart it with no problems.
For the price, I think this jukebox is a great deal. It's sturdy and functional and has so much memory. But be warned, there are many reviews which list technical malfunctions like I've described. There is a good chance your jukebox will breakdown, too.
10 Poor performer in the MP3 line
I bought this unit because of the 30G storage and the price was decent. I must admit the sound quality was very good. After charging it up initially, there were many preloaded tunes that were inaudible even at max volume. Same thing with tunes I loaded. Tech support was OK, they suggested bringing it back to the store to get a new once since the firmware upgrade didn't help or reformatting the hard drive either. 2nd unit worked ok for about 2 weeks. Went to use it after 4-5 days of no use, and I could power it on and that was it. No response from the wheel, power button etc...nada. Had to remove the battery to shut it off. It went back to the store and I got a Rio Carbon instead. Awesome sound, more compact, sleeker and functions much more reliably. No more Creative products for me.
11 Amazing.... while it lasts
I bought a Nomad because I needed a lot of memory for as little as possible. I'm on a tight budget, there aren't exactly a lot of jod oppertuneties for a 15 year old. I bought the thing about a month ago, and I loved it. In fact, I wrote a review for it here, ad gave it five stars. Then, the thing clonked out on me. I can't get music onto it, the software won't recognize it, etc.. So now I'm stuck with a 220.00 dollar usless lump of trash. I hope I can return it or something. Anyways, I plan on getting an Ipod, i suggest you don't make my mistake.
12 Great sound quality, somewhat bulky, weak EQ settings
I'm impressed with the 98dB S/N ratio and it sounds cleaner than any portable I've heard; as good as a decent home stereo. Higher quality earbuds or headphones make it even better. Commentary: WMA sounds a lot cleaner than MP3 at equivalent bitrates and we ought not be stuck on the term "MP3 player." The manual does mention that it takes more battery power to play/decompress WMA files.
I think the easiest way to transfer tracks to the unit is with Windows Explorer, which shows the Zen as a hard drive. You can just drag and drop files instead of using Creative's software which forces you to put them in a "PC" queue first. If music is DRM-protected it seems you do have to use the Creative app to decrypt it.
I haven't had the unit long enough to comment on reliability but I've seen how many people treat gizmos. Unmentioned user-abuse may account for half the bad reviews. I would make sure to never drop this thing or even bump it on a table. Save the casual handling for a solid state device. The scroll wheel feels like it could break if you repeatedly don't press on the exact center but I like how it functions. Also, some tracks just won't copy to the unit (some sort of internal corruption?) and others will copy but freeze when you try to play them. This has only happened with 3 of 1,000 tracks so far. 2 were downloaded MP3s and 1 was WMA with DRM.
My only real complaints are bulk and weight (it feels a bit hefty for true portability) and the weak selection of custom equalizer frequencies. The "low" end is only 100hz, which is the realm of boomy bass. It seems like a big oversight not to offer 50hz or 60hz instead, with more than 4 bands, but better headphones minimize that gripe. I still hope Creative will do a firmware upgrade for the custom EQ settings.
13 no seriously
this mp3 player if great i've read reviews before buying mines and i was a bit skeptical.when i received it in the mail and opened it it wasnt as big as everyone said,but bulky with the carrying case on,compatible with usb 2.0,1.1 and by the way if u have usb 1.1 dont worry it only takes about 4-6 seconds to trasnfers songs with usb 1.1,this mp3 player is great and i highly reccomend it
14 I highly recommend this player!
I actually looked this page up *in order to leave a review*, because I have been so pleased with the player so far! I'm now at six months of ownership with some pretty intense usage, and I haven't had a problem yet, despite dropping the player once or twice from about five feet.
Pros:
The storage capacity is impressive: I've got my entire CD collection on it (a little over 200 CDs), and there's still plenty of space left. This is great for me since I go overseas for months at a time and can now easily take my whole CD collection with me. The interface is simple and easy to use. The sound quality is fantastic, especially with a ton of preset equalizer settings. My favorite feature is that it plays wma (Windows Media) files, as they are easy to rip and are often smaller than mp3s of comparable quality.
Cons:
My complaints are minor. The first is the size of the player, which is much bulkier than an iPod. The second is that scrolling through menus can be a pain. A partial solution to this is to make playlists in advance on your computer using the Creative software (which has a great user interface) and transferring those to the player.
If you're seeking an mp3 player that works well, sounds great, and doesn't cost an arm and a leg: you've found it!
15 great buy
First off, this mp3 player is great. The top of my christmas list was a mp3 player. I wanted a sleek looking one, but the ipod was way too expensive. My older brother found this one, it had rebates as well, and got himself one as well as one for a present for me.
I am very pleased with this item. The software is easy to use. If you can use any player such as music match, this software is a snap. Loading songs was a breeze, the one complaint is that you should make sure all your songs have their artists and song names correct before transfer. I didn't do this and it took me a about an hour to fix, but it was very easy to fix. Once I fixed it, it automatically uploaded the correct information onto the player since it was plugged in. Once the songs are on the player you can suffle songs (amongst other play options), it has different EAX properties you can mess with. You can choose your songs by genre, artist, etc, just like most players on a computer. The controls are very very easy to use. A good thing is that you can use it easily with one hand.
It also comes with a case with is nice since most other mp3 players, you have to shell out at least another 20 bucks for a case. The headphones that came with it sound great. This player almost sounds better than my expensive computer speakers! I had to get a different pair of headphones because these wouldn't stay in my ear. I have that problem with all ear buds. So if earbuds work on you, then these headphones are very good. Charging doesn't take long at all. The first time I used it, I charged it and transfered at the same time. I have had it since Dec 2004 and it hasn't frozen or any problems what so ever with it. in short:
Pros:
-looks sleek
-has a removable battery
-comes with case
-huge storage space
-very easy controls
-sounds superb
Cons:
-a little bit bulkier than ipod
-just a scroll control instead of touch sensitive(like ipod has)
I would recommend this player to someone who doesn't want to shell out a ton of money for an ipod, but still wants a very good player.
16 I'm sorry I bought it...
Lasty July I bought this unit, and had high hopes for it. Unfortunately, they were dashed very quickly. I realize that I might have gotten a defective player, but still:
1. The software is cumbersome and difficult to use. (It's also nearly impossible to do a clean uninstall from your hard drive, even though the manufacturer claims otherwise.)
2. The sound quality was mediocre at best. (I used Grado SR-60s, not the phones that came with the player, or others of comparable quality -- i.e., cheap.)
3. I had persistent hard drive problems from the get-go. My player tended to freeze at least once a day (usually several times a day), and crashed altoghether right around the end of my 3-month warranty period. The screen shows an icon with the caption "hard disc error." A Creative rep. told me that it would cost at least $100.00 to replace the hard drive; and $40.00 to reflash it. (iPod users can reflash at home...)
4. The belt clip isn't trustworthy.
5. The controls aren't exactly ergonomically designed -- I got mild tendinitis from using them!
The only pro (to my mind): the replaceable battery.
I'm not a shill for Apple, but I ended up buying a 4G, 40 GB iPod late last year. I've had NO problems with it, and the sound is far, far better than that of the Creative player. (I'm still using the same headphones.)
The upshot: I love my iPod. My Zen XTRA was nothing but trouble!
Suggestions:
1. If I were to investigate other brands/models further, I would probably buy an iRiver, or else get a new iPod. And if I were an audiobook listener, a Creative MuVo would probably be my choice. but I will never, ever make the mistake of buying a dedicated music player from them again...
2. Make sure that you have an extended warranty or are able to purchase one (or a replacement coverage plan) if you buy this unit. I wish I'd sprung for either or both.
3. Give Red Chair Software's Notmad program a try. I use their Anapod Explorer (finding it far superior to iTunes) and have seen a lot of raves on various Nomad sites, including Nomadness. (I do not work for Red Chair - I'm just a satisfied customer.)
17 Great Player for the money!
I love this player! There a tone of reviews here, so I'm just going to add a few suggestions from my experience. This is what happened to me when I first got it: The first night I downloaded about 8 gigs onto it. I didn't touch it after that for another day. The next time I downloaded some more on it, no matter how much I did, after about 24 hours of it being off (and charged), all the recent mp3s/wmas wouldn't show up in music/albums. It would still show it was there (in the total space being taken), but no music. At that point, I had loaded about 25 gigs and didn't want to reformat.. But I bit the bullet and reformatted eventually, and it fixed the problem. Hope this helps anyone else that has this weird problem.
There's another program called Notmad by Red Chair Software that makes it much easier to put music on your player. Just load the driver, then Notmad, and everything will be great. I'm still waiting for someone to crack it to load other formats of music besides mp3/wmas.
18 Great Player
I have had this player for 10 months. I truely abuse this thing and havnt had a problem yet. First, I never use the protective carrier that came with it. Its big and ugly, I just throw the player in my pocket with my keys and loose change. I run about 10 miles a week with it, although running with buffer-based players is not recommended. No problems. I throw it in the air, toss it on my desk, leave it in the car at night when its cold. Regularly, I let the battery run completly down. Its charge still lasts 14 hours every time. As mentioned, the battery cover will come off fairly easily...IF YOU DROP IT! This has only happened to me a couple times even though I am completely neglectful towards it. There is dirt and grime in the the audio jack and USB port and yet, no problems AT ALL. The only thing is that the software that came with it doesnt work. When transferring files from PC to the player, the software crashes. SO! I use the explorer in My Computer and it allows me to edit everything, add files, and it also organizes it into Artists, Genres, and Albums JUST LIKE THE SOFTWARE IS SUPPOSED TO. I really like this thing. I have yet to fill it up despite my best efforts and NO. I dont work for Creative.
19 Great Product
I have had my Creative Zen for about 3 weeks now. It has passed the test with flying colors. I initially purchased it for a long car ride I was going on; Mainly because I didn't want to lug around my cds. The battery was still over halfway full after 6 hours in the car. Exactly what I was hoping for. Although it is a bit bigger than an Ipod, looks can be decieving. I know that in school people say "wow that is big" and all this other stuff but I say that it works well, and is definantly better than an Ipod. The battery is replaceable, it lasts as much as 10 out of the 12 hours or so promised. It is more affordable, and it can hold up to 15,000 songs I believe.
20 You Want This
The Creative Nomad Jukebox Zen Xtra, is, quite simply, the best mp3 player ever. It is the best reason not to plunk down $300 to buy an ipod. Navigation and playback is stupid easy. You can randomize and shuffle around the music in A: the whole player, B:a specific album, C: a specific artist, D: a playlist, or E: a specific genre. Take that, ipod shuffle! The software that comes with it is a breeze. An alien from Mars that's never seen a computer before could create playlists, transfer music, etc, etc. More reasons it's better than ipod: doesn't scratch as easy, you can put any music that's on your computer into it, as opposed to the ipod, which is only compatible with itunes. Buy it now!!!
21 Bulky But Beautiful
This player is lightyears ahead of Ipod. Yeah, it's bigger and not quite as easy to navigate through the controls, but consider the the advantages: 1. It is far more easily loaded with music. 2. The battery is user replaceable (not so with Ipod). 3. Tailoring sound to your exact desires is much more easily accomplished with Zen Extra with many more sound options as well. 4. Making playlists and managing those playlists is a snap. The disadvantages: 1. It is bigger. 2. It is heavier. 3. It isn't nearly as esthetic. The only reason I don't rate this machine at 5 stars is that it isn't quite as compact or light as I would find ideal. On balance, while I like an attractive package, the sound and ease of use makes the Zen Extra a much wiser choice. I use mine daily at work. With only 20 gigs used on the hard drive I can still go weeks without having heard everything I have loaded on my machine. If you are looking for an excellent player and want more bang for your buck, this player or one of it's cousins, of different capacity, will do the job. Zen Extra is the one to buy.
22 Large Library, Low Budget? This is for You.
First of all, most people buying an mp3 player care about aesthetics and size. This isn't the most beautiful machine in the world -- but the metal casing on the front and back feels sturdy and looks good. None of the buttons look or feel cheap, except for the button on the bottom which opens the battery compartment; it is made of cheap gray plastic. All in all, it's a good looking player with a fairly minimalist aesthetic design, but it does seem short and fat compared to some other players. With the case, however, it will be a tight squeeze.
The case is made of (probably fake) leather, and is well built. It has a nice and soft inside which rubs against the front of the player, protecting against scratches. The buttoned latch which shuts case is study, and I don't expect it to open accidentally. The belt buckle on the back is fairly strong, but it wobbles from side to side. Still, I wouldn't expect it to break off suddenly. Unfortunately, the case has an open window which provides very little protection for the screen -- I scratched my screen within a few days of receiving mine. The case feels like it would provide some protection, but it is not hard and isn't likely to save the Zen if it is dropped from any substantial heights.
The button placement makes sense, but it isn't particularly easy to hold and control the player with a single hand. With the player facing away from you (as if it were on a belt, which is where mine usually is), the volume buttons are on the right, with the power and back buttons as well. The menu, play / pause, forward and reverse buttons are all on the left, which makes the player obviously geared towards right-handed users. The scroll wheel is also on the left, and it is very easy to use. It always responds, but can be hard to press if it is not centered in its slot.
Functionally, the player is fantastic. Most EAX features will go unused, but I always have my custom setting on. Most of the Advanced and Environmental settings are useless, but fun to play around with. The Time-Scale setting is very cool, even though I have little use for it -- I would imagine more musical people using it to their advantage. Smart Volume and Spatialization are also unused. Of course, having features I don't use isn't a problem, so I can't complain.
The menus are fairly intuitive, and the placement is simple and easily understood, if still difficult to memorize -- this player is hard to control without looking. The in-player clock can be set as a screen saver, but is otherwise not used. There is also an alternate skin for the menu, if you prefer icons. The ability to create custom playlists on the go is fantastic -- I'm not sure I would want a player without this feature. Tracks are easily sorted, and the search can bring you to a letter far more easily than it can bring you to a specific track. The find functions, while useful, are cumbersome. The play any track and all track features cause some lag when first loading, but are neat and useful. The menu can be set in 15 languages, which is fantastic (but again, totally useless for me personally). There are also 6 different profiles, which are very useful. I use them to easily switch between power saving settings, depending on whether or not I am home.
The sound quality is fantastic, and extremely tweakable. The in box headphones are worthless for most ears; I bought a pair of Closed Sony MDR-EX71SL Fontopia Headphones, which sound excellent.
The storage capacity is cavernous, which is fantastic considering the player can also be used as an external hard drive. I store important files on mine, but I do not generally keep it connected to my computer; USB 1.0 is too slow, however, I'm sure that if I had USB 2.0 capabilities on my computer to match the player's, it would see more use as an external hard drive.
Transferring files can be done through a click and drag interface in Windows Explorer, or you can use the Mediasource software. Mediasource is excellent software. It was confusing at first, but if you read up on it, it will make sense and be easily understood.
The battery doesn't hold a 14 hour charge as advertised. I may have made a mistake charging mine at first, but with the EAX always on and the volume at maximum (oh yes, this thing is loud), I usually get about 6 or 7 hours out of it. It also takes about 3 hours to charge. Still, the battery is removable (which will save you a lot of money in the long run), and an extra battery can easily extend the player's life during long trips.
I've only had my player for three months, and the warranty just ran out, so I can't say for sure how long it will last. Still, I have had absolutely no errors so far, so I really can't complain about this player at all . . .
. . . Especially considering the price. Considering all of the features, the quality, and the capacity, I think you'd be hard pressed to find a better deal.
23 Just get the extended Warranty!
Just get the extended Warranty, but if you want to know why read on. I bought my creative Jukebox 40GB right around the New Year. I have placed over 400 CDs on it and plan to continue. I wanted to wait to write a review, these reviews really helped my decision. I did a ton a research and this is what I found: Ipods are much more aesthetically pleasing and have a slightly better operating system (more user-friendly) just like all their products. But like all their products they overcharge compared to the competition for basically a "hot lookin" item. I paid about $150 less than the Ipod but then bought the $40 2 year extended warranty from Best Buy. Ok extended warranties are like lottery tickets but if you plan on using your player the battery will die, and there is your $40 investment right there. Best Buy (I'm sure other stores have these, CC etc.) will give you a new battery. Plus if the dreaded headphone jack fails then your covered and paid $100 less. One of the best features that the Ipod doesn't have is that you can add a song to a play list, meaning that if a song is playing you can select another one to play after, and so on. DJ style. The battery life definitely out shines the Ipod. I have had multiple 8 hr road trips. The headphones that are supplied are poor so don't be fooled at the initial sound quality it is definitally equal to the Ipod and plays wma format. Selecting songs can be a hassle especially having over 10,000 because of their weird slide wheel. There is an alpha search so if an artist starts with a `T' you can quickly get to the T's. You can use it as a USB drive for transferring files although I don't use that option often. You can have multiple sites of download for Mp3s, so if you keep some of your music on another computer... The software it comes with isn't anything special but it gets the job done could improve. Recap: With everything comparable (size sound quality etc.) the price and making mixes on the go are the reasons I purchased this guy. I bought about $100 worth of music in the last couple months, saw a show, and bought new strings - rock on.
24 So Awesome!
I totally love it! It's so much fun. Even though it's a little bigger than the iPods and the smaller versions of Creative Zens. It's still very easy to travel with. It's very comfortable in the hand. I go for my walks with it, and listen to it at work. I don't even know what I did without it! It did freaze up on me once but when I pushed the reset button I didn't even lose any of my music. I was totally relieved.
25 Don't be a Drone!
I bought my player nearly 9 months ago and it has yet to give me any problems. The only minor annoyance is that the LCD screen doesn't seem to be too securely attached to the player and sometimes the display will not show if I've been running with it. Press down and forward on it a little and the display shows right back up.
I'm not an audiophile -- I just need something other than the crap that is playing on the radio to listen to, so I can't attest to how the sound quality measures up to other players, but it is definitely not bad. Most audiophiles seem to decide that Creative's sound is better on a basic level (excluding limited EQ adjustments) because as you know, it IS the leader in PC sound cards.
So here are reasons why I bought it:
-- Cheap. Duh. Ipods are overpriced by a large amount because they are practically the only thing making Apple money. Don't contribute to Apple's greed, the Ipod simply _isn't_ fairly priced right now, and because of all the people out there willing to pay these ridiculous prices, they are not going to lower their prices any time soon. (The recent low prices are "fake" -- they simply neglect to give you accessories.)
-- Great international language support. If you didn't know, Creative is a Singaporean company and thus the support for Asian languages is great.
-- Durable. I run with it and have never bothered with anything other than the belt clip it comes with, I just put it inside of my jogging shorts instead and reverse the direction of the player. Never had a problem with it skipping, ever.
-- Decent firmware. It could be better, but it's not like they are Apple and trying to limit your choices of what software you can use.
It IS SUBSTANTIALLY bigger than the Ipod, which is annoying when you exercise, but I much prefer not being a drone.
Anyway, my brother has the Zen Micro, and I would have bought that instead, but I made my purchase quite a while ago. Check out the Micro if you are less concerned about storage!
26 Excellent product!
Regardless of the Ipud lovers who trash this unit, the truth is it is an excellent product. I have had mine for 6 months now and have had NO problems whatsoever! I've used half the space on the drive and have over 4500 songs on it! Two things keep this from being 5 stars. One is that the case belt clip is plastic and does not hold to your belt too well (which isn't a big deal, I keep the Nomad in my pocket- the beeper style spring type would be better) and that in order to keep all your albums in alphabetical order by artist you have to rename each song's album title "Artist-Title of album." An easy way to collect songs from various years (I like to have collections of hits grouped by year) is to just rename the album title of the song by the year of release. Viola! Albums arranged by year. Want to hear hits from 1957? Select the album! Songs form 1985? select the album! This is just fantastic!!! Highly recommended! Oh, and the earbuds do sound great!
27 good but not so good
I got this mp3 player for christmas and was very happy with it untill one week ago. I was in school and i wanted to turn it on but it wouldn't go past the title screen. When i tried to erase all the memory it said "hard disk" problem. I had this mp3 player for 3 months and it broke on me for no reason.
It was a waste of money and I would reccommend a different mp3 player.
(I'm 15 years old not 13 )
28 Great, Wonderful and Super Product
The reason why I purchased the unit was because of the battery. In the Apple Ipod, you cannot change the battery yourself. You must send the unit to Apple to have them do it. With the Zen Xtra, a new battery from Creative is $35.00 and an after marlet battery is $29.00.
I use this device at work. I do alot of driving around town making deliveries, and I use it at the gym. I have had my nomad for almost a year now and I have had zero problems with the unit.
29 Numerous hard drive and physical problems make this product
This product is the most worthless piece of junk I have ever purchased in my life. Not only are there obvious physical problems (which I thought would not bother me), but there have been numerous - and I mean numerous - problems with the hard drive since I purchased it a mere seven and one half months ago.
The physical problems are as follows: the player itself is way too big and bulky, it weighs a good deal, and its carrying case will not stay hooked onto your article of clothing. Also, with the addition of the carrying case, the player now has even more bulk. But I have found the carrying case is always necessary, because the player is too flimsy to withstand bumping, jostling, or dropping.
Now to the more important problems. Approximately one month after I received the player, an error message started popping up every 7 or 8 songs, obscuring the scene. It did not affect the music too much, although it was a huge nuisance (still has not gone away). About three weeks after I started using the headphones, one of the pads fell off; thus, they are now useless as they will not remain in my ear. About four months after I purchased the player, I could only hear music out of one ear. Despite numerous emails to Creative's customer service (who are unsympathetic), the problem still remains unresolved. Now, I can only hear music in both ears if I have the jack in a certain position; otherwise I can only hear in one ear. Now, seven and a half months after my purchase, the player has stopped functioning completely. I tried cleaning it, rebooting it, and replacing the firmware, but there is a "Harddisk Problem," and I cannot play any music. Again, despite emails to Creative (whose solutions have been either to send it with a forty dollar repair fee not including various other costs or reinstall the firmware), nothing has been resolved.
I have spoken with multiple people, all of whom have I-Pods (surprise), and although I was initially against the idea of the I-Pod, now I fully recommend you buy it instead. I have yet to find someone who has experienced problems with their I-Pod, while mine is completely dead. Good luck!
30 Bump up to 5 stars if you factor in the price
I'll keep this review short. I got my Nomad for about $170 on sale. That's close to half of what a 30 gig Ipod costs. So right there if the unit works well it is already worth the money. Guess what? It does work well.
Once you figure out the song loading/unloading mechanism (you'll probably have to read a tiny bit) the interface is wonderfull. The "front end" work of loading the songs onto the player is a little more time consuming than some other players I've tried (since you have to propperly tag each mp3...but an internet connection automates everything anyway) but once the songs are on the sorting features are amazing. Select and play catalogs by artist, genre (and you get to name your own genres), or album. Say you want to listen to every Aerosmith song you have and nothing else. You can do it. Say you want to listen to a single Counting Crows album. You can do it. Say you want to listen to every song in the jazz genre. You can do it. Ditto for personalized playlists. In addition, you can randomize all of the above.
So why 4 stars out of 5? The sound doesn't quite hold together at the highest volumes. I hear distortion begin to creep in up there. However, If you plug into an external amp this isn't an issue as the amp can boost the sound for you. And with headphones...you don't want to be playing it that loud anyway. I feel the distortion is a minor issue.
One last bonus is the battery is user replacable. The top pops right off without any screws and the battery is right there. No $100 charge for sending it back to the company for a new battery on this player. Just do it yourself. Nice. Battery life is nice and long too.
I highly reccomend this player.
31 Wow!!
I just received my new Zen Xtra 30 gig today and I absolutely love it.. I also plugged in my new USB 2.0 ports, which took about 5 minutes, then plugged in the mp3 player.. It took me a total of about 5 minutes to get command of the interface of the player and then another 5 minutes to get used to the software. The software is very nice and easy to transfer and organize files.. The unit is fantastic and the sound quality is amazing. Why bother with an Ipod... Save yourself $200 and pick this up...
32 3 and 3/4 stars, really, but i'm nice so i'll round up
***EDIT 3/28***
Okay, so it's more than a week later since I got this badboy (two weeks to be exact), and it's only given me ONE error message -- that it wasn't connected to my computer when it obviously was. But I just unplugged the cable and plugged it back in, and all was well. Other than that, no problems at all, except that I still have to be careful to upload a few songs at a time using the software, or else my computer freezes up. Not a big deal for me.
So, I've been using it during my commute to work and back, so that's only about two to three hours a day. I make sure to check the battery power and recharge it whenever it's been showing 2 bars for a while. When I transfer songs (BTW, I have only begun to chip away at the 30GB), I also keep it plugged into the recharger so I don't drain the battery. I keep it in my bag, using the case to clip it to the edge of my bag's inside pocket. I suppose I can bump my rating up to a complete 4 stars. (I'm stingy about that elusive 5th star.)
****
This is my first MP3 player. I immediately knew that I wasn't interested in an iPod -- at all (mainly because I knew iPods won't work with my computer) -- so I did as much research as I could on other brands. Creative Labs stood out the most, and for a good long while, the 1GB Creative Muvo was on my wishlist, while I continued to compare prices, functions, and space.
I guess the main reason why I picked the Nomad Jukebox Zen Xtra was because it's 30GB for around $200. Compared to what other brands are offering, that's a bargain. (iPod's $200 models only offer 4 to 6GB.)
I care more for capacity and functionality over style and trendiness. And while I didn't think that capacity would be so important to me -- which is why I'd been considering the Creative Muvo 1GB for so long -- I think it's just something compulsive within me. Must... Have... Bigger... Memory... Anyway, I'm not exactly aiming to use this to store all my CDs and MP3 -- just my favorite ones, and ones I'd like to have in case of emergencies.
Well, it's only Day 2 of my Zen Xtra ownership, and while it hasn't lived up to all my expectations, so far I'm satisfied with what it does.
Bad and good things...
The MediaSource software made my computer go all wonky at first. I only have Windows 98(SE), so I guess I had to install it. It took a while for me to figure out -- even the pdf manual wasn't all that helpful. But once you see where your files are on your computer and how you can send them to the player (connected with a USB cord), then it's all good.
HOWEVER, when I tried ripping CDs with the software, it caused my computer to crash several times, and hard. It could just be my D drive, though, but that's what happened. I found out that the best way to make my computer and MP3 player play nice with each other is to select 3 or 4 songs at a time to rip, and not an entire album at once. That's a bummer though, since I wouldn't be able to leave and do other things while an entire album is transferred. But, such is life. ...Oh wait, never mind, I don't have a life anyway.
That's the only real big hitch that came with the Zen Xtra.
And aside from trying to figure out how to create playlists on my own without the "manual," so far I'm pretty satisfied with the little critter. Oh yeah, heh..."little." No, really, it's small, but it reminds me of a Walkman c. 1986. Kind of heavy, too, but remember it's a hard drive and not flash.
So far it hasn't frozen, jammed, blinked, conked out, beeped, buzzed, or assaulted me. The sound quality is quite excellent, too. But the earbud headphones? They really were made for people with larger ears than mine. Or maybe they were made for elephants. I'm not certain.
The scrolly-wheel thingie was a bit of a trick at first, but soon became almost fun to use.
Oh, and I seem to recall somebody saying there wasn't a STOP button? Hahah, there really ISNT one!! Hilarious! However, you can circumvent that problem by pushing the play/pause button, and then the forward/back button. That'll stop the track.
I might be adding things to this review once it passes the One Week Test.
33 After 9 Months, Time to Pay the Zen Its Due
As an introduction, I'd like to state that I did days of research before settling on the Zen Xtra 30gb back in June of 2004. I compulsively read reviews, specs, compared prices, and then did the same over and over again. I considered most of the regular contenders - Ipods, Iriver HDs, Philips, and Sonys. Creative, however, continually stood out as the substance over style Ipod-beater - and the price, though I hate to admit it, was the deciding factor. Back when I bought it, I was chained to Best Buy by a gift card, so I payed about 240$ (Even at that point I had found prices as low as 200). But, to the point - once I finally had the player, I was enthralled. It simply does what it's supposed to do, and it does it oh so well. The sound quality is absolutely great - I'm no audiophile, and I even commit the sin of ripping a lot of music at 96kbs, but regardless, this player has fantastic output. The firmware is perfectly sensible and was instantly understandable. The creative MediaSource Software was absolutely fine by my standards - simple to use, and fairly fast to use - that was one of my greatest concerns when doing research. And the bottom line is its 30gb (or 40gb for just a few more dollars) for under 200$, has absolutely great battery life (had 14 hour battery life way before units like the Ipod finally made it to 12, not to mention it's battery is removable and extremely cheap to replace if ever necessary which it hasn't thus far), and amazingly durable (I've done things to this that I should be put away for - it's been drenched, dropped, thrown, stepped on, etc. . .and keeps going without a hitch). The only real knock against it (and this is entirely relative to the new offerings of Mp3 players from most all the brands)is its size. I affectionately refer to it as my "cheaper, fat Ipod" - and there is a clear size difference - but see one in person and decide for yourself if you can't bear a few extra fractions of an inch - for an extra hundred bucks in your pocket. Overall, this thing has held up and I couldn't be happier with my purchase. If you're on a budget, or even if you're not, this is a smart choice I believe you'll be extremely satisfied with.
34 Wonderful Player - Lots of Room for Favorites
First the bad...it *is* a little big for smaller hands. And the earbuds...whose ears do they fit? Yoda's? Oh, yeah, and it shimmies. Just a little. The installation software appeared to hang (got to 5% and just stayed there), but it did install just fine. I don't know if it's just my computer, because something similar did happen with another player we recently purchased as well, but the management software appears to be non-functional. BUT...that's okay. It was instantly recognized by Windows Media Player and it synched like a dream.
Now the good...everything else! This is a great player. It's got a ton of room for all the musical buffet you could possibly want to put on here. Battery life is pretty good, and recharging takes two and a half hours or so. Lots of room for text, so you know what you're listening to and have specifics on the tune right at hand. Lots of options. You can find artists, albums, etc., right away. No stop button, but that has been no problem at all for me. The price on the unit is unbeatable. I can't believe that in my hand, for less than $200, I'm holding a computer that has 29 more gigabytes on it than my first desktop pc did! I'm really loving this unit. I consider it a "best buy," when you take price, functionality, and storage space into consideration. I'd buy it again in a second.
35 Amazing
The Nomad is just amazing. I bought 3 days ago, and the thing operates like a dream. The software can be a little confusing if you've never used it, but it really isn't bad at all. I'll get straight to it and list the pros and cons as I've noticed them.
-PROS
-amazing price.
-GREAT sound quality
-reasonably easy to use software
-easy to use menus, even though they are a little long
g-reat features on the player- equalizer, EAX, screensaver, clock, find, etc.
-comes with a spiffy leather case
-owner changeable battery
-CONS
-a little large, but still fairly small
-at first, the interface (controls) is a little awkward, but you soon get used to it
-DO NOT trust the belt clip on the case
-no firewire port
I wouldn't have bought anything else now that I've used this. I was going to buy an Ipod when I first decided to get a harddrive player. Before I had a Samsung Y-P35, and a Creative Labs Muvo Micro 512, both excellent products. However, I decided to get the Nomad because of the price difference. (I'm a fifteen year old on a tight budget)
If you want the prettiest player on the market, and you want to pay the price, get an Ipod. If you want to save some cash and get something a little less atractive and larger, get the Nomad. It's a little larger, but not enough to make a difference, and while it is slick lookin' with it's aluminum case, it's not as pretty as the Ipod. However, I've listened to my friend's Ipod, and both of us aree they have the same quality of sound. There you go.
36 Solid player at a reasonable price
Before investing in the xtra I've owned two flash-based mp3 players, an MD player, and I've fooled around with a million of my friends' Ipods. I've had my xtra for about 90 days now and I've been very pleased with its performance.
Pros:
Replacable battery
Durable (dropped it about 4 times already, once onto a metal pole with no damage)
The price per gig ratio is unbeatable (about $6.5 a gig).
Superb sound quality
Effective EQ and fun audio modification features
Bundled software (nomad explorer) integrates cleanly with XP
On-the-go playlist creation
Cons:
Somewhat large
Difficult to operate with one hand for people with small hands
With many albums loaded, scroller becomes a bit cumbersome to use
Only 3 battery bars - hard to know exactly how much time is remaining
Bottom line: This player is for those who don't want to fork out a lot of cash and just want a simple high capacity mp3 jukebox that gets the job done.
As a side note the customer support is stellar (at least for the first 90 days).
37 Nomad
I bought this about a year ago and I've loved it ever since. This isn't for the trendy kids so don't expect somthing that looks as "cool" as an iPod but i'll say one thing about the Zen's features. It lasts much longer than any iPod. All my friend's iPods have scratches all over them from being in pockets or whatever but mine will not scratch. It's very durable and even comes with a really good case. Battery life is almost double of the iPod which is a big concern of mine because I forget to charge it sometimes. The sound also is much better than the iPod. Excelent product and I will continue buying from Creative.
38 so glad i have my nomad.
ok so for christmas all my friends got ipods and i got a nomad. yea i guess i was disappointed because i wasn't as 'cool' hahaha. no i love my nomad because the software is so easy to use once you get started. i love it because i can put a cd in and it will get all the track info and then put it directly onto my player. i won't have to load it to the computer and then onto my player. the ipods won't let you do that. plus a few of my friends who got their 'sweet' ipods have been having some trouble with songs getting deleted and the software being difficult to use. i find it easy to use and the battery seems to last a while. i'm taking it to europe with me for ten days so i'll see if it can withstand a long trip it should! but on occasion it does freeze up all i have to do it reset it and it saves all my songs so its not a big deal. i have the 30GB and i don't really think i can fill up the 8,000 songs i'm only at like 700. But i would really recommend this to someone who is looking to get a decent mp3 player with out the whole 'label' concern because this is durable, reliable and it holds so much without the steep price tag.
39 Simply GREAT
I purchased this item the 4th of feburary of this year. So far so good. I love it: the 30GB lets you save up to 8.000 songs!! te soun quality is incredible you feel like you're in a concert!!. You can choose your songs by artist, genre album or all tracks! if you can't find the song you simply click on the letter which it begins with and the mp3 player will find it for you. The instructions are very easy to understand and it comes with its own CD to help you download songs into your mp3 player. If you buy it, you wont be dissapointed.
40 Great jukebox
I did some research in looking for a good JB that would not break my budget. I have some friends that have the Dell DJ. So I looked at the Dell DJ, Zen Xtra and an Ipod. I decided to go with the Xtra. The reasons why?
1. Zen works with WMA files (Ipod does not, which stopped my considering Apple)
2. Zen's battery is easily to replace. Quick run to Radio Shack. (Apple is proprietary (expensive) and Dell's is not easy to get into)
3. Previously owned a Creative Jukebox 1 and have had great luck with it. Never had an issue with it.
4. The price was $100 cheaper than Dell and $200 than Ipod. For around $200 on Amazon, I got a 30 gig unit. Try to find that with Dell or Apple.
What I don't like about it...
1. Software that came with it is not great. It is not as bad as the original stuff that came with the JB1, but Notmad by Red Chair solved that issue. Plan on an extra $25 to get it. Nice thing is that it is available for Ipod and Dell as well. Well worth the money regardless of which unit you buy!
2. Little wheel feels cheap compared to Dell's, but no one has reported major issues with it.
3. It is a little bigger in physical size than the other 2. No big deal for me since I am not using it jogging or anything like that. I use mine for listening to music in the bedroom, car and office. Easy access to my music collection was my goal.
I've seen people complain that there is not a stop button on it. The Dell unit doesn't have one either. Both have a pause button which works fine for stopping the unit. I have not missed the stop at all.
Hope these insights help others looking. I am very please with my purchase. Highly recommend it.
41 Newbie to the DAP world
I guess I am a few years behind the rest of many DAP owners. I just received my first digital audio player in the mail about a week ago, the 30 gig Zen Xtra from Amazon.com. Out of the box I was actually surprised to see how small it was. All these reviews complain about how bulky and large it is but for someone who has carried around a CD player for many years this is a welcome sigh of relief. I now have about 600 songs on the player and so I dont have to carry my CD case around anymore either.
I spent three weeks reading reviews on various sites and debating between several jukebox players before purchasing this model. I was able to get this player through amazon.com for about $130 less than an over-priced IPOD and thats what did it for me.
Remember that I have only been a proud owner for about a week now but here is what I have come up with so far.
pros:
- huge storage, more than I will ever need (15000 songs!)
- Wonderful sound for files loaded at 64kps
- software is much easier to use than expected. I ripped down and labled (no home internet) 600 songs in a total of 4 hrs. USB 2.0 is amazing, 42 Led Zeppelin songs in 27 seconds!
- Playlist managment and organization is easy, a learning curve of about 15 minutes of playing around with the software. Like I said, I have never owned one of these things before.
- removable battery! I cant imagine paying $100 to have one replaced in a year.
- very nice carrying case that clips on your side.
- Recognizes several types of files
cons:
- scrolling button seems somewhat flemsy
- I wish the warranty was longer than 90 days
- no FM but thats not what I bought it for anyway
- had to buy earbuds at walmart that would stay on ($8), but they all come with those things.
If I had to do it over again I absolutly would buy again. Hope this helps!
42 If There's One Thing You Ever Do, Make it Not Buying This!
I find it difficult to describe how little I like this product. It paused, froze, shut down on its own, and even erased its own hard drive before I finally got rid of it. The battery, when fully charged, only lasted somewhere around 4 hours. And, in case you were wondering, it is emmense and horribly ugly. So save yourself the trouble and the money: Don't Buy It! Though it does work well as a paperweight - an incredibly offensive-looking paperweight.
43 30 GB Nomad
I have owned this mp3 player for a few weeks and I'm really very impressed with it. I'm on a really tight budget (college student with a minimmum wage job), and I think you get the most bang for your buck here.
Pros:
1)Huge memory, especially when you compare it to other mp3 players in the same price range
2)Great sound quality (Creative makes good sound cards though, so I'm not surprised)
3)The time scale feature (you can speed up a song to double speed, or slow it down to half) I don't really see any use for speeding up the music, but I'm a musician (I play mostly guitar) and being able to slow down the tracks is amazing. Now that the guitar mags are including CD's with the musical examples in them I can really get a lot out of them (I dunno, maybe I suck, but I think that they play everything way too fast to try to figure out on those CD's)
4)User replaceable battery (take that Apple)
5)Fast transfer rate (on my comp., Windows XP 2.01 ghz)
6)Can be used as an external hard drive
Cons:
1)Doesn't have all the bells and whistles (ie voice recorder, FM broadcaster, radio, etc.)
2)It's kinda big and clunky
3)Short battery life
4)Only compatible with MP3, WAV, and WMA files
5)Buttons (especially the scroller) feel flimsy
6)90 day warrenty. I don't know. For something this expensive it shouldn't break, but I wish it was guarenteed longer.
7)LOTS of menus (but I guess that's unavoidable)
This is really convenient for me. I have a little over 150 Cd's and a lot of audio files on my comp. I havn't even used a third of the memory and I have 3894 tracks on it (though about 1200 are guitar tracks, and they're only about 5-10 seconds long). Maybe if you have the extra money you should look at something else, but this is good for the price (assuming it holds together) and I'm satisfied.
44 Zen Xtra worth the money
I recently bought the Creative Zen Xtra 30GB mp3 player.
Positive:
The sound quality is great. Not a whole lot of bass, but that's not really important. I don't reccommend using the premade equalizer configurations though, they all lower the volume and you have to max it out.
I have over 900 songs on the player and they all sound great! Haven't even touched half of the memory.
You can replace the battery yourself. Yes, you have to buy another one but you don't have to pay extra to send it off and get it replaced along with the cost of another battery.
Software and player itself are really easy to use. I have Windows 98 SE and had no problems. Usually my computer has a problem downloading new hardware but not with the player. Very compatible.
Price! The apple ipod 20Gb player costs about $300. The Zen Xtra is 30GB and only cost $200. That's a hundred dollars less for 10 more GB's!
Negatives:
I have had the player for a week now and it has frozen twice. Once on the first day and once today. Just have a paper clip with you to reset it just in case (I kept this in mind after reading another review, thanks!)
For something with so much memory I wish it had a voice recorder or even radio capabilities.
Mp3 player is a little bulky, but it's not anything you can't get used to.
Battery life isn't really as long as they advertise. It's probably really half. And if you want to keep the battery working longer just don't let it reach the last bar. Always keep recharging even if it's not going to be used at that time.
45 Darn near perfect, taken as a whole
Just received this unit yesterday, and pumped it full of my "stuff". It's playing one of the classical collections included on the hard drive as I write this review.
Just how much more exciting can an mp3 player get? Probably NOT ALOT.
Even after two decades in the high tech arena, I am stunned by the "novelty" of backing up my entire customer contact database, ALL my client quotes and letters and such, a 350MB Outlook mailbox and hardly denting the storage on a device the size of two cigarette packs.
ALL my Christmas (its Christmas, not Holiday) music, ALL my Audible audio books (couple dozen, mostly long ones), ALL my extended self-help stuff (alot), and the thing still has more than 25GB left.
AWESOME.
What's AWESOME:
- The capacity for the price. Even if you had to take a physical beating from some guy selling one on eBay, there would be no way to compete with the price/capacity proposition. This fact may stem the sheep-like purchases of the iPod being sold at criminal prices . . because they can.
- The earbuds are surprisingly high fidelity as long as your music isn't RRRREEEEEEEE-BOOM-BOOM-RRRRRRREEEEEEE!, which isn't really music so much as self-abuse anyway.
- The battery, unlike so many portable product batteries, GIVES you the impression that it is there to power this thing all day long. It is so surprisingly robust as to actually make it less disappointing when it finally gives up the ghost and needs a recharge.
- The carrying case is almost unbelievable in construction and materials quality, for being a giveaway especially. I have the new one with the window cut out. The only GLARING item here is the hole that's missing for the power cord. ?!?
- The charger has a very standard AC cord that can be replaced without replacing the whole unit. BRILLIANT.
- The speed of data transfer is almost unbelievable given that its going over a USB cable to a "couple of packs of cigarettes".
What's NOT awesome:
- The controls are a bit "scattered" in their design. While close to chunk-blowing, they don't actually go over the edge of the cliff.
- The belt clip that is solidly sewn into the back of the case BLOWS CHUNKS. Be CAREFUL about that.
- I understand this unit used to have a scrolling wheel instead of a "flipper" wheel. Changing to the flipper was STUPID, although not the end of the world. Creative Staff: next time, take the scrolling wheel off of a 5 year old Sony cell phone, and beat that design.
- The dismal backlight, combined with the almost "pretend" contrast controls, and small text make the unit a real teaser for anyone who is remotely visually challenged. Given that the display is bigger that some portable TV sets, WHAT WERE THEY THINKING regarding the text size? The backlight on mine is NOTHING like the advertisment in terms of brightness and clarity.
STILL, not a deal killer, but it aggravates my sciatica something awful.
- A bit clunky size-wise, but for half the cost of the equivalent sheepPod, who cares?
My Advice to Creative:
- Your support reputation is the main PROBLEM with this unit, not the unit itself. I SAID, Your support reputation is the main PROBLEM with this unit, not the unit itself. THAT IS TO SAY, Your support reputation is the main PROBLEM with this unit, not the unit itself. MEANING THAT, Your support reputation is the main PROBLEM with this unit, not the unit itself. What you should take away from this is that Your support reputation is the main PROBLEM with this unit, not the unit itself.
- When the Thinking Cap slides off one's head and onto the floor in the design phase, the correct response is to PICK IT UP AND PUT IT BACK ON, straightaway. Clearly, the folks at Apple secured theirs with duct tape when they designed the fiendishly overpriced sheepPod. You need to do the same.
The Upshot: One of the most AMAZING electronic devices of any sort I have ever seen or used for under $800.
46 works for me
I spent hours and hours researching mp3 players when I decided to invest in one. At first, I was dead-seat on getting and iPod, no matter the cost. Yes, I had been sucked into all Apple's advertising and the sheer "coolness" people who owned one seemed to have. Then I went online. I could not believe the cost of the iPod for so little space and so many problems. I'm a full-time college student who's also trying to hold down a part-time job and a life and I simply wasn't going to smack down the 400 bucks (not to mention the 100 dollars I'd inevitably have to pay for a new battery) for such a low rated product. After many more hours of research I decided on the Nomad. I haven't had my player as
long as some of the other reviews but I feel this is the best $215 (I got new headphones as well) I've ever spent.
The sound quality is fantastic. A few of my friends have iPods,
iRivers, etc. and I have to say my player beats them all in this area. You'll hear things in the music you've never heard before and this, for me, is one of the best features. If you love your music as much as I love mine you'll appreciate this feature. Just make sure you get some good quality earbuds.
The battery power is good and even though there are only three bars when you use your player you'll get a feel for about how long it'll last. Of course, battery life wanes depending on whether you have the EAX Audio on, how long the backlight it set to show and how much you fidget with the buttons. Mine has never died on me. The battery is replaceable for as little as $35 at Radio Shack, that was another selling point for me.
I love the software. Maybe I'm stupid but I haven't figured out Music Match and it annoys me. The Creative software is easy to use, fast and syncs all you're files. I haven't had any problems so far and it's set as my default player now.
The appearance on the Nomad isn't as shiny and aesthetically pleasing as the iPod apparently is but really, if that's your major concern in deciding on a player you have bigger problems. This player is still sleek and very portable. Yes, it is a little "chunkier" than an iPod but it still fits into my pocket and it is durable.
I have dropped my player once from about four feet onto the pavement two days after I got it and I almost had a panic attack. I had read all the horror stories about the player breaking or shattering into a million pieces but all that happened was the face plate and battery popped out and I got a weird look from the Blockbuster girl. It has only frozen once and that was probably my fault, I asked it to do too many things at once. Also, I walk a lot and even though it isn't intended for athletic use it hasn't given me any problems.
Ultimately, though, the price was the deciding factor. I got 10 gig more than the $400 iPod at half the price. Considering how much money I have already invested in my record collection and in replacing damaged CDs which I was lugging with my everywhere I think I got one heck of a deal.
This is a great player but it does have problems.
While my buttons haven't broken they are flimsy, as one reviewer put it. The scroller button is plastic and easy to push the wrong way (i.e. the breakable way) and there is no stop button. I can't leave the player on 'pause' for too long because that drains the battery so I end up turning it off all the time and then turning it back on.
The backlight isn't as bright as the iPods and it hurts my eyes which are bad enough already.
I know it won't last forever and I'm worried about the crappy Creative customer service I've been hearing so much about. I've been taking care of it and not banging it around (you really really should treat it like the computer it is if you want it to last).
All right, enough said. Just know that if you're researching players I highly recommend this product. There is not "perfect" mp3 player but this is a darn good one.
47 happy customer
Husband has had this since Father's Day last June and has had NO problems with this. He uses it nearly every waking moment, no kidding, even when watching TV-he is an audio addict. He uses it on the way to work with the FM radio gizmo, he uses it at work, at home working, while on hikes in the mountains, while grocery shopping, etc. He has worn out two sets of ear phones but the Jukebox still keeps on going. He purchased the extended warrenty for two years but has had no problems at all and has not had to use the warrenty. He records old 33 rpm records he gets at garage sales, then to files, and then to the Jukebox with no problems what so ever-I would have heard much swearing if it did not work well and I have heard no complaints for the Father's Day gift. I have trouble figuring out the buttons, but my husband loves it and has not had problems
48 Not Entirely Satisfied
I have several problems with this product and they are:
1. Either it doesnt have a stop button or I havent found it, this after printing the entire PDF manual
2. my play modes dont work unless I select random selection which is most irritating if I want an entire album to play sequentially and since I bought this product in the US but live in South Africa I am at a distinc disadvantage since I only discovered the fault once I returned home
3. the player is heavy and the clip on the case doesnt hold it securely when i wear it to walk I am constantly worrying that it will fall off my belt or pants
4. My player doesnt have a blue backlight for some reason
On the positive side, the sound is GREAT!!! A huge saving grace, and it stores so many full cd's I am never going to fill the drive, I think overall i would trade down in hard drive space to have a smaller product which is easier to use when gyming
This item is fantastic for in the car or for lieing around the house.
49 It's great and the price unbeatable
Though it may not the sexy aesthetic appeal of an IPod, Creative's Jukebox has the necessary features and a remarkably low price tag. Some people have complained about various defects in their product, but for an additional twenty dollars many stores offer insurance that will replace the product in full. The software enclosed with the Jukebox is user-friendly and quite reliable. There have been times when I had to restart the computer for it to recognize the player, but it has been few and far between. On a whole I highly recommend this Jukebox for people on a budget, because there is certainly not a better deal out there.
50 The new 2004 Zen Xtra is finally a great iPod alternative.
As many people know Creative dropped the ball with this device in 2003. There was a major problem with the headphone jack that caused it to break loose.
Creative fixed this problem and released the Zen Xtra again in 2004. The result is an amazingly good and inexpensive option for people in the market for an iPod or jukebox MP3 player in general.
The Zen is bigger than the iPod, but the aluminum case looks nice and doesn't get scratched up as easily as the iPod. I've owned two iPods and they scratch so easily that you have to put them in a case almost immediately to keep them from getting ruined. Navigating songs is easier on the iPod, but the Zen navigation is pretty good and has a pretty quick learning curve. It is also missing some of the useless features of the iPod like games and contacts. However, you are buying this for music not to keep your appointments.
The Zen Xtra excels in several areas. First is storage size with an amazing 30 GB for about $100 less than a 20 GB ipod. Next is sound quality. The Zen has easily better sound quality than the iPod and also has an EAX EQ that works very well and has many cool options. The EQ on the iPod has never worked in four generations of devices. The ability to make multiple and varied playlists on the go is unmatched on any device I have used. You can also delete tracks without needed to hook up to the PC, something else the iPod lacks.
Instead of being stuck with just one PC jukebox option like the iPod you have multiple options. The Zen will sync with the included software, the incredible Notmad Explorer, Real Player, Winamp, Windows Media Player, and many others. This player also is fully compatible with Audible.com and I highly recommend that service to anyone getting a Zen Xtra.
For the price this is really the best MP3 Jukebox you can buy. The Rio Karma is close, but the frequent harddrive failures have never been addressed by Rio so I would skip that one as well. I've owned iPods, Rios and Sony Minidisc players and this player from Creative is better than them all. It may not be as pretty as an iPod but it is better at what is important playing music. Oh yeah, did I mention the battery is user replaceable. Nice if you go on a long trip because you can bring an extra and switch it out.
I also want to note that the Zen now comes with a one year warranty instead of a 90 day one. Nice for some piece of mind as a Zen owner.
51 Once the honeymoon was over....
I LOVED my Jukebox for the first eight months I owned it. I had a bit of a problem getting the software to work, but beyond that -- the sound quality and battery life suited my needs without question. I would have like the software to allow for better file organization, but you can't have everything.
Then my headphone jack went (I tried 2 other sets of headphones, it's the jack.) After reading reviews here and on other user forums, I found others had the same problem. I wasn't overly concerned since I assumed that Creative stood behind their products and fixing it wouldn't be a problem.
I soon found that Customer Service at Creative is abysmal, and that's on a good day. They only take calls during the M-F working day, and about 48 hours to get back to you via e-mail. The only solution available was to send THEM $40 for the dubious honor of assessing whether it was (a) broken and (b) fixable. They also made note that if I did want the device repaired, I would have to pay for it. However, they did acknowledge this was a defect they were aware of. I'd rate this policy in the "not-so-good" category.
I'm not sure what I'm going to do -- so for those of you looking to buy, I'd shy from committing to CREATIVE until they get their act together. Like I said, it's a great device, but unless you can spend $350 every eight months, it may not be the product for you.
52 DON'T BUY.
I got this Christmas 2003 and after the warranty had expired in July, a circuit blew and the screen stopped working. The cover ALWAYS pops off. I'm using it as a backup drive until I buy a Dell Jukebox 20GB or Ipod because I can't listen directly because of the screen.
Go for the Dell DJ or Ipod... they make quality products. Creative Labs have awful support and makes shoddy products. Dell Jukebox has the exact same setup for the on-screen menu so just buy the Dell.
53 Creative Labs Zen Xtra (30gb)
I've noticed a lot of iPod/other mp3 players users complain about specific traits about the Zen Xtra. I'd like to clear up these complaints by defending the Xtra. (I don't hate the iPod, I just hate how people assume it's the best.)
1. SIZE - The Zen Xtra is considerably larger than other MP3 players on the market. This can pose a problem if you've got small hands or small pockets. In addition, the belt clip provided on the carrying case does not seem sturdy enough to clip your Xtra. However, my hands and pockets are fine. I can deal with the size. I got over the clip by placing it in my pocket with the screen against my thigh. When placed like this, it's not going to fall, and I still have access to all the buttons. When you add your music to your "Selected Music," all you need to do to change tracks is to use the "Forward/Back" arrow buttons. Therefore, you do not need to look at the screen.
2. STYLE - "It doesn't look cool." Sorry, that's your opinion, I cannot do anything about that. But what's the point of getting a cool-looking MP3 player when all you're going to do is put it in your pocket? This defeats the purpose. Besides, you're not going to hold your mp3 player in front of you for all to see. Final note - style increases the risk for theft.*wink wink* Who wants to steal some "ugly" big MP3 player when they can steal an iPod from everyone else?
3. # OF BUTTONS - 9 BUTTONS! THAT'S TOO MUCH! yep, 9 buttons in all. This can become complicated for people who are slow at learning. I believe the iPod only has 6. here's the breakdown between the button comparison.(zen first, then iPod) Scroll Wheel is equal to Click Wheel. Confirm button is "push in," which is equal to center button. BACK button is equal to MENU button. 2 arrow buttons for both. Play/Pause button for both. power button/hold button for both. 9-6 equals three extra buttons for the Zen. so what are these 3 buttons? DEDICATED VOLUME CONTROL. up and down, so that's two. the last one - MENU. ALL THE WAY BACK TO THE MENU. instead of pushing BACK lots of times, just push MENU once. so, with the Zen, MORE BUTTONS MEAN MORE CONTROL. what's not to like about 3 extra buttons that make things easier?
4. THE SCROLL WHEEL - Yep, it's not the click wheel. I actually find the scroll wheel to be easier to use. You don't have to twirl your thumb around in circles a lot of times. Just tilt the wheel down, and it will accelerate gradually. Much more accurate. And push it in for the "OK" button. C'mon folks, just push the button in perpendicularly. (90 degrees to the player)
5. NO USB CHARGING - sheesh, just use the AC adapter.
6. NO STOP BUTTON - *ahem,* press pause, and then the forward button.
7. BAD USER INTERFACE(UI) - okay, here's the thing about UI's. THEIR EASE OF USE DEPENDS ON THE USER. if you're smart, you can adapt to different interfaces okay. but if you're not so smart, you may struggle for months. The reason why iPod's are very popular is because of their simplicity. It doesn't take much intelligence to learn how to use them. look at it this way - ANY UI IS EASY TO USE. I mean *any.* just be smart, and learn.
8. EAX? HUH? - yes, the Xtra has an onboard digital sound processor. (DSP) this DSP has a bunch of features that are useful. once you understand how they work, you'll appreciate them. Environment - THEATER. use this if you want to make you music sound like a live concert. it adds a little echo to your music. works great for many genres of music. some other settings may be useless (i.e.bath room), but they're interesting, and you'll never know when you'll need them. Time Scaling - people who appreciate classical music may like this one. slow down your music by .5/.75, or speed it up to 1.25/1.5. useful if you want to change the tempo of a piece. also for musicians. slow down a tough song to get all those notes. EQ - 4 band custom EQ, or other presets. I suggest custom. I use 9,-2,-3,7 for mine. sounds great for all genres. (I use the sony h.ear mdr-j10's) volume 15 is great. Spatialization - ah. I still don't understand this one. SVM - I only understand "Match Volume." Okay, you're listening to song where there are a bunch of quiet parts and loud parts. What SVM does is raise the volume during the quiet parts, and lowers it during the loud ones. It scans ahead of your MP3 and determines the loudness. useful so you don't get surprised while listening to something.
9. SCREEN IS HARD TO READ - I have glasses. (nearsighted, -4) Heh, my eyes are pretty bad. I can read it fine.
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. so there's my rant for the Creative Nomad Zen Xtra. It's a fine product, and I am really happy with my purchase.
54 Not Happy
After my iPod was stolen, my wife bought me one of these. I stuck with it for about 2 weeks, but then I had to eBay it. In short if you've had an iPod, you simply cannot make the switch to such an inferior product. If, on the other hand, this is your first mp3 player you won't notice what a raw deal you're actually getting. I would only recommend this product for first time buyers, or those that value cost over quality. Just my two bits ......
55 A Flawless MP3 Player. But Not A Perfect One.
I have owned this thing for over 3 months now and I have had no problems. I've heard a lot of bad things about this player and how it crashes/skipps/breaks after 90 days to 3 months. See theres a catch to it though. Some people are stupid and will write a review on how it broke but they never tell you how BADLY they treated it cause they think they treat it fair while others think they treat it like crap. You have to watch out for that in reviews. I learned it the hard way.
Lets start out by listing the features on this thing. It starts out with the best feature of all, REPLACEABLE LI-Ion Battery! Thats right. You can buy one in your local electronics store for around $35-$50. (Prices range from what store/deal you get) The reason not to get an iPod is this. When the iPods battery dies, (which is in about 18 months they say) they make you send it in, pay $100 and wait for the replacement. I personally think thats horrible. With the Zen, you can just pop off the faceplate and replace the battery yourself. Easy as that.
Another great feature on the software part of this player, is the EAX sound enhancemnts which allow you to make it sound different, speed up the song without wrecking the song or slow it down, and you have all your presets such as Rock, Pop, Jazz, Vocal and such.
The menus on this are very easy. I got used to it very fast. I would say the learning curve is about 15 minutes for a average electronics person. On the side of the player there is a scroll wheel which moves up and down for picking and you can press it in for selection. Theres a play/pause/ |>> <<| and volume up and down buttons. There is also a Menu and Back button which I'll get into in a second. BUT...there is no pause button as people say on here. Luckily for all of you I have read a persons review telling you how to stop it and it really does act as a stop button sequence. Pause the song and then hit |>> or forward track. It stops! Hooray!
The menu button is for going all the way back to the menus if you dont want to press the back button 50 times cause you've gone through too many menus.
Lastly, there is a power button. You should know what that does. Hold it in to turn it on or off. Press it to button lock the buttons.
Ive been to a few review sites (here and Epinions.com) and I've noticed that people were having trouble with the headphone jacks. They would fail or fall loose after a few days. I was never going to get this mp3 player if that was the case. WELL LISTEN UP BECAUSE IM GOING TO TELL YOU THE TRUTH ABOUT WHY THAT DOESNT HAPPEN ANYMORE.
Creative re-released this version of the jukebox in a heatsealed package. When you open it up and it has a SEE THROUGH WINDOW in the case, (which the old models didn't which meant they had the old headphone jacks/faulty HDD's) then you have the new jukebox that has ALL the problems fixed: Hard Drive, Headphone Jack, and faulty hard drives. Trust me. I did so much research before i got one of these. I am a die hard music fan and i am a HUGE audiophile. Just make sure its a heatsealed package and a window in the case. Read around and you'll find the information I got from other reviews on other sites too.
The sound on this thing sounds beautiful compared to the iPod. I'd say this one has the best sound out of the Iriver and ipod because it IS Creative Labs and they are all about sound cards, speakers, so you know they have the best sound around. (plus on the package it says up to 98DnB!!! Thats good!!!)
The bass is not overpowered but everything blends together to make it sound great. There is bass yes....but not A LOT like some overpowered CD Players.
The headphones included are actually pretty good but they are too big for my ears. They have a gold plated plug which enhances the sound greatly. Plus the cords are white ;)
The USB 2.0 works great! It transfers very fast on my computer (a song every .60 seconds) I recommend purchasing Red Chairs Software: Notmad Explorer because the bundled software with the Zen is pretty bad. Its faulty, crashes (on my top of the line computer) and sometimes doesnt even transfer songs i told it to transfer. Red Chair software claims their Usb transfer rate is a good deal higher than creatives. Right now I just use Nomad Explorer that came with the Zen. Its the easiest, fastest, flawless software they give you. Use other programs to manage your music. I heard of my friend losing his whole collection on his computer because of Creative Media Source. (Hes sorta a computer noob though)
The carrying case included is terrible and bulky but sturdy so i dont use it. Plus, the clear stuff over the screen is GLASS so it doesnt scratch barely at all. The Aluminum casing in the front and back feels solid and well built.
All in all, you should by this mp3 player because of the replaceable battery and its 14 hours instead of 12 of playback. I only gave it a 4 out of 5 because it is a BIT bulky and a little heavier than the ipod but its 100 dollars less for 10 MORE, YES MORE GIGS OF STORAGE MORE BATTERY LIFE AND A REPLACEABLE BATTERY!! Good job Creative.
56 Great, with minor setbacks
I got the Zen for my birthday about a month ago, and I'm sad to say that I had to return it. The upper right hand corner was coming off, for some reason, I think it started when I lifted the cover to put in the battery, and it didn't attach. When I went back to Best Buy to return, I noticed that the display model had the same problem, so I decided to try out a Rio Carbon. However, I really, really miss my Zen, there were some great features on it that I can't seem to find on any other player:
1. The EAX Audio: This thing is amazing. You can set "environment" like you're listening to your music in a small room, bathroom, airplane, etc. But the REALLY cool thing about EAX is the time-scale stuff: speeding up or slowing down your songs was awesome, and I really miss that feature, I think most of all. It was a great thing to have and I can't find it on any other player.
2. Battery life: I charged it twice in the entire time I owned it, and not once did it die or come close to it. I didn't calculate how long it lasted, but it was great not having to worry about it stopping all the time like with some players. It's also easy to charge, just a plug-in DC (not like the Rio Carbon I have now, which you hook to a USB, then to a DC...maybe I'm just lazy) and it doesn't take long at all.
3. Storage: This is a big one. I loved having the huge amount of space, but I decided I really wouldn't use that much (ever) but I got about 200 songs on it and barely tapped the memory.
4. Software: By far the easiest mp3 player software out there. I absolutely loved it, it's horrible not to have anymore. Very simple, look at the instructions once and it's the easiest thing to figure out.
5. Carrying case: An all-in-all awesome thing. Holds it perfectly, GREAT belt clip (not a cheesy falling apart one) and it feels actually like leather, although I don't think it is. It rocked and I miss it. :(
6. LCD Display: This was the most attractive thing about the player. Not only the LCD light, but the icons on the screen were more fun to look at and better than boring words.
7. Delete feature: If you have a song you don't want, all you do is click it and scroll to delete. Awesome feature.
The only other thing I DIDN'T like about the player was the size. It was bigger than a 40 gb Ipod, and thicker too. A little heavier, but a small price to pay for such a great unit. All in all a great buy.
57 If I wanted good looks, I would have bought an Ipod.
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.
58 Good value, but a bit "clugey" and so far not very reliable
I didn't fall for the "I just gotta have an iPod" phenom. I researched and found the Nomad to be a much better value. I now have 2 of them; a 30 and a 40GB. Although I really like them and use them a lot, I have had some problems with both, as follows:
1. The pre-packaged software is not real intuitive and I couldn't get it to work on one of my PCs running XP Pro. It wouldn't recognize the player. I recommend trying to get it to work with either Music Match (my recommendation) or Windows Media V.10 both of which I got to work easily and you are probably already familiar with one of those interfaces.
2. The 30Gb suffered a HDD failure last night; lost everything and had to set up a return/replacement. Unit is less than a month old!
3. The 40GB suffered a O/S corruption and I had to re-format and re-build the HDD. Lost everything again (not a real big deal but a real hassle!).
4. I have had some trouble getting the unit to perform file transfers under USB 2.0
5. File transfers under the pre-packaged S/W is error prone.
On the UP side, I really like the sound although I use different headphones - I personally can't stand "ear buds". The ablility to vary the sound environment is way cool. I have been able to fix the 40GB unit myself with help from their (Creative) website. I gave the 30GB to my son as a X-mas present and he was in love with it until the HDD crashed! Then he acted like someone had punched him in the stomach when he realized what had happened!
Overall, my experience is somewhat disappointing. It's a kin to the old MAC vs. Windows PC experience! I hope the replacement 30GB works better and that I can get USB 2.0 to work consistantly. I'm not giving up yet!
59 Durable,Inexpensive,Great Sound
Most people that have commmented on this mp3 player have put it down just because its not an ipod. In my opinion your getting 26 gbs more of space for 50 bucks LESS than an ipod.
Durability:
Well if you drop it hard the face plate will pop off without damaging the product. If it does break you have a 90 day warranty.
MP3 Playback:
Diamond clear sound is produced by this player. I have 345 songs on it and they all play beautifully. 345 songs is about equal to about 18 mix cds. The 14 hours of battery isn't true it usually only puts out 6-8 before chugging out.
BOTTOM LINE:
I've had no problems with it except that it is slightly to large to fit into my pocket comfortably. 197 dollars, 197 dollars. The only problem other than size is the freezing about once or twice a week. Its a great gift.
60 Good Overall, But Could be Better
I've had this player for over 6 months now, and am generally happy with its performance. In terms of value, its huge storage capacity is great, especially compared to the more expensive iPod, but it has shortcomings too.
The Good:
-Hard drive is huge. I have my whole music library on it and still have plenty of room for more music.
-It is relatively small
-It works very well with Musicmatch. I don't even use the software it came with.
The Bad:
-Battery life isn't very good and if you want to use it in the car, I have yet to find a car adapter to work with it
-Menus are hard to figure out and manuver
-If you don't use it for a while, it won't work until it "rebuilds the library" which is annoying and takes time.
Bottom line: every accessory on the market now seems to be totally geared towards the iPod, so if you want the fully integrated MP3, this probably isn't the best way to go.
61 If you buy this...
...you'll probably need to make sure you carry a paper clip in your pocket. I use mine to reset the player when it freezes up when starting, this happens about once a week.
The sound is very good and I had plenty of capacity to store my 400 CD's.
62 Poor product, poor support
After a few months of working correctly, my Jukebox one evening had a "Harddrive Problem." It wouldn't let me reboot, reinstall the product OS, reformat the drive or anything. It just keeps giving me a error screen stating "Harddrive Problem" Also, my PC no longer recognized it as an attached peripheral device.
Apparently Creative Zen products are designed to operate ONLY just beyond the length of the warranty. What a terrible piece of hardware. I took great care in researching and deciding when I was originally trying to decided which mp3 player product to buy. Apparently I made the wrong choice. Even though the appeal of so much hard drive space for the lower price is strong, the adage is true: you get what you pay for. In this case, you get a lot of hard drive space- the hard drive just doesn't always work. KEEP COMPARISON SHOPPING!
63 Great Player For A Great Price
After shopping around, I decided that Creative's 30 GB mp3 player was a much better value than Apple's 20 GB. Sure, Creative doesn't have any fancy styling or games, but it does what counts most, it stores and plays all of my music. I have experienced no problems so far with the player or the software. It is very easy to transfer music files from your computer to the player, and even though I only have a USB 1 port, it didn't take much time to load at all. The software allows you to easily label files and create playlists. Battery life is great and charging a battery for a while is better than wasting money on AA batteries for a portable CD player. I also purchased an FM transmitter so that I could listen to my collection on the home stereo or in the car, and it works great with my new mp3 player. The only thing that could possibly make this player better is if it offered an AM/FM tuner and a voice recorder. However, if you are looking for the best value and a quality product that will allow you to take your entire music collection anywhere, Creative's 30 GB mp3 player is the best choice.
64 Not happy with my Nomad Jukebox
First off, I am NOT biased toward Creative Labs or Apple. I bought Creative Labs' 30 GB Nomad Jukebox after much research. I liked that it was 30GB, and only $220. A good amount of people recommended it, and were happy with other CL products. But for me, getting started didn't go smoothly at all. Trying to copy all my files over was difficult, and I never really got it done. It didn't work well with Windows Media Player, and even it's own software that came in the box. It attempted some kind of conversion on every song it copied over. It took forever, and the process always died out before completing. Then a day later, I got the "FIRMWARE LOCKED UP" blue screen of death. I returned the Nomad and bought the Apple 40GB iPod. Admittedly, I paid much more ($400 for 40GB). But it was super easy to get up and running, I was listening to music in about an hour (after charging it). I am not saying don't by the Nomad, but for me the experience wasn't so great.
65 Great Mp3 with a geat price
I have had this mp3 of about 2 days now and i am amazed! I has everythin you can want and very easy to use. True True it is a
little thick but dosnt make much difference. It comes with a beautiful case and pretty good head buds. If you can try to use
Windows Media Player 10 instead of creatives software. Also u can use it as a external drive.It is also one of the few players to offer eax wich has sound levelling and time-scaling(speed). I am also amazed at the great boot times it has,instant, It is a great barigin and i will post some pics of it soon.
P.S if your regstry is corrupt like mine and it give the error of you not being an admin you can open a new windows accout and install the drives there and then delete that account.
66 Pros and Cons
I have had this mp3 player for about a month and i have found some good things about it and some bad things.
Pros:
- It has a great price for a great value. First it comes with a carrying case and 30GB for only $200 (unlike an ipod 4Gb $250?)
- I found that the headphones it comes with have better sound quality then your average $20 headphones.
- It has many variations of sound effects you can have on it For example you have and equlizer that you can customize or it already has some settings you can have on it. also there are environment sound effects that can make it sound like its playing in a Indoor arena, garage, cancert hall, bathrom hall, and many more.
- The balck light works great. Every time you touch a button it will go on and when your not touching a button it will turn off whatever you programed it to (3, 5 ,15 ,30 ,60 seconds).
Cons:
- The screen easily scratches (but the scratches are not noticble you havre to be in direct sunto see it and its not thta noticble or a problem)
- It does not have any games unlike the ipod
- The headphones phomy black stuff around can come off kind of easy if in your pockect or bag and if you loose it the heaphones become very uncomfotable and they will easily fall out.
- It is bigger then an ipod but it is still smaller then a cd player
- To replace the battery is $50 and it takes about 3 hours to charge
I do recomend getting this MP3 player. So far a really like it and i do find it better then an ipod
67 Definitely worth the money!
I love my Creative Lab Nomad Zen Xtra 30GB player. I've read some reviews complaining about the pre-packaged software; however, I've actually found the software (after some playing around with it) very intuitive and effective in managing my MP3 files. Works great! In fact, I find it better in managing your music files than the iTunes software.
I've downloaded about 800 songs to my player and only used about 4 gigs of space. My out the door price for this puppy after the twenty-doll rebate came out to one-hundred seventy-seven dolls, which is a superior value to any iPod product. So it's a little bigger than the iPods, but look at how much more you get:
á More hard drive space at a lower price
á No hyper-sensitive jog dial. The Nomad's controls are buttons and a scroll-wheel on the sides of the unit that is so much easier to use at least in my humble opinion. I can change the volume while looking through the menu - something you can't do with the iPods.
á A classy free case to protect your player. Expect to pay $20-40 extra for an iPod case.
á Great software that rips CD's to MP3s quickly and helps to organize your MP3's and playlists effectively
á A removeable battery that you can replace on your own. Office Depot sells a replacement battery for thirty-three dolls, while Amazon has one for thirty-eight dolls. You have to pay at least sixty dolls to replace an iPod battery and ship it back to them...what a hassle.
á Fast USB 2.0 transfer (backward compatible with USB 1.0). Okay, iPods have this too.
á If you're an iTunes user....you can still use iTunes. Just burn your iTune format music to a CD and then rip back to a MP3 to download to your Zen Xtra
á EAX sound controls, which allows you to apply special effects to the music such as pretending that you're in an indoor concert. The best EAX control is the one that "normalizes" all of your MP3s' volume so you don't get one song sound real soft and another one that you can barely hear. Using the EAX feature, though, shortens battery life.
The only negatives I think are as follows:
á Headphones aren't the greatest. To fully maximize your listening pleasure, I suggest getting the Sony MDR-E829V Fontopia Ear-Bud Headphones with In-line Volume Control right here at Amazon, which only costs thirteen dolls and has a built-in volume control.
á Battery life doesn't come anywhere near the 14 hours listed. Maybe if you set the contrast to 0%, turn off the backlight, don't use the EAX sound effects, play only 128kbps or lower music, set the volume to 1, then maybe. I've turned off my backlight, changed my contrast from a high of 50% to 20% and generally don't use the EAX sound affects, which has given me 6 to 8 hours of playtime, which is more than plenty. Would be nice if the battery life indicator had more than just 3 bars (actually 4 bars if you count zero bars as a count....even at zero bars, the player can still go for awhile).
Overall, I'm extremely satisfied with my purchase and would recommend this to anyone. iPods are overrated in my opinion. I've owned this thing for about a month now...so obviously, I can rate it yet on longevity.
68 delivers as advertised
I read dozens of reviews of this player as well as every other player out there before making my choice. I avoided the Ipod as all my files are in the WMA format which Apple does not support. The Zen is also over $100 cheaper than the Ipod. Disregard other reviews mentioning problems with the cover - in the new models the cover does not block the screen and gives you access to all controls. I've had my player for about 45 days now and already have over 2200 songs on it. It took me a bit to get used to the sound which seemed a bit flat to me. I used the graphic equalizer in EAX to pump up the treble (as is my preference) and now it sounds great. Getting music onto the player is pretty easy but I first go through the Windows Media Player as the Zen player is frighteningly slow from cd. The sync feature works pretty well for music that I already had in my computer. Organizing playlists is real fast and easy on the computer. The jukebox is not the lightest or most compact player on the block and I keep the case on at all times but it's controls are all very easy to use. If you want sexy get the Zen Micro 5gb but if you want over 7000 songs at 128kbps the Creative Jukebox is the one to get. I got mine at Circuit City for $200 but opted for the 12 month warranty (which I never get for any other product) which seemed to make sense for a little computer that you keep in your pocket. I have hundreds of cd's and am constantly making compilations so for me to have a player that can hold over 400 cds and deliver great sound is a real joy.
69 An amazing player if you can live with the interface
The Creative Nomad Zen Xtra MP3 Jukebox is actually an amazing MP3 player, if you can forgive its relatively large size (when compared to the iPod) and clunky user interface (again, when compared to the iPod). Not only does it have SUPERB sound quality, unmatched by iPod or Rio or iRiver, but it sports some features you won't find elsewhere:
- volume leveling, so all your tracks have the same volume
- time scaling, so you can adjust the playback speed fast or slow, a boon for people who have audiobooks in the MP3 format (the iPod can only adjust the speed of special Audible files)
- sleep timer
- alarm clock (!!!)
- profile settings that remember your preferences, great for sharing with other family members
- pretty decent playlist management
- works as an external drive in Windows
- removable LiIon battery
These features are all the more amazing because all recent Creative products (Zen Micro, Zen Touch, ...) do NOT have these features. It's sad to me that Creative has taken a step or two back in all these convenience features, which would have made their products compete better against iPod and others. Just sad.
In short, if size and jog dial don't turn you off, the Zen Xtra is the best hard drive-based MP3 player.
70 First Day Use
I just received my jukebox this afternoon. About 5 hours ago, so far I am fairly happy. I didn't have anytrouble downloading my music off my laptop. Also went through about 25 cd's and ripped the songs I liked off of them, only had trouble with a couple of cd's. Right now I have about 1150 songs on the things and still have about 75% - 80% of the harddrive space left to fill. It's great to have all my music in one place, the 30 gigs is pretty awesome. The software seemed pretty simple to figure out. The jukebox is already charged up. I still got about 50 cd's to rip music off of. I liked the price. Downloads were fairly fast. Nothing fancy, but seems like a really great budget jukebox when compared to some of the other higher priced and smaller memory players. Earphones aren't all that great. This will be great to carry around.
71 Great Value
I have had this mp3 player for six months now (I bought it in July), and it is still in my top three favorite purchases. I have my entire CD and mp3 collection on it, but only a fraction of the space has been used. I use my jukebox daily in my car (I have an input jack built in), and it has worked perfectly since day one. I, like other reviewers, have never had (or even used) an iPod, but I definitely think this little machine is worth every penny.
72 Zen Xtra brings peace to this music lover.....
Hello. I have been wanting an MP3 player for some time. I have been hearing all this " i-Pod...blah blah blah...." but in researching advertising does not always bring out the best. When I began looking at players the Zen Xtra 30gb was mentioned as a great choice. Having ordered one and had a few days to load 450+ songs and play with the features I am very pleased. The controls are handy and logical. I find the PC software to organize the music library a bit clumsy, not totally intuitive for the novice, but solid. The size is bigger but not bad at all. I do wish the battery indicator provided more warning then the three line indicator. The music organization and sound, EAX sound enhancements, are awesome. The replaceable battery of the Zen Xtra is a feature that many MP3 Jukebox's don't have. I am so over joyed with this product that I highly recommend it to others looking to make a smarter purchase over the blah-Pod.
73 questions
does anyone know if the charge that came with is usable in europe or asia?
and wat is the sliding piece on the charger for?
74 World's greatest mp3 player value!
I travel a lot and was really beaten down by lugging even a portion of my CD collection around with me. It always seemed like the song I wanted to hear was on a CD that I had not brought, or was in the larger CD case in my checked luggage. Like I said: beaten.
The natural solution to this dilema was a large mp3 jukebox. After a few months of rationalizing the price, I decided it was time to treat myself.
Of course, the iPod is the gold standard in this market, so that's where I started. I tried it out at a few different stores and, and sure enough, it's a great product. I could have easily bought an iPod and been very happy with it.
However, as I did more shopping, I kept coming across the Zen Xtra 30GB. The price difference between the Xtra and the smaller-capacity iPod is dramatic, and I thought I should at least check it out.
After many comparisons and lots of review-reading, I decided on the Xtra. For me, it sorted out this way:
- Design and cool factor - iPod wins by a bunch
- Usability - tie, maybe a slight edge to iPod
- Sound quality - dead heat
- Flexibility (file formats, music store options, platforms, etc) - Xtra wins
- Long term viability (ie: ability to change battery) - Xtra wins and iPod isn't on the track
- Value - Xtra wins in a landslide
The only thing that iPod clearly has going for it is it's coolness. Once you get past that (and I get past it pretty quickly), the Xtra ties or wins in every category that matters.
I've had my Xtra for a couple of weeks and find myself using it EVERYWHERE. A Belkin TuneCast II FM transmitter (also a great product) allows me to use it in the car, some Sony travel speakers I've had for years let me use it in the hotel, my Bose headphones for the plane, and the very acceptible ear buds that come with the Xtra are great for the office.
My "Good Stuff" playlist is now over 450 songs, and I've got nearly 10GB of albums on the Xtra. How did I ever live without this thing? I will never listen to a commercial or DJ on the radio again!
The Xtra is a great value on a fantastic product. I enthusiasticly recommend it!
75 very cool...so far
I had been debating a lot on wether to get this mp3 player for a long time...I have about 250 and punk albums now stored on it and the memory is not even half filled! i have had no problems with it really. I would recommend not to use the software that comes with it, use windows media to download onto the player instead. thnx
76 excellent........wow
The reviews on this page helped me sooooooo much while doing my homework on which MP3 player to buy, I had to come back and add my 2 cents
Im am in awe of this product, much more than I expected. I wanted to play my MP3's in my car, so after reading the reviews, I dumped the FM Transmitter idea and found a old sony discman cassette adaptor, which has power also. It plays perfect, much better than i could have imagined ! I have a decent Bose system in my car, the sound is amazing...........the highs are very clear, distinct.........the background voices, horns and other sounds are rich. ( i hear sounds on some songs i never knew were there!).........If you have a decent cassette sound system dont hesitate to buy the nomad.
I had no promblems with the unit or software, here are a couple of helpful hints to consider.....Download songs 192 bps or higher, you dont have to worry about space, and you will HEAR the difference ! The difference between 128 and 256 is like night and day on your car system..........Get a car power/charger adaptor, you will never have to worry about your battery..............Tag your music as much as possible before transfering, this will make it much more easy to find in Nomad.............dont forget to turn off power button when u leave the car :-)
77 A great product--give it a chance
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 />
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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 />
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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 />
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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...
78 Near Perfection For The Price
For the price, the Nomad Zen xTra 30GB is great. I've had some problems and I've found a workaround. Like some, after installing the Creative MediaSource software and installing all the updates and upgrades I was only able to transfer a handful of files and then couldn't. I also purchased the Notmad Universal version and it wouldn't work either. However, after (on the Nomad, NOT the PC) cleaning, formatting, reinstalling the OS, and rebooting (this takes only seconds), I tried copying files from one Windows Explorer window to another...and it worked. Keep in mind, this is just from two Windows Explorer windows and NOT from Creative MediaSource or Notmad Explorer. They wouldn't work. If everything was installed correctly with the newest firmware and software upgrades, the Nomad device should appear in Device Manager and Enabled and without errors. The Nomad should also show up as a Nomad icon in My Computer. Formatting earlier also wiped out the music that came with the Nomad but that's OK. This method also doesn't require you to alter any tags you've previously made. Hope this helps anyone out there who had the same grief I initially had. I am now happy with the Nomad.
79 Thanks Santa
I received the Zen Xtra 30 GB for Christmas after posting it on my wish list. I have to agree with other reviews regarding the software. The manual and help information wasn't specific enough for me, a moderately computer literate person. It took me about a 1/2 hour to figure out how to get things from the source to the player. Now we're up and running and perfectly happy. While surfing for stuff to download last night, I ran across an e-book sight. Being an avid reader, the idea of being able to download a book onto my player is exciting. The all-knowing web is telling me that the 40 or 60 GB player is compatible with this function. The 30 GB is not on the list. If I can't find a way around it, I may have to trade up.
80 IPod's superior
Till this day, I have no idea why someone would buy an MP3 player other than the Nomad Zen Xtra. This baby has the IPod and most other players beat hands down. Before I bought mine, I read some of the other reviews, and some were saying to be wary of hard drive failure after 90 days. Well I've owned mine for 8 months and it is still working the same as when I first opened it. Unlike the IPod, the battery is removable and replacable. A very good feature should your battery die, you can just purchase a new battery and be on with it! The IPod is 50 bucks more with 10 less gigs of space. You do the math. Battery time is excellent and good for late night owls who wait till the last minute to study such as myself. Display is bright and easy to read. My only complaints are the awkardness of the controls and occasionally it freezes up. A great buy if you're looking for a quality MP3 player!!
81 Best purchase ever! Afer reading this you'll have to buy!!!
I recived this item on chirstmas and down loaded all of my muscic (about 300-400 songs) in just above 30 minutes.If your purchase this item for anyone they could transfer all their music without parental help. Once it froze-up on my bot get a paper clip and press reset and your fine,no this will not earse your music.The only thing i dont like about this great product is the power bar has only 3 bars so you dont know if your battery is almost dead or almost fully charged.Some people say the head phone jack is faulty but this is not true.The best feature is the EAX audio feature it lets you controll sound,loudness and change the sound of the sound setting such as put on the indoor arena and all of the suden you think your in an indoor stadium during half time while they prefom the music.The allover rating out of 1,000 its 1,000 if you buy this produt you'll definatly agree with me.
82 Excellent, great storage, sound, quality
I recieved this as a gift, and was astonished when i first downloaded my cds onto the unit. they transferred lightning fast, and no loss of quality. AMAZING storage capacity, up to 8, 000 songs. i already have 150, and i have only had it one day!!! I would recommend buying an extra set of headphones/earbuds. The stock set is usable, but cheap, breakable, and not great sound quality. It is better than the Apple iPod's because it had way more features, it may be slightly bigger, but the compromise is way worth it. this is a MUST BUY!!!!!!!!!
83 Awesome so far!
My husband bought a Creative Zen Nomad 30GB for Christmas. So far, it's been a blast. I have uploaded 10GB of music onto it so far and it has already made my drive to work so much better. I told my husband I wanted this player after reading about the battery issues of other mp3 players. This one has a huge capacity, good durability so far, great sound quality, and a replacable battery.
I found the software to be pretty intuitive--after a few transfers I got the hang of it. It's pretty much drag and drop. The fact that it checks for duplicate files is really nice. The upload rate is really fast with USB 2.0--in a matter of a couple hours I organized and uploaded 2500 files.
The player itself is nice and compact. It's a tad heavy given its size, but then again, it IS a portable hard drive. I am being very careful with it because of that--it's not a tape-based system, and I don't think anyone should treat a portable hard drive like this roughly. The case that comes with is helpful, but I'm still being careful.
The buttons are laid out in such a way that it makes the player very intuitive to use. Track advance is on one side, while volume is on the other, and the
