Creative Labs Silver Nomad Jukebox "C" (MP3/WMA)

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: B00005ICCZ
• Item model number: DAP6G01S
• Batteries: 4 AA batteries required. (included)
• Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #313,670 in Electronics (See Top 100 in Electronics)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

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 roughly 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 of storage left.)

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), which 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 Product Description

The Creative Nomad Jukebox C is a portable, multiformat, compressed audio player with intuitive navigation for easy categorizing and classifying of content. You'll be able to bring up to the equivalent of 150 CDs with you anywhere--in your car, to your office, or to a party!

About the size of a portable CD player and weighing only 14 ounces, this EAX-certified digital audio player features 6 GB of storage capacity. With far more memory than most portable digital audio players have, it stores approximately 100 hours of CD-quality audio or up to 2,600 hours of spoken word content. Unlike other hard drive-based solutions, the Nomad Jukebox C offers an onboard, real-time digital signal processor for superior audio playback and customization. The Nomad Jukebox C is SDMI-capable and supports file formats such as MP3, WMA, and WAV.

Other highlights of this player include special-effects algorithms that alter the way your music sounds, making it seem as if you are listening in a concert hall, in a stone room, or in a forest. You also have the flexibility to adjust the treble, bass, and middle tones to your liking. You can slow and speed up the playback of files, an especially helpful feature if you are running through the minutes of a meeting you just recorded or are listening to other spoken-word content.

The Nomad Jukebox C offers USB interface for lightning-fast data transfer between your Nomad Jukebox C and your PC or Macintosh. It includes four rechargeable NiMH AA batteries. Note that the Nomad Jukebox C does not include a carrying pouch or headphones.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Can't Be Beat, June 24, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Creative Labs Silver Nomad Jukebox "C" (MP3/WMA) (Electronics)

If you like to take a lot of your music with you or if you would like to to play on your home stereo all those MP3's sitting on your computer, then the Nomad Jukebox is the product for you. With the recent reduction in price, there's no reason to wait anymore. Portable CD players that play discs encoded with MP3's are great, but why limit yourself to one disc when you can put hundreds on the Jukebox. I've had mine for about 3 weeks and it's great. Here are a few observations: (1) The only difference between the Nomad Jukebox and Nomad Jukebox C is that the "C" model does not include headphones, an extra set of rechargeable batteries or a carrying pouch. You've probably got headphones already from another portable, but if you need these things they are all available in an accessory pack that includes a car adapter; (2) at the risk of stating the obvious, the Jukebox is not a portable CD player, but is actually a sealed hard drive, just like the one in your computer (and you do need a computer to use this thing), which is why battery life is not particulary long (they are rechargeables); (3) the Jukebox will hold a tremendous amount of music -- hundreds and hundreds of songs -- which means you can plug it in, put it on shuffle and you won't hear the same song for a while; (4) loading music from your computer is quick and easy, or you can record through the line-in input; (5) playlist management is easy; just pick out the songs from your library you want in your queue and save it, then when you're ready for those songs, just load the playlist. Or just load everything from a particular artist or genre; and (6) sound quality is very good, depending in large part, of course, on the bitrate at which the MP3s were encoded (and it will play formats other than MP3). This is a great device for a music lover.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good product, long boot time, August 3, 2001

By 

"linleyg" (Mt View, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Creative Labs Silver Nomad Jukebox "C" (MP3/WMA) (Electronics)

As widely reported, this is a cool product when it works right. One problem that I haven't seen reported widely is the boot time. The more files I put on mine, the longer it takes to boot; with the hard disk nearly full, it takes nearly two minutes from when I power on to when it will play music. This is a drag when I want to listen to music right away.

I've also toasted two sets of batteries. It seems that if you don't run them all the way down before you recharge them, they lose their capacity. When the batteries were working well, I was getting 3-4 hours of play time, but once you mess them up, they are good for less than an hour.

I recommend this product for use on AC power, and hopefully you are patient enough while it boots up.

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The mixed up tradegedy, May 22, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Creative Labs Silver Nomad Jukebox "C" (MP3/WMA) (Electronics)

I have been relatively pleased with the Nomad Jukebox. It has a high capacity storage, and its battery life is acceptable (If you aren't planning on a big trip) Its limitation to only the batteries that creative makes is not so good, because I am afraid of what will happen if I dont do what they say. Its firmware could be batter, but it can be upgraded. I give this product 4 stars, because it is very useful and helpful, but not all as "portable" as creative insists on titling it.