Can Creative's Nomad Jukebox 3 see off competitors in the large storage MP3 playback market? Read our first look.
A challenge for MP3 playback superiority like Apple's 10GB iPod was never going to be ignored by the rest of the market. Creative's response to the iPod is the Nomad Jukebox 3, a 20GB monster device that brings a number of significant improvements to the already impressive Nomad Jukebox.
The Nomad Jukebox line has been around for a while, and the major new feature in the Jukebox 3 is the hefty 20GB storage capacity. Like others in its class -- but not capacity -- this is achieved through the use of notebook hard drives, which carry a smaller form factor and better shock protection than full size drives. It's still not a good idea to drop or shake them too much, though, so if you're looking for a jogging buddy, you may still be better off with a solid state memory device.
We didn't start the fireCreative claim that the Nomad is the first digital audio player to bring SB1394 transfer speed to the PC. This is hardly surprising; SB1394 is Creative's own SoundBlaster variant of IEEE-1394 compatibility. It's highly unlikely that the Nomad Jukebox 3 won't work with other 1394 variants; this seems to be more of a marketing tactic to sell other SB1394 products; all, naturally from Creative. Firewire compatibility means super speedy file transfers, which is important when you have 20GB to fill. It's not clear if Creative's implementation of IEEE-1394 uses the full six-pin powered version or, like Sony's iLink connectors, only four pins with no power.
The other thing that 20GB of hard drive space is good for is file storage and transport. After all, once you strip away the fancy name badges and LCD interfaces, they're all pretty much just notebook drives in shells, and that's likely to be the case until solid state memory becomes much, much cheaper. MP3 players that act as drives are a significant challenge to the music industry. If a player can accept any file, there's very little that can be done to stop the transport of MP3 files or other copyrighted data. Sony's players like the NetMD implement copy protection to stop this kind of malarkey; after all, Sony owns a music business as well. Apple's iPod can (in theory) only synchronise with a single Apple -- unless you know the workaround.
Creative is under no such constraints; install the supplied PlayCenter software on any PC and you can shuffle tracks and data around to your heart's content. If storage was your primary concern, however, you'd be better off buying a dedicated Firewire hard drive like the Maxtor Personal Storage 3000XT; for the same price you'd get eight times the storage, but no MP3 playback features.
And the jukebox kept on playing. . .
20GB and 1394 compatibility give you plenty of storage and fast transfer times, but if you can't run the system for long enough it's all rather pointless. Creative's response to the power problem is the inclusion of a Li-Ion battery, which it claims will allow the unit to run for up to 11 hours. That's a lot of music, but with 20GB to fill, it would still be unlikely to last the distance, unless you like encoding music at ludicrously high bit rates. To combat anyone who might like to run the Nomad for more than 11 hours straight it comes with a dual battery bay, although you'd need to pop extra for the additional battery. Two batteries, Creative claims, gives you 22 hours of play time. In context, that's enough to get on a plane in Sydney bound for London, and allowing for the odd toilet break and takeoff/landing interruptions, never run out of power.
Creative is keen to play up the audio quality of the Nomad. For those who like their audio options the Nomad Jukebox 3 appears to be very well stacked. Creative boast of a 98db signal to noise ratio for the Nomad, which should improve audio clarity no end, and features that have been standard on the older Nomads, like audio presets for different environments. Track selection has been changed slightly from the older models, with the introduction of a scroll wheel. Scroll wheels can be great for quick track selection, as long as it's possible to simply move between directories and categories. Creative's also promising a range of extras, from car charging kits to LCD remotes, although those will cost extra.
We'll give you a full rundown of how well the Nomad Jukebox 3 stacks up against the competition very soon.
Creative Nomad Jukebox 3
Company: Creative
Price: AU$999
Distributor: Creative Labs
Phone: (02) 9666 6500
Release Date: Late May 2002
