Customer Reviews

Creative Labs NOMAD Jukebox Zen (USB 2.0)

5 star:		(41)
4 star:		(18)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

I have the Firewire version of this MP3 player. They're basically the same thing except for three things, Battery Life (the USB 2.0 version has 2 more hours), Connectivity (obviously), and Price (at the time of this review the firewire version has a rebate). Anyway here's my review.

"The Nomad Zen is simply the best MP3 Jukebox out there. It defintly on par with the Apple IPOD or far past.

Here's an overview

Features- 9.0
The Zen has Advanced features such as Enviromental Effects, that i have never seen on another MP3 Jukebox before. Other features include time scaling, Customizeable Logos, Spatialization, and Smart Volume which evens outs sounds when low depending on conditions, such as being on a plane or in a car. It has both Firewire and USB 1.1. There is a version that does have usb 2.0 alone. With a firmware upgrade, you can transfer non-copyright protected songs, between units. If you have a Sound Blaster Live, Audigy or Audigy2 sound card you can you use an EAX enhancement for your audio files. You can search for music that is on the unit. The Player Supports WMA, which is a vital feature for anyone who ripped all their CDs using Windows Media Player. You can also use the device as a portable hard-drive, however you cant run programs off it. In order to use at as a portable Hard-Drive you must use the include File manager Program, which kind of defeats the purpose.

Performance- 9.0
The Zen sounds fantastic. It has a 98dB Noise to Sound Ratio which one of the highest, if not the highest for a MP3 Jukebox.
Its quick to start up and charge. It takes about 3-4 hours to completly charge, which gives almost 12 hours of battery life (the USB 2.0 version gives 14 hours). It charges through the USB port or through an included adaptor, however not through the firewire port. Transfering Music is fast through firewire, and with USB it transfers at a rate of about 1 MB/Sec, not too bad. However, there is one major problem, swithching trough songs is sluggish. It takes the unit about 1 to 2 seconds the switch songs. This annoying at best. The included headphones aren't the best.

Software-8.0
In order to transfer songs you must use Creative Labs Play Center. This Program is simply mediocre. While it does have a nice interface and good feature set, it has several minor flaws, such as having to select each folder indivudualy instead of being able to just select a master folder, such as "My Music", in order to transfer music. The Actual Operating System on the unit is not that bad, it gets the job done effectively, and access to all the features is easy.

Aesthetics- 9.0
The Unit is Zen-Like, with it's smooth metallic case. It also comes with a black Leather-like case, that provides easy access to all the functions, except the Firewire and USB Ports. The included head phones are good-looking, how ever they dont sound that good. The operating system on the unit is easy to look at, and has well designed icons. Play Center is also good-looking and skinable. The unit also is a liitle heavy

Value- 9.5
The Unit is well below what the 20GB Ipod Costs. Even though the headphones aren't that great and the optional remote is costly, it still is worth the money. Even after buying better head-phones and the hard to find remote, it still costs less then an IPOD.

Overall-9.0 (or 5/5 for amazon)
The Nomad Jukebox Zen is the best MP3 jukebox player out there. Simply put, a must for any music listener with more than 20 CDS."

I got the USB 2.0 version and I'm pleased as punch with it. It is compact (although not as compact as the IPOD), sounds great, and has a really well thought out interface. The LED is very easy to read and once you get the hang of it, you can do really cool things like creating playlists while listening to songs. I created a particularly memorable list of songs on a recent trip to Death Valley. I saved that list of Desert Songs and plan on creating a Dance List, a mellow Massage List and others. And you don't have to be at a computer to do it; I did it in the car while listening to tunes.

I also listen to a lot of recorded books. I get them on CD from the library and rip them to mp3. That way I always have a few complete unabridged books on my Zen to choose from for long flights or drives.

I tried two other hard drive based players before settling on this: the Neuros, which I found to be a disaster. It's big selling point is that it can transmit to a nearby fm radio like your stereo or the one in your car. Turns out the sound quality when doing so is severely degraded if your receiver can pick it up at all. The download process was USB 1.0 and just full of bugs and freezes and slow as molassis when it did work. One positive thing is downright excellent customer service and apparent complete honesty on their website about bugs they are trying to work out.

I also tried the IPOD windows version. Well, I tried to. I installed two different firewire cards in my computer and still could not get a synch with the device. It is smaller and lighter but from what I read you can't create and name playlists while listening to music like with the Zen.

Frankly, I didn't have any regrets returning the IPOD because I'd fallen in love so with my Zen.

And the 20 mb Zen is WAY cheaper.

This player is great! The USB 2.0 is ridiculously fast- I transfered my entire collection (2,000 songs) in just under half an hour! the sound quality is excellent, and the interface is great, as long as all of your ID3 tags are correct. It's a tiny bit thicker than the ipod, and fairly heavy, but compared to a CD player, it's pretty small. The carrying case isn't that great, and sometimes the buttons are a bit tricky to use with one hand if you're trying to do something quickly. Creative's EAX sound stuff is great- especially the sound effects (making the files sound like they're being played in an auditorium, garage etc) and the smart volume is awesome too. I used the airplane function on my flight, and the player completely blows CD players out of the water. The software is easy to use, but i still prefer Windows Media Player. This player is perfect for me, since most of my files are WMA's that I've ripped.

Overall highly recommended- and how can you say no when it's practically half the price of an ipod?

I have OWNED an Archos, Ipod and now a Zen.

The Archos Studio 20GB was a nice unit.

Advantages: Price is right.
Disadvantages: Slightly large size, fair display, poor sound quality, had to scroll through 100s of albums (No easy eay to search). USB (Slower data transfer)

Due to the poor sound quality of the Archos I upgraded to an Ipod 20GB.

Advantages: Small size. Easy to navigate, great display. Very good sound quality. Fast data transfer (Firewire)
Disadvantages: Software DOES NOT work. Musicmatch is horrible at best. I downloaded Ephpod which is only slighly better. After NUMEROUS problems with making "Playlists" the Ipod had difficulty finding songs with missing MP3 tags. I was not about to fix ID tags on 2,000 songs. Check the Ipod forums for all of the inherent problems with this POS. Remote is required since you must remove it from the case to see the display or access the controls. Only has preset EQ. You MUST use the LOUSY software and be connected to the computer to make ANY changes (Rename, delete etc.)

Got rid of the Ipod after a week for a Zen 20GB.

Advantages: Price is right. Good sound quality. Custom equalizer.
Disadvantages: Display is OK but not as nice as Ipod.

So far the Zen appears to be the best bargain / value.

I've been using the Zen 2.0 for about two weeks now and really love it. The sound quality is excellent and anyone who is barely tech-savy can learn how to use it under an hour. I recommend it highly. For the price I think it beats the iPod hands down. It is a bit larger and has a smaller screen, but it sounds better and has lots more features.

Here are a couple pointers that will enhance your use of the product:

1. Ditch the headphones that come with the unit. They make sound, but that's about the best I can say about them. Instead, buy a pair of Sennheiser MX 500 ear buds or Koss Portapro headphones. Either will work quite well with the Zen - they are reasonably priced and will let you experience fully the sound quality this device is capable of producing.

2. Creative Playcenter, the software that comes with the Zen, is an acceptable program and can rip CD's directly for transfer to the unit. Others have more complaints about it than I do. However, I highly recommend getting Notmad Explorer, a software interface for the Zen made by Red Chair Software. It is reasonably priced, and operates just like Windows Explorer - the Zen appears like a drive and you can add and move files around by dragging and dropping. It also has advance tag editing features other helpful utilities.

All in all, I'm very happy with my purchase.

cheaper than the ipod, a little bigger in size, a lot bigger in capacity, with the ability to be upgraded to 40GB or 60GB. Creative says that when the battery dies [after about 500 charge cycles] you can send it back in to replace the batter [battery builtin] it has only one output, and that is for the headphones. these were my main concerns that went unanswered when reading other reviews. it is a great deal for such a large capacity player

The Nomad Jukebox Zen is an amazing piece of technology. It has a monstrous 20GB hard drive so you can take ALL of your music with you. The battery lasts for a whopping 14 hrs (12 hrs. on the SB1394 Firewire/USB 1.1 model) so it won't die on you during those long car rides. The USB 2.0 sends music to your Nomad Zen at an amazing 60 MegaBYTES per second. That's FASTER THAN FIREWIRE! If you haven't upgraded to USB 2.0 or your computer is older. A simple 2-port USB 2.0 PCI Card is less, and well worth it. The menu on the Zen is also amazing. You can browse your songs by Artist, Album, Track Title, and Genre. You can also have the Zen search your Music Archive under the same categories. In addition, maximize your audio quality using EAX Audio. This is a technology developed by Creative which allows you to simulate environments (such as a concert hall, indoor arena, or living room), speed up or slow down a track by up to .5x so you can catch every note of that guitar solo. My favorite EAX option is the Smart Volume Management or SVM feature. The Zen has presets for a Train, Plane, Car, or Late Night. In the "Late Night" mode, the Zen will maintain the volume so that you won't hear any sudden increases in volume at the crescendo of the song. This allows you to play all your favorite Rock music while relaxing or sleeping and not be unnerved by frequent alterations in the volume.
The Nomad Zen is quite small (although I'll admit the iPod is slightly smaller) and, contrary to most online reviews, will fit very nicely in your pants pocket. The only reason it would not fit is if you are a female and wear very tightly-fitting pants that do not have spacious pockets. If you enjoy wearing these pants, DON'T WORRY! You can strap the Zen around a belt loop using the very stylish carrying case that comes with the Zen. The Zen also comes with the USB 2.0 cable and an AC Adaptor, as well as a CD which contains the full user guide, an interactive tutorial, and Creative Play Center and Creative File Manager which are used to transfer music files and other files to the Zen's hard drive. And if you really want a remote on the headphone wire like the 20GB iPod has, then Creative has an optional FM Wired Remote which not only acts as a remote control, but adds an FM tuner with up to 30 presets and a microphone for voice recordings. You can even see track information on the Remote's backlit LCD screen.

And the best thing about the Nomad Jukebox Zen is that it costs LESS THAN THE 20GB IPOD!

So great. Honestly, the only thing the iPod has on this is size and weight, which aren't even big differences. Size was an issue for me, since I walk 2 miles roundtrip to school every day, and I kept my previous MP3 player in my pocket. This still fits fine. I don't even have USB 2.0, and I thought loading files would take the same time as with my previous player. Not so. I loaded 1,355 songs on here in less than an hour, which is great, since I'm used to waiting 20 minutes to put only 1 album on. Keep in mind that with 1,355 songs, I have filled less than 1/4 of the memory, and all my MP3's are at 160kbps. This is great, becuase if you are tired of lugging around a CD case filled with CD's and your CD player with you on long vacations, you only have to "lug" around this compact nine ounce device that can hold about 350-500 of your albums. I have had no problems with this since I got it. I strongly recommend this instead of an iPod. C'mon, why spend $500 when you can get a slightly heavier, larger version for $200 less?

After doing extensive research on mp3 players, i decided i should either get the zen or the 10 gig ipod. I chose the zen because of the price, and i have not been dissapointed by it.

Although working the music management program was dificult at first, once i got used to it i began to love it.

The player has great sound quality and transfers files very quickly.

I ran around with it in my pocket for over 10 minutes, and it never skipped or showed a slowdown.

I am very happy with my Nomad jukebox zen, and i reccomend it to anyone looking for a good mp3 player with a large hard drive, but not lacking portability.

I had an IPOD 10GB and the music sounded flat with no bass. I tried using other headphones but still sounded the same. But the Zen is different, the music sounds more fuller. If you like Nomad I /II you will definately love Zen. I have to admit, Ipod does look cooler because of its size and is white, but Zen seems to be more durable.