Customer Reviews

Creative Labs NOMAD Jukebox 3 40 GB MP3 Player

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I have owned the Nomad 3 (40 GB) for a few months now and have praise for the innovations with a LiIon battery and a fat drive, the firewire/USB ports and the recording feature. However, there are significant drawbacks with this device that I believe have to do with human factors and make me look elsewhere for a better solution. In a nutshell, Creative's device is beautifully and innovatively engineered, but stupidly designed in terms of software, form factor and user interface, due to an apparent lack of usability awareness at Creative's design team. More specifically:

- It is not possible without extra software to connect the player and simply use it as external harddisk, which is possible with most other players on the market - a major drawback.
- The player sometimes locks up and needs a reset or battery removal.
- Disk access is rather slow and playback typically incurs some startup delay.
- The bulky discman form of the player may make it familiar to nontechnical users but is neither handy nor practical. Several times I have almost dropped the player because of its rounded shape and placing it on a car console other than flat is not possible.
- The second battery options reminds of "razor-blade" extra moneymaking - why not make the device smaller or offer one large built-in battery?
- The jog wheel favors right-handed people - a crosshair or wheel-based user interface in the front middle would have been more practical - see ipod design.
- The recording feature is very limited - the input level is not variable and a mic input would have been essential.
- The PC software for the player is non-intuitive and the creation of playlists largely useless, because shuffle play cannot be chosen just for a specific playlist and applies by default only to all loaded songs.
- The currently played track is only shown when pressing the info button twice.
- The player plays by default only a single track in normal mode and then stops.
- The search feature is rather primitive, largely due to the low-res display.

MP3/WMA (etc.) playback and recording on a high-capacity small-format player is a promising market and I do wonder how much longer it will take for companies to step beyond intentional "deficiency engineering" and present a compact device with an intelligent and practically designed user interface. Apple is closer in many terms but the lack of recording and copy capabilities makes the ipod a consumer toy rather than a tool.

I purchased my Creative Nomad Jukebox 3 almost a year ago in January of 2003. Before that I had a Creative Nomad Jukebox C refitted with a 30GB hard drive that I bought on eBay. I was looking to upgrade since the battery life of the Jukebox C was pretty terrible.

The Jukebox 3 I purchased was refitted with a larger 60GB hard drive. The first noticible difference is the battery life. At close to 22 hours of continuous play, EVERY OTHER MP3 PLAYER BECOMES OBSOLETE! Of course this will fluctuate depending on your backlight settings and such. I was very hesitant of the side scrolling wheel since the Jukebox C came with up and down arrow buttons. After getting used to using the scroll wheel I am convinced nothing else is better. Driving down the Autobahn in Germany and being able to locate and play artists and albums with one hand while driving 130KPH is a godsend.

As of now I have 10,000 songs, 40284MB on my Jukebox 3. The user interface software, Creative Playcenter, is very user friendly. I initially used Firewire but had some problems so I only use the USB interface now. I think it is only 1.1 speed, though it is noticibly faster than loading songs to the Jukebox C. I have had a few problems connecting to Playcenter, but nothing that can't be solved with patience. I was impatient once and found some different Third-Party software called NOTMAD. This NOTMAD software allows the user to use a drag and drop interface like Windows Explorer as well as transfer regular computer files, a feature NOT allowed by Creative Playcenter for the Jukebox 3. I prefer using Playcenter and using cut/paste to input Artist and Album information.

Using the Jukebox 3 to play songs or albums is very easy. Anyone who rides in my car can learn to use it very quickly. I don't use the playlist option that much, but it was easy to make a playlist. I heard an ugly rumor that the iPod can only utilize playlists made on the computer and is unable to make playlists on the iPod itself.

There is one detractor to the Jukebox 3 which starts to occur when around 8,000 are loaded onto it. There is a utility called "rebuilding library" which starts when you turn on the Jukebox 3 within 24-48 hours after loading new songs. This can happen with as little as adding 2 albums. From my understanding this utility is much like defragmenting the hard drive, moving the bits of information closer to the middle of the hard disk. This utility takes approximately 2-3 hours to complete and has the backlight on so it is best to have your battery adapter plugged in when this occurs. You can manually initiate this along with other utilities by using the included manual (but who reads those?) I only note this as a detractor because unless you manually initiate it after loading new songs, it will self-initiate within 24-48 hours at the most inopportune times like Trans-Atlantic flights, long road trip in Germany. Yes i am bitter. I use my Jukbox 3 every single day so this bugs me when it happens.

Support for the Jukebox 3 is outstanding. Updates to all drivers and firmware are easy to locate based on model and operating system on the Creative website.

The physical durability of the Jukebox 3 is outstanding. My Jukebox 3 has been all over Europe, trips back to the States, Saudi Arabia and more recently Iraq. In especially dry or dusty environments I try to keep it covered and/or enclosed as much as possible. It has dropped a few times, once on a hard tile floor, and never skipped! The scroll wheel has held up great, I foresee this as a possible problem in the far future. An important note is operation in cold environments. DO NOT LEAVE OUTSIDE OR IN A CAR OVERNIGHT IN A COLD ENVIRONMENT! When you turn it on the next morning it'll be slow and the screen will look like it is broke. I paid $600 for mine so I baby it so it will last for a long time.

In short, the battery life is the best out there at nearly 22 hours. Support, usability, durability are 1st class in my opinion. As i stated before, I paid $600 for a refitted 60GB Jukebox 3. So the price you pay for any Jukebox 3 model now is a steal. Hope this is more a helpful review than a sales pitch. Enjoy!

I note that some of the complaints about the menu setups of the Nomad 3 reflect the fact that the users did not know that the first thing they could have done is go to Nomad's website and download an upgrade for the firmware which make the players menu display the individual albums or track for each artist.
I frequently check their site for upgrades but the capacity is enormous, I even have audiobooks downloaded onto this thing. I've owned all the Nomads since the first 6 Gig unit and this one is by far the best.

Having had an Archos Jukebox previously the sound quality of the Nomad 3 is a breath of fresh air. Just running a $120 set of Sennheiser HD457 headphones.

Then I connected it to my computer. YUK!

The software writers should be sacked and then shot, and repeat! Why are they sticking with this idea?? Every other HD MP3 player just pops up as a drive, and that works for everyone... it's a computer thing!

Couldn't I just have the option to browse my Nomad as a HD. Why the hell not. They can have this convoluted interface if they want but give me a box to tick to let me view it in My Computer. An escape button, please!

I'm looking at Notmad but resent having to buy another piece of software just because Creative think they know best and could not be bothered listening to their customers.

Every other creative product I've bought has been usable. I'll look more closely next time... rest very well assured.

Luke :)

I purchased this product about 2 months ago right here from amazon.com, and have no regretted it for an instant. As soon as I received it, I couldn't put all the CD's I owned onto it fast enough. You may think 40 gigs will never be utilized, but that's the great part. I'm going to own this thing till I drop or go deaf. The mechanics of it are great, as well as easy to use. The sheer sturdiness of the player enables me to take it anywhere, in my car (there goes the need for a CD stereo in the car!) to the gym every day, and in bed at night, and hooked up to the stereo in my room. What a time and money saver this thing really is in the long run. I highly recommend the product to anyone who enjoys a lot of music. Amazing product overall

Hi I have the Nomad Jukebox 3 40GB version for 2 years now. I must say this is the best Audio product I have ever had. I use it in the car and at work and really love its great sound. This week I wanted to buy an extra Nomad 3 for my girlfriend and guess what. They've replaced the Nomad 3... Can you believe that??? Their best product ever. They must be very very stupid.

Creative start producing the NOMAD 3 again,,, please ...

This is a good machine. A bit overpriced perhaps, but it works great. Occasionally it will lock up, which just needs a quick reset. I'm tired of these Apple slaves pushing that eccentric garbage on everyone. The ipod is not better, merely comparable. Not superior by any stretch of the delusional apple worldview. Think different, what a joke.

Let me start this review by saying that I cannot possibly explain just how much I like the NOMAD 3. Having said that, let me explain just how much I like the NOMAD 3. This player is unbelievable...everything a music-lover needs. I don't want to ramble on about all of its features, besides, there's too many (and they're all listed on Amazon). Maybe the best feature of this player is its upgradability (besides the sound quality, wheel button interface, I could go on...). For example, look back at all the other reviews that have been written on it, and focus on all the negatives. Now, forget the negatives, because the NOMAD 3's latest firmware upgrades solve these problems! When I first bought the NOMAD 3, I was dissapointed by it's lack of a graphic equalizer...I figured an equalizer would be essential in a player like this. After a few months, however, Creative Labs announced a new upgrade...and guess what? Now my player has an on-screen 4-band graphic equalizer! I'm already looking forward to the next upgrade!

Transferring songs is easier than you might think. Hook the NOMAD to your computer, and the file-transferring software automatically opens. The screen is divided into two windows, with selectable sources of music for each (for example, CD track listing on the left, NOMAD 3 track listing on the right). Simply select the tracks you want to copy from the CD, hit "Transfer", and that's it!!

For the inexperienced, let me give you an idea of how much music this thing holds. My player is a little over half full. If I load up all the tracks, and set it to "shuffle", I could listen to no-repeat music for 27 days. Non-stop.

Finally, I can safely say this is the last MP3 player (or any kind of music player, for that matter) that I will ever buy. Ever. This is my second one (my first was destroyed, long story)...and if anything ever happened to it, I would be right back here that day to order another one.

I bought the Nomad 3 to replace my 6GB Nomad Jukebox, which I loved but which became far too small for my 350+ collection of albums. On my old Nomad, I frequently accessed tracks by selecting the artist, and then, within the artist category, going to the sub-category of specific albums. I expected the Nomad 3 to function the same way. But it has LOUSY DESIGN and does not. Instead, when one "selects" a particular artist, the machine goes directly to a list of all of the tracks of that artist on the player. For my collection, which includes artists with as many as 8 or 9 cd's in the library, this process results in being presented with a list of 70-80 song titles, not the 8 or 9 albums, and it is simply unacceptable (especially since my old Jukebox had greater flexibility.

On to LOUSY SUPPORT. When I discovered the player's limitations, I examined the manual to confirm that I wasn't doing something wrong and creating an easily correctible problem. The manual was unhelpful after I had printed it out (yes, the manual is provided only as a PDF file on the accompanying software disc, not as a printed booklet). So I decided to contact customer support and consulted the Creative website to get the number. The website discourages telephone calls for support and steers you towards communicating by e-mail.
I sent the e-mail request for support and received a nonsensical, completely unhelpful reply. So with reluctance, I dialed the toll (not toll-free) telephone number provided. After 25 minutes of dealing with cumbersome automated answering equipment and being placed on infinite hold (you call is important to uss...please wait for the next available representative), I spoke with a representative who told me (very politely) that he didn't really know much about the Nomad 3, because it was a new product. After getting an obviously (and patently) wrong answer to my inquiry, I asked to speak to another tech rep. I was told I would have to call back and wait on hold again.

So I am both disappointed with the design and angry with the service.

Perhaps I should also mention that the product is so poorly made that the headphone connection is loose with the result that the right headphone occassionally goes silent during play. You might think I would be unhappy about this. You would be wrong. Since the product has a "defect" and won't work, I am going to return it for a full refund.

This thing is awsome! I had jukebox I, bought it when it first came out and loved it, but this is so much faster and user-friendly. I love the scroll wheel and the new menu.
The software was very easy to install and upgrade to the latest firm ware.
The new 1394 hook up is fast and no problems. did i mention it is much faster than usb.
I dont have any negatives except one. NO USER MANUEL. a quick start guide. YOu can download the full version off the web-site but i like books.

Oh well it is so easy to use you will not need it anyway, considering I already had a jukebox.
Hope this helps and God Bless You.