Creative Labs NOMAD Jukebox Zen 20 GB MP3 Player (1394 Firewire)
By: Creative Labs Average Rating: 3.5 Total Reviews: 98
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 On: 2007-08-02
This is how I found out about their 3 month warranty, and how Creative has such little faith in their products that they dare not warrant their products for more than 3 months.
Defective product from a defective company.
 On: 2007-05-22
I bought this off amazon for under 100 dollars including shipping, which is a great deal for 20GB of space. However, the software is terrible. Youre better off installing the drivers off a freeware site and using mediamonkey to move files onto it.
Its a harddrive disk, not a flash drive like newer players. It also has a hard and heavy aluminum casing.
It breaks down and you have to stick a pin in the side to reset it constantly. I feel like every time I turn it on, its busted again. Sometimes it just shows random lines on the screen, other times it just locks up on the shut down screen. When you reset it, you dont lose the music you already loaded, but Im sure it wears on the hard drive to constantly be rebooting.
PROs
The sound quality is great
Lots of space for the price
CONs
Heavy.
Locks up and needs to be reset.
Takes hours for music to load onto the player.
Cant go jogging with it - take your flash drive player instead.
Overall, Id say you should get a flash drive based player so its more portable. But at this price, the amount of space is hard to beat.
 On: 2006-12-14
Any headphone jack or cheap headphone issues must have been resolved by the end of 2005, Ive seen no signs of jack trouble and the phones included were made by Sennheiser (Ive worked in radio & recording studios for 30+ yrs and Sennheiser is the industry standard).
The Software complaint is still legitimate, By all means save yourself the trouble and download Red Chairs Notmad, its a user-friendly dream. (the only thing Creatives software is good for is overwriting a previously loaded but corrupt track with a fresh copy).
If you want cover art jpgs or video, youre not serious about the music, so buy something else. If you want a handy palm-sized box thatll hold as much music as you can cram into it, youll have a hard time filling the 60gig model to its capacity, especially if you convert 128kbps MP3s to 81kbps WMAs. The quality difference is negligible to most human ears and so far Im right at ten thousand songs and only one third of the way to full.
The fact that Stop and Power on/off are the same button is a bit of an odd design choice, but it hasnt created any operational troubles. If you dont want to hear a track, just toggle the forward key and jump past it.
As for breakdown issues, Ill cross my fingers and report after one year not problem one. I did buy a two year full replacement warranty just in case and everything is backed up twice in both MP3 and WMA form, but so far thats just assuaging my personal paranoia. I use this beautiful toy every day and often sleep with it playing and for my money, its the coolest and handiest gadget since the internet itself.
Now Im wondering how long I should wait before I buy a replacement battery as an emergency backup.
This unit is a nice pairing with JBLs On Tour external speaker set as well, (unless you have an unhealthy need for earsplitting volume over crystal clarity).
On: 2005-05-23
I bought a Creative Labs Nomad Jukebox Zen 20 GB Digital Audio Player in November 2002 and loved it up until April 2005 when it simply decided to stop working. I had taken great care of it over the 2+ years I owned the player with no bumps, spills, or other jolts. So there was nothing that would have caused it to self-destruct other than poor Creative Labs "engineering". To make matters worse, despite having been very disciplined for the 2+ years in terms of backing up my 700 songs that I had on the player, I bought a new laptop last month and gave my old one to my father. In doing so, I decided to delete the 700 songs backed-up on the old notebook and recopy them to my new notebook later. Nice timing! Two weeks later when I went to turn on my Zen...nada!! Creative said the power unit was gone and there was nothing they could do about it. They said that they could return the paper weight to me for $40 or I could dive deeper into the abyss and buy a refurbished one for $115. I couldnt help but laugh at their gall. They are pathetic.
It was my fault for not having a 24/7 backup of my songs! The iPod god must be in the air! Bottom line, I will never buy anything from Creative Labs again!
 On: 2004-11-25
The Zen Jukebox 2.0 is a must have for the average consumer. This player fits value with an affordable price. With its small price tag and great features I recommend. I recently bought one and have had no problems! Heres Pros, and cons.
PROS
> Great price!
> 20 GB Storage
> Small enough to fit in most pockets
> Sound quality is amazing!
CONS
> Software is horrible
> Headphones included are bad
On: 2004-11-24
The Zen Jukebox 2.0 is a must have for the average consumer. This player fits value with an affordable price. With its small price tag and great features I recommend. I recently bought one and have had no problems! Heres Pros, and cons.
PROS
> Great price!
> 20 GB Storage
> Small enough to fit in most pockets
> Sound quality is amazing!
CONS
> Software is horrible
> Headphones included are bad
On: 2004-04-12
OK, Ive bought this machine back in 2002 and it still works !
This is a good player in many ways, but the best thing about it is its battery life. Its supposed to be 14 hrs, but mine lasts about 10 hrs with all the extra options turned on. This is still much compared to the iPods 8 hrs.
Ive also used the 20gb iPod and its great as well, especially the design, the OS and the scroller. And I must admit that iTunes (the software) is a lot better than Creatives Play Center. The play center is clumsy and slow, while iTunes is a lot faster and easier to use. The choise between this and the iPod was easy for me though.... the iPods price was too high, especially here in Finand, and battery life was important to me. My player has some scars and it almoust broke down once... but I realized that the harddrive had stuck, so I gave it a little smack and it worked again. Ive read that many have had problems with this player but Ive used mine for 1 ½ years. Ive fallen on it a couple of times and the front cover looks f**ked up, but it still works fine for me.... The choise between this and the iPod might be hard. the Zen is cheaper, has better sound quality and longer battery life, while the iPod is a bit smaller, looks cooler and the software is better.
On: 2004-02-07
Customer service is rather bad. First of all, to get a pretty standard item for all wireless/portable product, a car adapter, youre going to have to shell out an extra $40 and this is for any of Creatives Nomads since they purposely made the input voltage a non-standard one of 5V. Secondly if you ask questions to tech support, they pretty much just answer questions you didnt even ask and ignore the one you really want answered. I had this issue both through e-mail and on the phone. Finally, during a phone call, I said, "So am I never going to know the answer to this question?" The tech guy ACTUALLY said something in regard to it making his call time average high, if he looks for the answer. To get a replacement battery, expect to pay around $120. $20 for diagnosis, $15 to ship it there and $85 for the battery itself. All of this just a couple months after its 90 day warranty.
by: Anonymous On: 2004-01-13
My player worked for about 6 months, but whenever I turned it on, before playing the first song, it would make this really awful high pitched squeaky jittering noise for about 20-30 seconds. Then, it played a few songs (5-10) and then it crashed. Also, the memory was really sporatic. The memory bar always fluctuated between 2 or 3 bars, but then, when initializing a song, it would dip down to 0 bars. If it didnt crash while initializing a song, it would start the song up, and the bars would read 2 or 3 again. Really annoying, but I lived with it. The last straw: I went on a road trip, and it crashed (as usual). I then charged it for at least 4 hours on the car charger, but it never turned on again. I hope the problems I had were just first early model problems (I got it when it was first released). I contacted customer service, but they were totally unhelpful. My suggestion is to keep the receipt!
On: 2003-12-09
i own the iPod (just got it) and the creative Zen (1st generation-had it for a year). i like both units quite a bit, each with their own advantages and disadvantages.main advantages of the iPod:
small and lightweight,
looks friggin cool,
intuitive and very easy to use menus,
can sync outlook contacts, appointments, notes, etc...
can be used as a hard drive,
iTunes is a good program (for ripping, burning, playing music and organizing the iPod),
scroll wheel is amazing. disadvantages:
price,
doesnt come with non firewire cables (if you dont have a firewire card, you need to purchase another cable ($20) to use the iPod (with USB - either 1.1 or 2.0),
"on the go playlists" - you can build a playlist on the iPod while you are out and about, however, you cant save it on the iPod. you can save it with iTunes when you sync, but only if you are using "automatic sync" - which i dont(so no spur of the moment playlists which can be used again for me). note that you can create as many playlists as you want on iTunes and save them to the iPod. compared with the Zen - Zen is bigger and heavier (while still small overall, compared to the iPod it is significantly larger),
Zen is sooooo much cheaper and for more memory,
Zen has much better "on the go playlist" functionality (i.e. it lets you create a playlist on the unit and save it, create another one, save it, etc...).
Zen has a que of songs that can be added to, changed, etc... on the fly - the iPod does not i would reccomend the Zen as well, as a much cheaper alternative, with superior mp3 playing functionality (que and "on the go playlists"), though you cant sync outlook information, it doesnt have games, is heavier and larger overall and is certainly not nearly as cool looking.
 On: 2003-11-07
I thought that this was going to be a good product that i would have for a long time. But i thought wrong. The zen is good comparing to other mp3 players but no match to the i pod.
I wish i had gotten ine instead of this. Im not giving this 5 stars because well the damn thing broke. I dont know how because i didnt drope it and it was only one year old. Anyway the new gen Ipod is AMAZING and only 50 bucks more. Trust me its worth getting an ipod u can chack out the features at www.apple.com/ipod if u have any specific questions about the ipod or zen email me at kevinschaffter182@hotmail.comJUst get an ipod
On: 2003-11-01
Okay what a dissapointment. After spending a bunch of money on this thing it doesnt work. The software it came with really screwed up my computer and the player itself is too thick and the headphones become distorted after continuous use. Overall I would not recommend.
by: Anonymous On: 2003-10-27
First, its real easy to use. Its difficult to understand how someone whos in the digital age can confuse themselves with this piece of foolproof machinery. Secondly, the price and features it offers simply beats whats on the market, bar none. I got the 20 GB one, and I started uploading music onto the player using the Creative Playcenter software the same night. it will store my entire music collection with no problem.The buttons and controls are intuitive, anondized aluminum surface makes it very cool looking, it even includes a carrying case! I am not sure what ppl need when they complain about the bulky size, personally, i dont need my player to be the size of my cellphone. if you compare some of the portable radios out there, this is about the same size. Why would you want to pay twice as much for something thats just a bit smaller?
On: 2003-10-25
I just got my Zen and I have never seen a better piece of machinery in my life. It is easy to use, and looks sleek as ever. It is a must buy for anyone searching for a great player at a bearable price. It has EAX smart sound, easy to use organization software, 20 gb hard drive, a carrying case, and headphones! However, it does lack a stop button and an EAX button (although still posseses EAX feature) but it will make no difference after you tinker around with it for a while. In other words this is the MP3 player to buy...a great Christmas gift also.
On: 2003-09-11
After two weeks of research I decided upon the Nomad Jukebox. I have had it for over a month and I love it. You only have to go through brief instruction to figure out how to use the software. While the software is not the best it is easy to use. Throw the headphones away. I wouldnt want to give them to anyone. I had over one hundred CD that I burned into my player and I have a tremondous amount of room left. I bought this not to go on line and download (you can get sued now) but to be able to carry around my favorite songs with me. Its easier to carry my jukebox with me than 25 cd.
On: 2003-09-10
Anyone considering a Momad Zen or the new NX model should find a demo in store and play with it for *more than ten minute* before coming back and ordering it ... The players are ugly and bulky and heavy, and iPod-killers? In Creative Labs dreams. These dont hold a candle to iPod in any aspects. In your hands it just feels cheap and ugly, not the kind of feeling you want to have with an expensive gadget you plan to use every day. If you use it youll find good sound quality is about the only virtue. The interface is ridiculous, and file downloads is unnecessarily complicated. Construction material and quality are third-world class, not the kind that gives you confidence. Finally, even the store salesman said "Dont ever jog with this!" Nuf said.
On: 2003-09-03
I would just like to say that, I purchased my first Creative product just over 3 months ago. And has as of yet been one large regret and dissapointment after another. Not only do they have the worst customer service I have ever experienced. They also plainly have no faith in their own product. While just about every other manufacturer gives at least a one year warranty, what does Creative give.. yes thats right. 90 days. To make matters wose.. I sent my mp3 player to their support department wrapped up and externally in perfect condition I might add, layered in a big envelope and lots of plastic wrapping.. and yes thats right when it was first received they were unable to locate its whereabouts. and then severall days later, after calling *at long distance prices I might add* they found it and yes it had according to the receptionist severall large Dents. but no it could not have been anyones fault at creative, because they would not be able to make money from me on their inferior product. I wonder what could have happened during those days when it was unaccounted for? hmm... Well I for one will be very shocked if I ever buy another creative product, and will as such give my feelings to just about whoever will listen.. I can not stress enough do NOT BUY this product.. when it breaks and it WILL Break.. you will end up getting very angry, my favourite was when the person reccomended i pay over 250 dollars to have it repaired when that is the same price or in the case of shipping and handling more expensive then the working model! Travis M
On: 2003-08-14
Purchasing the NOMAD Jukebox has been one of the worst buying experiences I have ever had. This unit is EXTREMELY fragile. After experiencing problems with loading the software and ripping CDs, the entire O/S crashed after only 6 months. Unfortunately there is only a 3 month warranty. The customer service department is terrible, they were completely unsynpathetic, and there is no where in the company to even lodge a formal complaint. The cost to repair my unit was estimated at [money amount]. So after a [money amount]initial purchase, my unit was worthless after only 6 months. I have complained several times and filed a complaint with the BBB - but to no avail. Creative Labs has not even offered an apology - yet alone a refund or discount on another unit. DO NOT BUY A CREATIVE LABS MP3 PLAYER!! You will definitely regret the decision.
by: Anonymous On: 2003-08-11
After about 3 weeks of use, my Zen (USB 2.0) froze up permanently after trying to delete some files using their .... software. The unit remained on the splash screen with the backlight on until the battery died. I tried updating the firmware (their website is a joke--they put you through a wild goose chase trying to find and load their drivers/updates but theyre not even kind enough to tell you what version to load first, second, third...--you have to search their files for the right date!!! If they cared about their customers, they would organize this better.) But I digress. The unit wouldnt connect with the computer so I was unable to try to reload anything. I was told by tech support (email) to send it back.
Anything that only lasts 3 weeks and comes with a 3 month warranty should be suspect.
I did like the unit while it worked: sound quality was very good. I dont care about all the bells and whistles like time stretching. (They should time stretch their warranty or the length between breakdowns). I want a unit that is reliable and will last more than 3 weeks. Creative needs to work on their Zen because its not quite ready for primetime. Ill be looking for an iPod.
by: Anonymous On: 2003-07-25
I read about the "horrible" playcenter software, my god if you know jack s**t about computers you can use it. Let me explain how "utterly diffcult" it is. There are two windows, one for the files on your comp, CD,etc and the other is the zen (and it fully displays all the zens playlists and genres and all subfolders) You simply drag and drop! What is simpler! I even use just the old rickety, unreliable USB 1.1 connection and Im still raving about this product.
On: 2003-07-10
This is a great alternative for those of us who tend to travel a lot. There is no longer a need to carry a case of CDs with you. I can get great sound out of it, can use it as a backup for my laptop harddrive, and store my entire collection on it with gigs to spare. Ive been getting roughly 10+ hours out of the battery, and it recharges quickly when on the adapter. I love mine, it was a great purchase.
On: 2003-06-23
I spent a lot of time trying to decide between the Zen and the iPod and I think the Zen was the best choice. The only noticeable improvement was that the iPod had quicker response time on the controls. When you weigh that in with the price and compatibility of the Zen, you really cant go wrong. I use mine for working out and for long trips, so I dont really need to do a lot of track skipping and constant volume adjustment anyway. I havent had any problems with it at all. The battery life is very good and because the hard drive is standard, upgrading isnt a problem. If you just have to spend the money get an iPod, but if you want something thats just as reliable and will save you money to invest in some good headphones and any other accessories you might want, then get the Zen. I gave it 4 stars because of the occasional delay when constantly changing tracks or changing the volume.
On: 2003-06-19
Anyone who is looking for something they can use while moving (this means walking quickly to anything more than that) need to look elsewhere. I should have paid more attention when I bought it...in the packaging it says "no running", and I am here to say, they werent kidding. I have gone through 2 of these babies, both of which died due to shock...and in my opinion, the "shocks" I gave were not all that shocking at all. Yeah, it has tons of space and is great if you are just looking for space and portability. It just is not meant for much movement, period...give it a thought before you buy it.
On: 2003-06-17
I bought the zen nearly 7 mos ago, but have used it only 2 of those months because it has been in for repair the rest of the time. Each time it has come back from "repair" there has been a new problem. I just got it back from its THIRD repair and the problem has not been fixed. Further, it is impossible to get a hold of anyone but the useless sales reps and there is not place to file a complaint (rather presumptuous, I think). You have to call long-distance for tech support, which consists of an automated phone system!
Heres what happened:
OS crashed after 2 mos of use. I could not boot it; just lulled on the splash screen. I got to the emergency boot menu and wiped the thing clean and replaced the OS 4 times before sending it in. I got it back, and the headphone jack buzzed and the sound went in and out. I thought it was my headphones, so I bought a new pair. Still cracked and fizzled and came out of only one side. Tried it on a total of 5 stereos just to be sure it was the zen, and it was. They sent me a refurbished unit to replace the faulty jack unit. But the skip/forward button didnt work. It would pause, turn up the volume, go back, switch menus... anything but skip forward. Sent it in for the third time and it came back with the same problem, albeit better. Now it skips 5 out of 6 times. Ive been calling asking for a new one or my money, but havent heard much. Ive complained with the better business bureau.
by: Anonymous On: 2003-06-12
I am really happy with this purchase. Got it around the beginning of the year and use it consistently daily at the gym. The only thing I can think of that is a negative is that it does not have a good clip or device that can hold the player on gym shorts or something.Sound quality, software, and the player itself are perfect and the batteries last for a very long time.
On: 2003-05-28
i had a few cd mp3 players and they all had its problems...from skipping,to clipping, to not enough volume ouput...the zen just take all the problems and makes the perfect player.....i jog for 1 mile the other day and no skipping...
by: Anonymous On: 2003-05-27
First, let me start by saying that I am NOT a computer person and I still got this thing to work. I love this machine because I can take all my music everywhere with me. Not more fumbling with a zillion tapes in my car or airplane. No more deciding which CDs Im going to listen to at work. I have everything in one place. As long as all songs are accurately labeled, finding songs/artists/genres/albums is fairly simple. The playlist option is a great feature as well. When you set up the software, you have your choice of several different bit rates. I chose 192 kbps and I currently have around 2000 songs, which uses about half the available memory. I have never tried any other mp3 jukebox, so I cant compare, but I am very happy with this one. Also, I have not attempted to download other things like files other than mp3s (.xls, .doc, .ppt, etc) so I can not comment on these capabilities. Even with my complaints (see below), I am satisfied with my purchase.Moving on to things I dont like about it from most irritating to least-
1) If you have Windows XP, the Nomad Zen software is not completely compatible with it. Apparently this glitch has something to do with why the CD details (artist name, album & song title) dont come up automatically, according to tech support. One of my companys IT people said that there was a way to rip songs through another Windows program that will access the CD details and then transfer them from my computers hard drive to the Nomad, but not being a computer person, I cant figure this out so I had to type in 2000 song titles. That [is bad] so I deducted points. If you are a computer person, this may not apply to you.
2)The instructions are terrible. For someone who is not completely comfortable with computers, setting up the transfer program, and accessing the player are a challenge to learn if youre going by the enclosed pamphlet. This is rated #2 on the irritating scale because once you figure it out its pretty simple; just setting it up and learning it was a drag. Again, if you are a computer person, this may not apply to you.
3) There is a headphone output, but no "line out" output so I cant hook it up to my existing stereo system.
4) Its kind of heavy compared to a cd or tape walkman. All things considered, its a great little device and I would recommend it to music lovers everywhere, however if you are not good with computers or if your typing skills [are bad], you may want to consider other options.
by: Anonymous On: 2003-05-10
I bought my Nomad Zen Jukebox a few months ago. After treating it very carfully it unexpectedly froze on me. I called customer support and they were extremely unhelpful. This is a very very fragile player. On Nomads website they even say that you shouldnt jog with this player. This mp3 player is terrible and you will regret buying it when it breaks on you in 6 months. (Their warranty only lasts 3)
On: 2003-05-09
There is not doubt that the iPod is a wonderful and revolutionary machine, but the folks at Creative seem to have equally mastered the technology and made it greatly more affordable.A couple of weeks ago, I decided to look into buying a large-volume, compact MP3 player, so naturally I went straight for the iPod 20GB machine. I was turned off by the price and then found this product, and ended up buying it, and am now very happy with the decision. Having had some experience with the Windows iPod, I have made several observations in comparing these two solid players. First and foremost, the Zen is enourmously less expensive, for exactly the same 20GB capacity. The Zen is better-looking, and the button placements make more sense. The big touch-wheel thing on the iPod is very awkward, but the scroll wheel on the upper right corner of the Zen makes sense. The Zen battery lasts longer and charges more quickly. Both offer the same fast firewire connectability, but the Zen is also equipped with a USB port for alternate means of connecting the player to your computer. Both products come with a nice case, and both come with terrible headphones; no player ever comes with decent headphones. (For earbuds, I highly reccomend the Sennheiser MX500 or MX400). Now to address the issue of connecting the player to your computer. The iPod requires the user to use the terrible MusicMatch software, which is a nightmare every way you look at it. The only thing worse than MusicMatch is Creatives PlayCenter that comes with the Zen. This program cannot even correctly recognize the tags of MP3 files. I have my files organized this way: the name of the file is the track number, a dash, then the title, and the tracks are inside a folder entitled the name of the album, which is insided a folder that is name the name of the artist. For example, "01 - Politik" is inside "A Rush of Blood to the Head" which is inside "Coldplay". This is how most major media players record music from CDs by default. PlayCenter could not handle this, and even when I called the support people, they said that if I had always been using PlayCenter then I would not have these problems. All in all, this player does everything I want, need, and expect it to do. The only edge that the iPod has over the Zen is that it is a fair bit lighter and smaller. However, this is small enough to go in your pocket, so it works for me. I would give this product 4.5 stars if I could, just because of the software that they expect you to use. But you will not be disappointed.
On: 2003-05-08
The Nomad Zen looks good on paper and the player itself has some very nice features, but I found actually transferring my music to the Zen so infuriating that I am returning it to Amazon for a refund which I plan to put towards the purchase of a 30GB iPod. Here are the reasons why I am returning my Zen: 1. The drivers. When I bought the Zen I assumed it would be as fast, stable, and reliable as my other Firewire peripherals. I was in for a huge disappointment. The Zen, unlike most firewire devices including the iPod and many other mp3 players, requires special drivers that must be installed in order for your machine to even recognize the device. But thats not the worst part, once I installed the drivers, I found that they only reccognized the Zen about half the times I plugged it in. And yes, I did download the latest drivers from Creative. Not only that, but the drivers dont allow you to access the Zen as a hard drive in windows. The iPod works as a firewire hard drive right out of the box, no driver required. Why is it that Apples iPod works better with MS Windows better than Creatives Zen? I thought Creative was a PC hardware company, why cant they get it right? 2. The Software. Once you get your Zen drivers installed, you still cant actually transfer music to you Zen. Now you must intall a program called Creative Playcenter. Playcenter is what Musicmatch Jukebox would have looked like if it were released in 1985. It is ugly, it doesnt work very well, and crashes just about every time I try to tranfer data to or from the Zen.... 3. Creatives "support". When I received my Zen, it came in a box with two USB cables and no firewire cable. So naturally I called Creative and asked them to send me the missing firewire cable... They sent me the cable, no questions asked. Later, when I called tech support because Playcenter was crashing everytime I hit the sync button, the man on the phone explained to me that the problem was that I was trying to transfer too much data at once, and that the Zen can only handle transferring about 50 to 100 songs at a time. In other words, if you want to fill your Zens 8000 song capacity, you will need to manually transfer your songs up to 160 times. 4. The player itself. As I said the player does have some very nice features, but it does have a few major flaws. First of all, its big and heavy and you cant carry it around it your pocket. Also, there is no "lock" switch, if you want to lock the buttons, you have to do it from the menu, this is extremely aggravating when you lock the player to put it in you backpack and then realize you want the volume a little higher and you have to go through no less than seven steps to get this done.
On: 2003-04-30
My Creative ZEN firewire crashed one week ago. Turned to Creative support to get it fixed. But the warranty for this is only 90 days! So they must know that this product doesnt work to good. If they dont fix it for free I will instead buy an Ipod with one year warranty.
On: 2003-04-26
First of all I would give the Zen a 4 star rating if the iPod was cheaper, but since it is not :)...
Anyway, my biggest concern was the sound quality of the player (my previous players produced sound of very poor quality). I was placing my bets on Creatives expertise in this area, and was not disappointed. The sound quality is excellent; the sounds is clear, crisp, and vivid!
The headphones leave something to be desired, however. I find them rather uncomfortable and their frequency response poor.
A few reviews I have read stated that the player clips when the volume is crancked up all the way. This is the case only low impedence phones, it is important to point out that this is the case with all amplifiers. All the headphones I tried produced excellent sound without any trace of clipping. I especially recommend the Beyerdynamic 770.
The controls are straight forward, but dont expect to get a lot done on the player itself - creating playlists, etc. is much easier and quicker through the computer software.
Finally, I highly recommend using the Red Chair Software Notmad instead of the software that came with the player.
On: 2003-04-26
I tried one of these for a long time and have to say that despite all of its "features" that supposedly make this product so much better, the iPod is still vastly superior. Personally, I find the Zen rather ugly, with a tiny blue-green screen and that idiotic "mouse-style" scrollwheel on the side. The front and back are nce and shiny, but overall, from external appearances, I was not impressed. Overall it just seems like a strange size and weight and it never quite fits anywhere. On to the actual point of owning one--playing music. In this, I can say that the Zen has nothing on the iPod. The search feature (typing a letter in one at a time by selecting it with the wheel); the organization system that just doesnt make sense, and the fact that you have to view everything on that little tiny screen--sure you can put 20 GB of music on it, but I dare you to find one song on that crappy little wheel in half the time it would take me on a 20 GB iPod! I do like that you can make playlists on the actual device, but the entire system suffers from far too much needless complexity. Everything is too complicated, too much "relearning". The sides are riddled with buttons, none of which have much tactile feedback, and trust me--if this is in your pocket, you wont have much idea which side is which without looking! On my iPod, I can change songs, raise and lower the volume, etc. without even thinking or looking at the device itself. Its just a simpler, more efficient way. Ive given the Zen 2 stars for having a large drive, a decent appearance (certainly better than those horrible Archos hunks-of-junk), and high-speed connectivity. It is a technical masterpiece, with the ability to create playlists, change EAX settings, add reverb and speed changes to your music, and record... but all of this is utterly ruined by its stupid wheel, bad organizational system, poor screen, and needless complexity (if you select a song in the list, it begins playing but your screen does not change to indicate which song is playing--in fact, if you scroll for a while you will soon have NO CLUE what song youre playing, what song is next, etc. until you back all the way out of every menu and go to Now Playing. By contrast, the iPod switches to show the current song, and pressing menu lets you select another song, or back out the SIMPLE, THREE-LEVELS-DEEP MENU system to get back to Now Playing. The Zens menu system is 5 to seven levels deep when it could be two or three!) Im all for iPod competition, but the iPod is still the best. Get it instead--you wont regret it.
On: 2003-03-12
This little MP3 player packs a PUNCH! 20 GB of data store is amazing. Currently, I have half the drive filled up with MP3s. No kidding, its got nearly 1800 songs on there now. I know what it advertises, but the truth is youre probably going to want to bump up the bit rate on your songs. All mine are in 160 bit-rate now. I take this thing with me on the train in the morning. With 1800 songs to put in shuffle mode, I may not hear the same song twice for months. Good, clean display. Has an internal EQ, along with the EAX processor to suit your music tastes. I took the 2.0 version of the ZEN, not having a firewire connection on my PC. After creating my MP3 with the included software, it took about 25 minutes to upload over 10GB of music to this guy. Seems like a lot of time, but you just have to do this initally when you have an empty player. Imagine when you simply want to add a new album you just bought from the store. Since complete 10 MB songs upload to this little guy in about a second. A entire music CD can literally load in a few blinks. Thats amazing technology! What a time to be alive! Get it now. Be satisfied. Dont bother with the iPod. Too expensive to play back the exact same songs in the exact same quality. Youre just out more money if you go that route. Plus this player comes with a beautiful case, headphones, and software. And although you may not think this is important, the power adapter than comes with the unit is DUAL VOLTAGE so that if you happen to take the unit overseas (ANYWHERE) you can plug it in without worry about frying your new toy! Cheers!
by: Anonymous On: 2003-03-11
Alright, I thought this was my solution to not having to lug around my CD collection everywhere and it seemed a great alternative to the iPod. Well, unfortunately it is not. I got the unit and was so excited about the look and features of the product. It This wore off after the first night when the backlight went out (and stayed out). This was a little disappointing, but I wasnt going to let it ruin the sparkle of my new product. I had already loaded about 1/3 of the alotted gig space on the player and figured the backlight isnt that important. Well, I was wrong. I purchased a tape adapter for my car to listen to the mp3 player through my car speakers. It sounded horrible! I also could not see the LCD screen (it being night) and the backlighting doesnt work. The player is bulky and heavy. Granted it is small for what it is, but its going back and I am going to splurge on the smaller, more reliable iPod.
Remeber, 5 stars means the product is flawless. 4 means above average.
by: Anonymous On: 2003-03-02
Overall Ive been very happy with the Zen (Firewire/USB version).
The battery life is good and the menu system is very intuitive.
The signal to noise ratio is one of the best.
Of course the small size is the main feature. Only the iPod is smaller. But a 20GB iPod is currently $...!
Through the Creative s/w you can store non-audio files on the hard drive. This is handy for transporting large files from home to office.The only things I dont like about it are fairly trivial.
- The ON button is recessed and can be difficult to reach.
- The text on the LCD screen is a little on the small side.
- You can only access the unit from a PC with the Creative s/w installed. It would be kind of nice to be able to access it as a normal Firewire drive.
On: 2003-03-01
I bought my Zen from a local electronics retailer after my friend broke my old flash memory player and reimbursed me the damages. The audio quality is great, I put my music library on it, and I backed up XP on it! This thing is pretty cool. However, buy it from a retailer that offers a 4 year protection plan. IPods and Zens have a common flaw- their rechargable Lithium-Ion batteries are non serviceable. Creatives nor Apples techies can replace the factory installed batteries. After 1.5 to 2 years, the battery will no longer recharge and your Zen will be a paperweight. However, with the 4 year pro plan, you just get yo-self a new one. Dont go with the Jukebox three- too pricey and bulky. For more info go to for Creatives website for its Nomad players.
On: 2003-02-25
I have been "lurking" the MP3 HD market for more than a year. My requirements were pretty simple: Big (Memory), Small (Size), good sound, not too expensive, no Content Protection mechanism and a good song organizer & locator.
The IPOD is really impressive, but too expensive and Windows also isnt exactly its natural environment.
Enough bashing the competition, lets talk about the Zen:
Its small enough (I would prefer it smaller), Nice interface, the dual Firewire & USB is great for me (Home - Firewire, Work - USB), 20 GB is enough, for PC interface I bought the Notmad explorer.
The sound is great - I dont use the Headphones (bought a Sennheiser 457).
Bottom Line - this is a great player. I love mine.
On: 2003-02-25
I really cant say enough good things about this MP3 player by Creative Labs. My unit was up in running after only having to charge it for an hour when I opened it. I use FreeRip (can be downloaded free online) to rip my CDS and PlayCenter (included within the package) to transfer the files to my player. It is instinctively easy to understand and operate and the sound quality is exceptional- even through a cassette adapter to my car stereo. No more lugging around CDs wherever I go- this was truly a worthwhile purchase.
On: 2003-02-22
I have tried out almost every conceivable large capicity MP3 player out. Hands down, for price, value, look, and durability, the Nomad Zen has it.Heres my breakdown. Nomdad Zen Looks nice and from an American company, Creative Labs. Its easy to use interface, great sound, slightly smaller than the archos and a bit bigger than the Ipod. Built in battery but dies after 2 years or so. No problem, according to the Creative Labs website. Theyll replace it at no charge when it dies. And yes it has shuffle and such an easy to use playlist, including a LCD screen remote -- how cool! Battery life is pretty good too. I found the Zen to be a superb overall value. ...
by: Anonymous On: 2003-02-22
Ive been playing with the Zen for about a week now and I still find new, cool options. I had no trouble hooking this thing up to my computer. I simply plugged it into the AC power adaptor to charge it and then plugged it into my fire wire card and was ready to copy. I had one small problem, at first Windows media player didnt recognize it but after the latest update I was going on that media player too. When hooking the Zen up to my Klipsch speakers I couldnt tell a difference between the Zen and my computer. But I cant in good conscious give the Zen 5 stars because of one fault, it doesnt appear as a removable hard drive. Creative does offer a program that allows you to put any file you want on it but you need this program in order to transfer files. If you want a huge (20gig) mp3 player to replace you stack of CDs, this is for you.
by: Anonymous On: 2003-02-20
Wow! This device is great! I agree with the other review about liking this device over the iPod. I want to address two of the compliants I read before I bought this that almost caused me to pass on buying this device. Im glad I bought it anyway. Someone wished for a stop button. After using it for more than a hour I didnt miss it. If you want to stop it you can a.) shut it off, or b.) remove the track from the now playing area. I read another complaint about having a problem with the file system used by the Zen since it soley uses the file tags. The only potenial problem I could see would araise if the user didnt monitor the tags of the tracks as they transfer them to the device. I do each album individually and have the Player Center setting such that it shows me the tags before each album transfers. With that I avoid the potential of having to go back and correct track tags on the device. A cool feature I liked since I tend to use this at work a lot is a computer USB port can recharge the battery while the device is off. This way I can avoid having to bring the charger to work. I like is the upgradable firmware for future software enhancement possiblities. The interface is very simple and easy to navigate with one hand. I could go on and on about the good points, but I really only wanted to address the negatives I had read from before. This was a great buy for the amount of storage, and features. It also seems very durable.
On: 2003-02-15
Ive been using one of the original Nomad Jukeboxes, upgraded to 20 gig, and finally saw a device that convinced me to switch...the Zen! Sure the Ipod is cute and neat and all, but there was no way I was paying the price for a 20 gig one. The Zen has enough features at a very attractive price that I did not see any reason to get something that costs more. So far, I have not had reason to regret my choice. Firewire made transfers super-fast although they did lock up on me a number of times so I had to keep restarting. Also, my collection is mainly WMA files and the included software did not correctly handle the ID3 tags. Apparently only deals with MP3 files, even though WMA is supported by the player. So I had to purchase 3rd party software to do the transfer...which is much easier to use in any case (Notmad Explorer). I really like the new menuing. A big, big improvement from the menus on the old Jukebox which were frustrating and hard to use. The scroll button makes it even easier to get around and enter text. I never have a problem changing the play mode now! Sound quality is excellent, and volume level is as well. Other little improvements abound...like now when you hit the back button, it goes to the beginning of the song, rather than to the previous song. Makes it a lot easier to listen to the same song over again. The buttons can be a bit hard to figure out in the dark, and the screen is still pretty small. Battery life seems very good (certainly compared to the original Jukebox, which was terrible!!) The player comes with a nice leather case, which so far has saved it from damage a couple times when I have dropped it on the floor. The headphones are adequate, and fine for me. Finally, one reviewer said you could not stop music...you certainly can, just use the play/pause button. Not sure what he was thinking.
On: 2003-02-14
The Nomad Zen is simply the best MP3 Jukebox out there. It defintly on par with the Apple IPOD or far past. Heres an overview Features- 9.0
The Zen has Advanced features such as Enviromental Effects, that i have never seen on another MP3 Jukebox before. Other features include time scaling, Customizeable Logos, Spatialization, and Smart Volume which evens outs sounds when low depending on conditions, such as being on a plane or in a car. It has both Firewire and USB 1.1. There is a version that does have usb 2.0 alone. With a firmware upgrade, you can transfer non-copyright protected songs, between units. If you have a Sound Blaster Live, Audigy or Audigy2 sound card you can you use an EAX enhancement for your audio files. You can search for music that is on the unit. The Player Supports WMA, which is a vital feature for anyone who ripped all their CDs using Windows Media Player. You can also use the device as a portable hard-drive, however you cant run programs off it. In order to use at as a portable Hard-Drive you must use the include File manager Program, which kind of defeats the purpose. Performance- 9.0
The Zen sounds fantastic. It has a 98dB Noise to Sound Ratio which one of the highest, if not the highest for a MP3 Jukebox.
Its quick to start up and charge. It takes about 3-4 hours to completly charge, which gives almost 12 hours of battery life (the USB 2.0 version gives 14 hours). It charges through the USB port or through an included adaptor, however not through the firewire port. Transfering Music is fast through firewire, and with USB it transfers at a rate of about 1 MB/Sec, not too bad. However, there is one major problem, swithching trough songs is sluggish. It takes the unit about 1 to 2 seconds the switch songs. This annoying at best. The included headphones arent the best. Software-8.0
In order to transfer songs you must use Creative Labs Play Center. This Program is simply mediocre. While it does have a nice interface and good feature set, it has several minor flaws, such as having to select each folder indivudualy instead of being able to just select a master folder, such as "My Music", in order to transfer music. The Actual Operating System on the unit is not that bad, it gets the job done effectively, and access to all the features is easy. Aesthetics- 9.0
The Unit is Zen-Like, with its smooth metallic case. It also comes with a black Leather-like case, that provides easy access to all the functions, except the Firewire and USB Ports. The included head phones are good-looking, how ever they dont sound that good. The operating system on the unit is easy to look at, and has well designed icons. Play Center is also good-looking and skinable. The unit also is a liitle heavy Value- 9.5
The Unit is well below what the 20GB Ipod Costs. Even though the headphones arent that great and the optional remote is costly, it still is worth the money. Even after buying better head-phones and the hard to find remote, it still costs less then an IPOD. Overall-9.0 (or 5/5 for amazon)
The Nomad Jukebox Zen is the best MP3 jukebox player out there. Simply put, a must for any music listener with more than 20 CDS.
by: Anonymous On: 2003-02-05
I searched for the best MP3 player for the money. I found this device to be what I was looking for. It was a good price, it plays WMA (if you want/need that functionality like I do) and the firewire transfers files extremely fast. It looks great, it is the right size and the sound quality is excellent. If you are looking for a 20 GB player, give this one a look. Personally I give the Zen a lower rating than the iPod, but the Zen has price and a back lit LCD in its favor.OK so what I dislike about this player. First of all the battery lasts maybe 5 hours rather than the advertised 8 and the software is horrible! I had to buy 3rd party software just to keep my sanity. The included headphones are also decent sound but they are way uncomfortable. The buttons arent very well oriented on the device - its easy to shut off in your pocket but you cannot change tracks without pulling it out. I am very happy with my purchase, I just think Creative has a few little kinks to work out.
On: 2003-02-03
The Zen is a great buy, I gave it a 4 out of 5. I would have given it a perfect score if not for two features that I guess were just over looked.The first problem I had was with the headphones. Dont get me wrong this baby came with pretty good sounding headphones but since they werent adjustable I couldnt use them. I had to dish out an extra 30 bucks for a descent pair. Now the second problem I had with the Zen was the lack of a stop button. This becomes very frustrating after a while, especially when you are listening to a song and a friend walks up to you to say hello. Now you either have to remove the song from the play area to stop it and find it again when you want to listen to it or you have to shut down the player all together. I do love the software provided. It makes it very easy to manage all of your digital music on your PC as well as on your player. I also enjoy the play list on the fly feature that the I-Pod is lacking. It also looks like something a "techie" would love to hold in their hand.
On: 2003-01-29
Update!!! The Zen has been updated with both firmware and software...excellent battery life and sound quality!! Love it!1...
The Zen is stylish, small, and easy to use. I bought the model with the 1394 transfer port, and it is lightning fast. The iPod also offers quick transfers. The iPod is lighter than the Zen, and the controls are on the front. It is, however, hideously ugly; it looks like a 1950s toaster. I DO care about how my gadgets look.
Sound Quality: I used the included software to rip directly to the device at 256kbs. The sound is phenomenal--on the tracks that arent riddled with glitches like a scratched record. This problem is recurrent from my original Jukebox bundle. I used WMP9 w/Intervideo MP3 conversion. This resolved the skipping issue and was only slightly slower. For his iPod, Scott used MusicMatch at 256kbs to rip to his laptop, then transfer to the portable device. My opinion is that the sound is NOT as good as the Zen--though he had NO imperfections, glitches, etc.
The Zen has an FM remote, a voice recorder, etc. - but you have to pay an extra [price].
So, at this point, we are both wishing that each device had some of the others qualities. Neither of us has had to "reset" our device. I have 3 trans-pacific flights in February, and will put my Zen through the paces.
Call me superficial, but even if the Zen fails me, I will not be exchanging it for the ugly, "media darling" that is the iPod.
On: 2003-01-28
I bought the Zen as a Christmas present for my wife, who lugs dozens of CDs in her car. She has been cool to previous MP3 players because they didnt hold enough music to suit her. The Zen surely solves this problem!! I found that 64kbps WMA audio sounded great, and have ripped about 70 of her 150 CD collection so far, filling up about 3 GB of the 19 GB available. Ripping is slow, but transfering to the Zen via Firewire is a quite fast! Annoyances: The display is hard to read, with tiny text characters. In dim light, the backlight is not strong enough, making it a challenge to use. The buttons are not well marked, and are not easy to discern by feel. The carry case is nice, but its very hard to use the thing while attached to the belt, and its a pain to attach/detach it.
The Jukebox software is kludgy, and the sync software/ID3 update features ended up creating lots of duplicate files. I trashed it
and started from scratch. Using a cassette adapter in the car works fine. I wish the unit had a builtin FM transmitter, so it could play through the car radio without wires! Ive settled on using Windows Media Player 9 to rip CDs and manage the Media Library, and bought Red Chairs notmad software to interface/download to the Zen. So far my wife is still cool on the whole thing, but I think she will come around, once I figure out how to set up and download playlists of her favorite tunes.
by: Anonymous On: 2003-01-26
Im a music lover, and I have a substantial CD collection, but I found that I wasnt listenening to my whole collection, because I would forget that I had certain things. Not only has the Zen allowed me to take my whole collection with me everywhere I go, it has increased the enjoyment I get out of my music by letting me listen to those forgotten albums again.I did a lot of research on these players, and decided to get the Zen (after playing with the iPod) for the following reasons. 1. Drive size. I had to fit over 800 albums on the thing, so I needed a lot of room. The Zen scores by letting you store smaller WMA files, and by being upgradable. Youll void the warranty doing it, but you can easily switch the hard drive for a larger one (I have a 60 GB drive in mine). Since it uses the standard size laptop drive, this is inexpensive and easy to do.
2. Features. Dont get me wrong, the iPod is easy to use, but that also makes it less powerful. Zen allows you to cue up songs, albums, artists, or genres, so you can micromanage and create a mixtape on the fly, or you can drop in a few genres and have your own private radio station that fits your mood that day. If you have a windows computer, and cant use iTunes, the iPod just doesnt compare.
3. Size. Its smaller than the JB3, so it fits in a jacket or pants pocket. While it is larger and heavier than the iPod, its not much of a tradeoff.
4. Price. Its so much cheaper than the iPod, the choice was easy. Another reviewer complained about albums not being played in the proper order. This is a fault of the playcenter software. Its easy to fix, by just transfering your files the right way. ...One thing to be aware of with the Zen though. Some users have come up against a track limit. No matter how small the files, or how big the drive, it seems you cant have more than about 11,000 songs. Apparently, it is a limitation of the operating system, which may be fixable in the future. Still, thats a lot of music.
On: 2003-01-25
very happy with my purchase. 20 gigs, sleek, light, comes with all the cables and software necessary and even a case. up and running in less than 4 hours. price is great and unmatched at this point (taking into consideration the capacity and design). ipod may be sleeker and have better functionality but is twice the price - TWICE the price.software works great for organizing and ripping, player functions work great as well.
On: 2003-01-23
I am now on my second Zen - ready to return it also. After bringing the first one home, I ripped my entire collection (~10GB) of music onto the player. I then put the carrying case on it, plugged in the headphones and took it with me everywhere I went. In my car, I would use the car adaptor. After 2 days, the headphone connector went bad. Music would play out of one speaker (mono), instead of producing a nice stereo sound. I then realized the carrying case did not fit the player very well and it put a lot of stress on the headphone jack. I exchanged this for a new Zen. I did not use the carrying case with my second Zen. Again, after two days, the headphone connector jack went bad. I am returning this one for an iPod, since Apple uses quality parts. I really do like the ease of use and the "one-hand" design, though. I would just like to use it for what it is intended - listening to music. This really isnt possible when partial sound is produced.
by: Anonymous On: 2003-01-22
Ive been looking into MP3 players, as i am preparing to purchase one. In my opinion, this is the best one out there, but dont plan on keeping it forever. The battery is built into the thing, so when it dies, you have to trash the unit, and buy another one. I read that Creative says the average battery lasts 2 years or so. Buy the way, the IPOD is built the same way, also making it a disposable player.
by: Anonymous On: 2003-01-20
Great product, terrible software. But, by all means, dont let that deterr you from buying this. I ripped all of my cds onto this device with plenty of space left, and they all sound great. I also own the 10gig ipod, and i have got to admit, i like this better. More space, cheaper price, and good interface. I like this interface better than the ipod, simply because its designed to be used with one hand, unlike the ipod. I love this device!!
On: 2003-01-19
I just got this player a few days ago, it rocks !
Its small and light, the screen quality and blue backlighting is very cool, the user interface is really intuitive on the player. accessing songs with the scrolling wheel is extremely easy. USB2 transfer are fast, recharging the player and transfering songs with the same usb2 cable is great, just plug one cable! The sound quality is great, it sounds better than mp3s on my audigy.
Now the bad points: It froze several times, 3 times so far in 3 days. I had to use a paper clip, better always carry one with you as you never know when its going to freeze.
I went to the creative website, downloaded a new firmware for the player (actually the install program took me there and I entered the info correctly, then I got to the firmware page, downloaded it and when I wanted to install, it said that I dont have a compatible player. Creative better upgrade their page.
The software is [bad], the creative windows player is terrible so Im using the other manager, its not very intuitive, you cant see whats in your Jukebox player and you cant upload music from the player to the pc. you can copy mp3 files as FILES but then you cant read them with the player. pretty [bad] too.
Worst point : the player recognize the id3 tag from the mp3 files, but only the artist and song title fields, NOT THE TRACK FIELD !!... that means when you rip an album and copy it in your jukebox, if you select the album to play, itll play the tracks in alphabetical order. thats definitely the worst shortcoming of the player, I have to rename the id3 for each song Im transfering like this : track number - song title. Its long, boring and incredibly annoying. I hope they fix this with a new firmware.
So far all he problems come from software (Im used to it with creative). The hardware part seem almost perfect (except the freezing part), so Ill keep looking for new firmwares and hope they fix the problems.
by: Anonymous On: 2003-01-17
Wow! The Zen is really great. I looked at the ipod and the Zen. If I had a Mac, I might have gone with the ipod, because it is a touch smaller. However, for a PC user, the Zens software is so simple to use, its really a pleasure. The transfer is like lightning with the fire wire, the menus are easy and logical, and the thing sounds incredible. The EAX audio really lets the user customize the sound. With a size barely bigger than the ipod,pc-friendly software, and a price tag ...lower than the comparably equiped ipod, the zen is the way to go. Kudos to Creative.
On: 2003-01-14
Bought myself the Zen for Xmas. I use this daily and find it perfectly adequate. For the price, it is hard to beat. Battery life is fine, comes with USB and Firewire, which makes transfers very fast, form factor is wonderful (small and light), looks stylish (much nicer than the iPod IMHO).The problems Ive had with it: 1. Within the first week (has happened 3 times so far), it froze up on me and required a "hard" physical reset with a paperclip(!) 2. Only works with Windows and the software theyve included is not all that great 3. Drivers/software seems sometimes to have trouble detecting connection with the player, requiring some fiddling for it to appear to the OS (not sure if this is a Windows or software issue) 4. UI on the player is not very intuitive and lacks certain functionality, e.g. allowing quick way to add all artists to playlist In conclusion, there are certain shortcomings to the unit, but this is definitely the best bang for the buck unit Ive found on the market today.
by: Anonymous On: 2003-01-10
Worthy of note is that the player requires an MS-bsed OS for transfering songs to the player. Can Creative really offer true digital zen only to the windows users amongst us? Truly a blow to the concept of "selling" zen.
On: 2003-01-10
The sound quality is superior to any other MP3 player Ive used. The interface is very easy to use and has quite a few options to customize how the player works. The EAX settings are great, I use a few of them quite regularly and theyre things you just wont find on any non-Creative player. The carrying case is included and its very rugged and durable. The buttons are easy to reach and give a good responsive feel when pressing. The battery charges very quickly and really does last a long time. I have used it for over 10 hours without recharging. Transfers using firewire are very, very fast, songs copy to/from the player in 1 or 2 seconds. Its a great product overall, highly recommended.
On: 2003-01-09
I just got this player last night, and my initial concerns regarding hard disk based mp3 players are already gone.First, I can SHAKE it, and it doesnt skip. That is because it holds a nice 16MB cache and only spins up the harddisk once every 4 or 5 songs. Once the songs are in memory, no can skippy. Transferring is FAST. An entire cd from disk to mp3 player in just a few minutes. Pulling the songs from CD is the slowest part, but my CDROM is slow. The songs transfer extremely fast to the player, so I can transfer music for the gym right before I go, rather than having to plan way ahead of time. The sound quality coming out is absolutely clear through high quality headphones at 128Kbps (though obviously there is a slight difference between this and CD. I am not able to comment on battery life yet, as I havent used it for that long. However, I was happy with the fact that it charged in 4 hours initially, we will see how long they last. My only Critique is the general interface could use a bit of work. The buttons are a bit small and figitty. It is slightly difficult to find the buttons you want just by feel (a small critique). I also think that Creative Playcenter is trying to look a bit more glamourous than it needs to, so the overall interface is a bit clumsy albeit still simple to use. I am not a bit fan of interfaces that try to look like space pods that transform and collapse. Just give me a simple clean design with well thought out menus please... Good job creative.
On: 2003-01-07
DO NOT BUY THIS PRODUCT. Bought it for my son for Xmas. It worked for 5 days without problems. Then we went on a trip to Cancun. As soon as he sat down on the plane and went to use it, it failed to come on properly. During our layover for the connection to Cancun, I called Creative. They first didnt even know about the Rescue Mode. Finally after pestering the tech person, he remembered it. I tried this three times but it didnt get the unit back to working condition. So the unit didnt work on the flight.When we arrived in Cancun, I tried the Rescue Mode again. Suddenly it worked again. It then worked for a few more days. The day before we were to depart, it stopped working again. This time Rescue Mode didnt help at all. When we got home, we tried a complete format which didnt work. Because we sent in the REBATE FORM, we will have problems getting a refund. Because I bought it a couple of weeks before Xmas, I am just barely within the AMAZON.com return period. Creatives warranty is only 90 too. Much too short for a new product like this. DO NOT BUY THIS PRODUCT and be careful of buying items with rebates.
by: Anonymous On: 2003-01-06
The nomad Zen plus the ER-6 headphone from etymotic.com for the ultimate listening experience.I was looking for sound quality, price and portability. The zen matched all of the above, except that the headphones provided, althought OK, didnt really made the Zen justice. So I embarked myself in a long quest to find a good pair. I figure, I am spending a lot of money in the player and the music I am putting in it, so I should get a good pair. So, I found that those noise cancelling phones are the way to go. The main reason is that as they cancel outside noise, you can really enjoy the music at much lower levels. After long research, I came accross the ER-6 from Etymotic. Wow, what an experience. These headphones are actually used by music people during recording and they make a version for HI-FI geeks like us. Because they work like ear-plugs, they isolate ouside noise so you can really hear the music. The Zen with the ER-6 is the way to go. Dont compromise the quality of what you hear. And the two will cost you less than the iPod. Enjoy.
On: 2003-01-05
I received this Zen in December and havent had any problems with it. It took me about 1 hour or so to figure out the software which was a pain.I do however do not like the idea that the battery is not user changable nor the 3 month warrentee. Its a bit on the heavy side but that was a small price to pay for 20 gigs. I am enjoying it and would recommend it to anyone in the market for a high capacity MP3 player.
On: 2003-01-01
First I bought a Nomad II that uses SmartMedia. It was a pain to constantly upload new music to it due to the limited storage. Then I bought a Sonic Blue CD based MP3 player. It skips so bad its unusable. So I set out to decide between iPod and Zen. I chose the Zen because its much cheaper. I wont go on about all the great features, except to say it works very well. Everyone complains about the PlayCenter software but its not that bad. If you really hate it you can buy Notmad Explorer for ... (which is better I admit).However you should know about a few quirks: - It only has a 3 month warranty! No excuse for this. Shame on Creative. So figure in another ... for an extended warranty. - The battery is not user replaceable, and lithium-ion batteries dont last forever. Fact is it will need to be replaced in a couple years. - There is no STOP button, so you cant stop it from playing a song. VERY ANNOYING. - The remote is not included. Many places are selling it for ... which I think is really expensive. I ordered it for ... but its on backorder. - Its a little larger than the iPod, but not much. - Instead of using a directory hiearchy, it relies on the ID tags, which are often incorrect on downloaded music. - The included headphones are too tight and cant be adjusted Some things I really like: - The LCD is easy to read - Firewire transfer is very fast - You can charge with the USB port (great for the office) - The AC Adapter is 110/220V so it works in Europe Overall I like the Zen but I feel Creative took lots of shortcuts to get the price lower than the iPod. If you add some nice ear bud headphones, extended warranty, and remote control, it still comes out to be cheaper but not that much.
by: Anonymous On: 2002-12-31
Bought this for my daughter for Christmas - but after a week of work including 3 hours on the phone with Nomad help - Nomad decided their was NO ANSWER as to why it would not load on my Winsdows ME system. Very, very frustrating. Telephone help was friendly and persistent-- but no answers. On-line help is yet to respond. If you have Windows ME - proceed with care. A second windows Me system I tried would not install either.
On: 2002-12-31
All I can say is that I just dont see how Apple can sell a 20 gig iPod for $500 when a 20 gig Zen costs considerably less. The Zen sounds better than the iPod and is a bit more rugged. Dont get me wrong - Apple makes great stuff, but Ill take function over uber design anyday - especially for less money.And for those that prefer the iPod and are considering a platform switch from PC to Mac: dont do it! Its a scam - theyre not everything theyre touted to be!
On: 2002-12-31
I recieved a Zen for Christmas, and I absolutley love it. I use it with a car kit in my car, and the sound is amazing. It makes my sound system sound a million times better, even with less-than-top-of-the-line speakers. I also love how you can change the EAX settings, such as making the music sound as if its in the bathroom, or in a concert hall. Theres also the option of advanced equalizing and time-scaling, which is great for slowing down songs to understand the lyrics. You can also use smart volume, for example, put it on "late night" to decrease dramatic volume changes so you arent awaken. I love it - the volume is great, the flow is great, and the transfers from computer to Zen are quick and easy. Great product!
On: 2002-12-28
... First, the Nomad Jukebox Zen is actually more flexible (USB 1.1 or firewire). While its slightly more bulky ..., its still pretty small for a 20GB jukebox. The interface and menus take a little getting used to but is easily mastered by anyone with a 6th grade education. The LCD is easy to see/read. The software works great...works just fine on XP. Most importantly...it sounds great! Sounds great in my car using the cassette adapter. Sounds unbelievable through my home stereo system using a mini-jack to RCA converter. BOTTOM LINE - you cant find a better sounding 20GB MP3 jukebox with these features for [this price].
On: 2002-12-28
Comparing items is not always a good way to look at an item, but since the zen ahs so many competetors, that it is neccassary. First of all the zen has a god price (especially compared to the outragiously priced iPod, which is ify at best of windows computers. The zen is small, much smaller than a Nomad Jukebox III or a CD/Mp3 player. IT has a whopping 20 gig storage capacity, a size that is difficult for any one to fill up. I put the entire Hobbit/the lord of the rings audiobook on it and it took up ONE TWEENTIEH of the available space (the book was on 12 CDs by the way). The software it comes with is the best for the zen, I have several other Mp3 player download programs, but The Creative Playcenter works best. The zen has a built in lithium-ion battery that lasts quite a while (drains more quickly during song downloading). The navigation on the zen is spectacular (organize by album, artist, genre, your playlists, etc). An automatic blue backlight is especially handy. Nice and loud, I have an Irock 520 that isnt even in the same category of volume. Plenty loud to hear in a bus. Alas I 4.5 out of 5 stars for some MINOR reasons. The first(and last) being that sometimes the computer has defficulty detecting it(turning the zen on/off and/or unpulging it usually helps this). P.S. It comes with a sweet senthetic leather carry case. Decent ear wrapper head phones too. P.P.S. Morpheus.com is a great site to get music to fill the zen.
by: Anonymous On: 2002-12-28
Not only does this hold every single CD that I own, it also has space for me to quit lugging my laptop back and forth from work- using the file manager software thats bundled in, I can take any and all work files home in my pocket. I havent carried my briefcase to work once!
by: Anonymous On: 2002-12-27
player HW - 5 stars
player firmware - 4 stars
PlayCenter (the PC SW component to send music files to the player) - negative 5 stars. This is an extremely badly designed piece of garbage that is full of bugs. Whoever is responsible for the design, coding, testing and management of this crime against humanity needs a few strong kicks in the balls.With a decent PlayCenter SW component this would be a 5 star product. As it is its 3 and Im generous.
by: Anonymous On: 2002-12-27
This is a great value when you look at the whole package, including portability, sound quality and price. I tested the iPod and the Zen and in general, they both sound the same, they are both easy to use, and they are both pretty light (like an empty cup of coffee). The Ipod is 2 oz lighter which increases to cost by [a lot]. So if 2 oz is worth the [extra money] to you, then you should probably get the iPod. So on the plus side (in order of priotiy to me):
- Great Sound
- Great price
- Great menus
- Very easy to use
- Looks cool On the negative side:
- Headset (good but could be better, they send the ones that go around your neck which is a "pain in the neck" if you are laying down)
by: Anonymous On: 2002-12-26
Man....I was skeptical at first when I purchased the Zen. Some people were saying that the USB transfer was slow. Others, the Playcenter software was buggy. Man, were they wrong. All I did was load the CD, keep clicking next everytime I was prompted, and BAM, its ready to go. And, about the slow USB. I dont know how much faster it can really go, honestly. I transferred 296 songs in under 5 minutes. I dont care what anyone says; thats plenty fast for any normal computer user. How about sound quality you may ask? Sounds like the frickin CD to me man! I dont know how it could get any better. Personally, I think that the menu system is pretty easy to use, and will definitly take a little time to get used to. Hopefully, Ill be able to buy that FM remote later. 5 stars, without question. Great job Creative!!!
On: 2002-12-26
I havent tried iPod, but to me Jukebox Zen is the mp3-player on the market. I havent encountered any problems and it has worked like a dream. The 20GB storage capacity is more than enough to store your mp3 collection (well, at least mine :). The default software for communicating between the computer and Zen - Creative PlayCenter 3 - isnt that bad, but it could be better. The audio quality is great (for my untrained ears). Compared to iPod I must say that even though iPod might be better, it hasnt got a USB possibility and I dont have FireWire, so no iPod for me. But enough of this, test it for yourself.
by: Anonymous On: 2002-12-24
I bought this for myself for Christmas in preparation for a long trip. I was very interested in the Zen because my music is all in WMA format and because of the memory. I was so excited when it arrived and quickly started charging it and installing the PlayCenter software on my office PC. It was a snap to transfer my WMA files to PlayCenter and I expected the same when I tried to transfer the files to the Zen. Unfortunately, when I tried to transfer my music, it kept telling me the USB port I was trying to use didnt have a driver. After multiple uninstalls and reinstalls, it finally connected. Then the Zen kept telling me it was either not connected or was busy, so I couldnt transfer any music files. When it finally connected, it transferred one album then said it was disconnected or busy again. The IT guy at our office worked with Creatives tech support all morning and they finally gave up and asked my to send it back to them. So much for easy operation! So much for my upcoming trip! I just hope they send me a new one that works this time. I the good side, it sound like their tech support is better now than it was a few months ago.
1/16/03 Update: I overnighted my player to Creative with my RMA number. They denied ever receiving it. When I gave them the tracking number and name of the person who signed for it, they admitted they had it, but had not opened it yet. 2 weeks later, they said they still hadnt tested it yet. When I went ballistic, they said theyd fixed it and mailed it to me. When I received it, it didnt have the USB cable which they insisted I send to them with the player. Great! So I have the player, but no way to test it or use it. So much for a great Christmas present.
On: 2002-12-22
I have had the Zen for about 1 week. The first day I got it, I charged it up (2 hours) and moved about 20 albums onto the player. The software loaded without a problem, the device connected and the interface worked perfectly. The sound is great and overall I am really pleased with the Zen. There are a couple of things that could use improvement:1) The LCD display is very difficult to read.
2) The unit is a bit on the large side. But compared to the price of an iPod (my brother has one) those are minor complaints. All in all I am very happy with the Zen!
On: 2002-12-21
There has not yet been an adult toy like this for audiophiles. Bravo Creative! Amazing sounds and a wide range of processing alternatives give the Zen 10 steps up on all other MP3 players. Any complaints...yes...the power on button is difficult to use and sometimes unreponsive. Does anyone else have this problem? I have been touting this beautiful baby to all family and friends!
On: 2002-12-19
We (my husband and myself) both had creative labs jukeboxes prior to purchasing 2 new ZENs. Its an absolutely awesome machine! It charges quickly and has a 12 hour playtime (the old ones played 2-4 hours max). Its small, easy to load and use. We thought about purchasing the iPod but since we were familiar with the previous models, it seemed natural to upgrade. We are thrilled with the product and highly recommend it. [money] well spent. Thanks for the early chrimbo gift, santa!
by: Anonymous On: 2002-12-19
I cant really say enough about the Nomad Jukebox Zen. Ive read a couple other complaints on here, and I think the people just didnt stick the device out long enough.First off, mine came with all necessary cables, and unlike an iPod, it also came with a case to protect it. The guy that didnt get all his cables should have promptly returned to the store for a different Zen. Let me first say...is the iPod cool? Of course it is. It looks neat. Its very small. It has a very intuitive menu system and a nice sized screen. Along with all that, however, its got a $500 price tag for the 20gb model. Well I got my Zen from Amazon.com for about $330 shipped. Add in my $50 rebate that theyve got going right now, and the $25 gift certificate I had, and this thing stepped in at roughly half the price of the iPod. I hate to compare for a review, but so many people say the iPod is so much better. So Ill comment on a couple things. Size: This thing is really pretty small. Its certainly smaller than any portable cd player or walkman Ive owned. Capacity: 20gb didnt seem like to much to me initially, but Ive probably got 125 albums in it at Lame VBR2 (about 192kb) and its only about half full. Functionality: It functions great. The menus are easy to move around in if you tag your .mp3s well. If youre just going to download songs off kazaa and put them right in, youre proably not going to me happy with any .mp3 player. Taggin in a way that makes functionality to you is key with any .mp3 player. I actually like the menu system of the Zen. Its maybe a touch small, but overall, it doesnt seem to bother me. The screen is incredibly easy to see in the dark as well. Its basically indiglo. Sound: It sounds fantastic. I was skeptical at first, but the amp is pretty powerful for a portable device and Powers some of my higher end headphones wonderfully (Grado SR60s, Sony MDR-7506) Bills last word: People complain about Nomad software. Well since the Zen is a PC device, a number of people have already designed third party applications for the Nomads. Something you dont often see for Apple products. Notmad explorer is one fantastic app, and JBHTTP is another. JBHTTP makes your nomad a web server and you can stream music through Internet Explorer. As I type this, three people I work with are all listening to my music along with me. I bet you cant do that with an iPod. Bottom line: Save some money and buy some great headphones so you can enjoy your .mp3 player.
On: 2002-12-18
This unit has no stop button, so it constantly tries to pickup from where it left off. For some reason, this creates all sorts of problems. At least, that is what Creatives tech support told me. They suggested that I wait till the next firmware release and see if that fixes the problems or buy the ... remote, which provides a stop button. Unfortunately, the remote is not available anywhere. I was disappointed.
by: Anonymous On: 2002-12-17
Ive been wanting to get an MP3 player for some time, and thought that the Zen looked to be a good product so I bought one at the local CompUSA. I didnt have too much of a problem synching it, but when I took it jogging, I found it a little uncomfortable to hold, especially if I tried to change songs. The real bummer was that it wouldnt change songs while I was jogging... I would have to stop and let it catch up, or reset it entirely. Needless to say, I was non-plussed, so I took it back. CompUSA hassled me a bit about the 10% restocking, but I decided to try an iPod instead so they gave me full credit. WOW! What a difference. I dont know much about the reviewers of the Zen that are giving it good reviews, but I do know one thing: they havent tried the iPod. The software is better on the unit (the MusicMatch could use a little bit of help), the screen is much better, and it just works, whether jogging or just sitting working at my desk. Further, the random mode is AWESOME. Ill just be listening to the random programming the iPod picks out and find myself listening to the latest imports intermixed with surprises that I havent heard for years. My advice, dont kid yourself... if you want a great music player to store all your music on, get the real deal -- iPods are where its at. Side note: Im now contemplating a Macintosh for home use based on how well this thing works and the reviews Ive seen of the iMac. We shall see...
On: 2002-12-17
Fantastic product by creative. I got it just 4 days ago and its one of the best things i ever bought. For a music lover this device is "your music collection anywhere". I had some experience from my brothers Jukebox (6 GB) and i was amazed even then but my objections were the capacity and the duration of the batteries something that is solved now. Last but not least, I listen to Opera and some rock albums that between the tracks dont have gaps and that was a major problem with all the mp3 players including pc players. They use to produce gaps of 2 secs and that was very annoying. But for my surprise this doesnt happen with zen. Flowless play and amazing sound. Right now I carry it anywhere.
by: Anonymous On: 2002-12-16
I got mine about a week ago. Size wise, its pretty good, battery life is good also at between 9 and 12 hours.The GUI on the player is a little clunky. You need to realize that the find screens let you play now etc but you cant step from song to song using the track buttons. You move to the playlist screen where this is possible. Overall though, its usuable and you just need to get used to it. I bought this over an iPod because of its support for WMA. The PC based software with it is slow. It imports songs from disk (i.e. simply catalogs them) at a rate of around 1 per second which is pathetic. But, you only do this once. Erasing a catalog likewise take forever also. But, you only use it for importing and downloading so I dont feel it detracts from the player it-self at all. Downloads are quick with firewire, I downloaded my 9gb of stuff in around an hour. The 20GB disk is great, big enough for most libraries Id imagine. Sound quality is very use Sennheiser 580s with mine and volume is ok, not as loud as the supplied phones but the impedance of the 580s is probably higher. You can charge it off mains in around 4 hours or over USB from your PC, laptop also albeit more slowly. Overall, a great buy especially for 300 bucks but the 50 dollar rebate ends Dec 31 so hurry If only it was a PocketPC or Palm also...
On: 2002-12-06
When I decided to upgrade from my old Rio to a 20GB mp3 player, this is the first one I purchased. Not because the reviews were so great, but because Im a hardcore PC guy who has an aversion to anything Apple. I had this thing for about two weeks before returning it to the store. First the necessary cables werent in the box, then the Zen didnt know how to talk to my Dell, I had to download some drivers and call customer support, finally it would only import 80% of my songs because the other ones had what the software called "fatal bit errors" even though they played fine on my computer. And trust me, I work in IT and tech problems are my specialty. I finally got the thing working, barely, but then I happened to mess around with my girlfriends iPod (she has a Mac, of course).
It took me about five minutes to realize the mistake I had made. The iPod is better designed, with easier menus and what sounded (to my untrained ears) like better sound quality. I asked Sara how long it took to get the thing working, and she looked at me with a blank face. She said all she did was plug it in and boom -- thirty minutes later she was good to go. I returned my Zen THAT DAY, picked up the 20GB iPod, and had my CD collection imported within the hour. No bit errors. No driver problems. I kept thinking something must be wrong because I didnt need to do any troubleshooting. The thing works perfect. I dont care what your loyalties are, the iPod is the premier unit out there. It costs a little more, but save yourself the headache and just get one.
by: Anonymous On: 2002-12-06
Just got mine a few days ago...and I am nothing but satisfied. I wont waste time with technical specs and all that. You can look them up yourself. The low-down: This "toy" is amazing.
1. battery life: very good, made it through many hours of shoveling.
2. ease of use: to be honest....it could be better. BUT it is fine once you get the hang of it.
3. software: takes getting use to, but again doable.
4. space: 19GB after formatting, but still more than enough
5. size: a bit larger than the IPOD, but still fit nicely in my pocket.
6. Sound: i have a pair of mediocre SONY headphones and still has great sound. I also used an adapter and played it through my stereo. Again, amazing sound quality. Also, I would like to say that I could hear the music over the snow thrower and the volume wasnt even half way up.
7. BEST PART: firwire and USB compatable. I think that about sums it up. One last thing. I have a fried that has the IPOD, and I will be honest I almost bought one of them instead and if I had a MAC i probably would have. BUT, I am a PC fan myself and worried about the IPOD and Windows working well together (even though there is now a Win IPOD)
Bottome line: Creative Labs put out a worthy competitor to the IPOD.
On: 2002-12-01
First off, this mp3 player has been known to compete with the iPod. I would like to say that depending upon what you are looking for, this is a great buy from its price and its quality. As with any device, it has its ups and downs. This mp3 player has the great size and its smooth style. With the great size of 20GB, it can hold anything you want, even if you are a techno person and carry 1+ hour songs. This player can last you quite awhile as long as you take care of it.HARDRIVE SIZE:
20GB This mp3 player can hold as many songs as you need, unless you plan on fitting millions of hours on it. Even if you carry a large library, it will not slow it down or eat up the battery faster. Also, the Hardrive does not require deframenting or anything of that sort. The hardrive allows your to customize your own library. BATTERY:
Built-in Lithium Battery
This battery runs fairly long, but if you change tracks and switch it on and off, then the battery will lose power quickly. The battery will also lose power as you transfer songs, so keep the power supply plugged in as you transfer songs. Also, as with any product, you should take your time while listening to the directions. You can be excited, but you must charge it fully your first time. SOUND QUALITY:
EAX Enhanced (Environmental, Time-Scaling(speed), Custom Equalizer, Spatialization)
Over-all, the headphones provide adequete sound for your ears. If you are not satisfied with the quality, then you can modify it when detailed options. The base and treble are not changed directily, but they can be by different options through the equalizer. There are also environmental effects which can change the sound quality to make you feel like you are in that environment. The smart-volume features changes the volume every .3 of a second so that it doesnt get too loud at certain parts of a song. You do not have to change the volume every new song. The disadvantage with "Smart-volume" is that it doesnt provice a "loud" quality sound. The volume of the player ranges from 0/25 to 25/25. At 25, it is very loud at 98 db (decibles). SIZE:
2.99" x 4.43" x 0.95" (75.9 x 112.6 x 24.5 mm
To make it simple, lets just say that this jukebox can fit in your pocket easily at a very light weight. It is smaller than it really seems. The size doesnt rob you of any featuers, but all your fravorite buttons and gadgets are included. UNIQUE FEATURES:
- Customize the jukebox with your own name
- Configure your own ending graphics (once you shut it off, a picture of your choice will display)
- Customize language and input options
- Idle shut off options
- Bookmark set, jump, and remove options included I hope this review has helped with your decision whether or not to buy this.
On: 2002-11-27
This unit will NOT connect to a Mac. Creatives support states that future support for the Mac is unlikely. Therefore if you are a Mac user looking for an alternative to the iPod, look elsewhere. A pity, because the Zen is such a nice unit...
by: Anonymous On: 2002-11-26
This review is being revised on 1/17/03 because I have more experience with the Zen than I had five weeks ago. I purchased the Jukebox Zen after considering the 10 gb iPOD, the Sony MZ-707, the new Nike MP3 players (by Philips), and a 5 gb PC card for my iPAQ pocket PC. I am glad I chose the Zen. Although it is not perfect, it is a great little device. The Zen arrived in a box with a protective carrying case that has a neat little metal ring to which I have attach a carabiner so I may anchor the Zen to exercise machines in the gym. There is also a velcro belt loop on the carrying case. The vinyl about the metal ring is beginning to break down, so I started to attach the carabiner to the Velcro belt loop. Creative will not replace the case and I could not locate a better quality custom case on the internet. The Zen may be charged while it is in the carrying case, but if you are using USB or Firewire attachments to transfer music, you must lift the top latch of the case. In its protective case, The Zen is about the same size as an iPAQ with PC card holder, and neither has a consumer-replacable battery(nor does the iPOD). The Zen has blue back-lighting that is handy during the evenings (the Sony MZ-707 and the iPOD do not). The headphones are mediocre and are not adjustable in size, so I use my water resistant Aiwa cross trainer HP-AS288 headphones when I am in the gym and a pair of Bose noise-cancelling headphones at home for sound quality that surpasses both the iPOD, and the iPAQ. The unit was easy to charge, and was easy to use. There are instructions and music tracks installed on the device so I was able to commence listening right away. The software was quite difficult to install (see alternatives below). There were several files on the cd rom and I finally selected the correct ones after six attempts and one hour of fiddling. I have upgraded the software and the firmware and I have had to "soft reset the device once." I like being able to play MP3 and WMA files on the same device and the Fire Wire link substantially accelerates music transfer relative to the USB 1.0 input method. Creating playlists away from the desktop may be accomplished with all the devices I considered except the iPOD. The incredible volume of music (and PC files) that the Zen accommodates is phenomenal for a device of its size and price. The rebate adds appeal to the device that ultimately costs about . Although hard drive players seem to have a shorter life than PC card players and minidiscs, I plan to take good care of my device, so my music collection will be with me for years to come. Upgradable firmware will make this a player for the long haul. I cant wait for the FM radio device with input jack to become available, because there is no input jack and only one (headphone) output jack. At times, the on/off button seems to be a bit less sensitive than I would prefer, and a few of my friends did not like the small font size as they found it difficult to read; I had no such problem. My Zen is averaging 10 hours battery life, and the USB cable serves as a battery charger when the unit is turned off. This is not the case with the fire wire cable. I am left-handed and I have become accustomed to operating the Zen with either hand. It is much easier to use than my iPAQ controls. The on button is indented and there is a lock function that prevents accidental pressing of buttons. While the Sony net MD is smaller, has a removable battery, and has other desirable features, I prefer carrying all my music in one place. The Sony permits up to five hours of music to be recorded onto one inexpensive mini disc, but the proprietary interface limits how many copies the user may make of each cd. I am pleased with my choice. It is a cost-effective, compact method for carrying ones music and data collections. Several people have commented on the quality of the software that comes with the Zen. Although I have had no software complaints since I installed it, there is third party software available for this and other Creative devices, that reviews suggest bring the Zen to another level. Notmad Explorer and JBHTTP are available on the web.
by: Anonymous On: 2002-11-15
I bought the Nomad Zen yesterday and I love it! Theres no comparison to IPOD in terms of value.... The jukebox software is pretty easy and intuitive to use after about 10 minutes of fiddling with it. The jukebox itself is not as small as an IPOD, but still pretty compact. With a 98dB signal to noise ratio, it sounds great! Theres also alot of settings you can fool with to adjust the sound to your liking. It took me about 20 minutes of fooling with the buttons and the settings to get the hang of it, but after that its very intuitive to use. The only drawback I can think of is that its a bit heavy - but if you dont plan to jog with it you should be fine. Construction is VERY solid.
On: 2002-11-14
Incredible. Just got, charged for 2 hours and transfered all my music to it in just a few minutes using firewire. Sound quality is amazing. Very user friendly I really like the interface compared to other mp3 players. This is the best mp3 player on the market right now, much better deal than ipod. ...
On: 2002-11-12
Ive been thoroughly enjoying the Zen for almost a week now. As this is my first portable MP3 unit, I wont spend time trying to compare this product to others. ... Comparison isnt a good way to evaluate anyway. After installing the software on my desktop machine, I powered the unit via the included AC adapter. While I was expecting to take a while to get a full charge on the internal Lithium-Ion battery, four hours was enough. This is probably due to the fact that these units are fully charged at the factory and just started shipping on October 14th! I also hooked up the USB connection (I dont have FireWire yet). While the desktops USB hub sometimes drops the connection and forces me to reboot, I had no problems using USB on my notebook, so the problem was my hub, not the Zen nor its drivers. Since I already use MusicMatch 7.2 to rip my CDs and organize my collection, I didnt use PlayCenter, Creatives encoding and device management software, for ripping. It was nice that, once you connect the Zen, the computer automatically starts PlayCenter. I could navigate to the MusicMatch directory and all my files and then drag and drop them to the Zen. One small nag was that, when more than one level of directories exists(i.e. Artist->Album->Song files), you cant transfer all the albums for an artist at once. This is true even if you use PlayCenter to navigate and click the transfer button. In fact, PlayCenter highlights the transfer button, indicating that a transfer is possible. But, when you press Transfer, nothing happens, not even a warning message appears. This does make the initial load process a little tedious, especially if you have lots of files in your collection. Good thing you can easily queue up more files to be transferred while the Zen is loading. Since I recently upgraded to MusicMatch 7.2, I started recording files in MP3Pro format, which essentially cuts the file size in half and is supposed to be backward compatible with regular MP3 players. While I dont think the Zen currently supports MP3Pro, it had no problem playing the MP3Pro files at a lower quality level (less highs). Hopefully, the Creative folks will provide a firmware upgrade to take care of this as well, thus doubling the units capacity. ...Im sticking with the MP3/MP3Pro formats. The Zen provides excellent playback quality. Its sound is bigger than its size. The included headphones are "behind the head" style and provide good sound, albeit a little muffled. I prefer Philips new Nike brand headphones for comfort and sound quality. Hook it up to your home stereo system and let this unit show what its made of! The user interface provides a lot of information in a small screen. While I would have liked a bigger screen, selecting albums, artists, playlists, and genres is easy to do. A clickable scroll wheel provides quick access. And, creating playlists on the unit is both doable and easy. Just pick the songs or albums you want as a playlist. As you play each one (even for a few seconds), theyre added to the "Now Playing" list. Once youre done picking, switch to the "Now Playing" view and select "Save as Playlist". Name it and thats it. Just make sure you clear the "Now Playing" list first! Otherwise, youll get all the other files youve played recently! As for durability, an aluminum case surrounds the unit. While I dont know how much of a jolt the hard drive can take (and dont care to find out myself!), place the Zen in the included carrying case and you probably wont have a problem. The case also provides a handy belt hoop that ISNT made of plastic and should stand up to many days of use. Onboard sound processing is also included. While you can add reverb (Environment), change playback speed while maintaining pitch (Time-Scale), tweak the EQ (Advanced EQ), spread the stage (Spatialization), and apply compression and limiting (Smart Volume), you cant do two at the same time. So, I cant boost the bass a little AND apply limiting to the loud passages. I can pick one but not both. While I know that its great that I can do any of the above in real time, I would really like to apply volume control and EQ together. Maybe the Zen 2 will give us that... 20GB (really 19GB after formatting). Enough said about capacity! While Creative boasts 12 hours continuous playback from a single charge, I have only experienced 9 hours and 15 minutes. This is after fully charging the unit the first night and cycling it from full charge to the "low battery" warning a few times this week. While this is long enough for a full workday, some folks may wonder why they cant find the access door to switch batteries. There isnt one (oops). Again, maybe the Zen 2 will address the replaceable battery issue. Im sure Ill get out my jewelers screwdriver next year when its time to replace the battery! ...Creative has a real winner in the Zen.
On: 2002-11-12
Just bought a Nomad Zen and need to reload the operating system (firmware). The firmware is no where to be found, Installation CD, Internet or Creative.Creative Tech Support does not possess this firmware and will only handle this via a RMA (factory return). My guess is they forward the Zen to whatever company in China that manufactured it. They actually want me to crack the case to look next to the battery for the serial number in order to authorize a return. And to think I sunk another $350 bucks into a Creative product after my other Nomad Jukeboxs hard drive crashed. Another ..., P.T. Barnum would have been proud!
by: Anonymous On: 2002-11-08
I purchased both a Zen and a 10 GB iPOD a few days ago. Bottom line is that the Zen is being sent back and I am keeping the iPOD. I bought the Zen because it was significantly lower priced for the 20 GB size. I had previously owned a Creative Nomad II and liked it. The zen only measures slightly larger than iPOD, but it is a significant difference. On the Zen, the control buttons are along both sides. It was too large hold the Zen and control it all with one hand. I like to sit at my desk and listen to music. The Zen was too large and heavy to put in my shirt pocket. I like to keep the player in my shirt pocket because it is easy to get to, and I dont accidentally pull it off my desk. In addition, the screen is smaller on the Zen, and it chopped off a lot of the file names. Finally, the Zens menu system is quite a bit harder to use. The iPOD is easy to use with one hand, the menu system is easy to use, and it sounds great. Several reviews had mentionned that the PC SW Music Match was very difficult to use and has some problems. I didnt have any of these major issues. I had a slight issue with the song tags, but it was pretty easy to fix. I currently have about 3 GB of music, so it fits nicely on the 10 GB iPOD with room to grow. I wish the iPOD played WMA files, but I will recode my music due to the iPODs ease of use.
On: 2002-11-02
I became interested in getting an iPod a few weeks ago, but I finally settled on this Nomad Zen. I found the 10 Gig iPod ridiculously overpriced compared to the Zen which is 100 bucks cheaper (after rebate) and 10 Gigs bigger. Reading the reviews and hearing the Zen myself, it sounds better than the iPod as well. Some people think that the Zen uses the same Toshiba harddrive found in the iPod and Toshiba Mobilphone, but theyre wrong. The Zen is a tad bigger than the iPod because it uses the same laptop harddrive found in the Discman sized Nomad 3. This drives the price of the Zen down as there are more of the standard laptop harddrives around than those tiny and exotic Toshiba ones.
I really like the Zen overall. Its bigger than an iPod but its still pretty small. If you never saw an iPod before, the size of the Zen would still be considered amazing. What I dont like about the Zen is that there are too many buttons on the sides of this player and they all look alike making navigation a lot less simple than disc based navigation of an iPod. You get USB and Firewire input/output but you cant charge the built-in Li-on battery through Firewire. The headphones arent very good and the bundled software is bloated and buggy beyond belief. As soon as I got the Zen, I got Notmad Explorer, and you should too. It makes file transfers as easy as dragging and dropping files in Windows Explorer.
On: 2002-11-02
The Jukebox Zen is simply the best mp3 player I have bought till now.
First of all, the construction is top-notch. The buttons really have a strong feeling and seem like they will last a long while. The sleek aluminum is just awesome and feels very sturdy.
The interface takes a while to get used to but after a few hours of fiddling around with the scroller and buttons, everything seems intuitive. The blue backlight is just great in the dark.
I have been using the Jukebox for about 6 hours now and hopefully the batteries will last for the 12 advertised hours.
The only complaint I might have is the headphones, which do not seem to match with the unit itself in terms of quality. It is made of cheap plastic, and the sound is just average quality. Investing in a good pair of decent headphones might not be a bad idea. Oh another complaint might be that there is no way to classify songs into different folders. So imagine scrolling through 3000 mp3s in the same list, this can be quite painful since you can only search for songs by stating the letters they start with.
But overall this is one of the best purchases Ive made over the past months, and it comes highly recommended.
On: 2002-10-26
When I received my Nomad Zen, it was broken. (Bad hard drive). When I called customer support, I was treated to a HORRIBLE experience.Ive used creative products for over 10 years, and because of this experience Im not longer going to buy their products. I cant recommend a product to a user when the company refuses to support their customers. Try something else, perhaps the Apple IPod. I would be happy to provide more details if asked.
On: 2002-10-24
This is a good sounding unit with a huge storage capacity, which can hold an awful lot of music files in both the MP3 and WMA formats. It can also store data files containing text, graphics, or movies. This gets around the problem of files that are too large for floppies and which take too long to be burning to a CD, with the associated problem of incompatibility of burning software where a partially burned disc is wanted to be appendable. Nero and Adaptec work together, but Gear is only compatible with Gear.I chose this unit over the Apple iPod because it had both USB and FireWire connections. The iPod only has FireWire, which is not fitted to many computers that you might want to up/download data to/from, so the Creative labs is the more versatile choice. The iPod does look more swish, the Creative labs looking good, yet rather traditional. So, if youre looking for a convenient way to transport large data files and have lots of music to keep you entertained, this Creative labs unit is a good buy.
On: 2002-10-24
Ordered my Zen unit the next day after official release on Creative Labs website. It was delivered 8 days later .
And I can only say - Creative Labs guys have really done the best they could again. After seeing all the troubles the iPOD users have to go through and the limited features of iPOD MP3 players I have no doubt that the Zen will not only outperform iPOD in sales but will quickly take the leadership among all other MP3 players.
The beautiful little Zen works right out of the box - after you charge it for 2-3 hours before starting for the first time. No problems with configuration. Easy and intuitive interface. Ripping of CDs couldnt have been easier. Incredible sound. Comprehensive sound processing features. Long lasting battery.
Highly recommend to all music lovers (and computer geeks too as you can also use it as a miniature hard-drive you always have with you to transfer other files between USB or FireWire enabled computers).
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