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Creative Labs Nomad Jukebox Zen Xtra 30 GB MP3 Player

Creative Labs Nomad Jukebox Zen Xtra 30 GB MP3 Player

List Price: $269.99
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Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Good, but not great.
Review: This being my first MP3 player, I have nothing to compare it to. It works well and I do like it. BUT, the earphones are the worst design I have seen in my life. They make absolutely no sense. I quickly had to pay to replace them. The front panel does pop off rather easily. It has happened to me twice in one month. And it does lock up rather easily as well. They warn you that it might and how to fix it...but why should it...and so often. The software works well and is quickly learned. I like that you can create and revise playlists so easily on your PC and they convert to the player well. BUT...what is up with the buttons and scroll knob? It is cumbersome. And I have yet to find a way to stop playback other than turning it off. That is odd. Great memory and storage though. OH...and the case that covers the face is very annoying. You are constantly popping it open to make any changes to the songs being played. Very poor design.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Hmmm... a few problems
Review: Well I got this Mp3 player about a week ago. i bought it simply because of the price and size compared to the ipods and such. i dont know if i had the right connection for the highspeed usb port, but it does take about 5 seconds to get a song (took an over nighter for me with my 20 gig collection)onto the mp3 player, which can cause a hassle for the first time transfering all your files. it is also fairly hard to find just a song your looking for because huge lists u have to scroll through, or if the software doesnt support your ID tag for the mp3 file (like the file name, and will slap it into a unknown folder). the case for the nomad is very , well, obstructive. you cant see the screen when closed so if you do keep it in the case you have to pop it open everytime u need to switch a song. as for the cover poping off, i haven't had a problem with that as of yet. the battery life is good. it seems very strudy but i still wouldnt wanna drop it :). i use it everday and its nice to have. its fairly convient to carry this thing around because it does have the whole music collection. i give this product 3 stars because of the simple mistakes creative must have looked over.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Easily Broken, Hard to Use, Bad Design
Review: The Zen tries to imitate the iPod and fails miserably. It does offer a larger amount of storage compared to a similarly priced iPod, but you eventually get what you pay for with this piece of digital junk.

The problem is that the unit is badly made. If you look at the Nomad sites, the Zen Xtra has been beaten up because of faulty manufacturing such as the very common headphone jack issue where the headphone jack will fail to produce sound after a while. It is almost inevitable. It does not help that Creative only gives a 90-day warranty on this thing (Apple gives a full 1-year warranty on their iPod).

Making the situation worse is the terrible UI of the Zen. If the iPod is using a graphical user interface, the Zen is like using a command line. There are too many button pushes to achieve the same results as on the iPod. Too many clicks of "Open" when trying to drill down into a list to find a song. The scroll-wheel is not very responsive, yet it is very sharp and hurts the fingers after a long period of use.

The screen, although large, is cast in a terrible blue light and even with contrast tweaking is not as clear and sharp to look at as the iPod. The faceplate often pops off without notice because of the badly designed hinge and switch on the bottom of the unit. Some of the buttons are badly placed like the Play, Menu, and Back button.

This is not a machine that an ordinary person can sit down and learn in a few minutes (unlike the iPod). The one good thing about the Zen is the phenomenal sound quality that comes out of this little unit. Also, it is a perk that the battery is removable. Other than that, this unit stinks. Mine broke in less than a years worth of play, thank goodness I had an extended warranty since Creative's was over in the firs three months!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: works good
Review: Bottom line.

Have had this platyer 6 months with my whole cd collection on it.
Never one crash. Never any problems except for the headphones. which can be chealy replaced. Not a big fan of the software either, i just use "My Computer" and drag and drop. Not a loose headphone jack or shorting out of the left ear. This is a great player and it has revolutionized my life. If you do run into any problems, take your time and don't give up in a week. Very happy with product. Highly recommended.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: New to Creative Labs
Review: So far, so good. No problems at all with the product. Ripped about 70 CDs on to hard drive. Software very easy and intuitive. Takes < 1 minute a song to rip to unit.

Had concern about the reviews related to unit being fragile, but have not experienced any problems so far. Controls very easy to learn.

EAX - overrated. Sounds fine without it.

Battery - nowhere near the claimed 14 hours, but I used the .wma format rather the mp3 to store music.

Overall, what I expected for the money

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Not a fan
Review: I took my zen back after a week of problems.
It's really fussy about id3 tags, which is a problem if some of you collection didn't come _directly_ off cd. I fiddled around with various automated taggers, but never got things working to satisfaction. The player crashes every 3 to 8 hours of operation and frequently takes 20+ minutes rebuilding it's database of tracks after a crash (i hear this process is made long by incomplete id3 tags).
Two days ago the left headphone channel started cutting out, as it has for many other reviewers. That was the last straw. I'm over it, thinking about a rio Karma or nothing at all.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: everything i expected it to be
Review: this one of the best buys i have ever made.the price is very good for what the player offers and it has all the features i need to have my music with me all the time.Cons:the player does not have,at the time of this lines being written, accesories that could enchance the use of it.and it does not have good compatibilty with the creative software under windows 98 enviroment.with windows xp, is a breeze.I trully recomend this product.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Worst Customer Service i've ever had
Review: I had this mp3 player for not very long. The hook up to the cumputer was loose. Aswell as the other review they said we had forced the usb in on the Nomad. WE NEVER DID SUCH A THING. THEY SHOULD STAND UP TO THERE WARENTY AND NOT ACCUSE PEOPLE. I AM NOT PAYING $80 DOLLARS FOR SOMETHING THAT IS $250. ON THE OTHER HAND,You can get your self an HP. They have the best prices and customer service. I had a broken mouse pad and they fixed it with a total of $0 plus $0 in shipping. Creative Sucks.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: CREATIVE WILL NOT OWN UP TO WARRANTY!
Review: What I believe to be a manufacturer's defect, the USB connection on the unit loosened making it unusable. The unit had a 90 warranty and was sent for repair on or about day 60. As of today, they have had the unit for 35 days. I am still trying to get the company to own up to the repair under warranty. They are accusing us of forcing the USB plug so they can charge us for the repair! This is ridiculous; we did no such thing! They will repair it for a fee of more than $80, which is about a third of the original cost of the unit! BUYERS BEWARE...if you have a problem, Creative may not repair this without a substantial fee. You probably should just forget about the warranty.

Meanwhile, thanks to Creative, my son doesn't have his most valued Christmas present!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Forget the ipod
Review: This player is a wonderful alternative to the ipod. The software works very well and the controls are very easy to handle. And the price makes it so much more attractive than the ipod trend.

For once, somebody bested Apple.


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