This seems to be a minor upgrade of their original Nomad llc player which came with only 32MB of onboard memory. Now with 64MB of memory, the llc with it's under $100 price tag is almost a bargain. It seems to compete with the Rio 300 and Rio 600 models with 64MB onboard.

The look

The Nomad IIc is based off the early design of the original Nomad II series MP3 players. There is a much sportier design here than the Nomad II MG sleeker design. A large LCD occupies the top third of the front of the player displaying various information on the player and the songs. Icons and info are large and fairly bright (not easy to miss compared to the Nomad II MG). You have buttons for play, stop, fast forward and rewind, as well as others... these occupy the middle and lower front panel of the player. This makes it easy to access the buttons and controls and is still easy enough for one handed use. I still don't like the overall look though. (I know this is strictly based on personal taste... but I prefer the stylings of my Nomad II MG much more) The unit functions well with very few problems. You can play MP3 and WMA formats on the llc.

You get 64 MB of built in memory. Still small by 2002 standards, but the player is only $99! However, all is not lost. The unit still retains the SmartMedia slot for memory expansion. You can get a SmartMedia 128 MB card for as low as $45-50. This means you can potentially get a 192 MB MP3 player goodness for about $150! That doesn't sound bad at all... or does it?

You have voice recording features on the Nomad IIc. About the same quality as most low to medium end microcassette recorders. The EAX technology can speed up or slow down the playback of the recorded voice files. It a nifty feature for students although not very innovative since EAX for MP3 players is almost 2 years old.

You get a USB connector cable to upload and download files. It's good enough... what do you want? Firewire? Buy a Mac and an iPod then! (although the iPod is an awesome MP3 player!)

The unit uses 1 AA battery. That's all!

The sound of the unit is a bit better than the Nomad II MG and a little worse than the Rio 600 and Rio 800 units. Intel's Pocket Concert still is the ruler of the sound catagory for flash MP3 players though... even after more than a year.

And well... that's about all the features/accessories. There are no other goodies that come with the Nomad IIc. It just about as bare bones as you can be. No FM tuner. No extra accessories. You can buy a separate accessory kit from Creative that costs $29.99 and comes with a car adapter, okay backphones, a pouch, and an inline remote. You can also buy the docking station too if you desire.

It cheap... Who cares?... wait didn't we hear this before?!

Unlike the first 32 MB llc models, you can purchase the 64MB llc in stores. I did mention Best Buy in the beginning of this. I found it there for $99 just today (1/15/2002). If you want to get the maximum memory on the llc, you have to upgrade the llc firmware so you can use the 128MB SmartMedia cards. The best prices I've seen for 128MB SmartMedia cards is $43 with about $5 S&H. This means that you can get a 192MB MP3 player with an accessory kit for under $200! Now this is a big difference from last year where $220 usually got you only a 64MB to 128MB player.

Conclusions

You can read my other MP3 player reviews... the only things that have drastically changed in those reviews are the prices of the players and the memory chips (neither of which I've updated on the reviews). However, the current llc model I feel is a good overall bargain. I chose the $200 price point because you can get the Intel Pocket Concert with 128MB or RAM (nonexpandable) with the accessory kit for $180 at Costco Wholesale Club! If the amount of MP3 music you can store is a priority and you don't want a MP3 CD player or a MP3 Hard Drive player. The llc is an excellent choice since it is fairly affordable and cheaply expandible. If you want only a 64MB SmartMedia card, it can cost as low as $21 with $4 S&H. If you want voice recording, this is also an excellent unit. If you're looking for the best quality sound and/or need a FM tuner, then the Intel Pocket Concert is better for you.

If you're looking for massive storage... then look at the hard drive MP3 players and the CD MP3 players out there like the ARCHOS units, the Apple iPod, and the SONICBlue RioVolt SP250 units.

Read my thoughts on other popular solid state and CD MP3 players through my profile page.

Recommended: Yes