Customer Reviews

Creative Labs 20 GB Nomad Jukebox

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

First off, this thing is very cool. My original purpose in getting it was twofold: it should be a replacement to my broken Sony home CD player and it should do live recordings. (By the way, never buy Sony CD players. I've had two and both have died within 3-4 years.) Got it only two days ago, but have played with the recording function quite a bit as I am in a band and needed a portable recording solution that was true CD quality (as opposed to MiniDisc) or better. The Nomad gives me this because it can record at DAT quality, 48khz.
What you do to record is essentially this: hook up your mic to the line in and then select "Recording" off the little screen. Now you have a menu with some info and choices to make:
MonitorThru (On/Off), SamplingRate(11.025khz-48khz), InputGain(0-15), and Boost (On/Off). There is a problem if you don't use an amplified microphone. The problem is that there is a nasty whine from the hard drive that gets louder the more you crank up the InputGain setting. So the solution, if your going to use a microphone, is to MAKE SURE you pump the microphone through a pre-amp, mixer, or multi-track recorder. Once the mic is fed through one of these, the signal will be hotter and override any of that crappy disk noise. In my first heavy duty recording session at 48khz for 2+ hours, the Nomad performed admirably and did not crash. The one thing I could say is that the Nomad could use a graphical VU meter so that you can tell if your line level is too high. After a bit of manual tweaking, I was able to get the line level correct, but it would be a whole lot easier with a graphical display of some sort.

Here's how you record on the Nomad. From that Recording menu, you select your recording preferences, press 'ARM' to prepare to record, and then the 'Play' button to start the recording. Recordings will be saved as non-lossy .WAV files (nice for creating quality CDs of live performances) into 10 minute increments. Incremental recordings, saved as tracks, are a safety precaution against crashing, something that happens frequently when you have multi-gigabyte files. The Nomad will save the recording to an Album called 'Recording nnn', where n is the next available number starting at 001. The first 10 minutes of the recording will be labeled 'Track 1'. If you go beyond 10 minutes in your recording, each successive track will be named Track 2, Track 3, and on like that. Once I have a recording saved, I use Creative's PlayCenter 2 on the PC (connect it up using USB - where's Firewire when you need it?) to copy the file over to my hard drive to tweak the sound file to my liking in Cool Edit. Make sure you have plenty of room on your PC's hard drive, because 48khz recordings use up a lotta drive space.

One thing about the PlayCenter software. I had a conflict with some CD burning software which would hang my PC (a 600mhz Pentium III/320MB) everytime I tried to install the PlayCenter. I was on the phone for two hours with Creative Labs tech who was very good, but couldn't solve my problem. Finally, after reinstalling Win2K, I found the problem to not be a software conflict, but a hardware conflict between the PlayCenter2 software and the PCI slot position of my ATI All-in-Wonder 128 video card. Once I swapped the video card to a different PCI slot, the software installed fine. Yeesh.

The PlayCenter's interface is nice. You have two windows that represent the source and destination of where music or data is and where you want to put it. So, you can rip a CD, copy recordings made from the Nomad back to your PC, take existing MP3s OR ANY DATA off your hard drive and throw it on the Nomad.
Notice I said 'ANY DATA.' Because earlier versions of the firmware and PlayCenter2 don't have the ability to copy any data to/from the Nomad, make sure you download the latest firmware and PlayCenter2 versions ... . You can use this thing as a backup drive as
well!! You can also control all aspects of the Nomad, from deleting songs, to creating playlists, and labeling and organizing your music from this interface.

One of the best things about the PlayCenter is that it has a link out to CDDB, the music database. When you rip a CD (at any quality level you want, from 20kbps all the way up to 320kbps), all the track information is automatically downloaded and the music is categorized for you. One warning: you have to have a speedy CPU, memory, and CDROM in order to avoid skipping or other artifacts when you rip songs. I'd say you'd have to have at least a 300mhz Pentium II pc, 128MB RAM and a 24x speed burner. My box is a 200mhz Pentium with 64MB RAM and a 20x reader and I got artifacts when I burnt a Vivaldi CD at 320kbps. Another great thing about the software is that it allows you to rip to both to the Nomad and a directory on your PCs hard drive at the same time for backup purposes. I don't have that much space on my PC, so I choose not to make the backup. Finally, the sound quality varies according to the encoding rate. Music recorded well and encoded well sounds great, but do yourself a favor and getter a better set of headphones than the ones included. I have an older pair of Sony MDR-V600's and they sound much better than the Creative headphones.

In the final analysis, time will tell if this thing is actually going to hold up under many recordings. I pray that Creative has some extra hard drives lying around in case this bad boy crashes!! I have yet to figure out the best means of backing this thing up, but I'd imagine it'd be a good idea to have a 20GB drive lying around. Enhancements Creative could make are plenty: Creative needs to get a remote control for this thing as it will be hooked up to my main stereo. Also, Creative should include a digital out for people who want to use this as their main sound source for both home and traveling. Digital out would give us music lovers better audio quality. A line level meter would be appreciated for recordings. Finally, make the data transport mechanism Firewire for quick uploads/downloading of data. All-in-all, this is a nifty little device. I'd really give this guy a 4.5. Let's hope it holds up under repeated use!

I've had my 20GB Nomad JB for 3 weeks now, and I'm obsessed. I've ripped 300 of my CD's into it, and it's still got 5GB free. I'm using MP3 for compatibility with my less-privileged friends, but I tried the WMA format and it's better IMHO. The EAX and equalizer effects are great, esp. when hooked up to some cheesy... Labtec speakers w/subwoofer. This thing's got all the others beat for features! VERY MINOR GRIPES: You can record directly off another device using built-in line-in jack 1/8", but you need a powered mic to record voice. The battery life is right about 4 hours, but charge them a good long time on first charge before using them. Carrying case is inadequate, but who cares? Get a CaseLogic case. GOOD STUFF: The USB connection is plenty fast, takes under 5 minutes to fully rip a 60+minute CD and transfer to it (use a fast 40X CD-ROM or better). I thought the headphones included with were fine -- there's better, but they're okay. The included software is very easy, converting from WAV to MP3 or WMA etc. is easy (right click it), you can store ANY type of file from computer on it in a pinch (I tote stuff home from office computer on it). SOUND IS EXCELLENT. Your title and track info can be displayed during playback, which is nice for party scenes where my non-tech friends want to know what song is playing, they can just look. The CDDB (internet database) service is great, I only had to key in 4 discs out of 300 that I ripped. But check the titles, some folks are submitting and drinking, apparently. WHAT I COMPARED THIS TO: ARCHOS, DLINK and pretty much every other jukebox. In the stores, hands-on. THIS THING ROCKS. No regrets. Go get one. Live a little. Everyone will hate you.
Review update: What other guy said is right, if you go WMA you can pack a lot more music on this thing, up to 700 hours. I went MP3 because I dump files to my friends' computers, and some of them have enough trouble with MP3 (get Windows Media player update people!) I DROPPED MINE. Know what? Nothin' happened. Don't try it at home though! There is a hard disk that COULD get damaged, but mine fell about 3 feet onto a hard carpeted floor with no apparent harm. And USB isn't too fast compared to firewire, but heck, 2 or 3 minutes for a whole album? Come on. Last thing I forgot, there's an infrared port on it for "future upgrades" such as an IR remote control. Which would be nice when I'm connected to my home sound system.

This was an easy choice for me, because it's currently still the only 20GB player on the market. If, like me, you have lots and lots of music, size matters. As big as this is, I expect I will upgrade in 2-3 years when they have 50-60GB models.

If you really like music, this unit will reorganize your life. You can carry around all (well, an awful lot, anyway) of your music, organize it into as many different playlists as you want, and play it pretty much anywhere. Of course, there are also some annoying problems, but don't let that stop you from getting an amazing device like this.

The best parts: (1) Sound quality. For all but audiophile equipment, the limitation on sound quality will either be the MP3 file (if it's a low-grade one) or the equipment you play it through (mass-market stereos and headphones, etc). If you hook this up to an expensive audiophile system, you will hear its limitations, but it plays compressed sound files anyway, so that's no surprise. (2) It goes everywhere and hooks up to nearly anything. Having line level out as well as a headphone-out jack adds to its versatility. I use it when I work out or go walking, at work with headphones or through the computer, with my living room stereo through an RCA cable, in the car with a casette adapter, and with the boombox I've got in the kitchen, also with a casette adapter. Having the same set of playlists instantly accessable all of those places is simply amazing. (3) A surprisingly usable interface. I had a flash-based MP3 player a couple of years ago, and based on that, I thought it would be really hard to find and play music amongst hundreds of albums. The interface makes this pretty easy.

Things that have bugged me in the 6 weeks I've had this: (1) battery life could definitely be better. I wish it could use lithium-ions. (2) Interfacing with the computer. I'm not in love with the interface of the PC software, the transfer speed is sluggish, and I've had some stability problems, though nothing that renders it unusable. (3) It takes 20-30 seconds to boot up when you turn it on, and sometimes the buttons are kind of slow to react. (4) It's kind of chunky, and heavier than I'd like. (5) It skips a little sometimes when I'm out walking. I'm not a jogger, but if you want to jog with a player, this might not be the one. (6) This may just be me, but I've had some trouble matching it with good headphones. It works great for rock and electronica with the Sony earclips I use for working out, but it sounds really fatiguing when I pair it with my Grado SR-60s at work for listening to jazz and blues. I think I'm going to pair it with a headphone amp from Headroom and try some other headphones (Sennheiser HD570s, AKG K501s, etc.), to see if I can find the right combination.

Overall, though, I definitely recommend this player, even though I hope they will do some things to improve it when they come out with their next model. It is an outstanding device, and I would by another in a second if anything ever happened to it.

This is still a first generation product, with first-generation problems - a poorly-designed menu system on the player, flaky USB communications, shaky software, limited battery life, a size that barely qualifies as portable... Specifically:

o It supports saving data files (theoretically making a nice backup device), but will drop the connection if you try to transfer a file >200MB or so.

o The database gets messed up with "duplicate" information (e.g., the same title appearing twice in the same album).

o The processor is underpowered, leading to problems if you try to, say, scan through the library while a VBR MP3 is playing.

... and any number of minor annoyances.

I'm returning mine - I'll try again when their 2nd generation jukebox is out, if I don't try the new Rio jukebox first.

This thingo gives you a lot of storage space for the money. After a week, its playback functions work well and I am enjoying the music stored on the Nomad hard drive, played back on my stereo system. All in all my experience is positive.

My main complaints:

a. short (90 day) warranty. I hope it holds up over time (runs warm in the case, this makes me kinda nervous).

b. Buggy software. It crashes my computer every now and then. It refuses to play back MP3 files stored on my hard disk. The Cd ripping introduced some noisy artifacts when I tried to rip a WAV file. Then the CDDB feature refused to work properly. Right now I am ripping Cd's using Real Jukebox, and then transferring the results to the Nomad via the Nomad software. This takes more steps, but I get the album and track info with no problems, and problem-free ripping.

c. An undocumented feature: You can use it as a hard drive to store/backup other kinds of files, once you diddle with some software settings. But the file management capabilities are still pretty limited. I wish Nomad would write a program enabling this device to be "seen" by the computer as an extra drive with its own drive letter.

When I heard this puppy could hold 500 hours worth of CD quality sounding music on it, it wasn't a question of if, but when I was going to have it. It's simple use made it one of the easiest purchases I have ever made.

Other reasons to buy it? Never having to buy batteries again. It comes with 2 sets of rechargable batteries, providing up to 8 hours of listening enjoyment. It *never* skips, unlike CD players when walking, or exercising. Your CDs will last longer, since you will have transferred the music to mp3, and then onto your portable walkman, you'll no longer be switching out your cds to play another one.

i've had my jukebox for about 6 months.

The Good: well made, solid unit. lcd is legible and concise. controlling the unit takes some getting used to, but the controls are flexible enough to select individual songs or albums to play. you start by making a playlist which you may save or discard after playing. firmware upgradable means you can add upgrades easily after they become available. sound is clear. full volume output for line out, volume controlled output for headphones. goes about 4 hours on 1800 rechargable NiMH AA. the 20gb capacity is a winner. you load the jukebox via a usb cable. this is a slow process since this unit is only at usb 1.1, but you can cue up your uploads, and do dinner. if you don't eat too fast, they'll be done when you return. Navagation is good.

The Bad: loudest volume is not quite enough. for example, when listening with headphones on an airplane, you can just about hear. when using the unit to drive an amplied device such as a stereo, the stereo volume bust be boosted quiite a bit for volume equivalent to that from other sources. boot times, down to 30 sec with new firmware, still too long.

Recommended: it is highly recommended that you purchase additional sets of batteries and a battery charger. A cover (skin) is a nice extra.

I have read all the customer reviews and pretty much agree with
them all (both good and bad).

To add to the mix:

1) Creative is playing the BF (before formatted) game.
The 20 GIG drive actually is only 19.064 GIG or about 95% of stated capacity.
(As an example, my 60 GiG PC drive formats to 58.6 .)

2) While the Nomad is portable, it really works best connected
to a system.
I have mine connected to the "CAMBRIDGE MODEL 88 AM and FM Stereo Table Radio".
It is cheaper than the BOSE and has 2 external inputs.
I have the Nomad connected to one and a RioVolt SP-250 CD/MP3 disc player connected to the other.
The flat, buttonless top of the radio, allows for perfect placement of the two players.

3) I use my PC for burning and storing MP3 files.
For this purpose I chose Nero Software and a Western Digital 60GiG External Firewire Drive.
I then transfer selected files over to the Nomad (FireWire > USB via PC).
This solves the backup problem and allows me to delete whatever I want from the Nomad,
knowing that the originals are safe elsewhere (on the PC Drive).

All in all, it's a good beginning and I look forward to Creative
updating the Firmware and hardware attachments (remote control for one).

Well, its not that small, but still, its size versus what it can hold is incredible. I guess I'll start with the software.

The Playcenter software is wonderful, implimenting CD ripping, MP3 encoding, and the usual transfer. The ripping runs much faster then any other software has. I was able to rip an entire 1 hour cd in just under 7 minutes (using a 40x read drive). The encoding is also supurb, converting WAVs and WMAs into MP3s with great quality and without the clicks and crackels. And its incredibly easy to install. Just pop the CD in, click next a bunch of times, and there, you're done.

The player itself can be a little confusing at first. But once you get the hang of it, its really a sinch. When you first turn it on, it displays the active queue screen, this is where the music you are currently playing is displayed. You hit the 'LIB' button and it brings you to the screen where all your music is displayed according to category. From here you can choose a Play List, an Artist, and Album, or a Genre to play. Just move the cursor to your choice, and hit the play button. The screen switches to the Active Queue, and the first track begins to play. Simple as that.

The sound quality is also amazing. Using EAX and 4-point surround, i got great quality when hooked up to my harmon kardon 5.1 receiver. The sound was rich and full, no scratches or skips, just great surround sound music.

There are very few downsides to the Nomad Jukebox. For one, it does use a hard drive, which uses moving parts, as opposed to using memory cards, which don't have any moving parts. This is a disadvantage, as you need a skip protection (as if 5 minutes wasn't more then enough anyway) and any forceful hits to the player (dropping, etc.) could cause damage to the HD. Secondly, it uses the USB to transfer data. Not that the USB isn't fast, but an IEEE-1394 connection would probably have been better. Last, the price... its slightly pricey, but its well worth the price.

If you are willing to pay, then I would say, definetly get this, its the best money can buy.

The other reviewers have said it all. This is truly the best digital music device on the market. I just want to add that the 340 hours rating refers to MP3 encoded at 128Khz. If you do WMA at 64Khz, which gives roughly the same quality of music, you can go up to 700 hours! That's over 560 full-capacity audio CDs!

Like the first reviewer I wish there were an IEEE-1394 connection for faster music transfer. Another thing that you have to be careful about is not to drop this thing. It doesn't skip when you jog, but I'm still not sure whether the hard drive will crash if you shake it too much, so do be careful.

Other than these very minor gripes, get this for this holiday season. Simply the best!