This Will Be Music To Your Ears!
Written: Jul 21 '02 (Updated Jul 21 '02)
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Pros: Excellent sound, durable, Lots of features for the price.
Cons: 64megs isn't much, user abuser software for transfer.
The Bottom Line: I simply love this player, and review after review, others seem to agree this is the best bang for the buck!
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| jimyster's Full Review: Creative Technology Nomad II (32 MB) MP3 Player |
INTRO:
I orginally didn't plan on purchasing an MP3 player. However, a friend at work has an Ipaq that plays MP3's, and it sounds impressive. So my search began for the biggest bang for my buck, and Creative's Nomad IIc was my ticket. Fry's Electronics had a weekend sale, normally $129, onsale for $99. However, I later took this back to order the 128meg version at Amazon.com for $145. Since I later discovered to add the 128meg upgrade runs about $60. I thought it made more sense to just purchase the 128meg version to start with.
OUT OF THE BOX:
This MP3 player is small in size, like a size of a pack of cigarettes. It's packaged with ear phones, battery, a quick startup manual, USB cable, software CD, and an AA battery. This is all packaged in a clear soft plastic container. It's fairly easy to open at the top, by simply pulling the three melted knotches apart. The quick manual is not what I would call useful, but then again who reads manuals? There is a more detailed manual that's electronic pdf on the CD. The AA battery is an Engerizer, but not lithium rechargable, but will last a long time. The plastic LCD readout is covered with a clear peeloff plastic cover. There is no protective cover for the MP3 player itself. Something I consider during the purchase when I bought a Case Logic for it. But the MP3 player is made of durable plastic, and the headset appears durable also.
SETUP AND INSTALLATION:
Like I said, the maunal was pretty useless, but it's pretty much a no brainer to figure out. The only tricky part maybe the use of the software itself. Installation of the battery is pretty obvious with a picture of a battery position once the back cover is slid off. One think it doesn't tell you is how to position any extra memory flash you may have. I knew simply because I use Smart Media for my digital camera (in another review) and know that the gold must always face down. But no place in the manual does it explain how to slide it in. The Smart Media slides in the battery compartment, with the gold facing the inside of the player. It is possible to put it in totally backwards if your not familiar with this. The headset easily connects to the only obvious connection spot in the top. Once the battery is in, the 'on' button is actually the play button, kind of tricky. Just hold down the play button for about three seconds to turn it on. Or it will automatically power on when plugging in the USB cable. But before power it on, you should first load the Windows 9x,XP or Mac drivers that come with it. It will also install the Creative MP3 player for your desktop, this is also used to transfer the MP3's to the player.
TRANSFERRING MP3'S TO THE UNIT:
Once the player itself is setup, now you need to install the software. Just a helpful note, make sure to have your auto sensing turned on for the CDROM. This is for the Creative software later to help detect if the MP3 player is connected. Simply pop in the one cdrom they give you, and run the complete installation. It will install the drivers, a player, and something else called Ozzie that has visuals. The Ozzie thing you really don't need if you don't want it. I found no function to the player for it. However, the 'Creative Player 2' as they call it does the transfers of MP3's.
The software is somewhat ackward at best, but not too bad once you get the views setup right. The default for the player is not to view the Nomad, you'll have to go into options to set this enabled. I later found that it is also possible to use other programs to transfer to it like Windows XP Media Player, Winamp, or Music Matchbox.
Again, you'll have to go into options on any of these so you can view the Nomad. I guess I was expecting it to be like a zip drive or smart media, and transfer like a drive letter. But to me, it's more like burning a cdrom, you have to use a certain program to get the data to it. There are different programs, but it still takes a little time, not just drag and drop of the MP3's as far as I can tell. With 64megs plan on around transferring maybe 15 to 19 songs, roughly two normal music CD's.
LISTENING TO THE MP3'S:
Once the MP3's are transferred, you can use the big middle button to manuver around the songs. The push the button to the left or right, and it scrolls the songs up and down. Press the top of the button and it starts to play, press the bottom to stop the music. The headset are the ones that wrap around the back of your head by your neck, not over the top of your head. Actually, I never tried this style, but it's very comfortable. The headset has great sound to it.
The volume goes from 0 to 25, but the top 25 setting is very loud. And I heard with the high end headset, your ears will almost bleed. So don't compare the volume number setting with the one on your home stero, it's not the same. Many seem to recommend what they call earbuds, the type that go inside the ear. But for me, what came with it was fine, and a volume setting of 15-19 worked. Also, some MP3's are recorded louder than others keep in mind.
RICH IN FEATURES:
-64megs of internal memory
-Offers 128meg upgrade slot
-Can record your voice (can have both voice and MP3)
-Button Equalizer
-Day, Time and Date view
-Plays WMA as well as MP3's and voice.
CONCLUSION:
I later took this player back to Fry's and ordered the 128meg player at Amazon.com. Buy.com had the best pricing at $137, but they were backordered. And Amazon.com had free shipping for $144.95 on a 128meg version. No place local by me even carried the 128meg version but Fry's, and they were totally sold out. So amazon.com won, and I ordered it. This silver baby will bring fantastic music to anyone's ears!
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 99.00
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Epinions.com ID:
jimyster
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Location: Carrollton, TX
Reviews written: 33
Trusted by: 3 members
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