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Ioman
10-15-2003, 08:50 AM
Creative Labs announced the Nomad Jukebox Zen Xtra featuring a large, cool blue backlit LCD with bold font for easy music navigation.

The silver and white NOMAD Jukebox Zen Xtra is stylishly slim and light, yet holds up to 2,000 hours of high-fidelity digital music. USB 2.0 connectivity allows incredibly fast file transfers and a removable, high-capacity battery provides up to 14 hours of continuous music playback. Three versions of the NOMAD Jukebox Zen Xtra will be available in October 2003: the NOMAD Jukebox Zen Xtra with 60GB has an estimated street price of US$399.99, the 40GB model at $349.99, and the 30GB at $299.99.

"Creative continues to innovate within its popular NOMAD Jukebox Zen line," said Lisa O'Malley, senior brand manger for portable audio products at Creative. "Navigating through entire music collections is now even smoother using the large LCD with bold, easy-to-read content on the NOMAD Jukebox Zen Xtra. With the introduction of this new player, Creative offers the widest selection of hard drive players with 20GB, 30GB, 40GB and 60GB models, still priced at least 30 percent less than comparable Apple iPod products."

True to Creative's rich audio heritage, the NOMAD Jukebox Zen Xtra features outstanding audio quality at 98dB SNR, and supports both MP3 and WMA formats. The players offers out of the box support for Windows Media Player 9 Series, as well as and a wide range of music download services using WMA. The 60GB model can store 2,000 hours of high-quality WMA music-enough music to commute for a whole year and never listen to the same song twice. The 40GB NOMAD Jukebox Zen Xtra can store 1,333 hours, and the 30GB model stores 1,000 hours.

The NOMAD Jukebox Zen Xtra builds on the industry-leading music features of the NOMAD Jukebox Zen product line. Creating and editing music playlists is easy whether at the PC or away, and AudioSync enables uploading, downloading and synchronizing music between multiple PCs. With the Find function, users can locate tracks in seconds using alphabetical input, and since the music is automatically indexed by ID3 tag information and conveniently categorized by genre, album and artist, it's never hard to find.

The NOMAD Jukebox Zen Xtra also includes music enhancement tools such as Smart Volume Management™ to match volume variations across MP3 tracks, and Sleep Timer and Wake to Music modes to add convenience whether traveling or at home. Users can choose from the preset equalizer settings, such as living room, jazz club or theater, or can even create their own setting using the four-band custom equalizer. The NOMAD Jukebox Zen Xtra can be personalized with different profile settings to customize screen savers, skins, idle timers and more, and with the new car setting enabled, the player will even automatically turn on when the user starts their car.

The NOMAD Jukebox Zen Xtra is the first product to ship with NOMAD Explorer , an application enabling drag-and-drop transfer of music files into the music library or data files in the data folder. With the new NOMAD Explorer, users can drag and drop photos, documents, music files-any file type-using just one easy program. In addition, the NOMAD Jukebox Zen Xtra ships with Creative MediaSource , an easy to use music ripping and organizing program. Consumers can enjoy using MediaSource to convert their entire collection of CDs into a digital library that can be transferred easily to the NOMAD Jukebox Zen Xtra and taken wherever they go.

The NOMAD Jukebox Zen Xtra MP3 players come bundled with a designer black travel pouch with belt clip, comfortable stereo earphones, and a universal power adapter. More information is available at www.nomadworld.com.

http://www.nomadworld.com/products/Jukebox_ZenXtra/images/Jukebox_ZenXtrapix2.jpg

questionlp
10-15-2003, 09:23 AM
It would have been nice if they kept the FireWire port :(

neuroking
10-15-2003, 06:33 PM
Finally an MP3 player that can hold my 53 GB of music.

Woohoo!

questionlp
10-15-2003, 07:24 PM
hehe... I would need one that would hold 64GB for my music collection (which is all from my own CDs ;))

Unregistered
10-25-2003, 09:57 PM
Can it charge via USB? I thought they removed that with the Zen NX.. but I was hoping they would add it in again. Any idea?

Swigger
10-27-2003, 08:52 PM
Well, at least it has a half descent LCD now... :-p

theguy
10-27-2003, 08:59 PM
bah
-theguy

-Ghost-
12-05-2003, 09:46 AM
Originally posted by Unregistered
Can it charge via USB? I thought they removed that with the Zen NX.. but I was hoping they would add it in again. Any idea?

I just bought one and I was hoping that this feature was going to be included. but no you cant charge it through the USB. BAD BAD creative! other than that it's an awesome mp3 player. exelent sound.

I'm looking for a couple of good head phones for it. I wont buy a headphone amp so they will have to sound good as the come.
sennheiser's what I know best. my old sen. hd 475 was misstaken for food by my dog... :P they still sound great even though the membranes are busted =) but they dont fit me the way they used too

-Ghost-
12-07-2003, 10:04 AM
Actually I've found out that it actually DOES charge through USB!

but alot of people (perhaps all) just cant see the charging symbol while charging through USB

laze
12-15-2003, 03:09 PM
Let's see, we are talking about the Nomad Zen Xtra aren't we? The one with USB 2.0? The USB 2.0 that doesn't carry power down the cable?

Ghost are you using USB 1.1 or there about? Cos really you aren't able to charge the Zen Xtra via USB, I've left mine plugged into the computer but not the power point and lo, and behold it has had a flat battery.

ciao

theguy
12-15-2003, 03:19 PM
..........we are talking about that piece of crap.
iPod for life

collegesoup
01-04-2004, 04:36 PM
I have looked into a wide variety of players, none of which completely appeals to me. However, I will briefly provide you all with the pros and cons I have accumulated from other reviews and from the manufacturer's websites.

Ipod(40 GB)-

Pros- Capacity 40GB, pocket size(smallest player in this list), connectable to stereo system via line out, relatively easy navigation, simple, wire-minimizing uploading of songs from pc with docking station.

Cons-Expensive
------------------------------------------------------
IRiver IHp

Pros-moderate capacity of 20 GB, pocket size, high quality line in audio recording (wav), plays mp3, wav, ogg, and wma file fomats, remote control, connects to stereo system. Excellent sound reviews.

Cons-Expensive ($350), questionable customer support, BATTERY CANNOT BE REPLACED, many complaints about incomplete an software package
--------------------------------------------------------
Lyra 2780-

Pros-Capacity 40GB, pocket size, connectable to stereo system, good value per GB

Cons-many complaints about battery functionality, protective case inhibits ease of use
--------------------------------------------------------
Zen Xtra and reg players

Pros-Very High Storage capacity (60 GB), excellent value per GB

Cons-Virtually no line in/out options (ex. cannot be connected to a stereo system)

If it weren't for the fact that you can't connect the Zen to a stereo, I would buy it. However, that is a feature i can't live without in an mp3 player.

The IHp also blows it for me by having an irreplacible battery...I will not buy a player that dies when the battery goes kaput.

The lyra comes real close to what I might be able to deal with in an mp3 player, but its still a bit out of my price range and the frequent customer complaints about the battery worries me.

I'm going to be frank, if money were no object I would buy the ipod 40GB player over any other player out there. Unfortunately i dont feel like laying out that kind of cash and so I will continue to look elsewhere for a suitible player which I might need to buy later when these electronics get cheaper.

My ideal player may not come along for awhile but if i could design one it would have the following specs.

1) 30+ GB storage
2) Pocket size (max weight ~ 0.6 lbs)
3) Plays mp3's (multiple file types are nice tho)
4) 8hr minimum battery life
5) Battery is Replacible
6) Easy navigation
7) line out to connect to stereo
8) Fully functional (does what it advertizes)
9) Excellent sound (most important)
10) Priced around $250

If anybody finds any upcoming players that fulful my wishlist here...id love to hear from ya. Also if i added some cons that you can prove me wrong on...id be glad to be disproven. I have no biases, i just want the best player possible.

neuroking
01-04-2004, 04:51 PM
For me:
Capacity>Sound quality>software design/interface>size

The Nomad is the only one I would consider right now because I can get a 60GB model, but I've heard bad things about the interface, so it kills the deal.

my $.02
B

Deranged
01-23-2004, 12:40 PM
I know the Ihp-20 does not have a replaceable battery, but i don't belive the Ipod does either. The Creative is the only one I know of, but please correct me if I'm wrong or something has changed.

Thanks,

ochsfamily
03-08-2004, 04:32 PM
How do you know if this wont go out to a stereo system?

MeKev
07-26-2004, 03:18 AM
Actually it will connect to you sterio out of the headphone jack.

If you get a mini sterio plug to rca plus it will connect to your sterio. Just find an open spot on the back of your sterio and hook in and enjoy.

LondonN12
07-28-2004, 02:47 AM
Can anyone help me....
I am one of the poor people who have to conform to our Europe laws, my 60gb Zen Xtra is the nuts, but its not loud enough, EU Laws stop it from being any louder.
I have heard that if i install the international firmware it will solve my problem, can anyone help me? Where do I get this file from? Can anyone in the U.S. help me?

Thanks

tj_programmer
08-14-2005, 09:46 PM
Actually I've found out that it actually DOES charge through USB!

but alot of people (perhaps all) just cant see the charging symbol while charging through USB


:confused: :mad: :curse :soapbox

HOW DO YOU CHARGE VIA USB. i jst bot it (the 30 gig ZEN Xtra one)...and i lost the ac adapter..the plug part. i have the other bit. (player to mid-way). tried leaving it on usb for a LOONG Time. it goes from [low batt.] to 1 bar. but thats it. it never goes beyond. n evytime i turn it on to check the batt. charge, all the charge goes off. even fter chargin it for 1hr+ at a time n then checking...?????

dang
08-15-2005, 08:50 AM
Having worked with the Zens, I can tell you that the shell of the player is extremely bad. I've had many (and others that worked with them as well) where the front plate just pops off when setting the player down. This is the protective casing! I wouldnt spend my money on it.

Not only that, but they've been known to go tits up fairly easily.