The best MP3/WMA player made!
Written: Aug 21 '02
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Pros: Sound Quality; Capacity; Transfer Speed; Volume Matching; etc.!
Cons: Price; Screen Contrast
The Bottom Line: I would definitely recommend this player to anyone with a large collection of music, if price is not a significant factor. It's not the smallest, but it's the best!
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| meatjl's Full Review: Creative Technology Nomad Jukebox (20 GB) MP3 Play... |
The first thing I'll say is that I LOVE THIS PLAYER!
Now that you know I'm biased, let me tell you why...
I have had the original Jukebox player since Christmas 2001 and just upgraded to the Jukebox 3 40GB. My original was a 6GB that I upgraded to 40GB. My review will concentrate mainly on the differences (mostly improvements) between the two, but there should be plenty of info for those comparing it to other players. I will try to list the items in order of the most important qualities first.
PROS:
1. The sound quality is fantastic. Creative has been the leader for a long time in audio cards for computers, and their experience shows here.
2. The storage space is enormous compared to other players. 40GB is enough to hold about 800 CDs! (@128 Kbps)
3. The transfer speed is at least 10 times faster, thanks to the firewire port. I was able to transfer files at about 4MB per second, from a network drive. It should be even faster from a local drive. Because of the large capacity of this player, this is very important. It is also much more stable while loading files than the previous model, which would overheat and lock up during large transfers.
4. The battery life is MUCH longer - about 10 hours with 1 battery (vs. about 2 hours on the old player.) I got the optional second battery (both fit in the player at the same time), so it lasts for over 20 hours!
5. The Smart Volume settings are awesome! Some CDs are recorded at really low volume, and others at much higher volume. With Smart Volume Match mode, they all play at the same volume! It also has other settings such as Night mode, which keeps the volume minimized, while the Car mode keeps it higher. This is a feature I have been wanting for a long time.
6. The startup time is extremely short, compared to the older model. I have over 500 albums uploaded to mine, and it starts up just as quickly as when it had only a few (about 15 seconds when it has been off for a while, instantly otherwise.) On the old model, after uploading files and shutting it down, it could take up to 5 MINUTES to start up! (It had to index all of the files.)
7. Songs that play from one to the next without a gap are handled better on this player than on the older model. There is sometimes a slight click between songs, but the old model had a noticeable gap. Also, this player must load the first few seconds of the next song, because skipping ahead to the next track is instantaneous.
8. This player is not small in comparison to other players, but it is smaller than the old model, and small enough to carry most anywhere - and a lot smaller than 800 CDs!
CONS:
1. $$$! At $399 for the 20GB and $499 for the 40GB, it's definitely one of the most expensive players. The 40GB is also very hard to find - I had to order it direct from Creative (20GB is much easier to find.) But if you're like me and have a very large CD collection, there really is no alternative except the CD shuffle!
2. The screen is rather small and the contrast is not very high, making it hard to see, especially in the car, which is where I use mine the most. If you're wearing polarized sunglasses, it's completely unreadable.
3. When choosing music by artist, there is no album listing - just a list of songs. The previous player had an album list within the artist list, making it much easier to play an album. This is not a huge problem, though, because you can create playlists for each album and choose them easily that way.
CONCLUSION:
In my opinion, the pros far outweigh the cons for this player. It has excellent sound quality, huge capacity, long battery life, and tons of useful features. The main problem with this player is the price, and that will come down in time. If you can afford it now, buy it! If not, Christmas is just around the corner, or save your pennies and/or wait for a price drop. There is no better player on the market.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 499
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Epinions.com ID:
meatjl
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Reviews written: 1
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