Small size - small memory
Written: Dec 21 '03
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Pros: Uses only one AA battery. Up to 40 hours of audio if using lower bitrate.
Cons: Battery connection is weak.
The Bottom Line: Superb for Audio book and Oldtime Radio Show fans.
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| gooberpyle's Full Review: Creative Technology Nomad IIc (64 MB) MP3 Player |
I bought this unit not for its' snappy looks but for the fact that it can record. I take it with me to music shows and festivals.
Also for listening to old time radio shows, audio books, and music at work.
The player comes with 64 megs of ram in Smartmedia format. The built in memory is soldered in place. Extra memory in the form of Smartmedia is available up to 128megs.
The advertising states up to one hour of music listening. If you encode your mp3 files at a lower bitrate, you can as I have, store up to 40 hours worth of mp3 audio using the internal 64 and external 128 megs of ram.
Lower bitrates cause loss of quality but that doesn't affect me so much since I have hearing loss and cannot appreciate much in difference. I'm just happy to hear at all.
Power is supplied by one AA battery which I think is a great selling point. One rechargeable battery lasts me all day and then some.
I have a charger at work and take two batteries with me if one runs down. Once you get hooked on the whole mp3 player thing it's difficult to go without it.
The display is good enough to read the name of the song playing. You can display songs on the player one line at a time or up to four or so in top to bottom view.
The buttons are easy to press. On the right side are buttons for erasing a file, setting the bass, treble, or preset types of sound such as Rock, Jazz, Normal, Classic.
On top are repeat, on/off, select song.
A lock button is on the left top side for locking the buttons to keep you from accidentaly pressing any. I never use it.
There is a clock function but it is really of no value since every time you change the battery you stand a chance of losing the settings if you do not change the battery quick enough.
Resume is also a great selling point for this player. Especially if you listen to audio books. Each chapter may be 30 or 60 minutes in length and it is unreasonable to fast forward to where you left off.
One thing. If you pause the player and it shuts down on you, resume will not work. The best thing if you want to keep your place in a file is to shut off the player. When you start it back up, playing is resumed where it should be.
A fault with this player is in the battery compartment. Sometimes you need to wiggle and spin the battery to get the player to start.
Even with the battery problem which may not be present in every unit, it is a very nice product. I've had mine for about a year and it works as good as it did out of the box.
Headphones are something you need to try out on this to get the best volume.
Not a lot of power goes to the headphones so the big padded type whith large speakers do not work well. The best match I've found are the headphones with the small earpiece which fits inside close to your ear.
However, since I do not hear well and I always turn up the volume to the highest setting, I'm not one to really judge the best headphone to use.
There are mp3 players with more storage capacity and features but for what you can do with it, it's worth every cent.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 69.00
Recommended for: Audio Book Listeners - Download Audio Books and Radio Programs
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Epinions.com ID:
gooberpyle
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Location: Kentucky
Reviews written: 71
Trusted by: 301 members
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