Review and Tips for Nomad Jukebox

Originally written April 2002. See below for comments added since.

Summary

The Nomad Jukebox is an awful product. Please don't buy one. If you already own one, see the tips below on this page. If you don't already own one, see the review below for an explanation on why you shouldn't get one.

My Jukebox

I recently acquired a Jukebox and was so under-impressed by it that I decided to write this review. My Jukebox was purchased for me as a Christmas present in Christmas 2001. I rapidly realised how bad it was, and by April 2002, it had stopped working entirely. It refused to boot up. I returned it and luckily got my money back without question (mainly because it was bought from Amazon.co.uk, who provide fantastic customer service).

Notes

The Creative Nomad Jukebox is called the Nomad Jukebox in the U.S.A. and the D.A.P. Jukebox in other parts of the world (in particular, Europe). Don't ask me why. It's a shame because it causes confusion. But the two products are identical. I will refer to it as simply the Jukebox on this page.

If any of the information on this page is inaccurate, or you have something useful to add, please let me know.

Review

The Creative Jukebox is an portable MP3 player with an internal 6GB hard disk (though I believe you can now get a 20GB official version, and 30GB and 40GB unofficial versions are available — Update as of 2004-04-04: this no longer seems to be the case), because the internal hard disk is simply a standard 2.5" laptop hard disk). 6GB allows you to store about 100 hours of music at 128kbps (the data rate most people compress MP3s to, and normally adequate I find, though music with lots of percussion can require a higher data rate). Other sample rates can also be used. It has USB file transfer, and you can transfer MP3s onto it via the supplied Creative PlayCenter software, which will also rip CDs and create MP3s from them for you. It will also play WMA (Windows Media Audio) files and can record WAV files using the line in socket. It has a line out socket for attaching to external speakers as well as another line-out socket for attaching to another set of speakers, which you can use in conjunction with Creative's EAX surround-sound feature in the Jukebox.

Unfortunately, the Jukebox and Creative's support for it suffer from many flaws, some of which are annoying and some of which make the device practically unusable. These include:

Recommendation: Do not buy a Creative Jukebox.

Tips

Until recently I had a Jukebox. The following tips describe how I managed to avoid driving myself insane with the poor quality of the product. If you've read this review, but unfortunately you've already got a Jukebox, I recommend the following:

Updates