Compact and full featured
Written: Jul 31 '00
|
Product Rating:
|
|
| Sound: |
 |
|
| Ease of Use: |
 |
|
| Durability: |
|
|
| Portability: |
|
|
| Battery Life: |
|
|
|
Pros: Lightweight, compact,intuitive controls
Cons: no onboard memory, smart cards are spendy
|
|
|
| AriesG's Full Review: Creative Labs Nomad II (64MB) MP3 Player |
I also received this item as part of a promo and was pleasantly surprised at the quality of the item. There was a slight delay due to production problems but the final product surpassed my expectation.
The package arrived with the MP3 player, AA battery, headphones, remote control unit, 32 MB smart card, USB cable, manuals and CD-ROMs. The manual was straight forward although a little more information on downloading music would have been nice. The headphones are the behind-the-head sports type which is was better quality than what I expected and took a little getting used to. You may want to invest in a better model for sound purposes. The headphones can be attached to the unit directly but is intended to be routed through the remote control. The remote can be hooked comfortably to your shirt or jacket and all the controls are easily accessible. The player itself is lightweight, compact and sleek. Very comfortable to hold or you can attach to your bag or belt with the clip (yep, that was included). Downloading is zippy with the USB cable and although at the time of its release it was mainly a Windows unit, Creative Labs has downloads that will enable Mac Users to get some enjoyment out of the Nomad II as well!
Controls on the unit itself are self explanatory. The menu button will allow the user to get to their MP3 files or to their favorite radio station since the unit comes with FM radio capabilities. You can even preset your favorite stations (directly to the unit or through the use of the included software). The backlight is very handy and you can edit amount of time it stays on. There is also a very good voice recorder. I was skeptical at the small mic located on the front of the unit but the pickup is great. There is even an info screen so you know how much space you have left on the memory card.
The Nomad II does not come with any onboard memory - all songs or recordings are saved to a smart card. The package I received had 32 MB included which is nice but not nearly enough space. I highly recommend a larger capacity smart card. You may be lucky to get an hours worth on a 32 MB card but don't expect the highest quality. At best - recordings made at the highest bit rate will take up so much room you may only get 5 or six songs onboard.
One really nice thing is the option to change the dsp. Like many stereo's these days, you can set the range from pop to classical. You may not notice that much of a difference but for lower bit rate recordings it may help.
Overall - its a nice player with a ton of features and with very little sacrifice. I have an MPMan by Eiger Labs and although that unit is nice too - this one beats it hands down!
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 50
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
AriesG
|
|
Member: Aries Galindo
Location: Seattle, WA
Reviews written: 51
Trusted by: 2 members
About Me:
Hardcore action figure collector with a love for hi-tech gadgets.
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.