30 gig Creative Zen Xtra $179 at Outpost!
- Thread starter CVSiN
- Start date
fleshconsumed
Diamond Member
- Feb 21, 2002
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I am very tempted but I have heard some bad things about it, like the hard drive not working after the short 90 day warranty. Good deal though!!!
Yep, only a 90 day warranty. I just had one die on me a couple of weeks ago and it was 5 months old. Creative wanted to charge me $156 to fix it. Yah f*cking right...I'm getting an iPod.
Just thought you would also like to know. This player does NOT do data. It converts all of the music into its own playable format and leaves it there like that. Hence you have to use their program to upload files (there is another program that will work as well...but I believe they want money for it.). So all in all. Get a real player (I'm thinking jetaudio or iriver they both have am/fm as well as the hdd).
Yeah a 90 day warranty. Wha kinda crap is that? I was all set to buy one of these a few weeks ago when I saw that. Atleast Iriver is a year, but also so expensive you could almost buy 2 of these. If they don't have faith in their manufacturing, I don't know how they expect us to. Seagate is my hero.
Wow, that sucks...are you sure? I have 2 older versions (Nomad Jukebox and Nomad Jukebox Zen) and it didn't do that...I checked Creative's website and couldn't find out anything about a different format, although I can see why they wouldn't advertise that. Also, when you say it doesn't do data, I assume you're only talking about music, not storing data files, as I found this at the site: "And the NOMAD Jukebox Zen Xtra doubles up as an external hard drive for storing all your photos, documents and other data files. Simply open NOMAD Explorer (integrated into Microsoft® Windows® Explorer) and drag and drop data files into the data folder or music files into the music library. "
For anyone with any of the Nomads, I suggest checking out Nomadness for all types of downloads, alternate file transfer programs, etc. I have no idea if it's a user-run site or creative-based site. I'm guessing it's not run by creative because they tell how to upgrade the hard drive space and things like that.
Hmm are you sure about it converting to its own format? my coworker has one he bought from alienware last week for 250... he didnt mention that..
dammit i just ordered it too..
dammit i just ordered it too..
The player does NOT convert data to it's own format. I think stampy is either confused or wasn't clear in his post. The problem is that player does not use a disk file system (e.g. FAT32 or NTFS) that Windows recognizes, hence it cannot just be recognized as a removable hard drive. You have to install Creative's software which then allows you to move files with Windows Explorer.
I think nomadness.net is user-run. The forums are a great resource.
I love my Zen! I have the 40GB, and it's survived my abuse for a few months now. Just keep in mind that ANY hard-drive based player is more fragile than a flash-based player. If the head scrapes the platter because you drop it, and the player is running the hard drive at the time, you can kiss it goodbye. Creative recommends that you NOT jog with the Zen. Walking is fine. The Zen has an 8MB buffer compared to the iPod's 2MB buffer, so it spins the drive less (therefore there's less chance of hard drive damage) and has a longer battery life.
This player is a HOT deal at this price.
My .02....I have a Nomad Xtra with an 80GB drive (it is modded, in a sense- it takes Fujitsu laptop drives). I bought it off Ebay for $400 - I only got a 30day warranty. It was a risky purchase but have had no problems. I tried to weigh in the space and size issues as opposed to an Ipod. I have loved it, I use it in my car with a cassette adapter out of the headphone jack and have no complaints (as long as the mp3 was ripped at a decent bitrate). It has built-in audio settings to tweak it out. I also went the extra step in purchasing Notmad from Red Chair Software. The Creative software is ok, but Notmad allows me to do more (copy/paste) and integrates into the Explorer shell. It also has some other neat features like allowing me to leave the Nomad at home and use a web browser to re-connect back home and play songs/organize from the web as long as the port is open on your router. It is true that the device is not truly "plug and play", meaning you will have to install the creative drivers on any machine you want to transfer files. It does NOT change the file format. It DOES allow data files as well.
There are really good user groups for it, haven't checked in awhile but I know there was a lot of talk about an "updated" firmware from 3rd parties...haven't seen it though.
There are really good user groups for it, haven't checked in awhile but I know there was a lot of talk about an "updated" firmware from 3rd parties...haven't seen it though.
My roomate has a Zen perhaps its a difference between the one he has and the Zen Xtra. It will NOT do data. He has a 20gb and its quit often difficult to fill up 20gb with just music. I would want to use the HDD mp3 players as a way to move large data as well. (i.e. divx/xvid....)
I tossed out the idea of the creative from seeing his issue with this and was considering jetaudio or iriver since both also have FM on the players. Since it will allow data that moves it up on my list.
I tossed out the idea of the creative from seeing his issue with this and was considering jetaudio or iriver since both also have FM on the players. Since it will allow data that moves it up on my list.
If you really want to buy this, don't forget buy warrenty. You can buy 2 years warranty from Vikingwarranty for $20.00 (item under $300). After all, hard drive based players are more likely to have trouble.
hmmm... and for this to "doubles up as an external hard drive" i'll have to install creative's software.
May be i'll wait for another deal.
May be i'll wait for another deal.
The NOMAD Jukebox Zen Xtra doubles up as an external hard drive for storing all your photos, documents and other data files. Simply open NOMAD Explorer (integrated into Microsoft® Windows® Explorer) and drag and drop data files into the data folder or music files into the music library.
oh well I bought it its too late now...
and i went ahead and got an Audigy2 ZS today too to go with it
hopefully it is fine.. i bought it for riding my motorcycle and being at work..
oh well I bought it its too late now...
and i went ahead and got an Audigy2 ZS today too to go with it
hopefully it is fine.. i bought it for riding my motorcycle and being at work..
Too much negative responses and not enough of us happy users responding so I think I will throw my two cents in. I sold my Ipod 3rd gen back last Christmas to some trend follower for about 270 bucks (after using it for 6 months) just so I could buy the 40 GB version of the Zen Xtra. At first I was a little pissed because this thing was not syncing well and all that and then I realized it was the USB card I had that was the problem (ALI chipset is bad). After switching to another chipset the thing synced like a dream.
I am not going to lie to you and tell you that the creative manager software is good, because its not. Nothing can compare to the ease of syncing as with itunes. However, now that Real Player supports the Zen Xtra players, we have a great piece of software that is available for free that does most of what itunes does.
The player itself has great battery life, even with my collection which is mostly 192kbps or greater bitrate, I still get 12 hours or more on a single charge. The ability to pause a song that is playing and preview another song comes in handy if you have a lot of music that you haven't listened to in a while and you are flipping through your library. The playlists are pretty powerful, you can make permanent ones, for whatever your mood style. You can also delete and edit your playlists and your library which I find very handy when I hear a song that is poor quality and I want to remove it from my collection so I can replace it with a better quality one. The bass is good, and overall the audio quality IS definitely better than the 3rd gen ipod was. The ability to search is also great, you can search by artist, song, album or genre. This comes is handy when you have large libraries as would be suggested by the need for a 30 or 40GB player.
The cons are obvious, since this player uses a laptop drive its heavier and slightly bigger. But this can also be a plus because you can replace it with whatever laptop drive you want, like the guy who put in the 80GB HD. This player will grow with your library if you want it to. The little doodad on the side that lets your scroll through your library is not all that great, the Ipod has it beat. But consider how much time you will actually spend scrolling through a library of 4000 or more songs and you will realize it is not a big deal. When you factor in the ability to search, the need to scroll is not as important as it is in the Ipod.
But despite the cons listed, I feel the biggest benefit of owning this player is the ability to pop in another battery when your current one dies. You can easily get two batteries and be able to swap out the dead one while you are on say ... a long plane trip. No matter how many ways you can charge an ipod, if you are going to be without electricity for more than 8 hours you are screwed. By getting another battery (cheap on ebay) you can extend the range of this player up to 24 or more hours depending on the bitrate of your collection.
Well that's about it, despite its weaknesses I love my Zen Xtra, because in the end, I am not going to be looking at it all the time and nor will I be able to tell the difference in a few ounces when the thing is in my pocket.
I am not going to lie to you and tell you that the creative manager software is good, because its not. Nothing can compare to the ease of syncing as with itunes. However, now that Real Player supports the Zen Xtra players, we have a great piece of software that is available for free that does most of what itunes does.
The player itself has great battery life, even with my collection which is mostly 192kbps or greater bitrate, I still get 12 hours or more on a single charge. The ability to pause a song that is playing and preview another song comes in handy if you have a lot of music that you haven't listened to in a while and you are flipping through your library. The playlists are pretty powerful, you can make permanent ones, for whatever your mood style. You can also delete and edit your playlists and your library which I find very handy when I hear a song that is poor quality and I want to remove it from my collection so I can replace it with a better quality one. The bass is good, and overall the audio quality IS definitely better than the 3rd gen ipod was. The ability to search is also great, you can search by artist, song, album or genre. This comes is handy when you have large libraries as would be suggested by the need for a 30 or 40GB player.
The cons are obvious, since this player uses a laptop drive its heavier and slightly bigger. But this can also be a plus because you can replace it with whatever laptop drive you want, like the guy who put in the 80GB HD. This player will grow with your library if you want it to. The little doodad on the side that lets your scroll through your library is not all that great, the Ipod has it beat. But consider how much time you will actually spend scrolling through a library of 4000 or more songs and you will realize it is not a big deal. When you factor in the ability to search, the need to scroll is not as important as it is in the Ipod.
But despite the cons listed, I feel the biggest benefit of owning this player is the ability to pop in another battery when your current one dies. You can easily get two batteries and be able to swap out the dead one while you are on say ... a long plane trip. No matter how many ways you can charge an ipod, if you are going to be without electricity for more than 8 hours you are screwed. By getting another battery (cheap on ebay) you can extend the range of this player up to 24 or more hours depending on the bitrate of your collection.
Well that's about it, despite its weaknesses I love my Zen Xtra, because in the end, I am not going to be looking at it all the time and nor will I be able to tell the difference in a few ounces when the thing is in my pocket.
OH and I am pretty sure that when I got my drive it was also only 90 day warranty, for some reason Creative didn't put a higher warranty on it, that's just the way they sell the product I guess.
I bought this thing once, and was totally dissatisfied with it.
First of all, it does 'feel' fragile in your hands comparing to iPod or Dell DJ. But that might be only a perception.
Secondly, I could not get anywhere near the advertised battery life. Perhaps, it was partially due to the cause of Dissatisfaction #3.
Number 3: The sound quality was very disappointing. I had great expectations from a Creative product in terms of sound quality, but it plainly sucked. I had to seriously tweek the EQ setting, which causes significant battery drain. Moreover, I had to run the thing at volume setting of 18 to 23 (out of 25 max, again battery drain) to get a decent level of sound. And I am not deaf at all. I communicated with other users (including one here on AT), and some people do have this same issue (not the AT'er). Most likely I had a faulty unit, not all of them are this bad (I hope).
The sound issues were the last straw. Combined with a danger of headphone jack problems (appears to be common) and the short warranty, I decided to send it back.
I have been a happy iPod owner ever since. (I decided to pass on Dell DJ as it is built by Creative as well).
This product is inexpensive considering the features and the capacity. But if the capacity is not your main concern, or you need an MP3 player for active use, I would go with an iPod (Amazon's $50GC deal on new ones, or a refurbished one).
First of all, it does 'feel' fragile in your hands comparing to iPod or Dell DJ. But that might be only a perception.
Secondly, I could not get anywhere near the advertised battery life. Perhaps, it was partially due to the cause of Dissatisfaction #3.
Number 3: The sound quality was very disappointing. I had great expectations from a Creative product in terms of sound quality, but it plainly sucked. I had to seriously tweek the EQ setting, which causes significant battery drain. Moreover, I had to run the thing at volume setting of 18 to 23 (out of 25 max, again battery drain) to get a decent level of sound. And I am not deaf at all. I communicated with other users (including one here on AT), and some people do have this same issue (not the AT'er). Most likely I had a faulty unit, not all of them are this bad (I hope).
The sound issues were the last straw. Combined with a danger of headphone jack problems (appears to be common) and the short warranty, I decided to send it back.
I have been a happy iPod owner ever since. (I decided to pass on Dell DJ as it is built by Creative as well).
This product is inexpensive considering the features and the capacity. But if the capacity is not your main concern, or you need an MP3 player for active use, I would go with an iPod (Amazon's $50GC deal on new ones, or a refurbished one).
Sounds like the Sony Diskman, which is a great player once you get the tapes done but a pain to set up the music with really painful copy protection schemes.
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