Nomad Jukebox Zen : The Zen Master of all MP3s?
Written: Oct 28 '02
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Pros: 20GB drive, size, sound, accessories, style, and the low price!
Cons: Bigger than iPod, loses all input options, no USB 2.0, headphone output only
The Bottom Line: Fairly portable MP3 player with large storage and great sound... plus very few extras, Zen is in. However, many may prefer iPod, Jukebox3, and Archos Multimedia instead for various reasons.
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| yusakugo's Full Review: Creative Labs Nomad Jukebox Zen (20 GB) MP3 Player |
Oi... the Jukebox3 just came on the market about two maybe three months ago at $399... now Creative released this new toy. The Zen... going for $349 with a $50 mail-in rebate. The Jukebox3 is now selling as low as $299 at several stores. If you wondering what the heck is Creative thinking, well... the sizzling hot iPod comes to mind. The major competition to the Zen is the iPod... well, actually, it is the other way around.
iPod
A brief word about this MP3 player and the target audience for the new Zen player. iPod was made by Apple Computer primarily as a hard drive based MP3 player starting at 5GB and maxing out at 20GB. It was originally released for the Mac but later and Windows versions released. FireWire was the only way to connect the iPod to the computer but the transfer of files was blazingly fast. It was an above average MP3 player, a basic "organizer" of sorts, and an excellent FireWire external Hard Drive (especially on Mac systems!). The design of the iPod was also very striking as well... and especially the size of the iPod. The iPod could fit into your shirt pocket almost as easily as your average PDA! Nothing released in Hard Drive MP3 players approached this kind of form factor for the playback device. The iPod is still rather unique in today's market.
The Short Take
Although not enough fire to fight the Apple iPod in terms of portable size, the Zen is more impressive in playback options, value, and amount of storage for your bucks. No, you're not trying to be like Phil Jackson if you're buying a Nomad Zen... but after listening to over 2,000 songs, you should be in a Zen like state!
The shortcomings of the Zen come from the lack of the outputs and inputs found on the Jukebox 3... You really could think of the Zen as a Jukebox 3 Lite model. The size is decent but still doesn't compare to the mighty iPod. Otherwise, for a $299 (after mail-in rebate) unit that is quite portable, the Zen would get pretty good marks since the sound reproduction is as good as the Jukebox 3!
Overall, the Zen is recommended to those who care mostly on sound quality, value, storage capacity, and the limited ability to use as an external hard drive of sorts. If you desire portability above all else, you should stick with the iPod.
Pros:
1) 20 GB of space
2) Excellent sound reproduction and signal-to-noise ratio.
3) Decent battery life (up to 12 hours as per Creative)
4) Fairly small size
5) Based off Jukebox 3 nagivation system as well as playback system.
6) Great price against similar units
7) USB 1.1 and Firewire ports
8) Can act as an external storage drive
9) Decent battery life
10) Accessories to expand features
Cons:
1) Still bigger than the iPod
2) Limited output jacks (i.e. just the headphones jack)
3) No input jacks
4) Accessories not available yet
5) Fixed Lithium-Ion battery
6) RioRiot still has better navigation system... although the RioRiot unit overall still sucks.
The Zen Master's Stats
The Zen is 75.9mm x 112.6mm x 24.5mm compared with the Jukebox 3's 123mm x 130mm x 35mm. Quite significant. The weight is close to the Jukebox 3's weight... the Zen weighing in at 268gm (9.5 oz) versus Jukebox 3's 293.8g. Compare these numbers with the iPod unit weight of 185-204gm (depending on the hard drive size) and dimensions of 61mm x 101.6mm x 20mm. That's really quite a difference!
The unit has a small LCD screen that clearly displays the song information as well as other information about the player... like battery life. It has a soft bluish backlight and the text size is comfortable enought to read. The unit I played with didn't allow for changing font size but it is likely to added in future firmware updates (since the Jukebox 3 recent firmware just added it in).
The unit itself is easy enough to hold and use in one hand. The controls are all on the sides of the unit... which is reminiscent of the design of the old Nomad II MG units. The unit is definitely made for a right handed user... since the jog dial lines up with your thumb when held in the right hand. The jog dial can be depressed to select a song or menu option. On the right hand side there are two more buttons (Forward and Reverse) and a rocker... the left hand side is almost a mirror image with two buttons and a rocker too (Power, volume, menu) as well as the plug for the AC adapter. The earphones plug, USB 1.1 port, and Firewire port are on the top of the unit.
The unit overall seems to be solidly built.
Navigation
Since the menus and systems were based on the Jukebox 3, the navigation of the Zen is exactly the same as the Jukebox 3. It is not as overly intuitive as the SonicBLUE RioRiot unit but it is not difficult to learn... except when trying to find that one particular song from the thousands you downloaded in to the Zen. Really don't try making playlists on the Zen... make them on your computer and download them in to your Zen. It will be much easier and way less frustrating. The AudioSync can hotsync your PlayCenter3 libraries, playlists, and the such automatically... however, it doesn't work the other way around (at least not for me so far!). The Zen is advertised to sync Zen to PC as well.
Playback... just like the Jukebox 3
How good is the playback of the Zen? With a signal-to-noise ration of 98dB... it is just as good as the Jukebox 3! Although I think the Jukebox 3 can output slightly more power to the headphone jack... the Zen does fairly well on its own.
Along with the excellent playback of MP3s, WMAs, and WAVs on the Zen, you have additional options on top of that! The Smart Volume Management (SVM) and Match Volume work fairly well to keep the output consistent on playback of all files... this way files recorded at different output settings won't give you a sound surprise. What does this mean? Well, if you recorded a file with a loud input then the playback should sound loud on a low volume setting and downloaded it into the Zen, files recorded with a low input would still have difficulty producing hearable sound at the highest volume settings. The SVM system prevents this from happening at playback... this way you don't blow your ears out when you finish playback of a low input song and the unit starts playback of a high input file. It's a very nice touch that works surprisingly well. The EAX system allows the Zen to emulate enviroments like a concert hall or a cathedral... heck, it can simulate the echoing playback in a bathroom! The Zen also supports real time scaling to slow down or speed up playback with distorting the music. There are also several equalizer settings on the Zen including Rock, Classical, Jazz, Acoustic, Pop, etc... Unfortunately, playback is limited to output via the headphones jack and doesn't allow for some of the cooler spatialization playback abilities found in the Jukebox 3.
Overall the unit was meant to be an easy to carry personal jukebox on the go.
That's not All... You can Record Directly into the Jukebox...
Just not this Jukebox... at least not yet. The Zen is unable to record anything unlike the Jukebox 3 unit. Creative does list a wired remote for the Zen (which seems to be the same as the Jukebox 3 wired remote) scheduled for release that added FM tuner abilities and recording abilities through the mic on the wired remote.
Energize!
The built in non-removable Lithium-Ion battery is rated at 12 hours by Creative. 9-10 hours seems to be more accurate. However, unlike the Jukebox 3, you cannot add a second battery to extend battery life and you cannot change the current Lithium-Ion battery if something were to happen to it.
Software
Creative bundles their PlayCenter 3 software, File Manager software, and their AudioSync software. The Playcenter 3 and AudioSync software performs well and allows near autosyncing of the Zen to your PC... not as good as Apple's iPod to iTunes but as good as you'll get on a PC! The PlayCenter 3 software is fairly robust and allows you to create playlists and organize your music with little trouble. The Creative File Manager is quite a bit more troublesome. This is one of the few ways to transfer non-music files to your Zen for transport. The program must be on the computer to access the Zen in this manner. Thankfully, the File Manager software is rather small and can fit on a floppy. However, it can be a pain in the butt to use at times. Even though it can look like your standard explorer window... it doesn't always act like it. Regardless, it is a nice feature to have. Supposedly, there is third party software that allows more streamlined connections between the Jukebox 3/Zen and the PC... Notmad Explorer is mentioned by Tom's Hardware Guide.
Transferring...........................
Like the Jukebox 3, the Zen has USB 1.1 and Firewire ports. The Firewire port is blazingly fast... 1 GB of songs transferred over in just over 5 minutes. The USB port is horrendously slow in comparision... 30 MB in the same five minutes. On top of that, the USB connection tends to disconnect at times. At least having both ports gives you a wide range of compatibility options with multiple computers.
Accessories
It seems that the accessories slated for the Zen are extremely similar if not the exact same accessories found for the Jukebox 3. I would also assume that the Jukebox 2 would also be similar as well. Since the major accessories for any of these units are not out yet... we'll see how well they work. I am still waiting for the wired remote with FM tuner for my Jukebox 3! At least it sounds like I can use the same wired remote with the Zen.
Final Thoughts
The Zen is significantly smaller than the Jukebox 3 but significantly larger than the Apple iPod. You can think of the Zen in two ways... A much bigger iPod with superior playback abilities or a much smaller Jukebox3 that was stripped of it's expansion capabilities and recording abilities. At $299 after mail-in rebate, the price is more than competitive with the iPod and the Jukebox 3... especially with the playback options and size of the hard drive! The Zen is perfect for people who want a MP3 player for music playback, decent size, and limited file transferring capabilities. Although I recommend the Zen, the Jukebox 3 is still my overall favorite.
Stay tuned as I'm playing with the Jukebox 2 and the Archos Jukebox MultiMedia.
Check out my profile page for more reviews.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 299
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yusakugo
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Member: Rich Go
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