Creative Labs NOMAD II Digital Audio Player

by Creative

Product Details

Product Manual [3.75mb PDF]

• Product Dimensions: 0.8 x 2.5 x 3.7 inches ; 3 ounces
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B00004RG6K
• Item model number: N64-0001
• Batteries: 1 AA batteries required. (included)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (129 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #142,880 in Electronics (See Top 100 in Electronics)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

Amazon.com Review

Dubbed a Personal Digital Entertainment (PDE) device by Creative Labs, the Nomad II is one of those gadgets that's so fun to play with you'll find yourself forgetting it's useful, too.

When portable MP3 players first hit the market a year or so ago, they were relatively simple devices good for one thing: playing MP3 files. Now it seems, as companies have learned consumers want more than just that, today's devices can no longer be described as just MP3 players.

This version ships with a 64 MB removable SmartMedia card, but we had mixed feelings about Creative's decision to rely solely on removable media. While it has its advantages, in the form of being able to swap out the kind of music you're listening to, we would have preferred 64 MB of onboard memory, with a SmartMedia expansion slot so we could increase the capacity even more if needed.

The Nomad II ships with software called the Creative Digital Audio Center, which is basically a full version of MusicMatch Jukebox Deluxe 5.0 with a Creative Labs skin on it. We liked this addition simply for the fact that MusicMatch Jukebox is simple software to use for creating MP3s from CDs and other audio files. Likewise, while we found the Nomad II Manager software easy to navigate and use, we were left with the feeling that some options were sacrificed in the name of ease-of-use. For instance, the ability to change the order of songs in memory would have been welcome.

From an audio perspective, the Nomad II couldn't have performed any better. The equalizer had good settings, and the ability to program user-defined settings was awesome. Furthermore, a wired remote control and bass-enhanced, behind-the-head style headphones completed the package.

As additional memory is still relatively expensive, and most of us don't have extra cards lying around the house, there will come a time when you'll tire of the songs on the device. And without the presence of your PC--and no additional SmartMedia cards--you're at a loss. This is when the Nomad II's FM tuner came in handy. During morning commutes, it was easy to toggle between The Howard Stern Show and NPR, as the player holds up to 32 FM station presets.

The Nomad II's third--and most overlooked--feature is that of a digital voice recorder. As voice recordings aren't the memory hogs that music files are, the Nomad II can record up to four hours' worth. This feature is perfect for dictating messages to yourself or for the fledging journalist recording interviews. The Nomad II Manager software even allows users to upload voice files from the Nomad II to your PC.

MP3 players are great for music lovers on the go. Because they have no moving parts, they're well known for skip-free music. To test the Nomad II, we loaded it up with some hip-hop and headed down to the local BMX spot in San Francisco. With the player clipped on to a belt, we put it through its paces over a multitude of jumps and with more than enough crashes. We did our best to make it skip, but it performed perfectly (though beware--the Nomad II isn't scratchproof). Only after the battery started to get low (the Nomad II offers anywhere from eight to 10 hours of playback time) did performance degrade. But this was easily remedied by dropping in a new AA battery.

MP3 music--like everything else technology related--is in a constant state of flux. To that end, the Nomad II ships with reprogrammable firmware that should enable it to support future digital-audio formats and software extensions as they emerge. So, hopefully, you'll be enjoying your Nomad II for years to come. --William O'Neal

Pros:

• Awesome sound
• Lightweight
• Excellent behind-the-head style headphones
• Useful wired remote control
• USB interface makes connecting to your computer simple and downloading fast
• Intuitive software
• Supports numerous digital-audio formats

Cons:

• No onboard memory
• Simple software could be more robust
• Navigating the LCD menu can be a pain

Amazon.com Product Description

The Nomad II is a compact nonmechanical player designed for crystal-clear, skip-free digital audio no matter where you take it. Designed to be the next-generation portable digital audio platform, the Nomad II is futureproof, offering reprogrammable firmware to support multiple digital audio formats and software extensions. Supporting the current MP3 standard, Nomad II will allow owners the flexibility to upgrade to future audio compression standards such as WMA (Windows Media Audio) or other emerging codecs, and digital rights management technology, including SDMI compliance, via download at Creative Labs' Web site.

With a 64 MB SmartMedia flash memory card, the Nomad II lets you enjoy hours of CD-quality audio and 4 hours of voice recording. And it is the first portable digital audio player that offers you a built-in FM tuner that stores up to 32 preset stations. The wired remote control give quick access to playback controls during extreme activity, and the unit ships with bass-enhanced stereo backphones.

You can manage, access, upload, and download content to your NOMAD II player in seconds using the NOMAD Manager Software. The Creative Digital Audio Center by MusicMatch allows users to encode, decode, and archive high-quality MP3 files and Windows Media files, as well as convert an unlimited number of CD tracks and compile them according to preference. The SSFDC (Solid State Floppy Disk Card) compliant SmartMedia flash memory card allows audio content to be swapped with other SSFDC-compliant devices without the need for reformatting, and the SDMI (Secure Digital Music Initiative) ready device ensures listeners play digital music in secure formats.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

53 of 53 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Overall, it's the best player in the market...for now, July 2, 2000

By 

Eddie (Virginia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Creative Labs NOMAD II Digital Audio Player (Electronics)

Before I bought the NOMAD II, I read a lot of reviews from Amazon. I saw there were a few downsides to this product, but I took my chances anyway and I do not regret it at all. I believe this product to be the best mp3 player out in the market now.

I admit, I don't know much about mp3 players (this being my first one), but compared to the reviews of the other top selling players, the NOMAD didn't really have much drastic flaws to it.

I'm not going to get all technical now, except the fact that NOMAD can support other future formats like WMA, and most of the other top-selling ones do not.

OKay...NOMAD has a limited memory of 64MB. Most of the others do too. Yeah, there are some that hold 96MB now, but who knows...wait a few years and it'll probably be a couple Gigabytes...that is, if future formats of music files do not make mp3's obsolete...or if you really want to wait that long for it to come out. When you think about it, it's not really all that bad. Of course, people would like the player to hold infinite amount of music... 64MB is just not enough, I know. I'd love it so much if one Smartmedia card could hold 100 songs compared to 12-15...I also wished CD's and tapes can hold that much at one time, too. Speaking of that, hey...can tapes zip from one track to another? Does it give CD quality sounds like the mp3 players do? Can tapes hold more than 20-30 songs averaging 5 minutes a piece? And CD's? Burn as many mixed song CD's you'd like, but you can only do them once on each CD, that is, if you do not mess it up in the process...and they take a lot of time. Plus, you can't hold that many songs in there either. Basically, you got the same limits as you always had with portable music players with the exception of a lot of extra convenience involved. Believe me, this little gadget is very convenient. It's light as a feather. It won't skip. It won't "eat the tape", wear down the motor, wear down any heads (tape heads),...no need to clean the heads or lenses since there are no moving parts. The mp3 player isn't fragile like CD players. You bump into someone with your CD player in your backpack, there's a pretty good chance your CD player will be...killed. With this unit, you don't need a backpack. Just slip it into your front pocket. Run into anyone you want and I'll guarantee there'll be no damage to your unit...unless the person you ran into beats you up first and punches you in the chest, crushing it. I could go on forever with this but I must point out some other "downsides" to this unit.

I read somewhere that the FM radio wasn't that great on this. Works fine for me. I mean if I were in a basement with no windows, surely I'd get bad radio receptions. I'm not saying that the reviewer who wrote the complaint about bad reception lives in a basement...I'm just saying radio signals vary wherever you go or wherever you are. I get good reception where I'm at now, but if I move south of my neighborhood, I get static on my FM radio...as well as my cellular phone.

Some reviewer said this unit doesn't have a fast forward or rewind...YEAH IT DOES! Hold the ">>" or "<<" down a bit and let it go. Yeah, yeah, you see?

I read the Diamond Rio unit has a problem with battery power. It drains out quick from just transferring songs through the USB. I've been using this NOMAD for days and the battery just keeps going and going and going...

Unlike some downsides to other units, this one doesn't require and "encrypted" mp3. Just load it straight up as it is from your PC or MAC.

OK, it's time to get a little philosophical...you can't have everything you want in life. What I mean is be thankful for what you got. There's a lot of complaints of little petty things. "It can't hold enough songs", "The batteries make it too heavy", "The headphones don't fit my head", "The buttons are too small", "There's no built-in microwave", "It doesn't have a bottle opener at the end of it"...too much whining about things that aren't so serious. It plays music and is convenient. That's what it was made for and thats what it delivers. Believe me, no matter how perfect another player might be out there right now, the companies who develop these little gadgets are working on another as I speak that is ten times as advanced and tens times as perfect. You could wait around for the next couple years waiting for better player and brag all about it. In the meantime, me and all the other NOMAD owners will be enjoying our music while you sit there and wait. By then you'll be sitting exactly where we are now while another like you is waiting for the next better player to come out after then.

I don't mean to offend nobody with this review, really. I'm just saying for those who plan on purchasing an mp3 player, this one will do great. I think its the best one out there for now. And try not to look for what's wrong with it. Concentrate on what is great about it and enjoy your [money's] worth.

108 of 114 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Evaluation of the NOMAD II, May 29, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Creative Labs NOMAD II Digital Audio Player (Electronics)

The NOMAD II digital mp3 player / voice recorder by Creative Labs is one of the best devices of its kind. It is lightweight, small, has an intuitive interface,and the sound quality is in my opinion very good. Its only rival is perhaps the Rio 500 by Diamond. Other digital recorders / mp3 players tend to have much lower storage capacities and/or pitiful sound quality which makes them practically useless. The NOMAD II comes with a USB connector (unlike earlier versions of the NOMAD the NOMAD II will not work with a parallel port: you will need a USB port on your computer), headsets, an extension cord for the headphones with buttons on it (which is advertized as a "remote control"), an optional 64MB SmartMedia flash memory card (which you must have although it can be purchased separately), a leather case for the NOMAD II, one AA battery, and of course the NOMAD II itself. The software basically consists of the NOMAD II manager and the Creative Digital Audio Center (DAC).

Initially there is no operating system on the NOMAD II. You will need to boot into Windows 98 and connect your NOMAD II to the PC to transfer the NOMAD II operating system to the SmartMedia card using the NOMAD II manager. Once this is done you can also transfer any mp3 files to the NOMAD II, play them, and record. The NOMAD II uses two different file formats on its SmartMedia card. One is MPEG layer 3 (.mp3) which is used to play music and the other one is (.nvf) which is what the NOMAD II uses to store voice recordings. It is impossible to transfer .mp3 files from the NOMAD II to the computer so you must back up the .mp3 files on the computer so that when you need more space on the SmartMedia card you can delete the file without losing it. One the other hand you can transfer the .nvf voice files from the NOMAD II to the PC. However you must play the voice files either on the NOMAD II or on PC with Nomad II Manager. It is not possible to convert the voice files to .mp3 so if you want to make a recording and send it to a friend then your friend will not be able to listen to it unless they also have a NOMAD II or the Nomad II manager. That is because the .nvf (which presumably stands for nomad voice file) is a proprietary format presumably developed for the NOMAD only. The other drawback is that the fast forward mechanism found on many tape recorders and mp3 player software on PCs is not available on the NOMAD II. Hence if you have a one hour recording then you cannot jump to the middle of the recording without waiting for one hour first. All I can say here is that these devices are still in their infancy.

Other than that the USB connection is fast and the recording as well as mp3 playing quality is excellent (yes CD sound quality is better but who can tell the difference anyway; plus remember: an mp3 player like this will never skip!).

And BTW, at the present time you need Windows 98 for the Nomad II Manager which is the only way to transfer files back and forward (although some have suggested that this is also possible with a SmartMedia card reader). The Nomad II Manager currently does not work with Windows NT, MacOS, Linux, or other operating systems.

The best features of the NOMAD II are ease of use, excellent sound/recording quality, and large storage capacity.

Its worse features are that it is impossible to convert .nvf files to .mp3 files and lack of support for other operating systems.

133 of 145 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very cool but not perfect, May 17, 2000

By 

Gadget Guy "electronics_fan" (Marblehead, MA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Creative Labs NOMAD II Digital Audio Player (Electronics)

This is my first MP3 player - I waited for the Nomad II to come out because I wanted USB connectivity, 64 MB of storage, and a radio (I also wanted a rechargable battery and docking station - however, they're sold seperately. Amazon did not sell them at the time I bought it, so I ordered the docking station (comes w/rechargable battery) from Creative's site)

Being new to MP3 Players, I really think that this thing is awesome. It's small, it has no moving parts and it has a fantastic user interface. The PC-side software is intuitive and easy to use as well. I also like the fact that I will be able to support other digital music formats in the future (WMA).

Downsides to the Nomad II: The radio just is not that great (at all). It's hard to use, and the reception is fair to poor - mostly poor. As a first time MP3 palyer user, I feel that 64MB is still not enough space for MP3s. I'm only getting 10-15 songs (128 bit rate)on the 64MB SmartMedia card. WMA formatted music is supposed to double that though...