Creative Labs' Nomad Jukebox Zen Xtra 40GB - Extra Storage
by Andrew Ku on July 3, 2004 12:10 AM EST- Posted in
- Smartphones
- Mobile
Nomad Jukebox Zen Xtra 40GB - Interface (cont.)
Something more specific to the Jukebox line alone are the EAX audio features:- Environment: manipulates the sound to emulate the audio quality heard in a particular environment (auditorium, bath room, cathedral, concert hall, garage, indoor arena, jazz club, living room, opera house, small room, and theater)
- Time-Scale: provides an option to decrease or increase permanently the speed of your music (0.50x, 0.75x, 1.00x, 1.25x, and 1.50x)
- Advanced EQ: equalizer settings with a customizable 4-band setting (custom, acoustic, classical, disco, jazz, new age, pop, rock, and vocal)
- Spatialization: a soundstage effect to specify the band of the audio heard (full, narrow, and wide)
- Smart Volume: provides an option to maintain the volume permanently for all music heard (train, plane, car, late night, and match volume), but it still requires you to change the volume setting to your liking
The Settings submenu is different in the sense that there are set profiles to accommodate different preset and user set settings (standard, advanced, at home, car player, user 1, and user 2). Otherwise, the options are the same (i.e. contrast still ranges from 0 to 100 in 10 unit increments).
Time is also provided as an option, but it is user specified instead of being sync'ed with the host computer.
We did like the profile feature of the Jukebox Zen Xtra, since it allowed us to switch between different sets of settings fairly quickly without losing the previous ones.
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jdmf13 - Saturday, July 3, 2004 - link
This is the MOST USELESS review I have ever read about the Zen Xtra!What kind of a reviewer writes a review like this and the only "test" he focuses on is the transfer speed from to the Zen?! I think the transfer speed from a PC to a Zen is the last thing one someone's mind when they're looking for an MP3 player....geez.
The reviewer forgot to mention two VERY important things like :
- sound quality (a world apart from an iPod)
- battery life (average of 10-12h)
I'm not really fussed how long it takes to transfer a few MP3s, and if I am then I'll use Notmad Explorer (from Redchair software - also left out by the reviewer) which is much faster than Creative's bundled software, not to mention stable.
To also answer a previous question in these comments, there is limited Mac support via a plugin for iTunes : http://www.nomadness.net/modules.php?name=Forums&a...
For USEFUL information on the Zen Xtra range, take a look at Nomadness : http://www.nomadness.net/
Quiksel - Saturday, July 3, 2004 - link
yikes, i'm glad i never bought one of those... gosh, doesn't look very good in any category, especially when you're comparing it to the iPod...Andrew, you mentioned the Windows support, but I guess there is no Mac support? Just curious.
Thanks for the review, but like #2, where's iRiver?
~q
EdvardGrieg - Saturday, July 3, 2004 - link
yay for once again failing to mention either Rio or iRiver....Souka - Saturday, July 3, 2004 - link
Yeah, but it can't be integrated into my BMW 3 series...unlike my iPod...which works great! :)