Creative Labs' Nomad Jukebox Zen Xtra 40GB - Extra Storage
by Andrew Ku on July 3, 2004 12:10 AM EST- Posted in
- Smartphones
- Mobile
The Test
Our test bed was simply used to transfer files, nothing more and nothing less. Using lesser scaled system should yield similar results, so long as the system is capable of USB 2.0/1.1.| Windows XP Professional Test System | |
| CPU(s): | Pentium 4 3.0C GHz |
| Motherboard(s): | MSI 875P Neo-FIS2R |
| Memory: | 2GB Kingston HyperX PC4000 |
| Hard Drive: | Seagate Barracuda 7200.7 120GB |
| CDROM: | Pioneer DVD(16X)/CD-ROM(40X) |
| Video Card(s): | ATI All-in-Wonder 9600 XT |
| Ethernet: | Onboard 3Com 10/100 |
| Operating System: | Windows XP Professional SP1 |
| Video Drivers: | ATI Catalyst 3.8 |
Battery charging specs of Creative's Jukebox Zen Xtra (no USB charging capability):
- DC power: full charge in 4 hours
We should note that we encountered an interesting problem when we were testing our Nomad Jukebox Zen Xtra and Dell Digital Jukebox. By coincidence, we used our multimedia test bed to benchmark our MP3 players, which consists of an Asus P4R800-VM motherboard based on the 9100 IGP chipset. For whatever reason, the USB drivers seemed to have some sort of a conflict with the Jukebox series of Creative's MP3 players, which includes the Dell Digital Jukebox.
The problem occurred when we tried to transfer large amounts of MP3s or data files. For whatever reason, the MP3 players would lock up and crash after about the third file. Deleting large amounts of MP3s or data files weren't an issue, but adding them was. This seems to be the greatest problem of the problems out there, but the reasons behind it are various, according to the Creative's knowledge base web page. And another reason to add to the list may be compatible hardware.
Our MSI 875P Neo-FIS2R based test bed didn't have any issues; neither did our Centrino based laptops. We are not sure if this is a measure of Asus' engineering or ATI's, since we have not yet had the time to test out other 9100 IGP motherboards or check out SiS, VIA, or NVIDIA based systems. Either way, we know for sure that there is something definitely wrong with the P4R800-VM, despite our attempts at updating the BIOS and drivers. When we have more free time on our hands, we will look into it.
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stephenc - Saturday, February 26, 2005 - link
I'm keen to try to find a music player for my wife with at least 10GB memory which she can -1 Play in the car and tune it to a radio FM station to play through the car
2 Play it at the gym whilst joging, etc
Hope you can help and advise
Stephen
Snacko - Sunday, July 4, 2004 - link
Beyond sound quality, which is of course subjective, and battery life, the reviewer also failed to mention anything about file format acceptance of the player. One of the main things that might draw me toward the Zen and away from the iPod is the iPod's lack of WMA compatibility.As a Windows guy who has done his research on file formats with their inherent strengths/weaknesses, I'm going with WMA for my digital music needs. The Zen can handle WMA - the iPod can't.
plewis00 - Sunday, July 4, 2004 - link
It wasn't a bad review but it wouldn't have taken much to have some size (photo) comparisons between this and it's competitors - least of all, the original Zen. A lot of reviews fail to do this and when I am getting an MP3 player this is a big concern for me - size IS an issue, I don't want to end up with something oversized, as I may as well keep my Creative DAP Jukebox instead which also won't fit in my pockets...WizzBall - Sunday, July 4, 2004 - link
Hmm, like I said on the previous 'masterpiece'... (review of creative's muvo tx) when are you guys going to get serious about sound hardware reviews ?Just about any of us could have 'tested' the hardware this way. It is useless and sounds more like a commercial to me than a true desire to keep us informed about what's going on in the market at the moment.
webchimp - Sunday, July 4, 2004 - link
A review of an audio device without a single mention of how it sounds - bizarre.Lurks - Sunday, July 4, 2004 - link
I examine mp3 for a living, I've seen seriously hundreds of the damn things. The best hard-drive based unit on the market is the iRiver iHP-140 by a very long way indeed - unless you want something very small and sexy, in which case it's an Cowon iAudio M3.This Creative wouldn't even be on in my top 20.
opposable - Saturday, July 3, 2004 - link
Sorry for the blank post.Anyway, how can you continue to do mp3 player reviews with no comparison of sound quality or battery life? It seems to me that these two would be FAR more important than something like file transfer speed. These aren't meant to be portable HD (although they can serve as them in a fix). If you want your mp3 player reviews to be taken seriously, you need to include battery life benchmarks and sound quality benchmarks.
opposable - Saturday, July 3, 2004 - link
cobalt - Saturday, July 3, 2004 - link
Review the iriver h series :\Oxonium - Saturday, July 3, 2004 - link
I mentioned this in my comments on the Dell DJ review: If you're going to compare size to the iPod, you should show a picture showing that comparison. The side-by-side with the DJ is fine, but there really should be one with the iPod since it is the icon of this class.