Creative Nomad Jukebox
Editors' Choice
The Jukebox is the big daddy of the Nomad family, weighing in at 336 grams without batteries. This really takes it out of the realm of the sort of thing you would wear going out for a jog, but it is great for pretty much anything else. The unit is basically the size of a portable CD player, with an organic, curvy shape and striking silver/blue colouring. The Jukebox is extremely sturdy and strong.
If you need plenty of space to hold all your MP3 files, the Nomad Jukebox is the unit for you. Inside it has a 2.5in 6GB hard disk that holds approximately 100 hours of CD quality music.
The display is fairly small considering the total size of the unit, but it is large enough to display all the necessary information. When a track is playing, the display usually displays the current playlist. However, if you select the details button you get a full listing of the track, album, and artist, as well as the track number and total playlist, time, and battery indicator. The controls consist of the standard play, stop, forward, and rewind buttons. there are also three context sensitive buttons along the bottom of the display: up and down scroll buttons and a pair of buttons marked EAX and LIB. We understand the LIB button for the library, but EAX should probably have really been called "settings". On the left side is a lock button, and on the right side is the headphone socket and volume control. The rear of the unit has power, USB, line in and two line out sockets.
The software for the Jukebox is the same Creative PlayCentre, and the connection cable is standard USB. One important extra feature of the Jukebox is its ability to record. We ran the line out from the mixing desk of a local group "Cornerstone" into the line in of the Jukebox and got a decent recording of the live set they played.
The connection to the PC was nearly as fast as the solid state Nomad's, taking only about 10 seconds longer to transfer the 28MB of test files.
The Nomad runs on four AA rechargeable batteries (Creative supplies two sets). Battery life is rated at approximately four hours. Included with the unit are a vinyl carry case, headphones, power adaptor, USB cable, and over 200 hours of music and audio book content.
One optional extra for the Jukebox is the PlayDock. This is a large speaker with rubber mounts to hold the Jukebox in the top. Then we realised it contained a rechargeable battery pack! This is fantastic--you can charge it up and then just wander off to the park with all your music with you. The PlayDock has an RRP of $499.
The JukeBox and PlayDock are an excellent combination. The JukeBox has just about all the features you could possibly want except a radio, and 6GB of storage should be enough for all but the most diehard music listeners. The addition of the PlayDock make the whole thing really portable with good sound so that you can share all your music with your friends.
Creative Nomad Jukebox
Company:Creative Labs
Ph:02 9666 6100
Price:AU$799
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Overall Score:
7%
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