Rating: 
Summary: Overall 9/10, or Excellent.
Review: The Nomad Zen is simply the best MP3 Jukebox out there. It defintly on par with the Apple IPOD or far past. Here's 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 aren't 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 it's 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 aren't 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.
Rating: 
Summary: Software Bugs
Review: I would like to give this product a higher rating but the problems associated with the firewire connection give it a big downgrade. I am using XP and downloaded the latest drivers immediately. The player is very sporadic when being detected by firewire and don't even try to rip and transfer in the same session. Your system will crash and reboot every time. The software is not that friendly either. I have been using it for several years as I owned a previous Nomad Jukebox and it still is tough to navigate.
Once the songs are downloaded (usb works fine) the player is great. The buttons could be a little easier to push but the size of the unit and the quality of the sound is top notch.
If Creative can develop a patch I would rate it higher. Unfortunately Creative builds abig wall between themselves and their customers when it comes to service. I think the IPOD may be a better choice if you have lots of existin files on your computer to tranfer.
Rating: 
Summary: Better hope you don't have ANY problems with it......
Review: Customer service is rather bad. First of all, to get a pretty standard item for all wireless/portable product, a car adapter, you're going to have to shell out an extra $40 and this is for any of Creative's 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 didn't 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 it's 90 day warranty.
Rating:
Summary: Creative Labs Nomad Zen 20GB V. Apple iPod 20GB
Review: 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 aren't 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.
Rating: 
Summary: This vs. iPod
Review: OK, I've 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. It's 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.
I've also used the 20gb iPod and it's 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. I've read that many have had problems with this player but I've used mine for 1 ½ years. I've 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.
Rating: 
Summary: iPod is a much better choice
Review: 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 I'm 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 weren't in the box, then the Zen didn't 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 girlfriend's 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 didn't need to do any troubleshooting. The thing works perfect. I don't 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.
Rating:
Summary: FIVE STARS!!! The Best MP3 Player All Way Around!!!
Review: 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 couldn't 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).
Rating:
Summary: High pitch squeal and crashed after 6 months
Review: 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 didn't 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!
Rating:
Summary: title for my review
Review: 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 menu's,
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,
doesn't come with non firewire cables (if you don't 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 can't save it on the iPod. you can save it with iTunes when you sync, but only if you are using "automatic sync" - which i don't(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 can't sync outlook information, it doesn't have games, is heavier and larger overall and is certainly not nearly as cool looking.
Rating:
Summary: Depends what you want
Review: 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.com JUst get an ipod
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