After months of deliberating on what would ultimately be the best solution, I decided on the Nomad Jukebox 20GB. (Unfortunately it only comes in a light metallic blue color, however I ordered a black leather "skin" case for it which hides all of the blue so it'll match the TT interior much better)

Well I haven't seen much talk about MP3 players - specifically the N.Jukebox on here - so I figured I'd share my impressions with the forum.

First, I wanted a solution that was entirely portable because (1) I wanted to be able to use the device at home and when I travel and (2) I really wanted to keep the look of the interior entirely stock. Secondly, the capacity of the Jukebox allows me to store every CD I own on it with a buttload of room to spare.

The build quality of this unit is really slick ... nothing really cheap about it in my opinion. Everything feels solid and well-finished. The ergonomics (placement of the buttons and switches) are not perfect, but no real complaints here.

The included PC software (PlayCenter2) allows one to easily transfer ANY file - not just MP3s - to the Nomad with a simple drag-and-drop operation. The software interface seemed a bit cryptic and overly flashy to me at first, and I'm a web developer. But it's really not as complicated as Creative has made it seem. The PlayCenter2 directory view of every file on the Nomad allows one to edit just about every aspect of the MP3 files - album name, artist, genre, etc. - on the drive from the PC interface which is nice.

The Nomad OS is feature-rich and thus inherently complex to operate while driving. It's tough to look down at the screen and try to search through every album on the unit while driving. BUT ... like Winamp, you can set up a playlist and just let it run. Plus, Creative has all but promised a remote (there's already an IR port on the front of the unit) is in development for the Nomad.

I've only had it since yesterday so I'm not sure as to the longevity of the included batteries, but Creative provides two sets of rechargeables with the unit. The unit also comes with everything needed to get up and running - AC adapter, batteries, a case, headphones - right out of the box.

So far, I'm running it through a cassette adapter so the sound quality is as you might expect - not overly great and not overly poor. As soon as I can rig up up an input to the stock HU, I should be golden. I'd like to possibly remove the TT's ashtray and mount the unit into the empty space as the unit fits *perfectly* there.

My conclusion: bought it for a hair over $300 on Amazon.com with free shipping and I'm a very happy customer.

 

Thanks for the review. Now I'm interested.

 

Check archives for a chord that you can connect auxilieries through CD changer cord

 

<ul><li><a href="https://forums.audiworld.com/tt/threads/310574.phtml">Those with CD Changer, wanting an Aux. Input</a></li></ul>

 

You've got mail.

 

I review computer-type consumer products as part of my job (Senior Human Factors Engineer) and own both a 6MB Nomad Jukebox and an iPOD. Actually, the Nomad was a freebie and I paid for the iPOD.

While the new Nomad has more storage (20GB vs. 5GB), the iPOD wins in every other comparison, IMHO:

* The iPOD is small (deck of cards) vs. the Nomad's CD-player size.
* The battery life of the iPOD is 10hrs (LiIon)and I've never gotten more than 2hrs on the Nomad with 4 NiMh AA batteries.
* The iPOD's UI is hands-down the easiest to navigate. The Nomad Jukebox's UI is slow and difficult in comparison.
* The iPOD uses ultra-fast FireWire (IEEE 1394) to transfer songs and playlists vs. USB (1 not 2) for the Nomad. It can fill up an empty 5GB drive in about 8 minutes (about 2 secs per song!) whereas the same amount of music on the Nomad would take about 8 HOURS- imagine how long a full 20GB download would take over USB...
* iTunes can automatically sync music and playlists to the iPOD when connected and its UI is much easier to use as well.
* The iPOD recharges when connected to a 6-pin FireWire cable for uploading as well as via an included AC adapter for travel use.
* I don't know about skip protection on the Nomad, but the iPOD has 32MB of buffer RAM so it can take about 30 minutes of shock before music skips.
* The chrome and lucite case screams "sexy" vs. the Nomad which looks "blah".
* Currently only works with Apples, but XPlay by http://www.mediafour.com will soon be available to enable downloads, etc. to PCs.

In short, the iPOD holds less and costs a bit more, but it is SOOO worth it. I have 1103 128k songs in mine and that's enough for now :-)

We're TT owners so we're used to paying a tad more for something so well-designed and totally fun to use. Check it out.

 

GadgeTT - Can I hook the iPOD to a Powerbook with PowerPC G3 processor?

 

Apple computer with built-in FireWire port
Mac OS 9.2.1 (or later) or Mac OS X v10.1 (or later)

 

Comes in Silver also

 

Only the 6GB does ... for now. The 20GB is only in blue unfortunately.