Rating: 
Summary: BASIC DESIGN FLAW
Review: Forget how this unit works because it has a basic design flaw that will drive users crazy! The front cover has a release button that allows removal of the front cover to access the removable battery. Forget about the release button. You don't need it. just tap the lower left hand corner of the case and the cover pops open! Convenient, huh? No way! This design flaw is a total pain in the ass! And it's not just my unit. I tested two other new, out of the box units and both did the same thing. Simply bad design and no quality testing. Do yourself a favor and avoid this unit at all costs unless you don't mind continually closing the case after it has popped open on it's own.
Rating: 
Summary: Bet buy
Review: GET THIS. Not that having a cool MP3 player is the most important thing in the world,but I think everyone can agree that the ipod is the coolest. But who cares. If you are going to buy an MP3 player go all out. Get one that will last, one that has more space than youll need. This is the right one for everyone. This player does everything you need it to. and its not as expensive as the ipod.
Rating:
Summary: Buggy player software.
Review: I bought the player as a gift for my wife. Unfortunately, nearly every time she turns it on, it needs to "rebuild" the library. After consulting with Creative email tech support, I reformatted its disk and reloaded its firmware. This didn't fix the "rebuild" problem, but did eliminate a tendency for the player to freeze completely on occasion. Creative told me that they are not aware of any firmware bugs that could cause the problem, and didn't offer to swap the unit so that they could investigate the probem(s) themselves. Unfortunately, Creative's software isn't stable yet and the company tech support is unresponsive. I hope your experience is better than mine has been. In the meanwhile, I'm going to wait a year before purchasing from them again.
Rating:
Summary: Don't buy it!
Review: I bought this product about four months ago. I really liked it. It was a little bulky, but I have never been too worried about the style of a gadget. It did everything I wanted it to do: It held my whole music collection with plenty of space for the rest of my life. I brought it to college and used it all the time. I never had any problems with it besides the minor fact that the battrey life was a little short. But then about a week ago, I was using it, and it randomly broke. All the buttons stopped working. I don't know why this happened, because I hadnt loaded any new songs onto it recently, so I don't think it could have been a bad file or anything, but nonetheless, it just stopped working. I ended up removing the battery and replacing it. When I turned it back on, It was in "rescue mode" and said there was a problem with he harddrive. I called customer support, and they said that since I had bought it more than 60 days ago, and hadn't bought the extended warranty, it would cost $150 to fix (which is more than half of the price I paid for the item). I obviously did not do that. I ended up buying a new mp3 player, by a different company.
I thought this would be a great product, and the price was excellent (for 40GB). However, if you want a quality item that will not break in a few months, then pay a little more for a better quality product. I ended up spending the same amount of money that I spent on The Zen on a 20GB player, because I realized that I will never need 40GB of music.
It's not only the fact that the Zen broke so quickly, but the fact that Creative does not back it's product for very long (60 days!) shows that they don't trust their own products to work.
Don't buy it!!!
By the way, I ended up buying the iAudio M3 20 GB player (they sell it here, so just put it in the search)
Rating:
Summary: What more could you want - and the price is right!
Review: I finally bought an MP3 player when there was a reasonable alternative to Apple. I was involved with Apple when they built the first one and had an Apple 1 in the late 70's. I saw them get very close to the vest and I was closely involved with IBM when they broke all their "Big blue" rules and turned a group loose in Boca Raton FL with but one charge - to get out a PC in two years regardless. I had a Beta test model. That led to creation of a VERY open software platform, the relagation of Apple to schools and graphics types, and the creation of countless numbers of millionaires and the VERY rich William Gates. So now that I don't have to deal with "my way or the highway" Apple, I can get it my way. The Nomad Zen Xtra 40 GB is every thing I want and then some. Those who fault the size being bigger than iPod did not grow up in the days of 30 pound luggables with a whopping 64 KB like I did. The software is top notch and works seemlessly and rapidly with my PC. The manual leaves a few holes but once you play around, you find that you can do all sorts of stuff with the Nomad connected to the computer that you cannot do with it disconnected. The data storage is a big plus. I will still use my flash drives (128MB & 256MB) for portability of a lot of my data, but to back up my growing digital picture files this will be invaluable. I can take my entire picture collection around with me. This is a real winner and I have not even gotten my FM attachment yet!
Rating: 
Summary: Zen and the art of noise - close to the edit
Review: I got this back in March when Creative themselves were running a big sale on their site. I had most of my CDs already ripped on my PC in WMA and this player supported them fine. Most people compare this to the iPod though it really it is like the Dell Jukebox just slightly cheaper (the sizes are almost identical). The iRiver could also be compared to this. Pros
Almost half the price of the iPod of the same capacity. Sound quality much better than the iPod. Controls on the side mean you don't have to take it out to change tracks. They are not totally intuitive but when you get use to them you can navigate very fast. Battery life great (I'm getting about 14+ hours out of it.) USB2 transfer does about a track in under a second. Cons
Only currently supports MP3 and WMA, though Real seem to have an update on their site but I have not tried it. It requires drivers installed on any machine you want to dock with. Software is not great. Although much better than previous Creative outtings it still has limitations. For example you can't have two tracks on an album with the same title. Doesn't link to WindowsMedia library correctly if you rip in WM9 (you have to import the tracks - using the watch facility doesn't get the tags). Slightly larger than the iPod. I also have a strange issue on Nomadworld where there is an autoupdate facility for the firmware. Whenever I use it my system reboots! In all I can live with the limitations because of the huge price difference and significantly better sound quality. By the way if you register your player you get a discount on their site for a select set of their other products.
Rating:
Summary: What a great toy!
Review: I had an RCA mp3 player that used cards. I decided to purchase this one based on its reviews and cost. I'm not sorry. The only thing I had challenges with was transferring music from my PC and CD's to the player. I searched and searched and finally figured it out. I think Creative needs to have a picture of the software in the quick guide so people know which window is which. I love the ability to organize and listen to music using several options: genre, artist, etc.. It transfers very quickly (using a 2.0 USB hook-up) and sounds great. I'm just beginning to play with it so I'm looking forward to finding out everything I can about it. It isn't much larger/heavier than an IPOD and is very versatile (not to mention a whole lot less expansive). I also like the fact that it's a "mini" external hard drive so I can store large files on it if necessary.
Rating:
Summary: Worth every penny and more
Review: I have not compared my player to other brands, but I am very happy with it. I have not experienced any of the problems discussed in the negative reviews. The cover has never come open accidentally. I have also dropped it dozens of times and it still keeps going. Of course, I always keep it in the leather case, which seems to absorb the force of the impact. My only complaint is that the headphones were not durable at all. They went bad within a week. No problem though, since headphones are really inexpensive. I go through a pair of Sony headphones every few months. What I love most about the player is that it contains my entire music collection with lots of room to spare. I store my mp3's at 96 kbps, so I have room for about 13,000 tracks. I can't tell the difference between the mp3 and the CD in terms of sound quality. When I meet other people on campus with mp3 players, almost all of them tell me that they paid close to the same price for a unit with much less memory. Freud might have a field day, because when I see other people with mp3 players, I think to myself, "Mine is bigger than yours." And I smile at that thought.
Rating:
Summary: Zen versus iPod
Review: I just got a 40GB iPod to replace my Zen (a 20GB model). While the iPod's form factor is much nicer, here's where the Zen is better. Software: A lot of people complain about the Creative Software, but I actually find Creative MediaSource Organizer to have some strengths over iTunes. First, the Zen lets you sync to more than one computer. The iPod is a one way only machine - from computer to player. The Zen is an outstanding way to shuttle music between sources, you can't do this on the iPod (except for a cumbersome work-around using the iPod as a hard drive instead of a player). Second, the "automatic" sync on Creative lets you review the songs before it begins its transfer. Since the iPod lacks this review feature on its auto-sync and it only allows one-way transfers, the first time I connected my iPod to my laptop, I wiped out the 20GB of music I had transferred from my desktop to the iPod. If the hard drive on your computer should fail, better have your music backed up somewhere or its gone! The Zen serves as a back-up device as well as a player. Third, Creative software allows you to keep two windows open to look at both the content on the player and the computer. Only thing missing from Creative is a CD burner. Lastly, iPod/iTunes will not play WMA formatted songs. If you have a lot of those, be prepared to convert to MP3. iTunes does what Apple is famous for, makes software that works for the less computer saavy. For those of us that like to tinker, I think Creative offers some advantages. Player controls: Here's where the iPod drives me nuts. The player controls are too easy to hit accidentally. If you happen to push the wrong button, you can wipe out the order of songs you had put in. The iPod also does not let you see what's coming up next on the player. Zen allows you to scroll up and down the song list selected on the player. It also lets you remove songs from the play order. If you bring up an album, but absolutely hate some of the tracks, the Zen will allow you to delete that from the playing order. You have to skip to the next track when your hated song comes up with the iPod. Lastly, you cannot manage anything on the iPod itself. While you can create a temporary playlist, you can't store it permanently, delete songs, search very easily, etc. None of these features are available because of the iPod's 1-way transfers - you cannot make changes on the iPod that are premanent. Again, the iPod is a beautiful thing to look at and touch, player controls are less functional. I think the iPod versus Zen typifies differences between Apple and Win machines. Win software can be a little cranky, but much more easier to customize to your needs. With Apple, you get a good product, but you get it the way Apple wants you to have it. If I had to do this again, I might get the 40GB Zen. Its ability to serve as a back-up for my music collection is a huge plus.
Rating: 
Summary: READ!
Review: I love this thing to death(5 stars), but the headphone jack breaks very easily. If you purchase this item, make sure you reinforce it(from the inside) right away! Otherwise, I had no problems, I love(ed) it...
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