Customer Reviews

CREATIVE LABS Nomad Jukebox Zen Xtra 40GB Digital Audio Player

5 star:		(43)
4 star:		(32)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(12)
1 star:		(20)

 

 

I just got a 40GB iPod to replace my Zen (a 20GB model). While the iPod's form factor is much nicer, here's where the Zen is better.

Software: A lot of people complain about the Creative Software, but I actually find Creative MediaSource Organizer to have some strengths over iTunes. First, the Zen lets you sync to more than one computer. The iPod is a one way only machine - from computer to player. The Zen is an outstanding way to shuttle music between sources, you can't do this on the iPod (except for a cumbersome work-around using the iPod as a hard drive instead of a player). Second, the "automatic" sync on Creative lets you review the songs before it begins its transfer. Since the iPod lacks this review feature on its auto-sync and it only allows one-way transfers, the first time I connected my iPod to my laptop, I wiped out the 20GB of music I had transferred from my desktop to the iPod. If the hard drive on your computer should fail, better have your music backed up somewhere or its gone! The Zen serves as a back-up device as well as a player. Third, Creative software allows you to keep two windows open to look at both the content on the player and the computer. Only thing missing from Creative is a CD burner. Lastly, iPod/iTunes will not play WMA formatted songs. If you have a lot of those, be prepared to convert to MP3.

iTunes does what Apple is famous for, makes software that works for the less computer saavy. For those of us that like to tinker, I think Creative offers some advantages.

Player controls: Here's where the iPod drives me nuts. The player controls are too easy to hit accidentally. If you happen to push the wrong button, you can wipe out the order of songs you had put in. The iPod also does not let you see what's coming up next on the player. Zen allows you to scroll up and down the song list selected on the player. It also lets you remove songs from the play order. If you bring up an album, but absolutely hate some of the tracks, the Zen will allow you to delete that from the playing order. You have to skip to the next track when your hated song comes up with the iPod. Lastly, you cannot manage anything on the iPod itself. While you can create a temporary playlist, you can't store it permanently, delete songs, search very easily, etc. None of these features are available because of the iPod's 1-way transfers - you cannot make changes on the iPod that are premanent. Again, the iPod is a beautiful thing to look at and touch, player controls are less functional.

I think the iPod versus Zen typifies differences between Apple and Win machines. Win software can be a little cranky, but much more easier to customize to your needs. With Apple, you get a good product, but you get it the way Apple wants you to have it.

If I had to do this again, I might get the 40GB Zen. Its ability to serve as a back-up for my music collection is a huge plus.

I purchased this mp3 player just last night after doing some scouting around.

Here's a basic run-down from what I learned:

Flash card memory vs. Hard Drive ( i.e. Why does a 256 mb player cost $$$...and a 40 GB (40,000 mb) player only cost $...?)

mp3 players have either flash card memory or a hard drive in them. The flash card memory is more expensive but is very light and compact. That's why you have these things that can be keychain size. Tiny! mp3 players of this kind of memory are typically small and light and have between 64 mb - 1.5 GB of memory. I am averaging 4.5 mb per song, to give you an idea of how many songs you can get by the amount of memory. (1 GB = 1,000 mb)

Hard drives (this is what most iPods have - and just about all mp3 players over 3-5 GB of memory). Cheaper to produce, holds a lot, heavier and has moving parts which means it's a little more prone to damage from being banged around. That said, they are pretty sturdy machines and I wouldn't let this dissuade you from getting an mp3 with a lot of memory. Just be aware of it.

This explains why you see what appears to be such weird pricing on mp3 players. A 256 mb player (roughly 60 songs for me) is about X amount of dollars But a 30 GB (30,000 mb) player (roughly 6,650 songs) sells for only slightly more. It's because the 256 player uses flash memory (smaller/lighter) and the 30GB uses a hard drive. That's the first thing to understand. So consider what you're going to use the device for. If you're a jogger and you want to strap it to your arm, I'd recommend flash memory. If you want to listen to tunes while you travel, I'd get a hard drive because you can put so much on the thing - including audio books.

REVIEW OF ZEN XTRA - 40GB

The device is larger than an iPod of similar capacity. This didn't bother me too much because it's still a decent size. It comes with a good case that fits it snuggly. The front cover (which you remove to take out the battery) feels flimsy but when snapped on, the device still feels pretty solid. As some other reviewers noted, after it was connected to the computer for a bit, it somehow stopped reading the player so I had to replug it. It did not lock up my computer or require a reboot. The software lets you pop in a CD and then scans the internet to name the artist, track name and album name. Extremely convenient. Then it rips the tunes into mp3s and puts them on your computer. You can even skip that step and rip them directly from the cd to the player. (won't leave copy on your computer.)

The pros and cons of it: Great price. The iPod costs more for the same amount of memory. I thought the software was decent enough - it wasn't complicated to learn at all. The scroll button is sort of annoying to push - a nice button would be nicer but eh, not a big deal. It also stores data so I can see myself placing some data files on here.

It is slightly larger than an iPod, no doubt about it. For me, that was the only drawback. I'm really happy with this purchase. Also, when I installed the software, it said that Windows XP hadn't approved something with the drivers, etc - and that continuing it install may cause instability. If you're like me, that will definitely make you pause. After I reviewed the manual (a pdf file included on the cd), I felt better because they warned you about the message and said it wouldn't cause problems and, in fact, it hasn't. So if you have XP, be prepared for this and don't be alarmed.

If you are out for an mp3 player with a lot of memory and do not want to spend a ton of money, I think this is a great purchase and strongly recommend it. I would have liked to have given it 4 1/2 stars docking that 1/2 star only for the size.

If you read reviews for the 4 main contenders in this market - the iPod, Creative Zen, Rio Karma and iRiver iHP - you'll notice that each has their pros and cons; none are perfect and you should decide whether you want to take to take the plunge now or later.

If your view in life is that you are going to pay $x00 to get a device then it must be near ideal - ruggedly constructed, fault proof, good product support, easy to use software - then do yourself a favor and don't buy yet. All the products have drawbacks and are not mature yet; if you expect value and reliability then wait a while. If you are OK paying $x00 for something that can be used now, but is likely to both get better and cost less in the future then try to determine which device is the lesser of evils for you.

iPod clearly has the most buzz. Great design and looks cool. Most people love the appearance and praise the touch sensitive buttons. It has a hold button to deactivate the buttons to avoid accidents; however, enough reviewers have complained that the hold button is easily broken and then the device can't be used. Some of the more geeky (non-Apple type) reviewers complain that the scrollwheel is annoying after a while and they resent being forced into this Apple-like interface. Everyone complains about the non-replaceable battery, yet this is the price of sturdy construction. iPod can be used as an external disk, and apparently stores files without problem. However, the music and data are apparently not separated; iPod reviewers complain about "white noise" in random feedback mode that comes from appointments / contacts created on the iPod during synchronization. Synchronizing music among computers, if you have more than one, seems to be an issue; research this before buying if you have multiple computers you want to be synchronized. Reviews for sound quality are generally (but not universally) positive. Reviews of Apple's support are generally poor; they seem to address issues in warranty, which covers a short time after delivery / pickup of item. After that it seems like you're on your own. iPod has no stop button; when new users mention this iPod veterans call it "unnecessary" and "so 20th century".

Creative Zen feedback suffers from construction quality, poor product support, difficulty of using the scroll wheel and reasonably consistent feedback about problems with the headphone jack. Construction quality is a difficult item. The Zen has a detachable face plate that allows the battery to be replaced. What is added in functionality (battery replacement) detracts in build quality as the face plate is prone to popping off. Drop if just a few inches on a hard surface and the faceplate pops off (but not if it's in its case). Many reviewers say the faceplate simply didn't fit well so they returned the Zen. Feedback on Creative's product support is universally poor; this is not limited to the Zen, it applies to all the company's products. The scroll wheel is finicky; it works most of the time but there is a learning curve for pressing it just right; new users say they have 50% - 75% success rate; some find it so frustrating that they just return the device. The Creative software is awkward / difficult to use and just plain doesn't load on some computers. Enough people have reported that their headphone jack doesn't work after a month of using the device to believe that Creative has some inbuilt manufacturing or quality control problem. The Zen doesn't support folders so it is not really a storage device; even with third party software that "creates" folders, documents and programs can't be launched from the Zen, so it is not a hard disk, it's a storage device at best. Reviews for sound quality are generally (but not universally) positive. The Zen has no stop button. Veteran Zen users have explained how to stop if that's what you want.

The Rio Karma feedback suffers from sensitivity in the hard disk. It seems like movement, even small movement, causes skipping in playback and even the device freezing. If you plan to carry the device around (it is a mobile device, right?) then this is something you might want to think about. Karma gets consistently good reviews for sound quality and connectivity from its docking device, which has RCA output jacks and Ethernet jacks for connectivity. Usability (button usage, feature selection, menu structure, display size and quality) also has good feedback. Repair seems to be an issue; some say the repair don't exist - you just have to buy a new player. Perhaps because of its smaller user base there is also a lack of accessories. Like the Zen, the Karma does not support folders and is not designed to be a data storage device. It only comes in 20Gb; enough for most people, not for those with large collections ripped at high sampling rates. The Karma does have a stop button.

There aren't many reviews for the iRiver iHP. Those that have it like it. The only complaint seems to be that the disk rotation is slow, leading to longer delays in some functions (playback and even a slow display of the menu?). Otherwise feedback seems to be good. No comments on reliability, warranty, repairs, accessories. No-one mentions whether there is a stop button, but the photos don't show one.

None of these are perfect. If you have the appetite choose the one that you think has the least deficiencies or is best suited to you. Accept that there will be better devices (or new generations of these ones) in a year or two that will cost less. If that is for you then pay the money, learn from the experience and you'll be a more informed buyer when you buy device #2. If you aren't into paying $x00 to learn and experiment, or the cons outweigh the pros, then wait a year or so.

Before I decided to get this player, I did my research. I looked up the ipod, the dell jukebox, and the samsung napster player. I chose this one because from what I read, it was the best deal for the money. Another reason I got it is because you can put WMA files on it. That takes up half the space of MP3's. That's important because I have a lot of music. The software is great. you can sort your music by artist, title, album, or genre, and you can play music based on those categories. transfering is easy, the software makes everythig pretty easy. even the battery life is great- it advertises 14 hours, it's actually a little less but still good. only 1 problem, no accessories...yet. I hope it's because it's new and they are not out yet, but being without a remote is hard. They player's interface itself is also very easy to use. can't complain and I recommend it over all the other players, just hope that remote will come out soon. GET IT, IT'S WOTH EVERY PENNY!!

I just sold my Archos 20GB Jukebox Recorder after not being satisfied with it's slow loading & difficult navigation, not to mention it froze quite a bit. I was in search of a new item to take it's place as my new MP3 Player/Harddrive. For an early Christmas gift, I got a Zen Xtra 40 GB player. I refused to go for an iPod, I am not going to spend all that money just for the Apple name and because it is "trendy" to have that player. This was the closest alternative and best buy for this type.

After receiving my Zen Xtra player...I will just say this: I will NEVER go back to my Archos again!!

So easy to set up, had some problems with my Archos. Stayed up all night trying to figure out that thing. Just easily drag and drop files into the Nomad explorer and from there you easily alter ID tags and sort your music according to your liking, by artist, song title, genre, etc.

Not only is it functional and runs super smooth & fast, but it is also eye candy. Very sleek & stylish as well as the screen options and visuals it has. The leather case it comes with is pretty nice, similar to a PDA style case and does hold and protect it perfectly. All the buttons & neccessary lil' gadgets are on the sides of the player which is nice for when you are holding it in the palm of your hand.

The sound quality is also nice...after I hooked up my Sony headphones instead of those factory earbuds it comes with. Lots of sound options, has an equalizer almost like Winamp with the options. Navigation is so smooth and finding files is a cinch. Also navigating while playing music is a plus unlike my previous player. It was impossible to do so before. Oh, and the screen saver feature is pretty sweet ^_^

Another plus in my book, NO file limits!!! I was limited to 999 files in a playlist with Archos' OS, now I can have as many as I want. I have over 2000 files in my playlist at the moment and the random does a nice job mixing it up.

I am quite happy having over 10 gigs of music stored on this baby as well as a few gigs of media files in the data folder. Now I can transport files to friends house with ease. When plugged in, it doesn't lag the computer like the Archos did...unless you are doing a MASSIVE transfer of data in one load.

After playing with this little device, I don't know why I would look at an iPod with the same space when it costs $500 and I got mine for a little more than half that price!

I really have no complaints over this unit. I really do recommend this to anyone in need of a new player. In fact, my boyfriend is now going to invest into one of these suckers as well...now he realizes that this is the best choice over his current Archos and the iPod he was eyeing.

In April of 2004, I received a birthday present which happened to be the Zen Xtra 40 GB. I was thrilled, but also a bit hesitant. I have had numerous other mp3 players, ranging all the way back to the Rio 600. None of which really met what I considered to be a good player. They all had some flaws, but had some good points about them as well. The last creative product I owned was a Jukebox 3, which was flawed as well. The hard drive failed, and so I called their customer support (this was at least 2 years ago), and asked if they could repair it. They said that they could, so I sent it off. They send it back saying it wasn't repairable. So I went with my first instinct and replaced the harddrive, and then not 2 months later the headphone jack went dead. So it was all line-out for me after that, what a pain.

So that brings me to the Zen Xtra, and I have to say that after some abuse, but also some TLC, that the Xtra has performed like a champ. I have had no problems whatsoever. Apparently, Creative fixed the headphone jack issue, because after switching between the home setup and the car setup at least twice/three times a day, it still performs flawlessly.

I am now going to comment on some of the other user's issues.
1. The battery life- I honestly have not had any problem with battery life, last time I checked and ran it dead at work one day while listening to it, It lasted 11.5 hours. (I wasn't at work the whole time, but I never stopped playback from when I got up, to around 7:30 that night.) This was listening to mostly VBR mp3s encoded with LAME with --alt preset standard, and some extreme.

2. The headphone jack- As I said before, I have not had any problems with the headphone jack, as I have with the NJB3 headphone jack. (Which by the way I resoldered and fixed and then the whole unit broke, cheap parts?)

3. The battery cover lid - Honestly, I leave mine in the leather (pleather?) case pretty much all the time, and this keeps the case from coming open. It also keeps the unit from getting scratched, so thats another plus. All I did was take a hobby knife, and cut away a screen (inbetween the layers of fake leather, there is a plastic screen layer, so I just left that, and cut a small square hole for the power plug. I usually never have to remove it.

4. Its so much bigger/heavier/crappier than the Ipod - I have used Ipods before, and honestly, yes the xtra is thicker than the ipod, however, is less than .5 inches thickness worth losing the USER replaceable battery, and costing at least 100 dollars more ( I think it's more like 150-200, but I'll be generous). To me it was not worth that extra money. And to the guy that posted a link to a free ipod site, Uhh.. That sounds like a scam.

5. Frequent Crashing - Mine has crashed maybe 5 times, out of everyday use, and when it froze, I unhooked the battery, and replaced it. After a few minutes of the library rebuilding, I was back to enjoying my music.

This unit has literally worked flawlessly for me. The fact that it has multiple format options, It can also be used for external storage, which works nicely. I do not use the Creative software, I use Red Chair's Notmad Explorer, and do not have any problems.

I would recommend this product to anyone who wants a good mp3 player, and an even better price.

--Rob

As a soldier in the US Army stationed here in Iraq, I can testify that the Zen Xtra is well worth its weight in gold. Its taken more than its fair share of bumps and bruises and has never skipped a beat. While many of the guys here have opted for MP3/CD players, they are constantly cleaning the lenses and the moving parts often get fouled with sand and dust. The Zen Xtra is a sealed unit with no moving parts other than the rocker wheel on the side. While I agree that the wheel could be a little more responsive sometimes making it a little difficult to make your selection, this is an outstanding piece of equipment. Once the MP3's are uploaded to the unit (I have well over 5,000), you can generate your own playlists and sort by artist, album, or genre. It even has a sleep and wake function. Its a little larger than the iPod but I think its a bit sturdier as well. I know that I'm quite impressed with my purchase and my platoon enjoys it as well. (I often plug it into a set of computer speakers I carry in my Hummer.) If and when I get redeployed back here, I know that I'll have one of these tucked away in my ruck.

I've owned all three 40GB players available today: Creative Zen, RCA Lyra, Apple iPod. This is the review I wish I had read before I started shopping. It was a originally more comprehensive but I had to trim it to 1000 words.

For the most part, the Creative Zen has the best features of the three, as well as the best price. It sounds like a no brainer except for the fact that these things break like crazy! If you read some of the other reviews on here, you'll see a few people mention that their headphone jack shorted out when they dropped the player....well mine shorted out while the player was sitting on my desk not moving at all. I don't know a single person who bought one of these players and didn't have their headphone jack malfunction! Many reviewers suggest buying an extended warranty because of this problem. I would most definitely agree with them on that one, but personally I don't have the patience to wait a few weeks every time the player decides to stop working. Those warrantees are supposed to be purchased just in case something goes wrong; not because something most likely will! The Lyra from the moment it came out of the box to the moment it stopped working for no apparent reason, four hours later, was on the whole a piece of junk. That said...on to the comparisons.

PRICE: As just about every anti-iPod reviewer mentions, THE IPOD IS MORE EXPENSIVE AND DOES PRETTY MUCH THE SAME THING. The iPod is basically the BMW of mp3 players...the other mp3 player work like, and cost about as much as a Kia. They all do basically the same thing, but the cheaper ones are cheaper for a reason!

SIZE: All three players are smaller than a walkman, so it's kind of silly to even discuss this, but it seems to be a hot topic in the other reviews. From largest to smallest the players are ranked as follows: Lyra, Zen, iPod. The Lyra is the only one of the three which will not fit easily in your pocket. It is the widest /longest /heaviest of the bunch, and personally, I hated the way it felt in my hand. The Zen and the iPod were both a pleasure to hold.

CONTROLS/NAVIGATION: iPod gets first place here simple because it's touch sensitive navigation wheel allows you to get from the first album in your collection to the last in seconds and it stops on a dime anywhere in between. The Zen's controls are very good however it takes longer to scroll through your entire collection and when it really starts moving fast, it continues scrolling after you release the button sometimes skipping past another 50-75 albums! The Lyra had decent navigation, but the buttons had to be pushed more than once before they responded almost half of the time! The Zen and the iPod can be operated easily with one hand.

PLAYLISTS/SONG RATING: The Zen wins here without a doubt. It is the only one of the three where you can create, edit (even while it's playing) and SAVE multiple play lists on the player itself without connecting it to a computer. The iPod allows you to make ONE play list on the fly, which cannot be edited or saved.

The Lyra allows you to tag songs you like or don't like and it makes play lists of each...yes, it makes a playlist of songs that you tell it you DO NOT LIKE...if that doesn't explain what's wrong with this product, nothing will! The iPod allows you to rate songs 1-5 stars on the player, and then make a play list automatically based on those ratings when connected to a computer.

BATTERY: Again, Zen is the winner here. Not only does it offer a battery that lasts 14 hours instead of iPod and Lyra's 8 hour batt. it is also the only player of the three where you can remove and replace the battery when it deteriorates with age as all rechargeables do. It should be noted that the battery times I listed are the official times given by the manufacturers. The Zen actually lasts about 10 hours the other two go between 5 and 6 before needing a charge.

SCREEN: The Zen not only has the biggest screen of the bunch, it also scrolls the album title in the directory screen allowing you to see the whole thing instead of just the first few words.

TRANSFER TO PLAYER: All three units use USB 2.0, the iPod also can be used with Firewire.

TRANSFER FROM PLAYER: The Zen allows you to transfer music freely from your player to any computer loaded with it's software. The iPod does not allow this however third party software that can be purchased and used to pull songs from the iPod. In all honest, the Lyra broke before I could find out if you can pull songs off of it. </P>

SOFTWARE: iTunes is easy to use and offers tons of ways to organize your music. Creative Media Manager takes a lot of getting used to but is decent once you figure it out. Musicmatch, which comes with the Lyra is garbage. It`s slow, difficult to figure out at times, and constantly badgers you to buy the upgrade to its premium version.

EXTRAS: The only one that actually has extra features is the iPod which comes loaded with 4 different games, the ability to read text documents that are stored on the hard drive on the player's screen, a date book, and an address book. The Lyra's ONLY advantage over the other players is the fact that it comes with a complete car kit (charger/tape adapter)....which is pretty nice, but useless when the player turns itself into a paperweight after just a few hours. All three players come with a case....iPod's is the only one which does not give you access to the player's controls when it's in the case.

Hope this helped.

Like many reviewers, I really wanted to like this product. The price/performance looked just right. When I bought it late last year, there were enough reviews that I knew the navigation wheel and software would be less than ideal, but it sounded like a fair tradeoff.

Boy was I wrong. Reading the reviews, it looks as though people really love this device for a month or two and then come to hate it. That's been my experience.

If I'd been paying attention, I would have noticed the 3 month warranty. But I didn't because I'm used to electronic products having a 12 month warranty. Now I know better. I've had this thing just over a month and the headphone jack has already come loose. A $300 device and they skimped on the headphone jack? So now I've got to call their customer "service" (of course, no 800 number) to send the thing back.

From the other reviews I've read, it sounds like that won't be the end of my troubles. I fully expect it to go bad again in the same or some other way in the next 6 months because, as other reviewers have pointed out, the construction is pretty flimsy.

Now let's talk about the software. Like other reviewers, installation was hell. Subsequent behavior even worse. About 10% of the time it can't find the device when I attach it to my PC. After I had it a couple weeks, it got into a state where it could never find the device, no matter how often I rebooted my PC, reset the device, reloaded drivers, etc, etc. Creative's online support was no help at all. In fact, I'd have to rate it among the worst I've ever encountered.

Finally, I uninstalled and reinstalled the software, the usual measure of last resort for this sort of thing. To my amazement, even that process was error-prone. It took several days of attempts before things finally "worked" again and I haven't a clue why. That doesn't leave me with a good feeling about its future stability.

I did buy the Notmad software a week ago and found that a vast improvement. But that's a moot point now. My gut tells me the Nomad will in the long run be, at best, a 40GB portable hard drive, albeit one on which I can't create folders, or, at worst, a very expensive lesson in companies never to buy products from again (I have their Audigy sound card and find it in many ways equally frustrating). My gut tells me I'll also end up buying an iPod. Which means that in trying to save a few hundred dollars, I'll end up spending more than twice that.

Be forewarned. I would have given a 3 to 5 star review in my first few weeks, depending on how mad I felt about the crummy software. Now, even 1 star seems like I'm giving Creative the benefit of the doubt.

With the new hard drive based MP3 players, I wanted to rip all my CDs (about 200) and put it on a player. This meant one with at least 20GB. I decided to rip at 224Kbps for higher quality. I ended up using 16GB for 2229 Tracks from 225 Albums. To give myself more head room I decided that 40Gb should be my choice.

Some of the features out there...
*Hard Drive - Definitely needed this to rip all my CDs to MP3.
*FM tuner - This was a nice to have...so, I wasn't disappointed that this doesn't have it
*Voice Recorder - This is also a nice to have....so, I wasn't disappointed that this doesn't have it
*Line in to record - This is also a nice to have....so, I wasn't disappointed that this doesn't have it
*Use as a hard drive - I really wanted to have this, but as you'll see below, I kind of didn't get it.

So, everyone's question is why didn't I get the iPOD? It's definitely the coolest. I played with one a little at a Bose store and really liked it. Also, heard it could be a hard drive and has some other stuff like address book. But, in the end, it was too much money for me to spend. I got a 40GB Nomad for the less than a 15GB iPOD.

I'm pretty happy with the Nomad Zen Jukebox Xtra (besides the week it took me to rip my CDs, which isn't the Nomad's fault). I didn't use the app that came with the Nomad to rip the MP3s. I started a few days before getting it, so I used a shareware tool called dBPowerAMP Music Converter from download.com. It worked fine.

I use it...
...in the car and now I don't need the CD changer anymore. I have playlists of my kids CDs for them, or when it's my turn, I can play my lists. In my car, there's an auxiliary jack; in my wife's car, we use one of the tape player accessories.
...in my office while I work...hooked up to my PC speakers' secondary source (Megaworks 250D)
...in my family room when guests are over for background music. In the past, we only had a single CD player and kept having to change it. Now, I can set a playlist and let it go the whole night.
...in the gym while I work out. On the treadmill, I put it in a small fanny pack and hang it which limits the shock to it. I wear the pack when I do weights.

Pros
-Navigation - Although there is some complexity to it, I got used to it very quickly. I really like the flexibility. I found that it's possible to do what you want whether it's removing a song from the selected music list, removing the whole list, starting a new list, finding an artist/album/song..I haven't found any instance where I thought, "Gee, I wish I could do that...."
-Playlists can be made on the fly from the current "Selected Music" list...I hear iPODs can't.
-Has a Replaceable battery. Honestly, I'll probably get a new one before this one dies, but it's always nice to have a choice.
-The case that comes with it fits well and seems to protect it.
-You can use the Nomad Explorer to change artist, genre, and album. This is useful when the CDDB isn't exactly right and I missed the misspelling or something.
-You can shut it down and it will pick up right where you left off.
-Battery life has been pretty good, but not spectacular. I've done alot of downloading (which kills the battery) and creating playlists and changing music, so it's hard to tell what I'm really getting.
-The headphones are pretty good and fit well. They seem a little more cushier than most earbud headphones.
-The sound is great.

Cons
-The scroll wheel is a little weird and takes a little getting used to.
-It's a little big. Can't fit in your pocket well.
-Doesn't have the accesories that an iPOD has.
-It has no "stop" button. This is kind of weird, but you get used to it. There is a "pause" to stop the music anytime you want. The only difference between "stop" and "pause" is that (I guess) "stop" will go back to the beginning. But, this concept does need some getting used to.
-Using the Nomad as a hard drive needs to use the Nomad Explorer, so you have to have that installed to load files. It's not very useful since most folks don't have that loaded on their PCs.
-USB only, but USBv2.0 was pretty fast. I used 2 computers to rip MP3s. The older one uses USB v1.1. I didn't know how slow v1.1 really was. It took overnight and then some to download about 5GB of music. The Nomad was getting a little so hot that I turned a fan on it to cool it. That seemed to work pretty well.

Conclusion: If it's a big MP3 player only that you're looking for, this is a pretty good one. The navigation is pretty flexible, but takes a little time to get used to (because it lets you do so much). I'm pretty happy with my choice. And, pretty happy with the big drive MP3 type that allows me to pretty much use it anywhere and listen to any song in my collection. That flexibility is nice...