The Best 6GB+ MP3 Player (So Far)
Written: Aug 15 '01
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Pros: Great Sound!; Very User-Friendly; Great Features for Organizing your Music; Great Headphones
Cons: Poor Battery Life; Would be nice if a little smaller
The Bottom Line: Great Portable MP3 player that offers a 6GB-20GB HD capacity, excellent features, great sound, very user friendly, and excellent organization and music recall.
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| nickelzy's Full Review: Creative Technology Nomad Jukebox (6 GB) MP3 Playe... |
Overall, I give the Creative Nomad Jukebox a very high rating. I have read many reviews on mp3 players from people who are looking for the absolute perfect device, and therefore bring out any negative they can (no matter how small). The fact is, I haven't come across the perfect device - and probably won't. However, the Creative Nomad Jukebox, in my opinion, is the best on the market at this time. Does it have a few things I'd like to have improved - absolutely. But first, let me discuss the reasons why I enjoy it and think its the best. Let me also mention that my needs were fairly basic, which would make one tend to think that it would be easy to find a device that I would be happy with - wrong! My basic needs that the Nomad has met are:
1. Great Sound
2. Very easy to use and easy to navigate though features
3. Excellent Organization of Music and Fast Music Recall
4. Ability to program or make play lists
* Great Sound. The Nomad Jukebox provides very good sound quality (as do other units), but it also offers the user the ability to adjust the equalizer to achieve the desired sound (i.e. treble/bass/mid level; digital effects such as concert, auditorium, hall, etc.) The maximum volume is satisfactory. Although I would like to have even more volume from the unit - I have never reached the point in which I've turned it up to the maximum while wishing for more. I can not say the same for other units on the market, such as the Archos Jukebox (which I had to actually in most cases have the volume turned up to the max all of the time). The unit also comes with very good sounding headphones. They provide a fuller sound and more bass than normal headphones.
* Very User-Friendly. I never read the manual, and after a day of playing around with the device, I have figured out how to utilize all of the features. It just has a good "feel" to it. This again can not be said for some of the other devices on the market. The buttons are large and the screen is also a very good size (unlike again - the Archos Jukebox). I just found the Nomad easy and fun to use and operate.
* Excellent Organization. This was probably my most important need. When you consider having 1,000+ songs loaded on the device - you need to have a very easy and quick way of accessing your music. Although other units have probably satisfactory organizational features, I just found the Nomad Jukebox to be great. But keep in mind, how you categorize and save the music has a big impact on this. As long as you have a system and good organization method for storing your music, recalling your music on the Nomad is EASY! It allows you to select music by artist, album or by genre (i.e. pop, rap, rock, classical, etc.) I simply always select 'genre' and access my music that way. This makes it even easier and faster to find my music than what I have been able to do on my computer.
* Ability to Make Play Lists. This was also a very important feature to me. It baffles me that some units out there simply give you the capability of storing tons of music but not very good ways of listening to it. I don't want to have to select each song one after the other. I want to be able to select, for example, 20 songs and then set the device down not having to do anything more. The Nomad has the capability and makes it VERY easy to use. It has what they call "Active Que List" which means that you can select however many songs you want in the "Active Que" and it will play them in order, or by random, and will repeat the que if you want. By pressing one button, you can erase the "Active Que" and start over. Or, you even have the ability to save an "Active Que List" and recall it later. EXCELLENT FEATURE!!!
As for my "Wish List" or things I would like to see improved on the Nomad Jukebox:
1. Better Battery Life
2. Smaller and More Portable
* Better Battery Life. They should have used lithium ion batteries rather than the rechargeable NiMH batteries they included. Battery life isn't that good. However, the battery life in other units aren't exactly that great either so this wasn't a deal breaker for me, just something you have to deal with.
* Smaller and More Portable. I would always like a unit smaller (whether it be a computer, mp3 player or whatever). I have a Compaq IPAQ MP3 player that I use while I'm running or working out. I use the Nomad Jukebox for everything else. What a concept if I could have the size of the Compaq, but the features and harddrive of the Nomad. One other note, the Archos Jukebox is more the size that I think the Nomad Jukebox should be. I give the Archos Jukebox much higher marks on portability, but as you can read in my review on Archos, everything else that the Nomad Jukebox offers outweighs this portability issue.
Overall, I highly recommend the Creative Nomad Jukebox if your needs are similar to mine.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 260
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Epinions.com ID:
nickelzy
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Member: Nick Elzy
Location: Carbondale, IL
Reviews written: 11
Trusted by: 1 member
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