Rating: 
Summary: Small size - Great sound
Review: The Nomad Jukebox Zen is outstanding. The controls are intuitive and the 20 GB hard drive lets you take all of your music with you. Also, the 20 GB drive lets you run your files at a higher rate. I am running WMA's at 160, because I can. I can't tell the difference from my CD's, except for no skips. The player takes up a lot less space in my briefcase than my CD player, carry case, and CD's.The unit runs for a long time on a single charge. I haven't run it down in a single day of listening, but then I don't listen non-stop. I would have liked to see Creative offer a AA battery pack add-on for those times you are away from a plug. The lack of replaceable batteries almost kept me from buying this unit. I am glad it didn't. I looked at the Ipod, but there were too many reviews that talked about compatibility problems with Windows. I haven't had any problems with XP Home. It worked fine with USB 1.1 and the Belkin USB 2.0 notebook card that I bought to speed up file transfers. However, see my software recommendation below. This is my first "MP3" player and I am impressed with this player. Of course I can't leave things as I got them. I replaced a few things for better sound and convenience. ·Phillips SBC HS500 behind-the-neck headphones - These have excellent sound, are comfortable, and are cheap. I had to turn down the volume when I replaced the Creative headphones that came with the player. I kept thinking of Spinal Taps' search for the amp that goes to 11 and their advice to "Play loud". These headphones can be worn with glasses, a major plus. Also, they are generously sized, so they actually fit. ·Notmad software by Red Chair - This software is simple to use and is fast on the transfers. Red Chair offers free upgrades and the price is right. How often can you simplify your life this easily? ·Bose Quiet-Comfort 2's - These work great on the plane. I can listen to classical, actually hear it, and not arrive feeling thickheaded from the jet noise/cranked up volume. The 2's have a single lead, the battery in one of the phones (no battery box), and the phones rotate flat. I owned the "1's" before I got the 2's and they are an improvement. The one complaint I have is a small one. The rocker switch for the tracks works just the opposite of the display. For the next track, the display moves down to that track. The top of the rocker switch makes this happen. So up is down and down is up. Sort of Wonkaesque. My advice, buy the player! I got my money's worth.
Rating: 
Summary: Worked OK for 4 months, then it died.....
Review: I purchased the Zen Jukebox in October 2003 because it seemed like a good deal compared to some of the other MP3 players out there. The software was a bit of a problem to use, and the controls on the unit felt cheap. I took great care of the unit - I kept it in a case, and it never took a fall. A few days ago (February 2004), I found that the jack where the headphone plugs in was loose, and I couldn't get any sound from the unit. I checked my warranty, and found it was only 3 months (shame on me for not checking the warranty before I purchased the unit). I will never purchase an item from these guys again. A 3 month warranty??? I guess they don't think much of there product either. Don't waste your money on this thing.
Rating:
Summary: Waste of money!!!
Review: I decided to save myself $200 by buying the Zen 2.0 rather than an iPod. What a mistake. I received it in mid-October. By mid-December the display screen no longer worked. Because I had memorized the menu system by that point I was still able to use the product. I went on vacation right after this happened and didn't have time to deal with getting this fixed under warranty. (So I'm not sure how helpful they are.) I continued to use the player until yesterday when it just completely died on me. That's why I decided to write this review. It's not worth the $200 I saved. It's too bulky. The software that it came with never worked properly either. It would never connect to the CDDB database to name the files so I had to do it manually until I finally got iTunes and started ripping CD's in that. What a pain...! Take a guess what I'll be buying next. I had read other reviews talking about the screen display not working but decided to take my chances. I gambled and lost!
Rating:
Summary: Ideal MP3 Player
Review: The Creative Labs NOMAD Jukebox Zen has absolutely everything you could ever want in an MP3 Player. Sound: Wonderful sound quality. It's clear with surprisingly rich bass, not to mention the volume can get extremely loud, even with the cheap included headphones. The EAX Audio Settings are also very nice if you are a true enthusiast interested in dialing every song in for the perfect clarity and ballance. There is virtualy zero distortion (98db) which sounds much better than the IPod. Size: It will fit into any pocket... sure you may see the slight outline of the jukebox in your pocket, but it doesn't bother at all. Design: The Zen looks much better in person than it does in the box or on the website. It's solid and has a nice feal with the buttons placed perfectly for using, but also tucked away enough to ensure they never get bumped. The scroll wheel is a god-send. The Nomad Zen can pick apart your music 2 ways: one is by disecting the file name to determine artist, album, track number, etc (good for those who download all their music). The other way is very useful if you enjoy listening to full albums in the correct order. Using Music Match or similar software you can rip CD's or modify exhisting tracks to contain all the information needed to allow perfect album re-creation. Once all your tracks are transfered/modified to your Zen, you can choose to view all tracks by an artist or view all albums by the artist. choosing all tracks will list tracks in alphebetical order... sorting by album will give you all tracks sorted by track number. I was having difficulty finding a player that allowed for both of these options, and this one does it flawlessly.
Rating:
Summary: awesome!
Review: This player is great! The USB 2.0 is ridiculously fast- I transfered my entire collection (2,000 songs) in just under half an hour! the sound quality is excellent, and the interface is great, as long as all of your ID3 tags are correct. It's a tiny bit thicker than the ipod, and fairly heavy, but compared to a CD player, it's pretty small. The carrying case isn't that great, and sometimes the buttons are a bit tricky to use with one hand if you're trying to do something quickly. Creative's EAX sound stuff is great- especially the sound effects (making the files sound like they're being played in an auditorium, garage etc) and the smart volume is awesome too. I used the airplane function on my flight, and the player completely blows CD players out of the water. The software is easy to use, but i still prefer Windows Media Player. This player is perfect for me, since most of my files are WMA's that I've ripped. Overall highly recommended- and how can you say no when it's practically half the price of an ipod?
Rating:
Summary: Beats the iPOD hands down!
Review: Here's my opinion compared to the iPOD, it's main competitor: 1. Sound is superior, equalizer, environment, spatial settings.
2. Once you get used to the menu system, you'll love it -- allows so much more functionality than the iPOD. Anyone with a 6th grade education should be able to handle it! Build playlists on the fly while listening to tunes!!
3. Solid build, very impressed, metal case.
4. Smaller display than the iPOD, but not worth [the money]for a bigger one! About all you get with the iPOD for the extra [cash].
5. Software is usable, but I'd recommend Audiograbber for ripping and Notmad for interfacing to the Zen (do a google search to find these)... elegant!
6. Tons of volume! Almost hurts at max.
7. Keep the backlight off and EAX off and you actually can hit the 14 hour battery life that is spec'd.
8. Comes with a very nice leather-like case.
9. Everything is customizable: contrast, times, backlight, off time, etc.
10. Weighs more than the iPOD, but I love the solid feel as a result. It's such a good feeling to know I got my moneys' worth!! Kudos to Creative...
Rating:
Summary: great
Review: Unless If you really need a small sized hardrive player, get this. Dont get me wrong, the nomad's small, but not as small as its counterpart. Itll fit into most big pockets with the case on, and without it'll fit into normal sized pockets cozily, however smaller pockets might be a strecth. Besides that: Sound is great, battery life rules, with the updated firmware it can now play any song inyour library, and has all those nice sleep functions. Playlists are easy to make, and interface works well ( yes it isnt as good as that touch sensor, but Im not shelling out all that money). This is definetly the best bang for your buck, and hell, if it was more expensive it would be a tough competitor.
Rating: 
Summary: From A Woman's POV
Review: The Positive: I paid $245.34 for 20 GB player. Comparing total cost (including taxes) to memory is unbeatable; that is about $12 per GB. The sound is great and I love the sleek form and metallic casing of this player. The battery life last a long time. I can have my player going all day long either using headphones or hooked up to computer speakers and I won't reach the 6 hour bar - the second bar until later on into night. I am a college student so yes.. ..I would have my player playing all day long (Not saying that all students would). I usually squeeze out 12 hours before reaching the last bar then I recharge. The Negative: The player is wide: When in its case my fingers just barely grace the buttons on the left side (I'm right handed). When the player is out of the case I reach all buttons with no problems. And, I wish there were more accessories for this player as well! Hello Creative! Wake up and smell the coffee!
Rating:
Summary: Terrific Player
Review: Pros-
Price.
Sound Quality.
Durability.
Battery Life. Con-
Battery is non-removeable (similar to iPods - newer Zen models do have removeable battery)
Rating:
Summary: A reasonably priced substitute for the Apple iPod
Review: The first MP3 Player I ever bought was the Nomad Jukebox 2 - a moderately heavy device shaped like a CD Player. The sound quality was very good, but the Jukebox had an extremely short battery life - only 15-30 minutes. Regrettably, I was forced to plug-in the Jukebox to a power point before I could listen to my favourite songs. In April 2003, my beloved Jukebox was stolen during a break-in, and over the past several months, I've been searching for a good-quality MP3-player to replace my beloved Jukebox 2. Up until last October, I was looking at purchasing the Apple iPod. There's no denying that the iPod is the best-quality MP3 player on the market, but the biggest drawback was it's price. The average price for a 10GB iPod was $700AUS, and you also have to purchase a Firewire card for $100AUS, not to mention a USB-Adapter for another $150. A $1000 purchase was definitely beyond my budget. And then Creative released their potential "iPod-killer", the Nomad Jukebox Zen. This MP3 player is specifically designed for PC users, and is equipped with a USB 2.0 connection. I strongly recommend that those with USB 1.0 connections, purchase a USB 2.0 PCI Card as well. Here in Australia, a 2-port USB card costs only $39, so it's a worthwhile purchase. This will provide much faster transfer speeds when copying MP3's from your PC. This new MP3 player is slightly larger and heavier than the iPod, and is a huge improvement over the cumbersome Nomad Jukebox 2. The player is about the same size and weight as a paperback novel. However, it will still fit comfortably on your belt, which is very useful, if like me, you like listening to music while travelling to and from work. The battery life isn't as long as 12-hours, constant listening will probably cause the batteries to runout after 6-8 hours. But this is still a much better battery life than the Jukebox 2, which lasted for only 15 minutes when played at full volume. Creative have replaced their cumbersome "wrap-around" headphones, with the smaller "plug-in-ear" headphones. For discerning audiophiles, I would definitely recommend buying a better quality pair. I'm quite happy with the headphones provided by Creative, however. Navigation of menus and songlists is performed through a scroll-wheel on the right-hand side of the MP3 player. Navigating with the scrollwheel takes a bit of getting used to, but seems to be of very solid construction, so hopefully it won't break too easily. I have Windows XP on an Athlon 200+ XP PC, and I didn't have any difficulty installing the associated software. Transfer rates were slow, but this was because of my USB 1.1 connection, not because of the Jukebox. The Jukebox did freeze when I turned the power on, but this was solved by pulling out and re-inserting the Lithium battery. Other than that, I've had no serious problems. All in all, the Nomad Jukebox Zen is a reasonably priced MP3-player, and second only to the Apple iPod in terms of construction and music quality. If you have the money, I would still recommend purchasing the Apple iPod (providng you have $1000AUS handy). For the rest of us mere mortals, the Jukebox Zen is a worthy substitute...at least until we see the Apple iPods drop in price.
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