Creative Technology Nomad Jukebox (6 GB) MP3 Player

The Creative Nomad Jukebox is an amazing little piece of technology that allows you to store 100 hours of music (that is 1,200 5-minute songs) all on something the size of a portable CD player. You can transfer from your CD collection, or MP3 files from your computer. You need to have a USB port on your computer to be able to transfer to the jukebox.

The Jukebox comes with:

8 rechargeable batteries
AC adapter
"back" phones
carrying case
USB cable
software CD

It also comes pre-loaded with 20 hours of music, which you're best off just deleting...but it's good because it allows you to start playing with the jukebox right away, before you figure out how to transfer your own music.

The jukebox takes 4 AA batteries, so it's nice they give you 8 - so you have a backup set. They last about 4 hours. The batteries get recharged right in the unit itself, so no extra "battery recharger" is needed. You need to charge the batteries a full 12 hours prior to the first use, additional charges take 4 hours with the unit off, and about 10 hours with the unit on (apparently when you are using the unit with the AC adapter, the batteries are simultaneously being charged for you). There is no indicator on the unit to let you know the batteries are charging, so you just have to trust that they are.

I will now list both good and bad things:

GOOD:

STORAGE: 6 gigabyte - 100 hours of music! Store 100 complete CDs!

SOUND QUALITY: The sound quality is great

SKIPPING: Your music will never skip!

EAX: EAX allows you to change certain sound settings:

Panametric EQ - Bass, Treble

Spatialization - Adjust headphone sound

Environmental Audio - change the audio effect, causing the music to sound as if it's being played in "concert hall" or "auditorium". You can also control the %. HOWEVER, I found the overall sound quality and volume level is significantly compromised when doing this. Although this is fun to play with once in a while, I don't recommend using it often.

Playback Speed - This allows you to adjust the playback speed WITHOUT changing the pitch. That is very cool because you can speed up or slow down a song, and the singer's voice doesn't sound like a chipmunk or a monster. HOWEVER, I again noticed the sound quality and volume level decreases when in this mode.

EASE OF USE: It is easy to locate an album/artist/song - you have your entire CD collections at your fingertips (or at least part of it) It is also easy to set up your playlist with the albums/songs of your choice.

SOFTWARE: The software is pretty easy to use.

TRANSFERRING FROM A CD: Transferring from a CD is simple, and if connected to the internet - it will bring in the artist, album and song titles for you - like magic! If you want to change anything, such as song titles, artist, album you can. And it doesn't take that long...about 10 minutes per CD.

UPGRADABLE The jukebox's OS system is upgradable, assuring you always have the latest version of the product. (You can check the release level of your jukebox under "SYSTEM INFORMATION")

So, both the software(play center 2) & firmware are upgradable via the internet (www.nomadworld.com)

BAD:

VOLUME! The volume output is surprisingly low. Now, for a recent high quality CD the volume is high enough at the max, however, older CDs of lower quality and low quality MP3's sound too low at max volume. This is very disappointing. Sometimes you want to blast your tunes, and you can't. *NOTE: When hooked up to speakers or a car stereo, the volume is fine because you then control it with either the car stereo or the speaker volume knobs.

WAIT TIMES: Songs don't start up instantaneously. There is a longer wait time between tracks than with a CD player - most of the time.

IT GETS HOT: The jukebox starts getting warm after a short time of use.

FILE QUALITY: Sometimes you can detect an abnormality in the file...I found this happened with 1 of the CDs I transferred...a distortion within the song, possibly at transfer time. I guess not every MP3 file you create is going to be without imperfections. You can try transferring the song again to see if it fixes the problem.

INSTRUCTIONS: The instructions are not adequate for the complexity of the jukebox. Although not "hard" to use, this is definitely for people who have a very good understanding of computers. They tell you about 6 different times how to turn the unit on and off, but when it comes to using the software, there are only a few sentences. The software was obviously created well, I don't know why they didn't document it adequately!

SOFTWARE PROBLEMS: The software is not hard to use, but with limited help files, there is a learning curve. I found transferring my MP3 files a bit more difficult than the CD - jukebox transfer. After trial and error I figured it out - as the software is fully functional - it's the instructions that are lacking.

SO make sure you have the latest version of the software & firmware - even so you may still encounter some of the problems I still have which are:

Problem: When transferring - the process stops and it gives you an error message "JUKEBOX IS NOT CONNECTED OR IS BUSY" -
Solution: Close the software & turn off the jukebox - then restart everything and resume. If that doesn't fix it, the creative tech support web site said you may need to perform a "system cleanup" - I haven't done this so if you are sure you have the latest version of the firmware & the software and still have this message, see the tech support website for details - www.nomadworld.com

Problem: After you rip a CD you notice 'blips' during playback, annoyances that sound like file errors.

Solution: Use a different software to "rip" your CDs to MP3...and then use Play Center 2 for the transfer to the jukebox. There are many, but I used PYRO, and it works great.
This was by far the most annoying problem for me - and I found I would get more errors when ripping older CDs (although the problem occurred on newer CDs as well) I asked Creative about this via their website, and they told me "some older CDs have imperfections on them". I don't find this answer adequate since I don't get any imperfections when I use an alternate software to rip the same song I had trouble with on Play Center 2.

Problem: You "transfer" your MP3 onto the jukebox, and the software displays the title in the list, but when you try accessing the song on the jukebox, it isn't there.

Solution: Try converting the file from MP3 to WMA format (or vice versa) and see if it will take it. For WMA you might need a different ripping software (I used PYRO)

This was another major pain! I don't know why this happens, but it can...and it can be very confusing. One way to determine that your song really isn't on the jukebox even though the software displays the title, is to try and delete it. You will get a message telling you the file isn't there or may have been deleted. Don't do this unless you can't find the song on the jukebox itself, or you'll delete the song.

TRUNCATION: I experienced the same problem with an MP3 off the computer being cut off mid way that I've read on other eopinions. Perhaps its just something you have to live with - that some MP3 files just aren't compatible for some reason...but it's disappointing.

Unlike other MP3 players, this is actually a portable 6 gig hard drive, with actual moving parts. And although Creative says you can take it jogging, it recommends home/office/car use mainly. You probably don't want to be throwing your hard drive around, and although this is portable you should be more careful with it than memory card MP3 players.

Be sure and check for firmware upgrades - as of June 2001 version 2.86 is the latest, they improve things like adding the ability to skip through tracks (ff/rew) (www.nomadworld.com)

Overall, I think this product is very cool. I like it - and I do recommend it, especially now that the price has come down from $499 to $299. (and as low as $269, but then it comes with fewer accessories) Very value priced when you compare it to your standard 64mb MP3 player costing about the same.