But for want of a shoe, the horse was lost
Written: May 24 '01
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Pros: Great storage. Good sound.
Cons: Batteries are awful. Manual is awful.
The Bottom Line: Only useful if you can plug it in.
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| optionexplicit's Full Review: Creative Technology Nomad Jukebox (6 GB) MP3 Playe... |
Creative Labs and I have a mixed relationship going way back. There was a time when their SoundBlaster soundcard was second to none. Those cards held a place of honor in my desktop systems and a place in every computer I put together. I love my Creative Labs DVD-ROM drive.
On the other hand, I'm reasonably certain that it was a conflict with a Creative Labs CD-ROM drive that killed my Aptiva P5-100 and started my long-lasting hatred of hardware installations. The Aptiva shipped with something called an MWAVE card that caused endless hardware and software conflicts and squatted over the IRQ table like some malignant, chthonic beast beast consuming all hardware interrupt requests and proving that sometimes IBM must gather the best and brightest people they can find, ask them how to build systems, and then do exactly the opposite of what's recommended. The MWAVE was a combination modem and soundcard that did neither thing well. It was begging for replacement and replace it I did.
Removing such a beast is a tricky adventure at best. It worms its way into your system until, even after you've removed it, you're dealing with the technological equivalent of secondary metastases--unlinked interrupts, drivers whose only purpose is to bring up the blue screen of death and the like.
(I know this review is about the Nomad II, but I need to vent. If ePinions had existed in the day, I would have really enjoyed slamming this monstrosity even more than I am here.)
The nominal point of this story is to talk about the mixed character of Creative Labs. I pulled out the MWAVE and installed a Creative ModemBlaster. No problem. I shut the machine down and installed the SoundBlaster. It looks and sounds good. I shut down the machine, take out my 8x CD ROM drive and install my shiny new Creative Labs 24x speed CD-ROM. The system refuses to boot--not into Windows, not into DOS, not into safemode. It won't even boot from floppy. Nothing I do over the next six hours makes a difference and I ultimately have to replace the system. At the time, I laid the blame solely at the feet of IBM. Now, I'm not so sure.
The Creative Nomad II looks like a portable CD player in size and shape. Inside is a 6.4 GB hard drive that will hold up to 150 hours worth of music. When I code at work, I need my tunes. It's the only thing that filters out the workaday chatter and other random noises that conspire to keep me unproductive. In the past, I've wound up with as many as fifty or sixty CDs on my desk, CDs that I then don't have at home. For me, an MP3 jukebox is the perfect solution.
I spent about US$500 on this thing, including accessories and shipping. I would have been happy to toss in another ten bucks or so for it to ship with decent batteries. No matter how long I charge these rechargeable batteries (and I've done it for as long as a week,) they hold about a half-hour charge before powering down the system. The machine ships with two sets of batteries and both have the same problem.
Oh, and while I'm at it, I'd throw in another ten bucks for a manual actually written by someone who had seen the unit. Half the manual seems to be filled with explanations of how to do things with buttons and menus that are not part of the unit. My guess is that a quick revision of the manual for the Nomad I was done with little quality control.
It's really a shame, too because this is otherwise a very nice unit. It works as advertised, storing more than 1,000 songs with space to spare, organizing by album and genre, and letting you store multiple track lists for ready listening. It's too bad you can't go farther with it than the cord will reach.
Recommended:
No
Amount Paid (US$): 470
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Epinions.com ID:
optionexplicit
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Member: Jekke Bladt
Location: New York, NY
Reviews written: 94
Trusted by: 71 members
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