Creative Nomad MP3 players

I don't care that the Ipods are cute.

I've been looking at the Creative Nomad Zen Xtra and the Zen Touch. Anyone have these and what have been your experiences with them?

I once thought Ipods were the epitome of the mp3 players, but think that too many people are starry-eyed due to their sleek look. I heard that the Nomad are cheaper and provide better results. But, I'm still not sure…….

Originally posted by freddyadu:
I don't care that the Ipods are cute.

I've been looking at the Creative Nomad Zen Xtra and the Zen Touch. Anyone have these and what have been your experiences with them?

I have the Creative Nomad Zen Xtra 30gb and it's a great machine but does have it's positives and negatives. I'll start with the negatives:

The biggest negative might be it's internal parts. I've read on the internet that about 50% of these units sold have problems with the headphone jack. In essence, the wiring gets loose on the inside and you lose sound from one ear. But anyone who can use a soldering iron can fix it themselves. The link is here: I've had mine for three months and so far so good.

The other negative for me is that the scroll wheel on the side of the machine is shaky if you don't press down exactly right.

Other than those negatives, the positives are great. For what I paid for a 30gb Nomad, you can only get a 4gb from IPOD. It gets good battery life and has great sound quality. The transfer software is easy to use and the casing is very solid. The display is nice and easy to use and I enjoy having this machine with me wherever I go.

I recommend that if you buy this unit from a retailer such as Best Buy, spend the $30 to get the 3-year replacement plan. Anyway, hope this helps. good luck!

Get an ipod. You can get a 20gb for 299, alittle more but worth it. itunes is the best music management package out there and i've never met anyone who's regrettedbuying one. Plus, they're cute!

I've got a Nomad from 2000. Still works fine. Takes AA batteries! Does anyone still have Ipods from 2K? Nope.

I've had 2 Nomads. Neither is still working - display screen problems.

I love my Ipod - although I've got one of the first generation that doesn't make uploading & charging so convenient (PDA-like data port eliminates this on more recent models). Plus it's very big & heavy.

If I was buying an MP3 player right now - I'd go with the Ipod Mini.
mini

It's even cuter.

I wonder if these portable players will start supporting lossless formats any time soon. I've heard something about the IPOD being able to play flac files in the near future. Anyone else hear the same thing?

Not heard anything about ipods supporting flac files, but 192kbps aac's and mp3's are more than good enough for me.

I still know a few folks with 1st gen ipods but I dont think they really started to fly off the shelves til 2nd gen….that's why you don't see too many 1st gen.

For studio-recorded shit, I can agree with 192K being good enough but I listen to mostly live shows and that compromised sound quality is definitely noticeable especially when you're listening to an audience recording. I know that very few people prefer live music over studio tracks and the market of people who would buy one of these devices to play lossless audio is even smaller so I'm not holding my breath waiting. Just curious.

Originally posted by azaghal1981:
but I listen to mostly live shows

The Dead and Phish, eh?

Originally posted by freddyadu:
I don't care that the Ipods are cute.

I've been looking at the Creative Nomad Zen Xtra and the Zen Touch. Anyone have these and what have been your experiences with them?

I bought my Creative Nomad Zen Xtra half because it was so cheap for a 30GB, half because I think Apple is overrated.

I love it. It's awesome.
The only downside is that it's a little to big for running– I had to buy a belt-thingy to carry it. But it's perfect for all else. Long battery life. Pretty. No stupid touch wheel to screw up. Smartly designed system. Good interface software.

Go for it.

Originally posted by chimbly sweep:

Originally posted by freddyadu:
I don't care that the Ipods are cute.

I've been looking at the Creative Nomad Zen Xtra and the Zen Touch. Anyone have these and what have been your experiences with them?

I bought my Creative Nomad Zen Xtra half because it was so cheap for a 30GB, half because I think Apple is overrated.

I love it. It's awesome.
The only downside is that it's a little to big for running– I had to buy a belt-thingy to carry it. But it's perfect for all else. Long battery life. Pretty. No stupid touch wheel to screw up. Smartly designed system. Good interface software.

Go for it.

does it work in your car too? ;)

Yes, my Nomad Zen Xtra 30gig works fine in my car. I purchased a FM transmitter that plugs into the phone jack of my MP3 player and it transmits the info to my car FM stereo. It has a broadcast range of 70 ft and can be on any FM station. So, when you're pissed off in commuter traffic and want to mess with other people, you can pirate radio all you want and they have to listen to your music.

There are several kinds of FM transmitters on the market. Radio Shack has a shitty product, but it's cheap. CCrane has the best product on the market, in my opinion. The link to it is here:

http://www.ccrane.com/fm-transmitter.aspx

Originally posted by chimbly sweep:
No stupid touch wheel to screw up. Smartly designed system.
Go for it.

The idea with the touch wheel is that it doesn't get screwed up. No moving parts. But I'm an IPOD zealot and can't stand to hear someone bash them.

Originally posted by chaz:

Originally posted by azaghal1981:
but I listen to mostly live shows

The Dead and Phish, eh?

The Dead and Phish are just 2 of the over 500 bands that allow audience recording. Bands such as Sonic Youth, Fugazi, Ministry, Metallica, GLaSS, and many more are cool with it.

azaghal1981, care to chime in? You listen to mostly the Dead and Phish, right? Don't tell me your collection is full of Fugazi and Ministry bootlegs??!!

Originally posted by chaz:
Not heard anything about ipods supporting flac files, but 192kbps aac's and mp3's are more than good enough for me.

I still know a few folks with 1st gen ipods but I dont think they really started to fly off the shelves til 2nd gen….that's why you don't see too many 1st gen.

I know a couple of people 1st gen ipods as well, no problems, including markie who uses my 1st gen ipod with no problems. I have even dropped my newer one a bunch because thats the kind of thing I do and it is fine.

Originally posted by DrOwnage:
Yes, my Nomad Zen Xtra 30gig works fine in my car. I purchased a FM transmitter that plugs into the phone jack of my MP3 player and it transmits the info to my car FM stereo. It has a broadcast range of 70 ft and can be on any FM station. So, when you're pissed off in commuter traffic and want to mess with other people, you can pirate radio all you want and they have to listen to your music.

Oh, this could be so much fun! I'd have to load up some songs that I maybe don't even like that much just for some real fun in traffic.

You know what would be great? Get a whole load of people with these, tune it into HFS and drive around the HFS studios playing anything but what they program. We could even get really synchronized with a playlist so that the same songs would play pretty much at the same time.

You've just energized the little devil in me. :p

BTW, I love the C Crane Co. They have some nice stuff. I got my portable radio from them years ago.

Not a huge dead fan but I do collect phish shows. I also listen to many other bands that allow audience and soundboard taping. Any Claypool project for instance, tons of other jambands and other bands and artists that allow it. Allowing taping isn't as rare as you think. Run some sort of internet search on bands that permit taping; you'd be surprised.

Here's a pretty complete list of bands that allows taping/trading.
http://www.archive.org/audio/etree-band-showall.php

Yeah I know taping is commonly allowed, but prolific mostly in the jam-band scene.

Just don't talk about the jam-band thing around here too much - unless you want redsock to get Mideval on your ass. :D