Creative Labs Nomad Jukebox "C" (Blue)

by Creative

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 1.5 x 5 x 5 inches ; 14.1 ounces
• Shipping Weight: 3 pounds
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B00005ICCX
• Item model number: DAP6G01B
• Batteries: 4 AA batteries required. (included)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #264,055 in Electronics (See Top 100 in Electronics)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

Amazon.com

One of our biggest frustrations with MP3 players has been their limited storage capacity. You'll typically get 64 MB via internal memory or memory cards, which provides just a little over an hour of near CD-quality MP3 audio. So when we heard that Creative was releasing a 6 GB player that can hold over 100 hours of music, it sounded perfect. Soon, we'd be rifling through a massive catalog of tunes on our little player, from Elvis Costello to LL Cool J to Miles Davis, whenever the whim struck.

The Nomad Jukebox is essentially a portable hard drive with software that will play MP3 audio. Since hard drives include spinning and moving parts, this player is not ideal for active MP3 users such as joggers and snowboarders.

We cracked open the box, inserted the rechargeable batteries, plugged in the AC adapter, and waited the recommended 12 hours for them to charge initially. This is a very important step. This was our second set of batteries--we didn't bother to heed Creative's initial charging directions when we first got the product, and our first set of batteries soon lost the capacity to be recharged.

After installing the included software (we tested the Jukebox on a Macintosh G4 using SoundJam MP; for PCs, Creative includes PlayCenter 2) and connecting the USB cable, we quickly deleted 2 GB of starter MP3 and audiobook files and started loading our own music. We started with about 500 songs, but noticed after the load had finished that not all the songs made it onto the Jukebox. Also, the SoundJam software didn't like us doing any other work on our Mac G4, stalling out the load whenever we switched to another program.

We found it was best to load in smaller numbers and to keep SoundJam up as the active application (unfortunately, not the most efficient use of computer time). The transfer rate is about six minutes per 100 MB, which translates to about 25 songs. (So far, we've loaded 861 songs and we still have 2.3 GB left of storage.)

Once music has been transferred to the Jukebox, you need to create an active playing list by navigating one of three lists--artists, albums, and genres--then adding songs to the queue. (This points out the need for creating thorough ID3 tags, an electronic label that can include song title, track number, year, and more. ID3 tags can be created via the PlayCenter and SoundJam software manually, or they can be imported from the online CDDB database. For more information about tagging, see the Amazon.com Making MP3s Guide.) Playlists can be saved in the Jukebox, though it can be a bit tedious (there's no keyboard), and you can't add songs to an existing playlist.

The Jukebox also sports some nice additions. It has a line-in recording capability (using an external microphone) that records WAV files that can be adjusted for optimal (or low-end) sound quality, and it can play audiobooks.

The biggest downside to the Nomad Jukebox is its portability. As noted, it does run on rechargeable batteries, but they'll last far less than the advertised two hours. Also, this isn't the device to take jogging; its internal hard drive, though somewhat resistant to shock and motion, just won't take that kind of activity. It's really made for stationary play using its included AC adapter.

It also has a few playback glitches, the biggest being that you can't fast- forward or rewind within a song. Also, there's no bookmark feature for audiobook listening--a necessity for long files.

Ultimately, the Creative Nomad Jukebox isn't perfect and isn't suited for everyone's MP3 needs. But it has become a staple of our gadget life--it travels with us daily to the office and hooks in nicely into stereo systems, both at home and at friends' houses. Someday, we'll all wonder what we did without an MP3 jukebox. --Agen G.N. Schmitz

Pros:

• 6 GB of storage is massive--over 1,000 songs
• Several methods for selecting playlist songs (artist, album, and genre)
• Line-out for connecting to stereo systems, and line-in for recording

Cons:

• Battery power is sucked up quickly
• Prone to skipping/stalling when used in heavy activity

Amazon.com Review

One of our biggest frustrations with MP3 players has been their limited storage capacity. You'll typically get 64 MB via internal memory or memory cards, which provides just a little over an hour of near CD-quality MP3 audio. So when we heard that Creative was releasing a 6 GB player that can hold over 100 hours of music, it sounded perfect. Soon, we'd be rifling through a massive catalog of tunes on our little player, from Elvis Costello to LL Cool J to Miles Davis, whenever the whim struck.

The Nomad Jukebox is essentially a portable hard drive with software that will play MP3 audio. Since hard drives include spinning and moving parts, this player is not ideal for active MP3 users such as joggers and snowboarders.

We cracked open the box, inserted the rechargeable batteries, plugged in the AC adapter, and waited the recommended 12 hours for them to charge initially. This is a very important step. This was our second set of batteries--we didn't bother to heed Creative's initial charging directions when we first got the product, and our first set of batteries soon lost the capacity to be recharged.

After installing the included software (we tested the Jukebox on a Macintosh G4 using SoundJam MP; for PCs, Creative includes PlayCenter 2) and connecting the USB cable, we quickly deleted 2 GB of starter MP3 and audiobook files and started loading our own music. We started with about 500 songs, but noticed after the load had finished that not all the songs made it onto the Jukebox. Also, the SoundJam software didn't like us doing any other work on our Mac G4, stalling out the load whenever we switched to another program.

We found it was best to load in smaller numbers and to keep SoundJam up as the active application (unfortunately, not the most efficient use of computer time). The transfer rate is about six minutes per 100 MB, which translates to about 25 songs. (So far, we've loaded 861 songs and we still have 2.3 GB left of storage.)

Once music has been transferred to the Jukebox, you need to create an active playing list by navigating one of three lists--artists, albums, and genres--then adding songs to the queue. (This points out the need for creating thorough ID3 tags, an electronic label that can include song title, track number, year, and more. ID3 tags can be created via the PlayCenter and SoundJam software manually, or they can be imported from the online CDDB database. For more information about tagging, see the Amazon.com Making MP3s Guide.) Playlists can be saved in the Jukebox, though it can be a bit tedious (there's no keyboard), and you can't add songs to an existing playlist.

The Jukebox also sports some nice additions. It has a line-in recording capability (using an external microphone) that records WAV files that can be adjusted for optimal (or low-end) sound quality, and it can play audiobooks.

The biggest downside to the Nomad Jukebox is its portability. As noted, it does run on rechargeable batteries, but they'll last far less than the advertised two hours. Also, this isn't the device to take jogging; its internal hard drive, though somewhat resistant to shock and motion, just won't take that kind of activity. It's really made for stationary play using its included AC adapter.

It also has a few playback glitches, the biggest being that you can't fast- forward or rewind within a song. Also, there's no bookmark feature for audiobook listening--a necessity for long files.

Ultimately, the Creative Nomad Jukebox isn't perfect and isn't suited for everyone's MP3 needs. But it has become a staple of our gadget life--it travels with us daily to the office and hooks in nicely into stereo systems, both at home and at friends' houses. Someday, we'll all wonder what we did without an MP3 jukebox. --Agen G.N. Schmitz

Pros:

• 6 GB of storage is massive--over 1,000 songs
• Several methods for selecting playlist songs (artist, album, and genre)
• Line-out for connecting to stereo systems, and line-in for recording

Cons:

• Battery power is sucked up quickly
• Prone to skipping/stalling when used in heavy activity

See all Product Description

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great ! I Love it! - Only a few "glitches", September 25, 2001

By 

James Kanora (Troy , PA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Creative Labs Nomad Jukebox "C" (Blue) (Electronics)

Well,
First the complaints - and some suggestions
1. Low Headset Volume - I tried about 6 different sets - the sony in ear Type seem to work particularly well and are WAY louder than the stock headphones
2. Long boot time - Upgrade the firmaware and if you have alot of music like I do (5 gig) - make sure you reload your whole library if you notice considerable boot lags- if you delete a lot and edit a lot the disk becomes fragmented ;0) A complete sequential reload seems to really improve boot times on my unit (before = 2 minutes)(After reloading songs = 30 sec or so)
3. SKIPPING- My unit does not skip EVER W/ the latest firmware installed If your unit skips - return it to creative for a replacement. It should not skip. 4. Battery Life - Their is something funny W/ the charging circuit - I don't know if there is a fix. My fix is that I charge my 2 sets of batteries in an external charger/conditioner -
5. Upgrading the hard drive - On your own - when my warranty ran out I installed a 20 gig drive.... I still have not had the need for all the space but my collection grows daily. There are many sites (search) on upgrading...but remember IT VOIDS THE WARRANTY - you should probably just sell the old one here on Amazon and buy a 20 gig model.... ;0) THE GOOD PART!... The menu system slows up a bit when you have alot of music loaded on BUT it is pretty intuitive to use...took about 3 minutes to learn how to use it - for once.... Use the tutorial
- the queue system is Especially good -
Also- there is nothing quite like having about a zillion CD's worth of music in one place. I have had 3 of the small memory hungry players. If you are sick of loading/unloading music all the time...BUY THIS!
I figured I'd let you all know what I though since I already have one of these and I am buying another as a gift. Enjoy!
Overall- I would say this is one of the coolest "toys" I have. For all of it's "problems" - most of which are easily solved the +'s far outweigh the -'s

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good, but should be better, September 15, 2001

By 

Victor A. Navone (Oakland, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Creative Labs Nomad Jukebox "C" (Blue) (Electronics)

Pros: (almost) 5 gigs of storage, attractive design, good sound, nice headphones included, software is upgradeable, plays well with iTunes on Mac.
Cons: Many people (including me) have problems with the built-in battery recharger. No battery power display in main menu screens (you have to dig for it). Software is poor in general; you can't search for a song by title or queue an entire artist's library by name; no "queue all" feature; playlists uploaded to the player aren't saved - you have to remake the list on the player. No downloading capability! This is VERY lame if you want to share songs with a friend or backup the tracks that comes preinstalled on the player. Hopefully this will be remedied with future software releases. No forward or reverse scanning - this is very inconvenient if you're listening to audio books or other long tracks and want to come back to the middle of the chapter.
Conclusion: if you can't wait to get a portable hard-drive type mp3 player then this should satisfy you, but personally I would wait for the next generation of models which will have greater storage and improved software.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Who needs a CD changer?, July 3, 2001

By 

Kevin R Hoyt (Parker, CO) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Creative Labs Nomad Jukebox "C" (Blue) (Electronics)

One fine summer day, my employer gave me a Rio with 32Mb on board. It was expandable to a maximum of 64Mb with an additional 32Mb chip. This was a nice little gizmo to have, and it started me down the path of MP3 mania - which before I had dismissed as frolly. Before long I was ripping every CD I had (in excess of 150) to my laptop to take with me on the road (I'm a road warrior, and I spend more time in trains, planes, and automobiles than at home). And as one might expect, it wasn't long before I was out of space.

The Nomad Jukebox from Creative provided me with a full 6Gb of disk space for MP3. I was able to put most every CD I listened to on a regular basis, on it, with room to spare. So I put a book on CD on it too. The form factor is great! Looks like a CD player, but isn't. I get looks from people on planes who wonder how I can listen to one CD for 4 hours straight - when in reality I've been mixing the flight away. I was worried about the interfaces capability to get me around 6Gb of MP3, and while it is a little slow (couldn't you have put a little faster processor in there guys?), it's also very intuitive. The software included, let's me manage my Jukebox with ease as well as play MP3's from iton to my PC speakers. I have the Creative DTS-3500 speakers, and it sounds great!

Of course, it's not without it's drawbacks. The battery life is horrible. Creative maintains that the Jukebox is built not for prolonged independant use, but as a portable CD collection for your office or car, or wherever there might be an power source. So when I say I listend to 4 hours straight - it would have been more but the batteries went dead. On the other hand, you can order more from Creative. Also a big bummer is that while you can transfer MP3's to the device, it won't let you transfer them back to your PC (as it will with any other file type). Looks like the Creative execs got a little worried about legal issues.