Rating: 
Summary: A Truly Fantastic Product
Review: After quite a bit of research, and reviewing some of my friends' HD players (Archos, iPod, iRiver), I decided to purchase the Nomad Zen NX. In some ways, this was a matter of deduction, for it was only the Nomad Zen NX that met my all, and I do mean ALL, of my wants in an HD player. These wants of mine were a player that:1) Had a large, detailed, high-resolution display
2) WAS ABLE TO SCROLL EASILY!
3) Was able to store many data types
4) Was small and durable
5) I could use to store/back up other files
6) Didn't dent my wallet I found all of these in the Nomad Zen NX. Although the iPod looks really nice, and has a great display and a cool, innovative scroll wheel, the navigation wheel on the Nomad Zen works perfectly. I didn't want to have a player that used buttons to scroll because I felt that, after scrolling through 1k+ songs over an extended period of time, buttons would break down and malfunction. Also, the iPod does not allow you to store other files (e.g. movies, or picture) OR allow you take songs off of it (you need to download illegal software to do so and it voids the warrenty of the iPod). More to the point, the iPod is steeply priced, 300 dollars for 10 gigs of memory (at least, thats what its price was when I bought my Zen). The iRiver also carries a hefty price, although it does have many things that the Nomad has. I ended up purchasing my Nomad (20 gbs) for 270 (approx.) dollars, and I am totally happy with my purchase. As for the archos HD players, I don't like there display, and the OS that they come with is absolutely terrible. If 4.5 stars were possible, I would choose that option, for the only drawback it has (and this may very well apply to all HD players) is that when you skip through a lot of songs quickly, the player lags for a second or two. I have found this only slightly annoying, however, and this minor con is vastly outweighed by the pros of this player. Buy with confidence! Oh, and I've dropped it quite a few times (however, only one of these times was my fault! =]) and the player still works perfectly.
Rating: 
Summary: Best investment I ever made
Review: After reading a few of the horror stories people had with the Zen NX, I decided to bite the bullet and buy it. Now, I wonder why I even doubted the product. I began using it the second I popped the battery in with no problems. It probably helps that I exhaustively read through the online Product Manual pdf Creative Lab supplies on their website before it arrived. The interface, therefore, was very easy to understand. I had no problems whatsoever getting my computer to communicate with the device, and the drag-drop interface of the file manager was very easy as well. They also included several classical music pieces on the jukebox so that before you even hook up your jukebox to the computer, you can sample how the music sounds. I was surprised to see how small it was, even after seeing people describe it as "bulky". It's about the same size as a pda, and I can easily slip it in my pocket. The earbud headphones are not so good, but I have some good headphones from my cd player, so I was okay. And it would have been nice if the Zen NX was detected as a hard drive, because that would make it alot easier to use it other places without software. But otherwise, I have no issues. I love everything about this player.
Rating: 
Summary: Hard drive failed in 5 days...
Review: Gave this to my kid (15) for Xmas, and his hard drive failed on December 31st. And no, he wasn't jogging with it, and did not drop it....
Rating: 
Summary: Wait till Creative figures out problems with software
Review: Good player, but may be difficult for you to actually get it to connect to your computer. For what ever reason, the software simply refuses to install the correct driver onto my computer. I installed succesfully on my old second computer but with USB 1.0. With 1.0, it took all night to download my songs but it worked and I was happy. Now, a new problem, with USB 1.0, I am no longer able to download more music onto the player. When you connect the player, the software tries to catalog the players slongs and apparently, it takes too long to catalog the 15 GB of songs over a USB 1.0 connection and the software automatically shuts itself off after 1 minute and gives an error. Also, if you have any problems with this player, good luck trying to actually contact customer service. After 3 weeks of trying, I have recieved no reply. Make sure you buy this product with a service play, the 90 day warranty Creative offers is a joke.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent sound, does what it's supposed to do
Review: I bought a refurbished one of these off of eBay directly from Creative Labs. It only had a 30 day warranty, so once it ran out, I took out the 20GB hard drive that came with it and put in a 40GB one. I also got a second LiIon battery for it for under $20 on ebay.
The player does what it's supposed to do -- play back MP3 files in high fidelity sound. The Zen NX has a nice headphone amp and drives studio-style headphones without problem. The EAX DSP settings do a nice job with EQ'ing sound and also normalizing volume when you have it on shuffle. It also has virtually gapless playback -- this is, for me, a must. The included software is actually halfway decent. I use Red Chair Software's Notmad Explorer -- far better.
Complaints: no included car adapter, job dial feels a bit flimsy, no firmware support for Audible files (although you can get around it -- do a search on www.nomadness.net), making playlists without the computer is bothersome. The included earbuds are low-fi, get a set of Koss PortaPros or something similar.
Now, this being said, this player is good enough that the complaints are not enough to drop the rating below 4 stars. YMMV.
Rating: 
Summary: Too heavy and difficult to operate
Review: I bought one in September 2003, it worked fine for a while, then I had to throw it away. It froze, and there was no way to bring it back to life, couldn't use it even as a storage device. It's heavy, the buttons are placed in awkward places and the menu is really hard to read. The aluminium face plate also breaks loose easily. The software can be a bit cumbersome. I wouldn't buy one again. And I hate to say that i bought an G4 iPod 20GB, and it works perfectly, the firmware is easy to use and the device is light and easy to operate. I am happy with mu iPod.
Rating:
Summary: not very reliable
Review: i got one three weeks ago.. It freezes sometimes and i have to reset it. Yesterday i download the new firmware online. after installed it, the player freezes at the logo everytime i turn it on, and i have to turn it off by removing the battery. I am gonna return it tommorrow.. i got it from circuity city not from amazon
Rating:
Summary: Way Better than the ipod
Review: I have had the Zen Nx since christmas and at january 11, it is in perfectly good condition. The Interface is great and menu navigation can be achieved with one finger. It is small enogh to go in your pocket and the backlit display turns on automatically so you can use it just about anywhere. Plus, you can go to the manufacturer's offical website (creative.com) and download software patches for it. And lastly-the great price-around 100 less than an ipod of the same capacity. This is a really great player and i have been almost totally happy with it-however here are the drawbacks. *no remote *no radio tuner Those two things bug me a lot but even still this player is AWESOME
Rating:
Summary: Great Overall
Review: i have had this since september, and since it came out in Augest it was very new when i bought it. this was an upgrade from the Nomad II that was extremely buggy. I LOVE THIS PLAYER. You will for sure hear many mixed reviews about his player, which all have, but really this is well worth the money. I am very hard to please but with this device there is very few flaws. 1) not nearly as small or sleek as iPod, but its not as big as people make it out to be. 2) Headphones are crap, veryminor problem, but hey theres very few. 3) extreme lack of acessories, only thing you can buy for this is a new battery 4)the case it comes with isnt great 5) no firewire support.
Pros
you can make a playlist from the player its from a premier soundcard company so ofcourse the quality is outstanding easy to use 14 hour battery life, and battery is user replaceable aluminum case not easy to break EAX feature is sweet i have about 1000 songs and player acts like there are none loaded if you want a rocksolid player that will last as long as you do, buy the zen, if you want a sleek design buy an iPod also creative support speaks english
Rating:
Summary: Extraordinary
Review: I have uploaded more than 1000 songs and it still seems I have 75% of the hard disk still available! Vow! The music quality is very good, the menu is easy to access, the battery life is decent(at least 12 hours!) and the mp3 ripping program is very user friendly. I wanted to start ripping mp3s right away and I had no problems with it. Although the Ipod looks a little bit more fancier, this unit is better for $ for the memory and the battery life it offers. You can also have this Jukebox charge at the same time as your are uploading songs from your computer.
I would recommend this product without any reservation. Overall, I am very satisfied with it.
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