The Creative Labs Nomad II MG mp3 player is the most amazing product I have bought in a long time. I am surprised I like this unit as much as I do, but I did my home work and it’s featured matched my needs perfectly. My mama always told me, if it’s something you’re going to live with for a while, save a little longer and buy what you want. She was right on.

Features:
I’m in radio and the biggest feature for me is the ability to record off the built in FM tuner and then turn it into an mp3 file on my computer. If you’re in radio, I strongly urge you to expense this little baby. Your job will be so much easier. In radio, we often have to air check our talent or shows. With just a click of a button, I can record what I need and play it back.

Given the FM tuner/record feature and the ability to record personal notes through its built in microphone, this is really a businessman’s tool, not just a high priced replacement for gym music. I routinely record thoughts I have in the car on the way to work and then attach them to email messages. My staff, well, they don’t think it’s so great, but I do.

The recording quality is good and adequate for voice notes and radio monitoring, but I wouldn’t call it concert hall quality. If you want to record in semi-professional quality and send it on a computer, I suggest a mini-disk player, not an MP3 recorder. The only problem here is that the MG records both radio and voice in a proprietary format. You’ll have to convert it on your computer using the supplied easy to use software. The trade off is file size. You can record almost four hours using all of the 64meg built in memory. More than enough for me and I am a heavy recording user. The presets for the radio tuner are plentiful and you can scan. You set the presets when hooked up to your computer. Frankly, this is the only button pressing issue I have as it is a bit sloppy when moving from station to station on the unit.

You’ll also find a built in equalizer called EAX with presets often found in factory installed car radio’s. It is also custom configurable and I find it just fine for pumping out the bass during my fabulous disco work out. If you have a Creative EAX supported sound card in your computer, you can more stuff, but I don’t so you’ll need to look elsewhere for info on that.

In and Out (not the movie you silly goose)
The most important issue in life is size and motion. The 64 meg memory is expandable with standard cards, though of course they would like you use theirs. The language in the manual gives you the standard use ours or else guilt, but they do say that almost any flash card should work.

The only problem I really have is the cradle. A cradle plugs into your usb port (I have mine running through a usb hub, no problems) and the player sits in the cradle for battery charging (super fast! 45 mins for a full charge that lasts 3-5 hours at least!) and file transfer. I need to move between home and office and short of buying a second cradle, I have to carry it with me when I really need it. But let’s face it—if you have the bucks for this baby you should have the bucks for a second cradle. I also suspect that eliminating the cradle would require extra stuff in the unit itself making it heavier. This baby is light and I like that.

The software is great. Very easy to use and the unit is upgradeable with firmware supplied on the company’s website. The latest version supplies WMA file support. The latest transfer software is much improved over the one that came with the unit and installation was easy and trouble free. I do have some small navigation gripes when hunting for a directory on my computer, but it’s hardly worth opening up a debate on. It will also rip music to your disk and with the secret code will teach your golden retriever to do tricks.

Sound:
Just great! Music ripped into this baby sound as good as it does on my home CD player. I have no complaints in this area. Even they supplied headphones deliver good quality clear sound. I may replace the headphones with something more fashionable and higher quality, but you don’t have to discard the supplied ones. They are the fit in your ear types and a tad uncomfortable if you’re sensitive in that area. I’m a big butch thing (really) so I am not inconvenienced.

OTG (other people’s gripes)
I tend to read a few reviews of the same product before I write mine and attempt to dispel or agree, so here goes:

No belt hook makes it unsuitable for runners: I elliptical at the gym. It fits in my pocket. The headphone cord is long enough. Honey—go buy a nice new pair of shorts or Velcro it to you sweatband. I don’t see this as an issue in the gym or on the road.

Buttons on the side make for clumsy handling: It has a lock feature. You can’t accidentally push a button with this feature turned on. I like the sleek look. Oh, and it comes in Blue or Silver brushed metal finish. I got the blue because I have taste and style.


If you’ve put off buying an MP3 player till you could get the company to buy it….Now is the time to strike. Oh and the best price I found was at buy.com, $50 lower than anywhere else.

Have a Fabu Day!


Recommended: Yes

Amount Paid (US$): 250

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