Customer Reviews

Creative Labs NOMAD II C 64 MB MP3 Player

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

At the time of this writing, I've used the Nomad IIc for about three weeks on a daily basis.

For the price you will pay, this is an excellent product.

Installing the battery is a snap, and listening to the installed music is very easy. Software installation was a breeze in WinXP, and I had no problems ripping CDs into either WMA or MP3, although I recommend MP3. Downloading songs is a snap and relatively fast. The queing capability of the software makes point and click very easy as you select your songs for download, and then manipulating the order in the player is very easy from the software. The backlit LCD is easy to read and the controls are very easy to use, even while working out.

The only reason why I did not rate this product for five stars is the volume needs to have just a little more output. Both my wife and I use it and have noticed that maximum volume on a treadmill leaves just a little bit to be desired. However, it still works flawlessly!

I would strongly recommend this product over many other for the same, or even higher price. If you are looking for a great prodcut that works right out of the box without too much effort, your search is over.

My Nomad IIc has been nothing but reliable. I've dropped it several times (I'm uncoordinated) on pavement from a height of three feet, heard a heart-crushing "crack", but though the case is a bit scratched up, the insides work just as well as the day I got it. The sound quality is great, the controls thoughtfully laid-out, the headphones quite good, and the display is huge and easy to read. I also must defend the battery-life; mine goes for ages (12 to 14 hours, I think) on one AA cell. Battery changes are few and far between. Of course, I have my backlight set on minimum--if you want the backlight to stay on for longer, you pay dearly for it in battery power. The Nomad's software design and controls are so intuitive, though, that you really don't even need a backlight.

I just recieved this today, and i've found it very easy to manipulate, as well as have an easy interface. the voice recording is great, transferring files is quick and easy, but i think the playcenter software could be a little less flashy, as it can be confusing to use the first time. sound quality is great, and with a 128MB expansion card, i can hold about 3 hours worth of music on it. the belt clip was great during a light jog i took, but it feels a little flimsy. backlight is very bright and makes the text very easy to read. this player looks very promsing.

...*almost 2 months later*

Still ticking. works great even after a couple 4 FOOT falls onto a hard surface. i've seen lots of reviews for this player being flimsy, and all i have to say is the plant that my player came from must be better. battery life is great: about 10-12 hours with a rechargable battery and a couple hours less with a regular alkaline battery. beware that the backlight and player idle can drain the battery right quick if you have them on for too long. one small complaint, though: sometimes in the playcenter software (of which i've mentioned before) will jumble up my playlist after i disconnect my player (ex. songs 1,2,3,4,5 will end up as 2,1,3,5,4 after disconnecting). not a major problem, and not really related with the player, just bad software. i hope somewhere down the road creative will make a better alternetive for the playcenter software.

I bought this product in early July...it is now Halloween and it's broken. It worked fine for a while, but in about late september, the heaphone jack on it messed up and the contacts weren't touching the headphone contacts. I knew it wasn't the headphones, because I bought different ones, and I also used the auxilarie hook-up to some speakers I had. Plus, the warranty only lasted 90 DAYS!!!! its like they expected sumthin to go wrong!!! all-in-all its pretty good, but not worth payin ... canadian for it, there are better products for your money.

I got this little thing nine months ago, and it just now occurs to me to write a review for it.
First, notice: Yes. I like it. I liked it nine months ago, and I still like it now. But there are some things I don't like about it.
What I like:
1.) It's small. It fits along with the rest of mess in my backpack. It's only about 2x3.5x0.75 inches, right?
2.) WMA support. On a pair of headphones, you lose some of the quality you would on a GOOD set of 2/4/5/6.1 speakers anyway, so dropping to 64Kbps with WMA really helps a lot, with only 64MB plus a card.
3.) It's not CD-based. I never much liked those big things.
4.) WMP8/9 support. I don't like those programs, but they get really useful when I want to put an MP3 on my player when I want it in as a WMA. (Which is about ALWAYS.)
What I don't:
1.) Short battery life. Ok, it's got probably a good 10 hours. But when you listen to a LOT of music, it blows out pretty fast. Also, you're already down to about 2 hours left when the meter shows 2/3 power.
2.) No playlist suppport. Admittedly, with such limited space as 192MB or less it doesn't matter as much as on a PC, but it'd still be VERY nice to be able to separate MP3/WMA files by artist or anime or DDR MIX.
3.) The battery/card cover. It falls off all too easily. (Even though the rest of the player is REALLY durable.) Plus, when it is off, the clips that hold the cover in place break off as if they were paper.
4.) No defragging. It's, honestly, to be expected, but I'd like to keep my lists properly intact such that I can add a song without getting it put right smack in the middle.

Initially bought a RCA Lyra, but sent that back because it plays a non-standard MPY format. What this means, is that you can't just dump MP3 files into the Lyra, what a waste!.

Picked up the Nomad IIC unit and had it connected to my RedHat 8.0 linux box in a few minutes. I dumped some mp3's in it and was ready to go. Great features, and works flawlessly with the NomadII software for linux which I downloaded after a brief search on Google. I bought a 128MB Smartcard with this unit, and now have 192MB or memory to spare. Only my second day with it, but I have to give it thumbs up, because I never had to use the manual with this as the controls were very intuitive. Crummy headphones come with this unit, but get a good pair and you will have a great combination.

For the price it's really hard to beat it. First thing I did was to go to the Creative site (Nomadworld.com) and I updated the firmware so that it would accept 128 meg smartcards... the whole process was a piece of cake. I can't really see how anyone can survive for long without expanding the base 64 meg memory. The PlayCenter software that comes with the Mp3 Player is fairly intuitive and makes transfering MP3 or WMA files from your computer to the player pretty easy.

Other reviewers have given the Nomad IIc demerits for a perceived lack of volume. I must admit that at the highest volume level it isn't like sitting in the front row of a rock concert. However, I find it more than loud enough to completely drown out the sound system playing at my local health club which is really all I want it to do. I found the sound quality of the headphones to be pretty decent, with good (but not great) bass response. Normally, for any low end CD/MP3 player, you end up chucking the headphones and upgrading to a better pair. Not necessary in this case unless you're a total audiophile with x-ray ears.

The one thing that kept me from giving the Nomad IIc a perfect score is the kludgy way the smartcard was integrated into the unit. Unless you have fingers of steel, you have to take the battery out of the unit first so that you can get enough of your fingers on the smartcard to get it out. Poor engineering.

Highly suggest using Windows Media Player beta 9. I've been creating WMA files at 96Kbps and you get around four files for the price of three Mp3 files at 128Kbps.... and they sound just as good!

I bought this MP3 Player a year ago, I must say I waited awhile to review this, as we know how electronics are and I didn't want to rate this as soon as I bought it. Well the player is still working great, I must admit that the paint by the buttons are wearing away etc. and around the screen also but this is normal after months of use. Now the player has fallen many times out of my hand and at one incident bounced off the floor and it stills works! When you buy this make sure you pick up a memory card so you can put more songs on it. Also use re-chargble batteries, I find it eats batteries like a bowl of cereal for breakfast.

The Nomad IIc is awesome. The voice recording is very helpful in man situations, and sometimes just fun to play with. I wish that it was 128 instead of 64, but not a big deal. The headphones that came with it are also great, very comfortable. The price is the best though, with the mail-in rebate...This is the best price I've found for any other MP3 player. I strongly recomend this.

My first mp3 player and the Nomad IIc works great! For those of you complaining about lack of volume. I purchased the Sony MDR-E828LP budstyle headset for $10. I now have the volume at about 15 vs 22 with the headset that came with the nomad. The Sony headset is better suited for working out with and the sound quality and volume is a definite improvement. I bought it because of the $30 rebate and the voice recording feature for taking notes while driving. The fact that it's an mp3 player was just a bonus, but now I use it for most of my music listening. My only annoyance is that I can only fit about 10-12 songs on the 64mb memory that came on the player at 192 bps. Sandisk/Amazon is having a $20 rebate special on their 128mb smartmedia card and I've already ordered mine.