RSSCreative: 60GB NOMAD Zen Dwarfs iPod
By Nate Mook | Published May 1, 2003, 11:57 PM
Looking to draw Windows users away from Apple's wildly popular iPod, Creative has released a mammoth update to its NOMAD Jukebox Zen portable audio player. The hard drive based Zen boasts an immense storage capacity of 60GB - twice that of largest iPod.
The NOMAD Jukebox Zen sports a sleek aluminum case and USB 2.0 connectivity for fast song transfers. Creative has priced the Zen at $400, $100 cheaper than Apple's new 30GB iPod.
"We've heard from our users that they would love to see a huge capacity NOMAD Jukebox Zen to take their entire music library and their digital files wherever they go," said Creative CEO Sim Wong Hoo. "And of course they demanded a great price. With the NOMAD Jukebox Zen with 60GB we've delivered a breakthrough capacity in a portable player."
Creative claims a battery life of 14 hours in the NOMAD Jukebox Zen, slightly higher than that of the iPod. The Zen offers the ability to edit playlists directly on the device, and a "Find" function to quality search thousands of songs. An optional FM Wired Remote is also available featuring an FM tuner and microphone.
But despite Creative's superior capacity and lower price, Apple has leapfrogged its competitors in terms of dollar market share. According to NPDTechworld, Apple held 27 percent of the market in the fourth quarter of last year, followed by S3's Rio unit with 10 percent.
Apple's third generation iPods debut May 2, while Creative expects to ship the 60GB NOMAD Jukebox Zen later this month.
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|I bought one of the first 6G Nomad Jukeboxes & was very happy with it until I upgraded to WinXP. Now, I have a very odd file transfer problem that Creative acknowledges as real, but says they cannot fix. This problem makes the device useless.
I've bought a lot of Creative products in the past, but when I finally replace my MP3 player, I'll go Apple.
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|just looking at creatives effort you have to admit that the ipod wins hands down on style... i love my ipod and wouldnt give it up for anything... :o)
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|Funny: The only Nomad Zen currently listed on their web site has a capacity of 20 GB.
You'd think they would have some mention of a 60 GB capacity on their product pages by now. The only place I could find mention of it was in a press release here: http://www.americas.crea...asp?ID=334&nav=2003 from two days ago.
There's also no mention of the dimensions or weight. I've seen the new ipods, and there's something to be said for how small they are now. You don't feel any weight in your hand when you hold them. The old ones had a dense feel, but these are so thin and light.
I'll stick with the iPod, as it works with the Apple Music Store (which is so freaking nifty) and has a much more elegant design and gui in a smaller package. I don't need more than 30 GB anyway right now, although I may if I get any more addicted to iTunes 4 and the Apple Music Store! By then Apple will be able to accommodate with their next rev.
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|"I'll stick with the iPod, as it works with the Apple Music Store (which is so freaking nifty) and has a much more elegant design and gui in a smaller package. I don't need more than 30 GB anyway right now, although I may if I get any more addicted to iTunes 4 and the Apple Music Store! By then Apple will be able to accommodate with their next rev."
That is of course if you have any money left after you spend over $7000 @ 99 cents a track to fill your 30 GB iPod with Apple Music store tunes.
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|While you're shopping at Apple's store, just remember that they've finally found a way to make users embrace DRM - the thing the labels have been trying to push on people ever since mp3 became a household term. You're selling your soul. Remember that $7000 figure from the previous post. You'll be paying that and more.
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|DRM isn't selling your soul, nor is it a bad thing in this situation; it's required. I'm surprised you are so strongly against it.
Apple's DRM scheme is not draconian either; most users should never actually run into limitations on use, only serious pirates.
Besides, if you're so desperate, convert the AAC files into another format, boom, no more DRM (If no DIRECT conversion is allowed, burn to CD or CD image, rip CD or CD image to other format). Selling your soul... Pfft. Don't make me laugh.
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|"That is of course if you have any money left after you spend over $7000 @ 99 cents a track to fill your 30 GB iPod with Apple Music store tunes."
some people pay for music, if you want to steal it that's up to you, but $.99 a track is less than the average new cd selling 8-12 tracks for $17.
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|Today's Horoscope:
"You'll eat those words when your HD crashes and you have to buy your music all over again."
The last I read is that, despite the fact that Apple has all of your info, they won't re-issue your DRM certificate, no matter what. Also--how valuable do you think DRM would be if could be easily bypassed by the schemes you mention? Would they even bother?
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|wasup hilary!
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|apple music store is still a rip at 99 cents a track. i can buy most used cds i want for $6-7 at secondspin.com or on ebay. I use eMusic.com for harder to find stuff (read: small labels), which costs $9.99 a month for unlimited downloads (close enough to unlimited).
Whats this about stealing? Didnt mention it. You sound like you know something about it.
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|So you spend a few extra dollars (or not in the case of Used CDs) to actually own a CD which you can do what you want with. You can use that CD to encode to AAC, OGG, MP3, MPC, FLAC, etc. as often as you want. Make CD quality (true CD quality, not some BS marketing claim of CD quality) compilations or whatever you want. Once your iPod breaks or your Mac hard drive fails have fun trying to recover "your" purchased AACs. Already reports are coming out of people not being able to recover their DRM infected AACs due to glitches in the software that's supposed to deal with the DRM. And Apple isn't letting people re-download the tracks againg without paying a second time for them.
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|$6-7 for older used CDs (newer used CDs are more than that at SecondSpin). What about new releases? What about individual tracks? Plus, it may be fun sometimes, but spending hours digging around a second hand CD store can become quite an annoyance.
So while you're scouring for a used CD, or waiting two weeks to receive the CD off eBay, I'll be instantly listening to the track I paid a buck for from the convenience of my living room. I own a couple dozen used CDs, but Apple's store does serve a purpose.
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|solution: Buy CD off ebay. Download track off Kazaa. Once the money is deducted from my credit card I have the right to listen to the music I just paid for. Of course the riaa might argue with that because they would like to have me pay 99 cents a track.
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|Bad Bad Apple! The nerve of these companies wanting to make money. Why, I can't understand why they don't just build their buildings, buy equipment, hire artists, stamp CDs and then send employees out to every steet corner to give them away.
Perhaps some of you ought to get one of those "job" thingys and go pay for what you use. Hmmm, now >there's
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