troubleshooting ad-2500 and ad-2600 no picture scrolling b/w.
repost from january 13, 2004 with a better fit title.
does your apex dvd player only play dvd audio without video?
or does it play audio and video but scrolling in black and white?
before you try to return the player or waste hours calling apex tech support, or run the player over with your car, try these simple troubleshooting ideas first.
no picture:  hopefully you still have the remote control.
if you tossed it out the window, you need to fetch it.
using the remote control, press the i/p button located on the bottom right corner of the remote.
the i/p button switches the tv display between interlace and progressive.
if this doesnt bring back the picture, try pressing this button without playing a dvd.
if you dont get video back, now you can run the player over with your car!
picture scrolling in b/w:  you need the remote control for this so you better get it from your dog before he burries it in the backyard.
press the p/n button located on the bottom right corner of the remote.
the p/n button switches your dvd players video output signal between pal and ntsc.
by pressing p/n, you should be able to get a good picture on the screen.
for other problems go to http://www.apexdigitalinc.com/support.asp  i hope i have helped you continue to enjoy the apex dvd player with these troubleshooting tips.
i have done some research and experimenting with the remote when my apex ad-2500 seemed to have lost its video signal.
im a more happier person after discovering the i/p button!
the button was probably accidentally pushed to cause the black screen in the first place.
but, if you're looking for my opinion of the apex dvd player, i love it!
it practically plays almost everything you give it.
i've had the player for about 2 years now and it still performs nicely with the exception of an occasional wwhhhrrr sound from the motor.
for the price it is a well spent investment!
i would recommend buying one.
incredibe price / performance.
i've owned 6 or 7 dvd players since 1998.  this is by far the nicest one, in so many ways.
it's very sleek looking with a very good front panel button layout, and it has a great feature set.
its fast-forward and rewind work much more smoothly and consistently than those of other models i've had.
it plays alternate video formats (vcds, svcds, cvds) very well.
and amazon.com has it for such a great price -- how can you go wrong?
i've bought one for the den and will buy a 2nd one for the bedroom.
strengths are well listed by other reviewers.
what got me to buy was the reviewer that said it would play dvd-rs fill of files (e., mp3s).
it sure does!
that's a rare and valuable feature.
i have a dvd burner on my computer and a zillion mp3s, and it's a lot nicer to access them 4.5 gb at a time (dvd-r) than 0.7 gb at a time (cd-r)!
another nice thing is that the unit has both optical and coax digital audio outputs, though the latter was not mentioned in the literature i'd scanned before buying.
saved me from having to buy an expensive optical cable, as i already had a coax cable.
at double-speed (2x forward speed), it still plays mp3s with sound -- they are pitch-corrected and smooth, but twice as fast!
i wish it would do the same for movies, but that's one rare / cool feature you will have to forgo.
weaknesses are minor: the feel and layout of the remote control are only so-so; it doesn't show the complete filenames of mp3s with really long names; you must cycle through every zoom setting (2x, 3x, 4x, 1/2x, etc.
) before getting back to normal size [ sorry if i'm just ignorant of a way to get back to 1x quickly ].
if you're a bargain hunter and you want a great feature set for a rock-bottom price, i highly recommend this model.
update: the finish is more " mirror " than silver -- and i like it!
doesnt play new disney movies.
many of our disney movies don't play on this dvd player.
i spoke to a rep. at apex and was told that a new format is being used and we wont be able to view any disney movies made in the last couple months.
poor quality - problem with dual-layer dvd's.
player has a problem with dual-layer dvd's such as alias season 1 and season 2.  for the money, get a better quality player.
player works and looks great - if you can get the dvd's to play.
i know the saying is " you get what you pay for " but at this stage of game dvd players must have better quality than this - there is no excuse.
will never purchase apex again.
customer service and technical support are overloaded and nonresponsive - tells you about the quality of their products and their willingness to stand behind them.
pass this player up, and never believe the reviews on a product right before christmas!
has destroyed several of my dvds and cds.
for the first few weeks, this player was everything i expected it to be, an affordable multi-format dvd player with a stylish slim case as advertised.
then my dvds would stop playing in the middle, or not even be read at all.
new cds almost always began skipping after a few plays.
i thought it was just the player, but then i started checking the discs to find that the apex 2600 is actually ruining my media.
there are funny little ridges on the dvd that look like the slice of a tree trunk!
this player is not worth any price and i recommend that you don't purchase it.
i intend to contact the company, but from what i've read.
i just got screwed out of fifty bucks.
apex doesn't answer the phone.
* sigh.
their customer service sucks.
no way to contact their customer service.
very bad quality.
great value.
i bought this apex 2600 dvd player for myself at christmas because it got good reviews as a good value for the money on a variety of different sites.
i took it to my father's house to play a tom jones concert dvd and he loved the player so much i gave it to him.
now i need to buy myself another one!
have used it frequently and have had no problems.
i always research electronics online before i buy because even within the same company, some models are better than others.
i liked this one enough to buy another.
my dad also has an apex tv and it was another great value for the money.
great quality picture and features.
2 out of three ain't good.
thought i'd weigh in here with my stats.
i've bought 3 apex dvd players now.
they play just about everything, but # 2 and # 3 died very shortly after getting them.
i am back to using # 1.  nice machines, but i consider their quality pretty low now.
buy a better known brand name.
this item broke just two weeks after i gave it to my kids for christmas.
the door would not close.
i tried to contact apex to return it (i missed the amazon return period) and it took 3 months to get through to their customer service dept.
i am still trying to resolve it four months later.
piece of crap... it looks great - and is loaded with features.
unfortunately it turns out to be the " disposable " type.
have had problems since the first day  - not playing some dvds and then finally after less than 60 days, it just would not recognize anything i pop in it.
save money on the long run - buy something decent once instead of buying cheap every month.
i've had no problems.
the apex 2600 has been a steady performer for me.
i bought mine in december of 2003, and have had no real problems with it.
it does tend to run quite hot and should be given lots of room for air circulation.
it did also seem to have a strong " new electronics " smell for some time.
the only thing i did experience was a problem of the player freezing while playing, which i was able to clear by opening it up and blowing it out with " canned air.
"  this problem vanished after the first month, so i assume it was a temporary dust issue.
the fact that this model would play jpeg slideshows was a big plus for me as a visual artist, and i discovered by accident (it is not mentioned anywhere in the literature) that it will play mpeg1 files on a regular cd-r data disk without vcd formatting.
the remote is okay, but i am not a fan of remotes with tiny buttons.
i especially like the more commonly used buttons, such as play, pause, and stop, to be larger and conveniently placed.
while it is true that it will stand on end, it is also easy to knock over that way.
i also didn't like the way it displayed information way down into the screen when you are in zoom mode.
the zoom goes up and down in magnification, which is nice, but there is always a display of the zoom size about one-quarter of the way down from the top of the screen that interferes with viewing at most settings.
having spent considerable time with professional video gear, i find onscreen displays annoying.
this model has come down in price since i purchased mine.
while it seems like some people have had trouble with theirs, mine has run well, and i would recommend it if you are considering a dvd player purchase.
any possible problems should be weighed against the bang-for-the-buck factor, along with the fact that companies like apex seldom have good after-sale support.
while i would like to give it 3.5 stars instead of 4, i gave it a 4 because it has run well for me during the time i have owned it.
do not buy this piece of junk.
i purchased this unit 3 months back and i think the unit knew when my warrenty expires.
it is more than 90 days and it does not show the picture no matter what i do.
i can only hear the sound.
i changed video cables, tried connecting to tv on input1 and input2 but no help.
i think you get what you pay for stands true.
nice paperweight.
i have had this player for 3 months and have been able to see a total of 6 dvd's, after the frustration and aggrivation of getting the player to do it's job.
i have tried many times to get a hold of apex who doesn't seem to answer their emails and telephone number is constantly busy as (i believe) the one lonely customer service rep is probably extremely overworked.
as i emailed to the the customer service department, the only thing this player has done consistantly is use enought electricity to keep the red led burning.
do yourself a favor and save your money to get something of better quality, or at least works.
worst piece of electronics i ever bought.
if i could give this a negative rating, i would.
i am surprised amazon still carries this after all of the continued problems.
won't play a lot of discs.
i can only confirm what other customers have said - crap!
some movies it played yesterday, it won't play today.
tech support from apex is literally - nonexistent.
amazon, do your customers a big favor, don't carry this item, and give them refunds!
there should have been a recall on this product.
fair warning - do not buy.
i repeat - don't wast your money.
don't buy!
i bought 2 of this model for christmas presents and neither one of them work!
it is embarassing getting phone calls from family members telling you that the dvd player you gave them less that 3 months ago is no longer working.
one stopped working in february and the other in march.
amazon has been working with me to refund my money, but they reminded me that i have past the 30 day return policy and this was a courtesy return.
i have had great experience with amazon, but i will probably not buy electronics any more from them to avoid any future return problems.
we had problems.
the dvd player does not work properly.
the player usually plays dvd's, but has occasional problems such as: 1) not recognizing a dvd 2) stopping a particular point in a movie every time we played it 3) not being able to access certain special features on a rental dvd.
this has happened with several different dvd's and occasionally if we keep trying something, it will work when it did not work one time before.
after we discovered the problems, we tried to contact apex (fkor 3 months), but we never got in touch with them.the customer support telephone number is always busy, and they do not answer their web customer support.
ok if you have a 2nd dvd player.
nothing has broken on it, and it plays all the dvds i have.
unfortunately it can't play all of the dvd.
on 2 dvds so far it refuses to play certain episodes with no problems on the others on the dvd.
unfortunately i bought a player because the ps2 couldn't play all my dvds, and now the player can't play everything.
another person who had problem with picture after one use.
i purchased this as a christmas gift for my husband.
we tried it out christmas night and it worked great.
even viewed cds full of jpgs.
we didn't get to use it again for over a month (sad, i know).
but when we went to use it again, there was sound but no picture.
we saw reviews that said the same thing, and also saw here that their customer service stinks.
though we were past the deadline for returns (by a few days), i contacted amazon right away and pleaded for help.
they authorized my late return, and hopefully they are giving apex heck.
i hate apex but love amazon, and i tell everyone.
do not buy this player.
who knows how many uses you'll get out of it before it craps out, but it probably will.
frustrating just hope you never lose / break the remote for this player!
we've purchased 3 universal remotes so far-all claiming to work " apex " dvd players and none worked.
called customer service and basically was told to either keep buying univ.
remotes to try or buy the replacement remote for $ 23 (which is almost half of what i paid for the whole player).
if anybody knows of a remote to work this-i'd love to hear from you!
(on here of course) also, a couple dvd's wouldn't play and they were new ones!
poor customer service.
i had to return the remote on this product because it appeared to be defective.
it took over 2 months and repeated follow-up to get it replaced.
the customer service dept did not list a toll free number and it was a real hassle to get through on their regular line.
i would not be inclined to purchase an apex product again.
a piece of junk.
door broke after a month.
unit took forever since the begiining to recognize and play discs.
3 months of use and it no longer recognizes anything.
forget about it.
it's money down the drain.
get cheaper panasonics or toshibas or even sonys.
to quote bart: " craptacular ".
well, it was nice while it lasted.
after @ 3 months, it stoppped playing higher number scenes on dvds.
as an engineer, i am embarrassed for the engineering profession when such crap is released for sale.
poor quality.
only used for 3 month before it's down!
i had hoped this was bought from walmart so that i could return it!
it sends discoutinous signals to tv, so the tv has the pictures for one moment and has only the white noise for the other moment.
the other thing i don't like about this 2600 is that it makes the color look over saturated.
maybe it's good for tvs with not so good color settings, but not good for my tv that already has very vibrant pictures.
returned after failing to play dvds.
i purchased the ad2600 after feeling comfortable with the reviews i read here on amazon.
as soon as i lifted the unit out of the box, i questioned my judgement.
the entire unit was poorly crafted.
there were sharp screw tips on the underside of the unit coming from inside that were obviously used to anchor the internal control board.
after hooking the thing up, i found that it would only played less than 50% of the dvds i put in it.
most of the dvds i was trying were fairly new and were in great condition.
the dvd player just would't recognize them.
it would spin, read, spin some more and then show on the display that there was no disc.
i ended up sending the unit back to amazon.
this dvd player plays raw mpeg2 and mpeg1 videos, jpeg, wma, cdr / cdrw / dvdr / dvdrw, and of course plays dvd movies from uk.
i love the aiff, progressive scan feature.
now it would have gotten 5 stars had this baby come with features to upgrade the firmware and was able to play divx or avi videos.
but for $ 49.99 go get one!
features and looks this dvd player is overpriced had it come with sony or one of the other top brand names.
customer service nonexistant.
i have not even used my new dvd player and already i am disapointed!
i have been trying for over a week to contact apex.
they will not respond to my emails (promised turnaround time is 24 hours) and the phone line is constantly busy.
all i am looking for is a rebate form!
what a buy... i accually didn't buy the apex ad-2600 from amazon but, the reviews i found here helped me purchase it.
i have owned an apex ad-3201 for close to 3 years now and i love that deck.
because of it's hidden features (no macrovision, non-regional) i keep this baby around to watch non-american region dvd's.
however, the ad-2600 doesn't have this feature (for now).
the cool thing about the ad-2600 it plays alot of different file like mp3, wma cds, jpeg and kodak picture cds, dvd's, dvd - / + r's.
it's not a listed feature but, the one thing that sold the unit is that it plays mpeg video.
i find this to be a great feature.
i've tried playing all of these discs and they all play great.
for the money apex machines have good features.
you can't find the mpeg playback on high priced units.
it's low profile, space saving design looks nice.
i find the apex ad-2600 to be a great buy.
avoid apex dvd players - even if they're free!
i received this dvd player free with the purchase of a palm tungsten e from officemax.
now i know why - they are pieces of junk.
less than a month later the screen freezes and eventually shows " no disc.
"  this is the second apex dvd player i've had - and the last.
best player for the buck.
i was surprised to find that not only could this dvd player play mpeg2 format which allowed me to stack 2 movies on a dvd, but it also was able to play vob files which i created with smart ripper.
the aff feature did a great job converting the letterbox to fill 3/4 of the screen and the image still looked normal.
loved the slim design.
black and white only after 1 month of use.
this unit was working fine for the 1st month and a half and then the color signal disappeared.
apex has still not responded to my email describing the problem after almost a week and their customer service line is always busy.
most bang for the buck.
i recieved my 2600 4 days ago and feel that this may be the best $ 50 i have ever spent.
it plays all my back-ups, + or -, and everything else i have put in it without a hick up.
audio is excellent.
well worth the money.
for the price, an excellent buy.
after having bought and been disappointed in another brand of dvd player, i purchased the apex ad2600 from amazon and first of all i should say it was delivered much more quickly than i had expected.
(good going, amazon).
i am very pleased with the apex ad2600.it plays just about anything you put in the drawer.
so far i've played regular dvd's, backup dvd-r's, mp3 cd's, and regular cd's.
i have not yet tried the photo show capability, but i'm thinking that will probably work well too, based on the success with the above mentioned disks.
i do want to mention too that it is certainly worthwhile to read the instruction manual that comes with the unit.
the comments i've read about having problems with this dvd player all seem to stem from pushing the incorrect buttons on the dvd remote.for instance, pushing the button to play pal (european type) movies, when an ntsc (usa type) movie disk is in the disk tray.
so, if you read the instructions well, you shouldn't have any problems with this dvd unit.
i can't speak to its long-term reliability, as i've only had the apex ad2600 for a little over a week at this point.
but, it seems to work so well now, that i don't anticipate any problems with it.
bottom line for me is that for the price i don't think you can go wrong at all by purchasing this dvd player.
excellent second dvd, or first dvd for hdtv ready tv.
wow!
simple to use and hook up.
comes with standard rca jacks for output, along with s-video output (s-video cable not included, must be purchased seperately) and also component video outputs.
the progressive scan option can be turned off easily by a button on the remote control which is one of the simplest and easiest remote controls i have ever seen or used.
i also own an " apex ad 1201 " dvd player and have had no problems with it since i purchased it almost 1 1/2 years ago.
one big difference between the 1201 and the 2600 models is that the 2600 model is virtually silent.
and doesn't need to be placed in a cabinet like the 1201 does.
friends of mine who own apex tv sets are also all very pleased.
i would not hesitate to purchase this if you are uncertain of the brand name.
consider it for a future gift too!
save your money.
this dvd play is basicly junk.
it won't play all of my movies.
keeps coming up with no disk errors.
i tried called apex cust service, no help.
don't waste your money.
mine was 2 weeks old and i chucked it in the trash, where it belongs.
you might think you are saving money by buying an apex but in the long run you will spend more.
each of the 4 lasted less than six months.
you can get a pretty good progressive scan sony or toshiba now for 68 bucks just about anywhere.
spend the money its well worth it.
what a dvd player!
this is the best dvd player i've purchased.
i've owned a panasonic and sony dvd and this one outperforms in function and image quality and most of all, access speed.
for those of you who has problems with this player, i'd suggest checking the owners manual to get the right setting so that you are not displaying the wrong mode and have no picture, etc.
this player has worked flawlessly for me and at this price, you can't go wrong.
80% of the features on here you will not get by spending $ 100 on a sony or panasonic.
having said that, this is what you do.
 check out !
 enjoy !
apex ad2600 known capadabilty problem.
i have sent my ad2600 back to apex because it won't play certain disney and other dvd movies (no disc message).
they sent me a new ad2600 with the same problem.
i call apex customer service and they told me that there is a known problem with the model playing disney and other movies and that it is not there problem so i'm stuck with a new dvd player that won't play my kids disney movies.
value for money!
i bought this dvd player mainly because my old sharp dvd player could not play most of the dvds from the store that i rent from and i had to watch them using my pc's dvd-rom player.
well, this apex dvd player turned out great!
it plays basically every media i've tested so far, even an old vcd that i ripped years ago and the rental dvd that couldn't be played on my old $ 200 sharp player!
i have to say i'm also pretty impressed by the user interface for playing jpeg, mp3 and mpeg files stored on cd-rs / dvds.
it's almost like having a media player / file manager built into the dvd player.
i did not want to have high expectations for this apex player because of the price but it is definitely working out much better than what i would expect from an expensive high-end player.
what more can you ask for from a $ 40 dvd player?
i guess i'm just lucky to get a good working unit!
hope the unit lasts as i've only had it for 3 days.
and the slim form-factor together with the mirror-like front panel sure makes the player look cool and pricey!
one bad thing though, i find the remote-control a bit flimsy and i predict it will most probably ' die ' before the player does.
finally, amazon's free shipping is really getting good, it took only 3 working days for the player to reach me!
poor quality dvd player.
i purchased two of these players for christmas gifts, and both were bad.
the first one wouldn't work from the start.
the second lasted about two weeks before the video went out!
amazon.com promptly refunded my money for the first one, because a replacement was not available (thanks amazon.com!
i am still trying to resolve the problem with the second one.
i have tried several times to contact apex digital through their on-line support site and their telephone line, but they won't answer my emails and their telephone line is always busy.
i will never buy another apex digital product!
you get what you paid for.
for the most part this is a good dvd player.
but about 25% of dvd's i've played on ithave a problem, when watching a movie the picture will freeze, but the dvd still plays, and eventualy the picture kicks back in after skipping a few moments.
usually i just skip to the next chapter to avoid it.
annoying.
no picture and / or no sound, try i/p button on the remote.
we have had this product for over a month and yesterday it stopped working.
it is connected to an old television set via composite video and analog audio outputs.
there was neither picture nor sound.
connecting the same outputs to a video card in my computer, there was sound but still no picture.
the trouble shooting section in the user's manual, suggesting correct and secure connections, doesn't help.
i searched on the internet and found one tip which solved our problem: press i/p button on the remote control.
it makes the dvd player to switch between interlace mode and progressive scan mode.
obviously there is no composite video output and different analog audio signals at progressive scan mode.
we are overall pleased with product.
i would have rated it five stars but for the poor manual.
people with video issue's.
i think most of you people complaining about no video is due to you hitting the wrong button either the p/n = pal / ntsc or the i/p is set to progressive scan.
another stupid move.
buyer beware.
i purchased this as a christmas gift on 12-4 - 03.  it worked from 12-26 to 1-9 at which time the picture failed completely (see other negative reviews-my unit wasn't the only one this happened to.)
i tried calling the support number for a week, several times a day, and always got a busy signal.
i also registered the unit online and posted two messages to the apex support person (there can't possibly be more than one!
neither message was answered (they ask for 24 hours before replying - i've been waiting 27 days.)
i finally returned the unit to the company along with copies of my messages and return info.
let me quote a customer service rep from one of the authorized apex service locations in my state (they only service apex tv's, not dvd players):  " you can send it in, but i wouldn't count on ever seeing it or a replacement again.
barely worked.
it only read the dvds 10% of the time, otherwise i would get a no disc screen.
i got this dvd player as a gift and had to send it back.
amazon was supposed to send me another one, but didn't and sent me a gift certificate instead (i'm guessing because the price has gone up on this unit since december).
has problems reading some dvds.
good:  progressive scan player for a relatively low price (although the better known manufacturers like toshiba, pioneer, and panasonic are now offering lower-priced progressive scan players as well).
seems to read most dvds fine, and reads quietly (i had a pioneer player that had fairly loud disc spin noise).
also, i have not had trouble reading svcds that i created and vbr mp3 cds (my old apex ad-1200 had trouble with these).
output through component connections looks very good, on my non-hd tv.
bad:  i've had this player for several months and it reads most discs, but it would not recognize several discs that were clean and read on other players (from friends season 2).
it would just spin up and stop, and display " no disc ".
my other gripe is the incredibly crappy remote, which is worse than other, cheaper apex units.
for some reason they made the navigation buttons all one button, a ring around the enter / play button.
you have to press the buttons hard and frequently i end up pressing enter when i meant to scroll.
also, for some reason the picture looks washed out on s-video, with lots of color bleeding, compared to a component connection (should not be much of a perceptible difference on a 27 " tv).
pretty good.
ok this is our first dvd player so what do i know.
i checked out the amazon reviews and i'm pleased to say mine worked, works, fine right out of the box.
i like the auto fit feature = you can stretch widescreen dvd's to normal.
lot's of other features that i need to find out about.
looks ok - very shiny chrome and mirrors.
things that i'd prefer different - there's a red light that shines when it's turned off!
and the remote is cheap and cheasy - not sure how long it'll last, but for 50 bucks what the heck!
plays pancakes.
this thing plays everything i feed it.
plays them all.
i ordered 2.
great dvd player.
when i 1st tried it i found that it had no problem playing the more expensive dvd - r media disc's that other players would play but to my surprise was able to play cheep media that i had burned that i couldn't get to work before in anything but the dvd burner itself that i had made the disc with.
easy to use, small form factor, and looks good to boot.
very happy!
customer service is non-existent!!
i wish i could give negative stars!
i have an apex ad600 for a few years now which still works great today.
i figured with a great first product and with this one having more features than the 600 i would buy one.
what a mistake!
after about an hour it starts skipping like the dvd's are dirty.
i've tried several dvd's and even new ones do the same thing.
i have ice age and it keeps telling me no disc.
i've tried someone elses and the same thing happens.
i tried e-mailing apex and they come back saying undeliverable.
i've tried leaving questions on their site never to have them answered.
i just want to at least try an exchange but you can't get through to their number, it's always busy.
that makes sense though, with all the substandard products they make.
do not buy this product or any apex product unless you are looking to be frustrated and lose money!
keep shopping, don't stop here.
i bought this as a gift for my sister.
it has never worked.
i've attempted to connect this unit to several different tvs, using a multitude of connection methods, and i still can't get a video signal from the machine.
i highly regret trying to save a few $ with this purchase.
worst customer service on record.
purchased the ad-2600 about a month ago and have had numerous problems with it.
the most recent is that it will stop responding to the on/off button.
the light goes from red to green but no display or any operation whatsoever.
i end up unplugging it from the wall for a few hours and when i try again it will work fine.at least until this problem arises again.
i've registered this unit at www.apexdigialinc.com and listed the problem.
they claim to respond in a 24 hour period yet it's been 2 weeks without a reply.
i've sent 10 e-mails to their customer service department requesting an ra with no response.
i've called the service number and if it's not busy, it rings forever then eventually dumps you.
once i actually got to an answering machine and left a message.
still no response.
i will never purchase anything from this company ever again and have logged my complaint with the bbb.
good price, bad product.
i bought this player as a christmas present for my wife.
3/4 way through the first disk we played on it (naturally on 31 days after purchase) the dvd player froze.
now it will not load any disk or just says that there is no disk.
have tried to contact apex via e-mail (customerservice@apexdigital.com), but the e-mail address is not valid.
have tried calling (866-4apexgo), but can't get through.
this product sucks, the customer service from apex sucks.
i shouldn't have been cheap, should have bought a toshiba.
stay away from it.
after using it for just a month, i could not play any dvd.
i can only hear the sound but no picture!
their customer (www.apexdigitalinc.com) service is very poor.
no contact phone number, only eamil contact which did not respond me.
problems.
i bought this player during a christmas sale at an excellent price.
however, i should have followed my instincts:  you get what you pay for.
one of the dvd's i received as a christmas present kept freezing.
some dvd's i rented would not play.
now, i suddenly have no picture.
when the player was working it was great,but.
the second apex - at least it's prettier than the last.
the physical appearance of this apex compared to one previous (ad1100w) is most appreciated.
the prior one looked and felt lightweight, cheesy, and assembled by the oppressed:  i purchased it for it's easy ability to accept cd-r hacks.
i used it lightly, and it lasted just over one year (forgot to kill the power one day, and now it only plays dvds).
back to the 2600:  1.  it doesn't smell like burning plastic when you open the drive.
2.  without a doubt the finest looking apex dvd player that i've seen.
3.  excellent picture quality - on par with my pioneer, panasonic, and jvc players.
4.  remote: you can stand it on end (harder to lose), and it's far better designed than the 1100s.
anyway, the initial impression is much better than when i opened the box on the 1100 over a year ago - you can telll that apex is trying harder to improve their product.
i'd have given it 5 stars, but i'm waiting to see if this one holds up to more frequent use than the last one:  with progressive scan, i expect it to play play play - and give my old pioneer a rest.
does not play dvds with extra features... first of all, i bought this dvd as a christmas present for my girlfriend and i am somewhat disappointed.
unlike some of the other people who received a " lemon ", my dvd player came in perfect working condition.
as a whole, the dvd player has a sleek design and works fine.
what disappointed me is the fact that it does not seem to read certain dvds.
for example, i tried playing my new " pirates of the carribean " extra features dvd, but this dvd player can not read it.
at first i thought it is only a isolated incident, but i was proven wrong when the player would not read my " alias " dvds as well.
this player seems to work fine with everything else.
so i don't understand why it would not work with dvds that seem to have more features in them.
because of this, i am disappointed and would not recommend this product.
apex you can trust.
i had apex regular (non-progressive) dvd-player for two years.
had no problem with it.
now, i thought it's time to upgrade.
so, i bought apex ad-2600 in november ' 03 from amazon.
it's running great for all the dvds i have and rented.
i think, apex is the best dvd player you can get for the price.
some of my friends had well branded dvd-players but they keep complaining that sometime it stucks and sucks!
most of them are already switched to apex and they are happy.
take my words and give it a try.
hopefully you won't regret.
goodluck!
a great discovery!
i bought this to replace an expensive ($ 300 +) onkyo dvd player that quit after only 3 years!
this has so many capabilities that you'll always have room for new technologies as they evolve.
i use this with a home theater system and it's amazing how it sounds, the picture clarity is unmatched!
so much packed in a small case and very affordable!
sucks.
worked for two weeks.
after two weeks the picture kept freezing.
spend the extra 20 $ and buy a name brand dvd player.
apex sucks!
only the cheap and poor would buy one.
video failed after 3 weeks.
unit worked great for 3 weeks then video output failed.
quirky?
i got one of these to serve as a second dvd player in my house.
it's a compact, attractive machine and was easy to set up.
basic usage is easy, but the remote has a lot of buttons that i haven't used.
so far, we've only used this player a few times to watch movies and it has worked fine.
the picture is clear, bright and sharp and the sound is good.
the catch is that, while it plays movies just fine, it has refused to read second discs with the movie " extras " on them on the two occaisions when i tried to do that.
it's not a big deal for me.
i simply watched the extra features on another player.
had this been my only dvd player, though, it would have been a real problem.
as it is, i'm keeping the machine.
it works well enough (so far) for me to be satisfied with it, and it's possible that i'm missing something.
but i would expect that, since my movie discs have all played with no problem, the extras discs would, too, without any additional tweaking.
i'm giving this player cautious recommendation.
there are a lot of things i like about it.
be advised, however, that you may encounter problems.
apex ad-2600 working so far.
received apex dvd and the picture was great when set up with s connector.
the remote is a little hard to understand.
my jpeg pictures are viewable (not so sharp and vivid) on my 27 " screen but seem not as clear as when i view them on my 17 " monitor.
so far the dvd works so i hope it doesn't break down like the reviews i've read.
prior to christmas, it seems the reviews were very good but after that it seems the reviews went bad!
i wouldn't gotten this dvd based on the reviews i read after christmas.
great player... when it worked!
video output stopped workin.
this was an awesome player, before the video output no longer worked (after about 3 weeks).
i might have gotten a lemon, but this is not the first report of video output failure on this machine.
i am returning it, and again in the market for a multiformat dvd, svcd, vcd, mp3, etc.
what a disappointment!
quit in 10 days.
i bought the apex ad-2600 dvd player for the family for christmas.
set up was easy and we enjoyed it for just over a week.
there was occasionally a lip-sync issue (the lips weren't moving in time to the dialogue).
but after 10 days, the sound worked, but the video quit working.
amazon was wonderful about picking it up the next day and paying for the return shipping.
perhaps this experience will teach me not to buy " off " brands.
read the manual!!
i'm editing my review, because now i wish i read the manual before returning the player i bought for my girlfriend.
the button on the remote to switch from pal to ntsc was undoubtedly my problem.
now i may buy two!
(my orignal review is below:)  great feature list, poor reliability.
output went black and white only via both s-video and composite connections, and with no v-hold.
thankfully amazon has free return shipping!
retraction: said mine had silver plate: it does have display.
it works great.
i should have looked at it harder.
great by for the price.
i purchased two apex 2600 for christmas presents.
the unit seems to play all formats that i have put in it (jpeg, kodak pic's and dvd-r) i have read other reviews and some good and soom not so good, but my feeling at this time is " two thumbs up "!
(i guess only time will tell?)
p.s the remote control does seem to get confused at times and doesnt respond but it may be just operator error?
doesn't play my alias season 1 dvds.
what the hell is wrong with this thing.
i bought this thing because it plays everything.
this is the third apex dvd i bought.
the first one was the 705 which i hacked successfully to play all region dvds and disable macrovision.
the second one was the 2500 which i think is better than the 2600 because it has more features such as karoake which i do use sometimes for parties.
but heck it plays my alias dvds.
what the heck is up with the 2600.  it suppose to play everything.
wrong!
by the way my alias dvds are legit too not no bootleg from the internet.
i'm sending this pup back to amazon and looking for the 2500 on ebay.
you should too.
forget about the sleek looks if it can't play some of your real dvds.
only lasted a month!
i bought the 2600 because it plays everything!
well, within 45 days the video output quit working (both rca & optic).
so now it still plays everything, you just can't see it!
a frustrating christmas.
we ordered two apex ad-2600's for our family for christmas - finally decided to join the rest of the world and watch dvd's - well.
the first one we installed didn't work, and our kids were devastated to say the least.
the second one is up and running.
it seems to be working fine, but we've not used it all that much.
i am returning the broken one today.
i will not be ordering another one to replace it.
update: january 27th 2004 - the second one crapped out only after a week - dont buy this product!
disappointing - get what you pay for.
the player looked good right out of the box, offering lots of features and good styling.
i immediately had problems getting the player to recognize two of my favorite dvds.
after " loading " for what seemed like a very long time, the display indicated " no disk ".
after multilple tries, one of the disks was finally recognized but video was poor and features not available.
only one disk played through to completion successfully.
at $ 49.  i guess you get what you pay for.
i'd recommend against this unit.
this dvd player ruined christmas - twice!
i ordered two of these puppies for christmas gifts.
when we tried to hook up the first one, it was broken - the motor would not eject discs or close the door.
strike 1. when i tried to install the second dvd player in my brothers house, that one didn " t work either!
imagine my shock - and absolute instant disdain for any products made by apex.
the 2nd dvd player had a faulty power supply which caused to occasionally not turn on.
do not recommend.
what can i say, i bought the ad600 2 years ago and it was probly the best dvd player ever, quality design, stable, plus it uses a standard ide interface so you can use an old dvd drive from your computer if the player dies.
in the last month i bought the apex ad-1600 and the ad-1220.
and have returned both.
the ad-1600 didn't work corectly from the start and the ad-1220 lasted about a week and a half before it started to act up.
my recommendation is to wait on buying one from this company as they will surely get sent a message of many returned dvd players after christmas 2003.  i hoping they will then begin building quality dvd players again, as i do like them.
it really doesn't make any cents $ $ to build a great reputation then destroy it from lack a research and testing in one season.
amazon is awaesome!
they refunded my $ $ $ so fast and paid for the shipping back.
what more could you ask for.
price vs performance.
for the price, it's a very nice dvd player.
the front door is miss aligned on my unit and you have to manually life it up just so slightly for the door to close, a very annoying thing after ahwile.
it does play a wide range of formats as advertised which is very nice.
and so far have not had any problems with dvds not being able to play.
recommended to anyone looking to purchase a low priced dvd player and not expecting any bells or whistles from a brand name one like sony.
my first dvd player and i'm well satisfied!
i finally joined the 21st century and bought this dvd player.
i knew nothing about dvds before this but with this machine i figured it all out very quickly.
i only wanted something to play dvds on but this machine has all these other features that i probably will never use but it's nice to know that there're there.
the machine is very light and slim and fits nicely into my tv stand.
i've had no problems at all so far and i'm very happy.
i applied a $ 25 amazon gift voucher i got for christmas so i only ended up paying $ 29 for this machine.
even if i had paid full price i would have considered this a good deal.
when it works, it's great, when it doesn't it's frustrating.
bought the apex ad-2600 from amazon in 12/03 mainly on price, $ 49.99 - $ 10 rebate = $ 39.99.  that was a mistake.
we tried the " finding nemo " dvd and when we got to ~ chapter 28, the frames started to freeze for no reason.
cleaned the dvd, tried again, no luck.
i pulled out our old non-progressive scan toshiba, hooked it back-up and the " finding nemo " dvd works fine.
i agree with previous posts that you get what you pay for.
i can't rate it one star only because when it does work it's pretty good.
only owned it about two weeks so i expect we're looking at getting another progressive scan dvd player of higher quality very soon.
i will give it one more try!
i purchased the ad 2600 from another company last month and was very satisfied with my purchase, until last night.
the player kept displaying " no disc ", so i tried the disc in another machine and sure as @ # *!
it worked.
i even went as far as calling the technical support number on the disc.
the person i talked to suggested i take the dvd player back and swap it out with another.
the other company is currently " out of stock " so i ordered another from amazon and will be taking the original back to the competitor today.
hopefully the replacement from amazon will work just fine.
if not i will avoid apex products in the future.
besides the one problem, this machine is amazing!
it plays everything, even vcd's.
if only it played stand alone avi files.
if no problems occur with replacement unit i will keep the 4 star rating.
if problem occurs again i will repost my new rating.
well worth the money.
i will never use all the " whistles and bells " this machine is capable of.
but for what i do use it is perfect.
i was, however.
somewhat disappointed that i could not " hook up " to my sony multi brand remote commander.
small problem.
hi, many people are saying, " you get what you pay for, i guess."
well that is not true.
you could have paid more and got a lot less.
i paid $ 49 and now it's $ 125!
you have to ask yourself, " how much money is dissapointment worth?"
because, you will be dissapointed.
then you can say, " my dissapointment only cost $ 39."
i think a $ 39 dissapointment is better then a $ 125 dissapointment!
so, without further adoo.
1) frame freezes and the family yells, " dad!
somethings wrong with the dvd player!
come quick!"
2) the remote works, but then it does not work, and you are left standing there thinking you are doing something wrong.
3) you must press the play button and hold it for a couple of seconds otherwise it will not work and you will think the whole unit is broken.
4) it did play my jpeg photos but wow, trying to figure it out was really something!
5) this apex model 2600 will not work with my universal remote control.
i dare you to surf the net and find the code.
you will be told goldstar codes work, and you will be told zenith codes will work, and radio shack will give you apex codes but they will not work.
finally you will read a post somewhere that all codes are useless for the apex 2600.  and then you will start to belive them.
if this is your fist dvd player.
save yourself some aggrivation.
keep your receipt.
bought two ad2600's for christmas.
one still works fine, the other quit after one day.
owner's manual has substandard troubleshooting guide.
apex's website is down and they won't answer their phone.
isacc l. fisher was wrong.
the dvd player is fine.
to get back to the menu of the dvd you have to press " menu " on the remote while the dvd is playing.
if the dvd is stopped, it will display " playback only ".
little inconveinent, but unlike other players i only paid 40 $.
fantastic dvd player for the price.
i purchased one of these to replace an ailing dvd player that's a few years old.
of course, i was hesitant given the price, but i've been extremely impressed since receiving it, and bought a second one as a christmas present for my parents.
the picture is perfect, although i'm not watching on an hdtv.
it seems to be a little slow when identifying a new disc that's inserted - maybe 10 seconds of wait.
also, if you're an audiophile, you'll want to get your own cables because the supplied ones are thin and short.
but, dollar for dollar, this dvd player is probably the best out there.
lots of sound but no picture!
i bought this for my dad for christmas.
when i hooked it up it only produced sound - a cd played fine, but with a dvd i only got the audio - no picture!
let's face it - when you want to watch a movie you want to see a picture.
as i travelled internationally and didn't want to haul it back on a plane with me it was an expensive addition to the recycling bin.
had to buy my dad a different dvd player locally (panasonic) which worked just fine.
save your cash - go for a brand that actually cares about their reputation.
looks great, works like crap.
bought one for $ 49.99.  seemed like a good deal, but this pos frequently cannot recognize dvds and music cds -- takes a long time loading and then concludes, " no disc ".
sent mine back.
i'd look elsewhere.
awkward remote; flimsy build quality.
granted, i have only used this dvd player for about 2 hours setting it up for my mom for christmas, but that was long enough for me to find problems with this dvd player.
first, the player did not allow me to access the menus of dvds.
when i hit " menu " it told me, " playback only."
i actually had to re-open the drawer and close it to get back to the dvd menu.
this is extemely lame.
the remote is flimsy-feeling and awkward to use.
in addition, it only seems to work if you're about five feet away from the player, although that may have been just the batteries that came with it.
the player does seem to play dvds adequately enough.
it also has an optical out, which it should.
i think for about $ 40 more, you can probably find a much better dvd player than this though.
a very embarassing gift.
i purchased the apex 2600 after reading good reviews of it, both here and in other places.
after less than 24 hours it turned out to be a huge disappointment, for myself and for my parents, for whom it was a gift.
it played only one out of three dvd's without problems, the other two being afflicted by a number of glitches.
both of the problem dvd's would repeatedly freeze during playback, while the counter on the player kept going.
one also exhibited extremely slow speed when going to the menu.
these problems were consistent, and also not present on another dvd player.
the dvd door would scratch the top of the disc every time it closed.
there were a few attractive features, such as the small size and the layout of the remote.
all in all, trying to save some money on this player resulted in me shelling a great deal more when i purchased a much nicer dvd vcr combo player to make up for blazing crappiness of this very embarassing gift.
great - for the first three hours.
i was impressed by this very inexpensive player.for the first three hours, and then it died.
i was told that it is no longer available, so there must be something really wrong with it.
you get what you pay for.
i looked into buying an inexpensive dvd player that had more than the standard set of features and this item seemed to be the best in that category.
i just hooked it up and everything seemed to be going fine.
there are a couple of quirks that were a bit annoying like having to actually press the power button before the tray will open (my prev.
machine did it automatically), and the fact that the external display is too small and too faded to read from any significant distance.
still, i was willing to overlook those things as this unit looks sleek and has a myriad of features!
so i pop-in my first dvd and start to watch.
i get to chapter 34 and everything freezes!
ok, that happens, so i try to skip the chapter.
nothing!
i try navigating to a chapter past 34 via the menu and it wouldn't do it!
i try navigating using the player's built in menu, and it still wouldn't work!
my next thought was that the dvd must be damaged.
upon inspection i did find a small scratch on the surface and figured that to be the cause.
i decided to check one more thing though and plugged in my 3-year - old unit again just to see.
the dvd played without flaw through the chapter in question.
i then played it through my ps2 and there was no problem there either.
guess where this unit is headed?
yup, right back for a refund!
more trouble than it's worth times 10. i was so excited about the price and reviews of this dvd player.
i am even a bit technology oriented, so i thought it would be a breeze to set this up.
unfortunately, the player would not read any of my region one dvds.
even though they were not damaged in any way.
i called apex's support number numerous times but it just kept ringing.
i hope that amazon will let me trade it for a different, more trusted brand of dvd player.
value for money.
this is probably one of the few dvd players at $ 40 that can play almost everything you throw at it.
the plus points are -  1.  price  2.  ability to play most discs - i tried dvd, vcd, dvd-r, audio cd and it played all  3.  good looks  the downside -  1.  the build quality shows why its so cheap - small scratches on the base plate, something that you wouldn't see on a sony and an overall plasticky feel  2.  remote buttons are small and closely spaced, especially with the menu buttons.
if these otherwise minor issues can be fixed, i would rate this a 5 star machine.
great cheap buy!
this is wonderful to have for your first dvd player.
i brought it for my sister in college and she loves it!
apex is the best cheap quality brand for dvd players.
also, very light and portable.
apex 2600. the one i purchased for a frend as a gift will not read any dvd disc.
it will read and play all cd audio disc.
guess i will return it for an exchange and hope for the best with the new one.
so far not going to get a good review.
a disipointed customer.
hit and miss.
i have shopped with amazon before and have been very happy with their performance thus far.
i received the apex ad-2600 before i expected.
that is where my satisfaction ends.
i bought the apex ad-2600 because of the ability to play jpegs and it seemed like it was the most bang for the buck.
however, it has failed to deliver on quality.
it does not only have difficulty playing jpegs, it even has trouble properly playing dvd movies.
on several different occasions it has displayed " no disc " with a disc inside.
after reading several other reviews this appears to be relatively common.
i read in consumer reports that apex is a reliable brand, but with my experience and reading the other reviews, i think i will be doing a little more homework before considering another apex product.
i am returning mine for a replacement, but if i receive another ad-2600 with the same or similar problems i will not only return it for a refund, but never buy another apex product in the future.
i guess you get what you pay for.
the ad2600 had false silver plate instead of play display.
the 2600 had false silver plate instead of play display.
bait and switch.
picture on web site clearly has the play display pictured, yet false silver plate.
what is up.
clearly a large lawsuit if i were so inclined.
i feel that once i contact amazon that they will get to the bottom of this.
moderately impressed.
no go on most formats.
it plays original dvds and cds and plays mp3s and jpegs.
however, it does not play windows media and i can not get it to play any of my divx rips.
i guess that i can not complain since it does not actually claim to play vcd / svcd formats, but others say they can.
also, it was only $ 39.99 (after rebate) with free shipping and no tax so overall it is a decent player.
good quality video.
apex ad-2600 compatability.
bought this player after reading the reviews here which identify it as reading most formats including dvd + rw's and vcd's.
can't say whether i rec'd an " updated " model but it will not read dvd + rw's or vcd's for me.
it did play a dvd-r which was unplayable in my older philips machine.
i don't have a dvd + r to try  so.
mixed bag i guess but the price was right.
great budget player.
this is the third apex product i've bought and they continue to impress for the price.
it goes nicely with my apex 27 " in my bedroom.
the build quality feels solid, it doesn't shake or whine while playing discs, and the picture and sound is top notch (both dts and dd5.1 sound good).
i paid twenty dollars more than the current price, and even then it was a steal.
fantastic bargain!
hooray!
think you need to pay a fortune for a good qulaity dvd player?
well, not with this one.
it looks really sleek and stylish, and does everything it claims.
i tried as bunch of different formats to see if it would play and it did.
i am very pleased with this product and the price to match and haven't had any problems.
there are really easy directions for setup and fiddling around with the picture, zoom etc.
so sit back, relax and brag to all your friends who paid a mountain of money for a dvd player that can't do half the things this one can, and for a fraction of the price!
only problem, if you think it's going to be delivered in the 24hrs amazon claims, don't hold your breath.
value value value.
noiseless, lightweight and oh yeah.
works great!
silverish color really adds a special touch.
who cares if it doesn't have multiple slots?
it plays just about any format (check before you buy if it plays yours.)
if you watch dvds once in a while like i do, get this!
apex is made in usa and is one of the underrated brands out there.
if you watch one dvd per weekm its yours.
however, i don't know the dvd's performance on a heavy load of every-day viewing.
either way, can't go wrong with this price.
excellent picture quality / color i recently purchased the canon powershot g3 and am extremely satisfied with the purchase.
the camera is very easy to use, in fact on a recent trip this past week i was asked to take a picture of a vacationing elderly group.
after i took their picture with their camera, they offered to take a picture of us.
i just told them, press halfway, wait for the box to turn green and press the rest of the way.
they fired away and the picture turned out quite nicely.
(as all of my pictures have thusfar).
a few of my work constituants owned the g2 and highly recommended the canon for picture quality.
i'm easily enlarging pictures to 8 1/2 x 11 with no visable loss in picture quality and not even using the best possible setting as yet (super fine).
ensure you get a larger flash, 128 or 256, some are selling with the larger flash, 32mb will do in a pinch but you'll quickly want a larger flash card as with any of the 4mp cameras.
bottom line, well made camera, easy to use, very flexible and powerful features to include the ability to use external flash and lense / filters choices.
i'd highly recommend this camera for anyone who is looking for excellent quality pictures and a combination of ease of use and the flexibility to get advanced with many options to adjust if you like.
great job canon!
cool toy yep.
this is my first digital camera, and what a ' toy ' it is!
i am a software engineer and am very keen into technical details of everything i buy, i spend around 3 months before buying the digital camera; and i must say, g3 worth every single cent i spent on it.
just a little overview, powershot g3 is the flagship of canon's powershot series and its an slr-like camera, its 4 megapixel and (alsmost) full manual control gives the pictures a touch of brilliance.
whether you are a novice or an expert, its ease of use and functionality goes together.
 + you can have different kind of lens if you want + flashes, etc.
i am using kingston 512mb cf which works great and is very fast.
a good choice could be cf type ii, microdrives that can store around 1 gb of images.
some things that i didn't like (but hey.
nothing is perfect).
* main dial is not backlit.
* lens visible in optical viewfinder.
(well thats only for old-school die-hard optical viewfinder fans) use lcd instead which is brilliant and you can twist around too.
overall i'm happy with my toy.
incredible camera i did extensive research comparing different 4 and 5 megapixel cameras.
a couple of online camera review sites were extremely helpful, as they provided complete exhaustive reviews of nearly every camera made, plus provided a great number of high resolution sample images to compare amongst the models.
following my research, i decided on the g3.
in a word, " awesome " is how i would describe this camera.
i won't go into the details here, as the online sites (stevesdigicams, dpreviews) go into great depth in their reviews, but i am very pleased with the features, the speed, the picture quality, the flexibility, the automation, and the functional conveniences this camera offers.
with the automatic settings, i really haven't taken a bad picture yet.
and with the panoramic " stitch " mode, it guides you through stitching together multiple pictures to build a seamless panoramic image.
i am absolutely in awe of this camera, canon put enormous quality into the g3.
don't walk, run and buy this camera if you have the budget, i guarantee you will not be disappointed.
great camera i bought my canon g3 about a month ago and i have to say i am very satisfied.
i have taken hundreds of photos with it and i continue to be amazed by their quality.
the g3 is loaded with many useful features, and unlike many smaller digital cameras, it is easy to hold steady when using slower shutter speeds.
flaws?
the lens is visible in the viewfinder when the lens is set to the wide angle, but since i use the lcd most of the time, this is not really much of a bother to me.
still i am a little suprised that canon did not correct this design flaw before releasing the camera.
despite this minor disappointment, i highly recommend the canon g3 anyone who is serious about digital photography.
haven't had practice but i'm already in love with it i have only had this camera for one full day and i have to say that it is wonderful.
the photo quality is amazing and i know i'm going to have fun with all the features.
i've figured out most of its features on my own already (because i have used digital cameras before, so i know things like symbols).
i'm one of those people that can only concentrate on one screen at a time so i've been having trouble paying attention to the little display panel on top, but that doesn't stop me from loving this camera.
the reason i rated it a four is because of that darn diopter adjustment dial.
its very small and hard to turn so you can't get an accurate adjustment (for those of you who don't know what a diopter adjustment is, it is to adjust the focus of the viewfinder to your eyesight.)
i am going to have so much fun with this camera and when i learn more i will post a more accurate review.
excellent for the semi-serious amateur positives  1) slr like programming and exposure control gives you latitude to be creative, yet its progam and auto exposure settings provide excellent photos if you don't want to bother with the settings.
excellent range of metering options as well.
it's great to switch to spot metering and actually see it working on the lcd screen.
2) 4mp is about right for the target market of this camera (semi-serious amateur photographer)  3) 4x zoom is nice  4) the great thing about digital, in general, is that you can generally see the results of your exposure settings on the lcd screen before you take the picture, not two weeks later when you get the film developed.
5) its focusing system is also very flexible.
you can move the focus range to almost anywhere in the scene with the push of a button, and it has an on-screen manual focus mode that would be really helpful if shooting a scene that is tough to automatically focus.
negatives  1) quite bulky (it's about the same size as my minolta vectis s-1 aps slr) and uses a heavy battery, although not very solid as it is contructed mostly of plastic (unlike canon's elph line)  2) not very ergonomical - you'll find even for a point-and-shoot lens)  4) the viewfinder is borderuer lcd scoying.
fantastic digital camera the camera has a wonderful set of features.
the lcd screen pulls out and rotates in any direction for easy pictures.
you can even take a picture of yourself while looking at the lcd.
the optical zoom works great and the 14x digital zoom is a very nice addition although pictures at the highest digital zoom are a little blurry.
the highest optical zoom pictures are perfect.
i have not yet seen any of the usual problems with digital pictures (purple fringing, etc) so i am very pleased.
the canon computer software used to download, sort, upload and manage your digital pictures on the computer is very nice and very easy to use.
the only two minor issues i have with the camera are the lens cap (it is not very snug and can come off too easily) and the lens itself (it partially obstructs the view through the viewfinder but not views through the lcd).
the menus are easy to navigate and the buttons are easy to use.
it is a fantastic camera and well worth the price.
the best of everything recent price drops have made the g3 the best bargain in digital cameras currently available.
newbies will find the full auto setting will give them perfect pictures right out of the box.
4 megapixels is enough for anybody and the photo quality is awesome.
don't get fooled by the 5 megapixel marketing hype.
unless you want to print murals, you don't need it.
those used to 35mm cameras will find the g3 very comfortable and friendly to use.
anyone looking for more than " point and shoot " can make a huge step up for a moderate price difference.
the extended zoom range and faster lense put it at the top of it's class.
i expect the g3 will please me for years to come.
pure class & quality - a work of craftmanship i recommend unreservedly the powershot g3 to any potential buyer looking for a first-class digital camera at a reasonable price - there is no better camera out there - period!
it gives great pictures, the controls are easy to use, the battery lasts forever on one single charge, the software is very user-friendly and it is beautiful in it chrome casing.
i began taking pics as soon as i got this camera and am amazed at the quality of photos i have took simply by using the auto mode.
absolutely breathtaking.
i was considering the olympus camedia c-5050 but was convinced to buy the g3 after visiting a store and holding it in my hands and trying it out.
the olympus is a bit clumsy-looking and the user-interface not as friendly as the canon, but one of the features that sold me on the g3 was the battery life - no other camera out there gives you the type of battery life as the canon g3.
i would recommend a larger compact-flash card, at least 128 mb.
i bought a 512 mb card by simpletech and it works great with my canon.
great camera what else can you say about a camera that works for both of you?
i make photographs at work, and so wanted a camera good enough to compare with what i use professionally.
at the same time, i wanted my wife to not be intimidated by knobs and buttons.
i recieved the camera, inserted a larger cf card, charged the battery, and handed it to my wife.
i showed her how to turn it on, where the lens zoom lever is, and she loves it!
this camera has canon's great colorimetry, plus what you see in the lcd is what you get.
the prints are beautiful!
and you get about 120 images on a 256mb card at highest quality.
i tried out some other brands in the stores, and was disappointed by the battery life of the other company; plus what you see in the lcd (no optical finder) isn't what you get - not even for color; the output was less than i expected.
although canon's batteries are proprietary, they last a really long time, recharge fairly quickly in the camera, plus if you want ' more power ', you can even find a knockoff charger and spare batteries right here on amazon.
if you love an slr 35mm but need to go digital this is a great camera for you!
the canon g3 gives tons of control for photo buffs but still has an " auto " mode that makes it very easy for the novice to use.
i can hand this to anyone and know they will take some great photos!
i love having the option to manually control the f-stop, shutter speed and even focus.
i was able to take great photos of the 4th of july fire works, and got some amazing shots of the kids playing with sparklers.
warning - i did read the manual!
but if you've used a slr 35mm camera, the controls are very intuitive!
once i read the manual i was able to point and shoot without having to fumble around trying to figure out where the controls are located.
with a quick spin of the dial you can select shutter priority (for high speed subjects), aperture priority (for focal length) or full program mode where the camera selects both for ideal photo quality.
the manual mode is easy to use with fast access for the selection of shutter speed and aperture without having to fumble through menu options.
it doesn't do you any good if a camera has all the features but you can't access them quickly when you need them!
this camera also has a great feel and weight to it.
you feel like you are holding something of substance, not some cheap plastic toy.
the more i work with it, the more i love it!
i would recomend that you purchase a lexar media cf for the camera as the sandisk card that comes packaged is too small and too slow!
i didn't think i would find this quality and ease of use for under $ 1500 - i'm thrilled with my purchase!
outstanding camera this is my first digital camera, and i am very pleased with it.
i do not know a whole lot about photography, but i am happy to know that this camera can always perform, even as i grow in skill and knowledge.
seriously, this thing has everything that a pro or expert amateur could want.
but at the same time, it takes wonderful pictures very easily in " auto " mode, so that even an average joe like me can use it!
four megapixels is great.
i know there are five mp cameras out there, but this thing does just fine for me.
if you want, check out the canon website and they have some sample images, taken by this camera, for you to download.
if you are looking for a very simple point and shoot camera, this is probably not what you are looking for.
if you are looking for an outstanding camera that can take you from simple to complex, this is it.
it is a very amazing product.
i highly recommend it.
love my new g 3 just received this camera two days ago and already love the features it has.
takes excellent photos.
night mode is clear as day.
i have not played with all the features yet, but the camera is easy to use once you get used to it.
the only drawback is the viewfinder is slightly blocked by the lens.
however, using the lcd seems to eliminate this minor problem.
overall it is the best camera on the market.
i give it 10 stars!
noise level this camera has significantly more noise at iso 100 than the nikon 4500.
the pictures are brillient i just bought the camera a few days ago.
before i " get used to it ", here are my first feelings:  a) the picture quality (color and sharpness of focusing) are so great, it completely eliminated my doubt about digital imaging --- how could one eat rice one grain at a time: -))  b) the lens cover is surely loose, i already accidently finger-printed the len a few times, and au lens tigt and cause potential damage.
i wish canon would work out some way for that issue.
the zooming lever is shaky, i hope it does not operate mechanically, otherwise you'll feel uneasy.
great gadget i bought this last week through amazon.
got a great deal from a reputable seller.
i love this camera.
i am still trying to figure out the may options it has.
took hundreds of pictures and they were great.
great colors, pictures and white balance.
has 4x optical zoom which is higher than any other in the same price range.
it is generally overpriced a little bit but you get what you are paying for.
ok for a digital camera maybe it is my lack of experience, but i found shots with this camera very disappointing.
it was (i sold it after a few months) too expensive for the shots that i got.
sure it had all the features, but when i tried to shoot a girl's basketball game it just wan't up to the task.
i don't think i was asking too much.
any film zoom p and s would have given superior results with a minimal effort.
and with the 500 you save you could print the results for the life of the camera.
i found that low light situations combined with any sort of action left this camera in the dust.
i wanted it to shoot concerts as well.
that meant even less light and just as much action.
sure, i adjusted the film speed to 400.  the grain was terrible.
next time i set it at 100 and used the flash.
well flash photos are never great, and there was still a lot of noise.
when i took outdoor photos with plenty of light and the objects weren't moving, the photos were awesome.
the camera was a marvel.
getting the printer to help output them was another tale.
for simple point and shoot photography, consider a cheaper digital.
you don't need the extra resolution or the cost.
then again a one time use camera may do just as well.
if you shoot in lots of light and desire high quality, this will be your camera.
it is versatile and seems to be one of the best.
me, i am going with a leica minilux (the g3 was replacing mine which was stolen).
sure.
it is less versatile, but i am never disappointed with the output.
within its limitations i am a long-time user of highly responsive film slrs and professional quality external flash equipment, just so you know my bias.
i have been watching the development of digicams for years, waiting to make my first move.
what i really want is a $ 1,500 digital slr with a full frame sensor that will take my nikon lenses.
i figure that is at least three years off, and i am getting impatient.
hence i decided to spring for a point-and-shoot digicam that that would have features that would let me get around their inherent limitations.
i chose the g3 because of its reputation for very high quality, clean images.
the two limitations i knew i would have to deal with are the very long lag time before it focus-locks (even in bright light), and the unsatisfactory light quality of the built-in flash.
as of this writing, technology has not solved the focus-lock lag time problem for point-and-shoot digicams and anyone who is satisfied with it simply has never used a modern film slr.
at least once youve got focus lock, the shutter release lag time for the g3 is about 1/10 of a second, which from what ive read, is better than just about anything else available.
what makes the focus-lock lag time something i can live with is the extreme depth of field obtainable with these point and shoot digicams at f8.
once i get focus lock, i can then wait until my restless subject (a pet or a child) strikes an amusing pose and then fire the shutter with some reasonable probability of getting my subject still in focus.
now what about the flash problem?
relative to what i can easily achieve with external flash on my nikon slr, the internal flash on the g3 produces harsh, flat images with ugly hot spots.
fortunately, the g3 has a hot shoe that can take an external flash, and fortunately for me, i already owned a one of the highest quality external flashes that money can buy: the metz 60 ct-4.
i cant use my nikon external flash on a canon camera, but i can use my metz, with the proper metz module and extension cord connected between the g3 and the 60 ct-4.
for those who have this metz flash (or the 45cl-3) and would like to get the absolute ultimate quality out of this g3, the metz module you need is the sca 3102 and the connector cord is the sca 3000c.
in order for this to work, you have to set the camera to manual mode and set the shutter speed and f-stop yourself.
contrary to what ive read elsewhere, the g3 does sync at 1/250 of a second with third-party flashes, just as it does with the dedicated flashes from canon.
you also have to set the g3 to second shutter sync, which is what youd want to do most of the time anyhow.
then just forget about all the controls you have on the metz flash head itself and the sca 3102 control panel, because they are all ignored.
the g3 completely takes over controlling the duration of the metz flash, and most of the time, the exposure is spot on and when it isnt, its because youve exceeded the range of the metz flash itself.
this might happen if you get too close to the subject and you are not bounce-flashing, or if you are bounce flashing and the walls are simply too far away.
unfortunately, the neutral density filters for the metz flash are no longer available, so the first problem cant easily be solved.
the second problem is solved by more direct lighting from the metz (with the attendant shadows unfortunately).
but once youve got your exposure within an acceptable range, the g3 is shown to produce utterly stunning images that i can hardly get with my nikon f100 film camera.
the 60 ct-4 flash head can actually be reversed 180 degrees and then tilted, enabling you to bounce the flash off the walls behind you.
the results are shadow-free images that look as if theyve been exposed with the gentlest natural light you could imagine.
now there is one more complaint i have about the g3 and that is the software that comes with it for processing raw images (i only shoot in raw image mode and the first thing i did was replace the 32 mbyte cf with a 512 mbyte cf, which gives me 130 raw images, as opposed to 7!
the canon software for raw images does not present you with a raw image at all, but the raw image after it has been processed by all the image-affecting settings in the camera.
i believe this is enabled by a second file that comes out of the camera that stores all this information.
maybe if you delete those files before you looked at them with the software, youd see the true, raw image that the camera actually produces.
i didnt wait to experiment.
instead, i bought the adobe photoshop camera raw plug-in.
what this plug-in reveals is the truly stunning quality of the raw g3 hardware.
without any tweaking at all, if the exposure is accurate, the colors are as realistic as ive ever seen produced by film, and this is a raw image!
the adobe camera raw plug-in shows once again that hardware is miles ahead of software.
what the g3 raw image software gives you is a fantasy world designed to please the uncritical.
what the photoshop plug-in gives you is reality, and then if you want fantasy, you can use photoshop to create it.
but at least youre starting with the most photorealistic images ive ever seen from a camera.
i am stunned and amazed at the quality of the raw images i am getting from this g3 (in conjunction with my professional flash system), and can easily put up with the cameras limitations, because ive never seen anything better within its resolution limits.
knock your socks off great i've had this for 3 months now, and i am pleased with my decision.
this is the perfect camera for a photo hobbiest who wants to have easy point and shoot ability as well.
my girlfriend loved using this camera so much as a point and shoot that i had to pry it out of her hands most of the time.
battery life, the drawback to most digital cameras, to quote k. reeves.
whoa.
manual functionality is excellent, downloading pictures is quick and a breeze, and the quality is astounding.
i did a good month's worth of research before buying this over other similar priced digital cameras, and this is the best buy for the buck.
not perfect (yes, the viewfinder can get obstructed in instances.but the lcd works well enough in those instances), not the cheapest 4.0 mp, but the best 4.0 mp.
if you don't believe me on that, check the consumer reports review as well as the many digital camera review sites out there.
or save time and just do it, you won't regret it.
great digital camera after reading the very positive review of this camera in a leading consumer magazine, i decided to head here, to amazon, to read through the online reviews.
the objections of the naysayers almost caused me to purchase a different camera, but, in the end, i figured i'd give the g3 a try.
i'm very glad i did.
the service from the supplier was exceptional.
the camera arrived on time and in perfect condition.
having used it for more than a month, i can say that it consistently produces topnotch photos.
recently, i attended a " flyball " competition  -- an event that involves dogs running and jumping hurdles.
by cocking the shutter to the halfway position and getting the settings ready to shoot, i was able to produce excellent stopaction photos -- contrary to what other reviewers experienced.
the camera is a dream to operate in automode, but also gives tremendous flexibility in aperture priority, shutter priority, and manual modes.
in the coastal redwood forests i was able to use these additional features along with the macro-focussing option to shoot wonderful close-up photos of the trilliums and other flowers in bloom.
about the only legitimate criticsm from the online reviews is that fact that the lens really does obstruct the viewfinder.
this effect is increased when one buys and uses a telephoto doubler.
but who cares?
i always shoot using the lcd panel.
i can't write enough positive things about this great little camera!
canon never ceases to amaze being a great fan of the g2 i set out with g3 with a somewhat negative expectation, difficult as it is to improve drastically on something already as ' perfect ' as the powershot g2.
but canon never fails to amaze.
some of the great gains over g2 --  1. the ability to selectively switch to raw format during record review gives you incredible more post-processing flexibility.
2. battery life is over 4.5 hours, compared to about 2.5 hours for the g2 or the 2 hours for most nikons.
3. the remote capture and fileviewer software bundled for photo capture is mind-blowing.
looks sort of like picasa software (google it if you dont know) in the interface and is as easy to install and operate as g2's, but more intuitive.
4. the shape of this device is a little squarer, without losing the weight which means better balance and less shaking while clicking.
a big plus in my book.
the light auto-correction is awesome.
you could take a picture of a stone glinting in the sun and still avoid the shining glaze and get the contours right.
6. the g2's " color effect " exposure mode has now been removed, the replacement is a selectable " effect func " menu option available in all exposure modes.
there are six default settings (off, vivid, sepia, neutral, low sharpening, b & w) as well as a ' custom effect ' that allows you to control sharpening, contrast and saturation.
7. a new photostich software for stiching your pics into a panoramic view.
i can of course buy such a tool off the shelves separately but helps if it comes with my camera.
(looks quite neat too suggesting that canon may have, er, canonized it a bit).
8. perhaps inspired by the canon's factory white-correction settings (which were found lacking and had to be altered by a user before the white edges from buildings etc could be cleaned out), the g3 has much sharper white offsets.
in english, this means that even straight out of the box, you'll be amazed at the pics you end up taking.
9. in dim lit environs the g2 could easily outperform any other camera, and thankfully g3 maintains this rep.  personally i believe it even outperforms the g2 in terms of less haze and astonishingly real colors.
overall, the g3 delivers what must be considered the best image quality of any current > 4 megapixel digicams, from a detail, tonal balance and color response point of view.
there's really very little about g3 images to criticize.
short of the eos range from canon or the d100s from nikon (both slrs).
this is quite simply the best you can ask for.
i've tried the sony s85 with the carl zeiss lens, but the pictures were too digital.
with canon, you get pictures that appear to be photos, not still camcorder shots.
i love the eos based controls and easy menus.
i don't need to go into exhustive review of this camera.
many before me have done that already.
i agree with the positive reviews.
but there are two things i don't like about the camera that were not mentioned in any previous reviews.
1) the included lens cap is very loose on the camera.
i'm concerned that with the easily removed lens cap, i may damage the lens.
very cheaply made.
2) the body construction - buttons, casing, etc, are too plastic.
the g2 was better in this respect.
it had a heavier and more sturdy casing.
despite these grieps, i still recommend the camera.
love it more and more i used a canon powershot s20 for about 2.5 years and loved it!
there were a few flaws that i learned to deal with and took thousands of pictures around the world, losing a few that i really regretted.
canon was an obvious choice, but i did not want to limit my decision, so started researching all brands that would take my microdrives.
i researched, held, tested, and observed 3 different brands.
needless to say, the canon won, hands down.
this camera performs like i can not believe!
i bought it for my trip to beunos aires, and also used it at the iguazu falls, and could not have asked for more perfect performance!
it was too new to have learned much about the advanced features, so i generally used the auto mode.
this camera is worth every penny, and i highly recommend it!
another point of note: the battery life is incredible!
i did not have a backup battery, and had no need for one.
i did have ability to charge it every night, so don't know how long it would have actually gone before dying.
this camera will stay with me for years!
the last digital camera i'll buy i've been looking to buy a digital camera for a long time and v = finally decided that now was the time.
after a lot of research, i decided on the g3.
am i ever glad that i decided on this camera!
i've only had it a week, but so far, everything about this camera is making me happy.
i've been able to change modes on this thing without even looking at the manual.
very intuitive menus are a big plus on this camera.
i charged it up the day i got it, took a bunch of pictures and i don't think the battery indicator has budged from fully charged.
the standard battery include with the g3 is a camcorder battery that will allow me to take pictures all day without worrying about charging.
i was worried about this after seeing a friend change batteries on his olympus after about 20-30 pictures.
the optical zoom is awesome, and the viewfinder reflects the settings of the zoom.
one little minor flaw with this camera is that the lens is visible in the viewfinder, but does not detract from the image at all.
as i said, this is the last digital camera i'll buy, and if you are in the market one, my advice is to buy the best thing you can afford and keep it forever.
these things may get a lot better in the future, but from what i've seen in the last few years, the technology for digital cameras isn't advancing at the pace of pc's, phones and hard drives.
the best 4 megapixel/4x optical zoom camera available and fairly easy to use.
highly recommended.
for more info on digital cameras, go to dpreviews.
boxy?
no -- gorgeous you can read the other reviews for specs and performance opinions.
i was perfectly happy with my g2, so why did i trade up to the g3?
because this camera is beautiful.
the g2 was slightly curvy with a champagne finish -- very homely.
the g3 looks like a work of art!
its silver magnesium finish is stunning, and the sharp lines and excellent grip are better than any other camera i've seen.
the little digital elphs were the best-designed, most-elegant cameras until the g3 came along and squashed them.
very good choice in it's price range this is my first digital camera.
i am very pleased with it so far.
i wanted something that is able to take high quality photos but not be so bulky that i would wind up leaving it at home all the time.
this seemed like a really good compromise.
i compared it to the olympus c5050z, the sony dcs-f 717 and the nikon 5700.  based on the cameras features and about dozen online reviews, this one seemed like the best all round deal.
it is not perfect though.
here are the shortcomings i have noticed so far:  it would have been a much easier choice if this were 5mp camera.
you can see the lens barrel in the view-finder.
(i knew this before hand, and it is not that bad) there is no tiff format.
that would be a nice compromise between jpeg and raw.
to save a picture as raw, you have to have the display on, this seems like a waste of battery power.
it seems to me that after the focus and metering are complete there is quite a lag before the shutter?
(again this is my first digital camera and maybe that is just how they all are.)
for those of you using a mac in os x+ there is no twain utility to download your pics directly into photoshop.
it is very simple to import via iphoto 2 and then move them to photoshop.
i have not spent much time with the included software, so i don't know what to say about it other than it seems ok.  i am quite happy with the camera.
it comes with a clearly written manual and the learning curve is not too too steep.
yes, i recommend it over the competition.
best of the best best camera ever.
from the image quality, color, function, i can say almost everything.
this camera has a cool stitch pictures feature, to find out more just log on to canon's website.
i had an olympus digital camera before and it was nothing compared to this.
for those of you who already bought this camera, i suggest you buy a hi-ti dye-sub photo printer.
you'll take more pics i don't write many reviews but i'm compelled to do so with this camera.
first and foremost, it will take better pic's than most film camera's.
save them on computer and print out just the ones who want.
duplicates are a no brainer and cheap.
no more wasted time and money developing rolls of pic's for just a couple of keepers.
crop and enlarge the best at practically no extra cost or time.
the technology is finally here folks, to make your photo life easier.
a great new use for that underutilized computer.
a digital camera will stay at home if its a hassle to use.
poor quality pics, short battery life, slow time consuming uploads and printing will ruin the digital camera experience and keep you buying film.
this camera has none of these flaws and will be something you'll use all the time.
my wife shuns all new technology and compained when i brought this home, but now she's forever asking for the digital camera.
and i let my kids shoot as many pics as they want, let them review them on the camera and just print the good ones (which are not many).
get the canon 850 printer and an ex flash.
in short, i have a new slr with an expensive lens and several film point and shoots.
i haven't used any of them since i got the g3.
unless your a professional, now you will need only one camera.
this one.
excellent camera i spent a lot of time comparing different cameras, and i realized that there is not such thing as the best digital camera.
you can always spend more money to get a better one.
however, for a $ 600 - $ 800 budget, i think this camera is an excellent choice.
it has a beautiful design, lots of features, very easy to use, very configurable and customizable, and the battery duration is amazing!
also, the display is " hinged " and it can be placed in a myriad of positions, or to protect it against any damage.
excellent idea!
one bad thing is that it comes with a pitiful 32mb compactflash card, and for most purposes, it is not enough.
however, it seems that this is the general rule for most digital cameras.
another good thing is that this camera seems to introduce much less noise in dark places than others i've seen.
cannon i have owned this camera for a short time and wouldn't give it up for anything.
it surpasses my greatest expectations in a 4mp camera..
powerful product bought this product about a month ago and have used it in a variety of situations.
in general it is easy to use and well laid out.
for '' cool factor '' buffs it looks and feels like a small plastic brick brick and doesn't have any wow factor.
it makes up for this by being extremely easy to use with well laid out controls that can be learned quickly.
the g3 has most if not all of the features that you would want from a semi-pro / pro slr with a good range of manual options for those who know something about photography.
in the hands of someone who doesn't, it will yield good results on idiot program / auto mode.
my wife, who has never used a camera before, picked it up and soon got the hang of the fact that if you don't like what you have created you just delete and try again.
the photos she took are better than the results i got from my nikon slr and range of lenses!
this is a big plus for those who a shifting to digital and the g3's large mobile screen helps with this.
negative points:  the included memory card is too small.
go out and get a 256meg card, it's worth the expense.
it is made of plastic.
for those who are used to brass cameras that can be dropped, picking up a camera like the g3 is an unnerving experience.
this is by no means unique to this model, i'm sure.
the zoom lens unit feels fragile and it is worth buying a good camera bag if you are going put to carry it round a lot.
this is not a handbag camera.
while light, it will not easily go in small handbags or pockets.
the function lever - the one which switches between capture and view mode feels fragile.
flash - as with all built-in flashes in small cameras, you get overilluminated main subjects with depth being lost.
the g3 has a shoe which will take other powerful (and expensive) canon flashes that will allow bounce and reflected flash photography.
the strap is horrible and gets in the way of parts of the camera you need access to.
if you can afford this camera, you can afford to get a better strap elsewhere - a very minor quibble.
good points:  the functionality on this camera is mind-blowing.
canon have packed a lot in here and the options and controls are easy to use and logically laid out.
learning how to use it will not take very long.
the image quality is excellent.
messing around with images in photoshop (a supplied software package) and printing them on a good printer, yielded excellent results.
unless you are making posters, a g3 is more than good enough.
range of functions - as indicated above - it has something for everyone: point and shoot power plus advanced functions for those who are serious about photography.
please note that this is the first digital camera i have owned or used.
a lot of my opinions are more relevant for those who are switching from film.
i did extensive research before chosing the g3 but there's nothing like picking one up and playing with it first.
best camera i've used this is by far the finest camera in its price and category i have ever used.
it is also one of the few electronic items that works right out of the box.
the macro works great for medical photographs and the auto mode is terrific for point and shoot.
this camera is closest to perfect than any otherdigicam this camera is closest to perfect than any other digicam that is 4-5 megapixel.
beats that sony f717; its archrival.
i'm glad canon decided to keep the 4mp resolution and improved upon it with new technology;  i can't fit all that resolution (4mp = 2272x 1704 resol.)
in my 19in flat monitor (1200x1024 resol.)
please go to read dpreview.com and you'll get the complete story.
my story is based on personal usage.
yes there is a corner lens barrel distortion (i don't like it too but no harm done since i always use the camea lcd screen to see exactly what i'm going to get) in the viewfinder when you don't zoom (when you zoom the lens distortion goes away), canon knows this and engineered it that way to minimize the parallax phenomenon; that is what lmost exactly ot the picture.
the distortion is not a flaw.
as with taking digital pictures, i notice other people including myself have errors on their compactflash which results in certain shots being partially taken or lost - this is an issue that seems to effect compactflash and other digicam brand.
i've haven't heard about a diagnos or fix for this.
in terms of the shots taken, this camera is insanely great!
the pictures are fabulous and their is a (short) learning curve to it; there are tons of features i haven't even gotten to.
in terms of the important accessories, i got myself an the extra litium battery.
based on my used, 1 full charge was enough for at least 255 shots.
i also got myself a 512mb viking compact flash (enough for 255 shots at full 4mp resolution and max picture quality) and a used $ 250 3lb subnotebook with usb connection and tons of hard drive space for long trips so i can verify what i've taken and that subnotebook also saves me from having to buy extra compactflash.
the compact flash is delicate and i hate to swap it in fear on the connetions (camera and cf) bending (can lead to cf erros) or losing it.
anyways, canon has improved upon the g2 with this g3.
it's a winner.
i've been pleased with the picture quality and durability in snow, car, boat and wind.
my only suggestion is to get a lens protector to help protect the shooting lens (the lens coating will wear out after so many clean wipes) and i'm getting the those (52 mm adapter and uv lens filter) at lensmateonline.com.
they got the best lens adapter for the g3-better than canon's.
that's what i did and hopes this helps.
canon g3 review / response / recommendation the camera's a work of art / science -- that's understood.
it takes great pictures, operates quickly, and feels solid.
to address two previous somewhat negative reviews: (1) yes, the lens barrel does obstruct part of the lower left corner in the lens viewfinder; however, the lcd viewfinder is rather stunning and i find myself rarely using the lens viewfinder.
(2) there are, actually, several differences between the g2 and g3, such as differences in continuous shooting, the optical lens, the control layout, playback zoom, image processing, and so on.
beware you see, i can't rank the product since the merchant that amazon is collaborating with (j and r camera.)
to bring us consumers better choices never sent me the product.
although you may think you're dealing with amazon, you're dealing with some second rate store that you've never heard of.
after charging my card for the camera and for expedited shipping, 5 business days later, they still hadn't shipped the product.
i called them twice and both times they said it is " about to ship ".
one of the calls was on a saturday and when i pressed the guy a bit, he said, " actually we don't ship on saturdays ".
so why lie about it?
so i finally gave them a deadline which they said they could meet.
although they accepted that they will ship on mon - 6 jan, they still didn't ship it.
they said it is in stock, but they are " too busy ".
they weren't busy enough to charge the credit card, though!
although i tried contacting amazon to see if they can do anything, the replies i got were inept as if they hadn't taken time to read the complaint.
i cancelled the order.
hope to get my refund in a timely manner.
thanks for nothing, amazon!
major design flaw this camera has a major design flaw.
when you look through the viewfinder (not the lcd) the bottom left corner of the picture (about 15%) is blocked by the lens.
i called the canon technical service center to see if i had a defective camera.
after about a minute of trying to tell me that most people use the lcd and not the view finder, they finally admitted, it was a design flaw in the camera.
everything else about the camera is great.
if you strictly use the lcd and not the view finder, i highly recommend the camera.
however for me, i occasionally use the view finder and trying to frame in a picture with the lens blocking the view is too much.
i'm sending mine back and am waiting for the problem to be corrected.
i love it more the longer i own it i've been using a powershot s330 for nearly a year, and wanted to upgrade to a 4 or 5 megapixel camera with a longer zoom, more adjustability, a hot shoe for an external flash, and a remote control.
i looked at both the nikon coolpix 5700 and the canon g3, and decided on the g3 due both to ergonomics (much more comfortable to hold and use) and the price.
i've had the camera for about two weeks and shot hundreds of pictures so far.
and so far, i've been very pleased.
there's a noticeable difference in the quality of a 4 megapixel image versus the 2 megapixels of the s330, especially if you want to crop and enlarge the pictures.
the larger lens of the g3 gives better picture quality in low light, and the 4-times optical zooms gets you just that much closer.
the moveable lcd screen is great.
you can take pictures with the camera held above your head, way down, or beside you with no problem, allowing you to position the camera for the best shot without contorting yourself.
the tiny (postage-stamp sized) remote unit is wonderful: not only does it trigger the shutter, it can also be used to zoom and review pictures.
i also purchased a good sturdy tripod: the combination of the new camera, tripod and remote control enabled me to take some remarkable indoor, natural-light portraits i never would have attempted before.
the hot shoe flash attachment allowed me to buy and use a sophisticated flash unit:  i chose the canon speedlite 420.  this has made the greatest difference in the quality of my photographs: the built-in flash on any of these cameras gives you flat photos, red-eye, and annoying shadows; a good add-on flash unit can be bounced off the ceiling or wall for pleasing, almost-natural lighting.
i needed three batteries to keep myself going with the s330, but the battery in the g3 is a real powerhouse:  i shot over 300 photos at my goddaughter's birthday party without switching out to my backup battery.
the g3 has a different type of battery charging system from the smaller canon cameras: the battery needs to be charged while in the camera, but the charging system also enables you to use the camera while plugged in without running down the battery.
i have yet to try using all of the adjustment options: shutter priority, aperature priority, light metering adjustments, etc., but all controls are well thought out and and the manual is relatively clear.
you can use this camera right out of the box on the automatic setting, or slowly get comfortable with the manual settings and what they can do.
i've been bothered by blown-out highlights on the s330, and the g3 seems to do only slightly better.
(i'm starting to think that this may just be one of the weaknesses of all digital photography at this level.)
the on-off button feels somewhat flimsy, and has an awkward, tiny little lock-out button that needs to be depressed to turn on the camera.
and the body / construction in general has quite a bit of plastic, a disappointment after the stainless steel heft of the s330.
i bought a 512 mb card, which seems to hold about 400 photos at the highest resolution.
i was worried that 4 megapixel photos would download more slowly, but there's no difference in working with the files.
i have a 120 gb remote drive i use to store my digital images:  i can imagine that they'd fill up my ibook's internal memory pretty quickly.
at the same time i purchased this camera i also bought adobe's photoshop elments 2.0 software, and can't praise it highly enough.
if you're investing in a camera at this level, buy this software!
and as i said in my review of the s330, all of these digital cameras are easier to use with apple computers.
the bottom line: if you're serious about your digital photography, or been bitten with the bug after using a digital point-and-shoot, this may be just the camera for you.
but make sure to buy a tripod and separate flash unit at the same time: you'll see the difference in your photos immediately.
added 2-24.  i've now had the camera for two months and i'm even more pleased with it.
i wound up buying a gray card and use it all the time with the custom white-balance setting.
it helps avoid the problem of a color cast on the pictures, especially in mixed-light settings.
if you don't have a gray card, you can use a plain white piece of paper.
i also discovered the exposure-bracket setting, which enables you to take three exposures with one press of the shutter: the first at the camera-determined exposure, then one lighter and one darker.
especially useful with portraits and difficult-to-meter situations.
i did buy the telephoto lens (and the required extension).
very easy to use.
i'll probably also get the wide-angle now, too.
very comfortable camera, easy to use, and the best digital photos you're going to get at this price.
best non-slr digital camera under 5 megapixels i've been using the g3 for about six weeks and it has proven itself to be all that it's advertised.
after doing a hands-on comparison between the nikon coolpix 5700 and sony dsc-f 717 (both of which lack the quality, feel, or features of the g3), i ultimately chose the g3 because of its outstanding image quality (resolution and coloration are superior).
it beats the competition in almost every area including battery life, enthusiast features, external flash capabilities, available storage types, image formats, and more.
this is a camera you will need to study and use in order to fully exploit its many features.
it can be a point-and-shoot camera, but if you do not intend to " get into " it's finer features, i'd suggest a less enthusiast featured choice.
all-in-all, i believe this is arguably the best non-slr digital camera on the market.
the best so far the canon g3 improves in almost all ways on the g1 and g2 before it, and in fact beats the nikon coolpix 5000 in performance (picture quality and battery life) -- which is amazing because the 5000 is a 5 megapixel camera and the canon is a 4 megapixel camera.
canon's optics are better and i believe their processing algorithms are also better.
simply, the canon g3 is the best digital camera out there today at this price point.
the canon allows you to change lenses, and it accepts the ibm microdrive (type ii compact flash), so you can have up to 1 gigabyte of storage.
for me on the fine resolution setting (not maximum but very close) this adds up to over 1000 images with the 1 gig card.
the battery life of this camera is twice that of the nikon 5000 and is better than anything else i've seen.
the only minor nits i have with the camera are it is fairly boxy looking, it needs a wrist strap instead of a neck strap, and it is a bit slow between shots.
even with these shortcomings, i still think it is the best digital camera available under $ 1200.
the best 4mp compact digital available this camera is perfect for an enthusiastic amateur photographer.
the pictures are razor-sharp, even in macro.
it is small enough to fit easily in a coat pocket or purse.
it is light enough to carry around all day without bother.
operating its many features is easy and often obvious - i'm no annie lebovitz, but i was able to figure out most of its abilities just messing around with it at a camera store.
the manual does a fine job filling in any blanks that remain.
the auto-focus performs well, but i love having the 12 optional scene modes - they are dummy-proof, and correspond to many situations in which i would actually seek to use the camera.
comes with a 16 mb compact flash and one rechargable battery the charging unit, included, is fast and small.
i bought a 256 mb cf and a second battery, so it's good to go on a long vacation.
i enthusiastically recommend this camera.
perfect to grow into i got my camera three days back, and although i had some experience with digital cameras prior to purchasing this one, i still rate myself as a beginner.
i bought this camera because it fit my budget and the pre-production and production model reviews were positive.
it's easy to use, and yet very feature rich.
in the auto mode it functions basically as a point and click, the scene modes are very easy to use and produce good results.
the manual mode is feature rich and i can't wait to get the hang of it.
the macro mode is exceptional, the pictures are very clear and you can take the pictures with the lens unbelievably close the subject.
the battery life is very good, i got about 90 minutes with the lcd turned on all the time, the first time around, and i have been using it with the lcd off every now and then, and have yet needed to recharge it.
the camera comes with a lexar 16mb starter card, which stores about 10 images in fine mode at the highest resolution, i intend to buy a bigger card soon.
near perfection i love photography.
i had an older camera that was simply a point and shoot camera.
i needed something with more power, so i bought a nikon coolpix 4300.  i fell in love with this camera, it combines ease of use, with an immense amount of options and power.
you can use the scene modes, or fine tune the options, i. you can change the iso level, shutter speed, etc.
this camera is ideal for people who want more power, but don't want to spend 1000s dollars on a camera.
not too excited i bought coolpix 4300 two months after i had bought canon powershot s400.
it was not easy sharing one with my teen age kid.
the two cameras are very similar in functionality and pricing.
i've had no problem with canon whatsoever.
with nikon, although picture qualities are as good as any other 4 mp cameras, i've had the following headaches;  1. pictures won't transfer to pc directly from the camera using the included transfer cable.
i did everything i could, and it took many days of frustration before concluding that the only way to transfer to pc is with the card reader.
card reader is included.
2. the speed is noticeably slower than canon, especially so with flashes on.
3. with low battery, it twice wiped out the entire pictures in the memory chip.
i used lexar 256 mb and i still use it which means nothing is wrong with lexar.
be very careful when the battery is low and make sure to carry extra batteries.
only " cons " here the other reviewers have clearly pointed all the good things about this camera, which i do agree.
but there are certain issues might be they are to me here - all of them are minor; not major ones though,.
this camera keeps on autofocussing in auto mode with a buzzing sound which can't be stopped.
would be really good if they have given an option to stop this autofocussing.. if you want to have the date; time on the image, its only through their software " nikon view " which reads the images date; time from the images meta-data.
so if you use your card reader; copy images - you got to onceagain open them through their software to put the date; time.
in that too, there isn't a direct way to add date; time - you got to say ' print images ' to a different directory in which there is an option to specify the date; time.. even the slightest of the shakes totally distorts your image.
images taken indoor weren't so clear.
you got to have flash ' on ' to get it eventhough your room is well lit.
lens cap is a really annoying.
go; get a high speed like lexar 12x or higher cf card.
else with simpler viking cf cards, it takes couple of seconds to write a picture with approximately " fine **" picture quality  " image size: 1600.. the movie clips taken will always have some ' noise ' in it - you can't avoid that.
but overall this is a good camera with a ' really good ' picture clarity; an exceptional close-up shooting capability.
i would rate this is 4.5 stars picture quality; image size defined above are specific to nikon coolpix.
bad service within a year, there are problems with my menu dial knob.
it became stucked which makes it almost impossible to switch between modes.
i send my camera to nikon for servicing, took them a whole 6 weeks to diagnose the problem.
worse of all, they claim that it's some kind of internal damage and refuse to cover the cost via warranty!
they wouldn't repair my camera unless if i pay $ 100 for parts?
and labor!
it is a good camera in terms of the function and quality, but take your chance with it because nikon absolutely sucks when it comes to customer service.
system error got a " system error " problem 30 days after purchase.
made the camera totally inoperable.
also, the lens cap design is flawed.
you have to manually take the cap off in order to use it.
audio on video also lacking.
otherwise, it takes very good pictures; shutter delay isn't so bad either.
still, had to send it back to nikon for repair.
amazing camera i am an amateur photographer and here is a piece of advise to all the folks who are thinking about making a move the digital world.
nikon 4300, i feel, is the best camera out there for the features and price.
here were my requirements in a digital camera:  1. i had initially thought of buying a 2 or 3 megapixel camera but these are good for 4x6 " or 5x7 " prints and i wanted some really great 8x10 " photos once in a while.
2. i did not want a very small camera as it seems to get lost in my hands and i wasn't comfortable with that.
i wanted a decent sized camera with a contour for my fingers to hold it steadily.
3. i wanted a camera that had a lot of built-in settings for different types of suroundings while giving me an option to use my photography skills although, i am an amateur with an interest in photography by turning on the manual settings.
4. and, of course, i wanted a respected brand and had to stay within my budget because i had bought an expensive camcorder before but hadn't used it much.
depending on all the above requirements, i had narrowed down my search to nikon 4300 and canon powershot s400 models.
nikon got the final nod for its settings auto and manual along with movie modes, medium; compact size, price, brand name, good software that is included and previous reviews.
i should say i have been very happy with my decision ever since.
the pictures are absolutely amazing - the camera captures the minutest of details.
a few things that might make it even better:  1. pictures taken in an indoor setting are a little dull and rarely hazy if you tend to take photographs from a distance.
2. it takes a while for the camera to actually capture the photograph from the time you click the button and i have seen people becoming a little impatient waiting for the flash to glow.
3. the pictures come out hazy if your hands shake even for a moment during the entire process of taking a picture.
all the above, i think, are problems with all the digital cameras out there and so i have no major complaints.
try to buy a tripod and that should solve some of those problems.
whichever camera you buy, add upto about 200 dollars for an additional memory card i bought a 256 mb card, usb card reader, camera bag and the warranty.
and finally, get your pictures developed at a kodak picture maker machine even though it costs you a little extra - no one can beat kodak processing in terms of clarity and brightness.
hope this review has helped you in making up your mind.
i have taken about 150 photographs so far and have absolutely loved the experience.
i am looking forward to my vegas trip for some great photographs now.
super camera with our compact 35mm broken, and a vacation in europe at hand, i finally decided to enter the digital age.
i first intended to buy the 3100, but am really happy to invest the extra money for the 4300.  the lense is a lot better, and the 4mb produce fantastic pictures.
the possibilities with auto, manual, and the very helpful " scene " mode, which offers 11 optimized situational settings like portrait, landscape, beach / snow, sunset etc., are endless.
the movie mode is also working great.
the 4300 comes with excellent easy to install software i use it on xp and win98 without problem, battery charger, usb and video cable.
a 64mb flash card camera comes with a 16mb holds 52 pictures on " normal " resolution.
i experimented with online print ordering with the two major us brick and mortar retailers, and they both delivered great results.
even at the " normal " setting, a 8x10 print!
shows not a single sign of visible rendering or pixels - you could never tell that the picture has been taken by a " digital ".
the battery life is ok, but can be somewhat short when working a lot with the monitor on.
i therefore bought a second battery as a backup, and due to the lightingfast charging with the included charger, which by the way works on 110v as well as 220v in europe, we ran never out of " juice ".
i highly recommend the accessory kit, which provides you with everything else you need:  a nice camera bag, which holds camera plus all the cables and the charger.
furher it contains a card reader, a flash card folder for up to 8 cards, a lense cleaning rag, and an ac adapter, which is very helpful when working in an " outlet environment ".
over all a fantastic very compact camera, which made us experience photography on a totally new level!
camera shake after reading all the glowing review on this camera, i went to my local camera shop to try one.
i currently own an olympus d-550 which takes wonderful outdoor pictures.
however, indoor pictures of subjects more than a few feet away can be blurry or grainy.
anyway, in the store, i tried coolpix 4300 along with two other 4mp models minolta dimage s414, and panasonic lumix.
focusing on a display rack about 20 feet away in a brightly lit room during day time, pictures produced by this camera were blurry and in a shade of orange.
pictures produced by the minolta were orange but not blurry.
pictures produced by the panasonic were excellent.
the store clerk concluded that the blurriness may be caused by shaking the camera slightly when i press the button, which is understandable since this camera is lighter than the other two models.
anyway, i ended up purchasing the lumix.
i'm sure that this camera has all the wonderful features that others talk about.
however, as an average person with unsteady hands, i doubt it'll perform well in lower light settings.
great camera i purchased the nikon 4300 after several weeks of searching.
the value, name, and resolution signed the lease.
after nearly 800 pictures i have found that this nikon takes incredible pictures.
the digital zoom takes as good of pictures, as the optical zoom does!
the inside pics, can be a bit challenging, but when you can instantly delete pics you dont like, that are not focused perfectly, or need lighting adjustments, make this camera very simple and effective.
i love all of the features, and presets as well.
sunset feature takes incredible pics in the morning, and the evening!
the software you get with this camera is perfect.
touchups, redeye, and so on are very easy to alter, and correct.
i use a 128mb card, and usually get around 70 to 100 pics 1024-1280 res., with good resolution.
very large pics take 8mb each!
battery life is good, although i recommend two rechargebles, or a alkaline backup, for those emergency pics you have to have.
all and all, i am extremely pleased with this camera.
making the step from film to digital has been a great move.
i find myself emailing pics to everyone i know.
great camera, great investment!
excellent camera this is my second digital camera, though i also use one at work and have some experience with several nikon and canon models.
the nikon coolpix 4300 is wonderful -- easy to use, high quality, and compact in size.
with an extra battery and a couple of good sized memory cards you are all set for a day of picture taking while on vacation.
the auto setting does a great job most of the time but there are manual settings for those who want them.
if something were to happen to my nikon coolpix 4300, i would order another just like it.
the ricksters review after much research i decided on the nikon coolpix 4300.  it has many great features and very few bad ones.
it takes excellent pics and is very easy to use, if you read the manual.
if you cant get great pics from this camera its because you havent read the manual.
the only things i have found that i havent liked is that the lcd is hard to read in daylight but everyone elses is too.
downloads are a snap and quick.
controls easy yo use and easy to get to.
i'm extremely glad i bought this camera.
super little camera really happy with this little camera.
it isn't big and offensive, though you wouldn't know it by looking at the pics it takes.
got it for christmas, still learning a few of the settings, but i don't take pictures every single day.
settings for just about everything, beautiful pics and beautiful prints.
i expected the 12x digital zoom to be grainy, but onfull size high to fine quality, the zoomed images are quite impressive.
did buy a 256mb compact flash, it holds a lot of pics at any resolution.
i only wish you could get high quality tiff images at all resolutions, but doesn't seem any of the buget cameras do.
still, at least from my perspective, a great camera for the money, and i'm a happy camper!
beginner looks experienced with coolpix this is a wonderful camera.
in the end this is the one that we decided upon and since have never had buyer's remorse.
4 mp gives you room for the future gaining experience; cost offsets over time from wanting more in a camera, 3x optical and the fact that it carries nikon's quality reputation behind it make the whole package prove itself worthwile at the price.
one neat thing - i have taken some pictures in what i thought would be impossible lighting conditions pitch black rooms - no problem for the camera - rooms looked like they had ample lighting.
can i have a few more stars please this little camera has created a marriage between myself and nikon.
never knew i could love a digital camera so much.
the software that comes with it is amazing and the online service that comes free is really very neat.
clean clear and well focused on over 95% of all photos taken by a beginner.
100% perfect if you put some thought and time into reading the manual before you take the photos.
i took the camera and just gave it to someone.
no instructions.
just point and shoot and the photos were great.
just imagine if you place a bit of knowledge when you take your photos.
the memory card fit nicely since i also have a pocket pc and it automatically installed a picture software on my pda wolla.
my pda becames a digital album.
i have a 128mb card in it and can shoot over 150 hi res photos.
if you have to buy a camera on a buget, this has got to be the one.
go get it.
before they are sold out!
great camera great camera, i have been using this for several months and got excellent results, simple friendly usage, in many scenes indoor, outdoor, snow, close up macro etc.
great camera for a great price i bought my nikon coolpix4300 about a week ago.
this is my first digital camera and i can say that i am quite impressed with the features that it has.
it is easy enough to use for a beginner like me but it has plenty of features for me to grow into.
i particularly like the way it aids me in taking my macro shots.
my friends were impressed with the quality of the pictures i took!
one downside though is that autofocus does not work well when battery is low.
i assume this is the case for most cameras since it does not have enough power to do autofocus.
battery life is ok.  i plan on buying a second battery and a larger cf for it.
not disappointed great camera, and for the price you can't beat it.
i've been using it for about 3 months now.
i found the controls very intuitive and learned how to manuver through the menus quickly.
the quality is superb.
the small size is perfect for my little hands, but may perhaps be uncomfortable or awkward for a bigger person.
field tested we use older versions 880, 885 of this model in the office and i find them to produce excellent quality photos.
the 4300 is a very durable, compact package, and i find nikon to be a brand that i can trust.
it comes with a 16mb flash card that you will need to upgrade!
we got a 256mb card, and have been hard-pressed to fill it over a weekend.
the only drawbacks that i have noticed:  it comes with a rechargable battery that does not seem to last all that long, especially if you use the flash a lot.
so, it's a good idea to purchase an extra battery to insure that you are not left hanging.
it does not have an auto-focus assist light which is nice for taking shots in low-light situations it allows the camera to focus in low light.
i would say that this is not a major issue, but it can be slightly annoying if you care about these things.
it has a 3x optical zoom, which is average for these cameras.
for more, you sacrifice weight and size: more optical zoom requires more glass and focal length.
it does have a digital zoom on top of the optical zoom, but you sacrifice quality.
i set the camera to the " manual " mode for one main reason:  in any other mode it autofocuses continuously and burns batteries.
in manual, you can set it to " single af " where it will focus by depressing the shudder button prior to taking the pic; this is not really a hinderance, you just have to be familiar with its menus and features.
in reality, these are the only drawbacks this camera has, much less than many other models!
it is easy to " focus " in on the drawbacks, so don't think i hate this camera.
it really is an awesome camera that is hard to beat for general-to moderate snapping.
for work, we use them in the field often, and they hold up really well.
they take excellent macro shots as well.
the menus and features are easy to manipulate and access, and it takes silent movies.
it don't get better i compared this to a lot of other cameras, believe me, it's value for money.
the picturers are amazing.
don't waste time looking at anything else, just buy this one.
it don't get any better then the nikon 4300.
excellent compact digital camera i am a nikon fan, and owned and used slr nikon fe, n50 and n90s for many many years.
recently bought this coolpix 4300 along with a 256mb ultra flash card.
as expected, i happily found that qualities of the picture are excellent with 3m-4m pixel / fine combos and many of the user-friendly functions are very similar to slr models, and with added convenience of a digital camera that you can see pictures immediately.
i particularly like the " txt " file which records all the control information for all the pictures you take.
the compact digital camera is especially useful if you have little children around and you can always take the camera with you and take many pictures of them.
try to buy a high capacity ultra card, as it's 2x as faster as the regular cf card.
consider the time you save during picture taking especially not missing a good moment and during download, it's well worth the little extra money.
an extra rechargeable en-el 1 battery is also handy, so you will seldom run into " out of battery " situation.
use the rechargeable because that saves you money and helps the environment in a long run.
one thing puzzles me is that for " fine and 2200 + " quality pictures, one ultra 256mb cf card can only hold 130-140 pics, but the size of the pictures are only around 1.2 mb, the math does not add up.
i would expecct the card to hold over 200 pictures for size of 1.2 mb/per.
a nikon will make you happier and leave you lots of good memories, as always.
you will not be sorry i highly recommend this camera to anyone looking for a good digital camera that takes great pictures yet doesn't take weeks to figure out how to operate.
we take this camera with us everywhere and are constantly amazed at the quality of the pictures that we get and the number of different ways the camera allows for pictures to be taken.
i am a picture fanatic so i consider myself picky and if your the same way this camera will not let you down.now buy it!
absolutely great point and shoot camera first of all, let's start with my needs: 1 $ 500 budget 2 4mp resolution, 3 optical clarity and color, 4 fast - very little shutter lag and quick sep-up for next picture, 5 compact size, and 6 good camera grip to minimize camera shake.
for three months, i've researched the internet and magazines, queried various sales personnel, and took hands-on in-store test drives.
and i finally settled on the nikon coolpix 4300.  i have it for a week now, and this camera has exceeded my expectations.
the daylight pictures are brilliant and the indoor shots are very good provided that your subject is no more than about 8 feet away.
the shutter lag is on par with what i've experienced with point and shoot 35mm and aps film cameras and the next frame advance is about a couple seconds using a high speed 12x 128mb compact flash card a salesperson recommended the high speed card since next frame advance speed was important to me - and it was only a few dollars more.
uploading the images to my windows-based pc is very fast and simple.
the only drawbacks i've encountered are: 1 indoor shots from a distance > 8ft lack contrast and color, but i've found this to be a problem with all cameras with built-in flashes that i've used even on a nikon slr.
2 the battery life seems to be on the short side but adequate for most situations.
i got 45 outdoor and 15 indoor shots with the monitor on turning the camera off and on over a 4 hour period before the battery died.
3 the picture editing software it came with is adequate, but not very robust.
i'll still use my photosuite for editing.
one more thing about indoor shots - many of the reviews knocked this camera for low light focusing.
just for the heck of it, i took it into my dark kitchen with only indirect light coming in though the door, and the focusing was just fine.
in summary, i love this camera and would whole-heartedly recommend this to anyone wanting a high quality point and shoot camera in the medium price range.
- since i wrote the review above in january 2003, i still love this camera.
i've picked up a few accessories that i found to be useful.
i bought a digi-slave dsf-1s flash unit.
i don't use a bracket, i just hold it above my head and aim the flash with my left hand.
this provides added protection for the camera lens and allows the use of filters.
i leave the adapter and uv filter on all the time.
this also allows you to turn on the camera on without having to remove the lens cap.
the downside is that you might accidentally take pictures with the lens cap on, the camera won't fit in the small cases, and 28mm filters are expensive and hard to find.
great camera great camera.
i am impressed with how easy this camera is to use.
it takes great pictures.
the manual is easy to understand, and it is mostly idiot proof.
it is small, unlike my canon slr, so it easily fits in my pocket.
i have not yet figured out how to make it snap quick pictures for action shots.
now where did i put that manual?
best 4-mp camera of its size and price range don't let my five star rating fool you.
the nikon coolpix 4300 deserves six.
i got this camera about a month ago and i can't put it down.
i was considering buying the minolta f-100 and the sony dsc-p 9, but at the camera shop, realized this one went above and beyond.
i selected the 4300 right away and have gotten high quality pictures every time.
autofocus feels exactly like my film camera while scene and manual mode add a little fun challenge to it all.
i would also recommend buying an extra battery and at least a 128 mb compact flash type i memory card.
buy this camera and savour it.
great camera i reviewed several digital cameras before settling on this one.
this one was rated very high by several people check out this site and epinions.com.
i have not been disappointed with my purchase.
picture quality in outdoor settings is indistinguishable from 35mm.
on average, indoor shots with a flash are not quite as good as 35mm.
however, the convenience of using digital far outweighs the slightly less accurate indoor pictures.
i am extremely satisfied with this camera.
i purchased it from amazon on a since discontinued promotion.
buy an extra battery - life is good but still somewhat short.
don't buy this camera if you are not going to purchase a 128 megabyte card.
you need the storage to hold a decent amount of shots at 4 megapixel resolution.
i have one thing to say to the numbskulls who complain that this camera's controls are confusing and hard to remember:  read the directions!
the regular mode in this camera works for 80% of settings.
the " scene " mode works well for the remainder of shots that are not going to be in a " regular " setting.
i wish the camera had a higher optical zoom so that i could take better wildlife photos.
however, its 3x optical setting is acceptable for 70% of the shots that i take.
buy this camera, you won't regret it.
digital nirvana if you're looking for a small, compact, super resolution digital camera, you can end your search with the nikon 4300!
after a lengthy and extensive journey for a feature-loaded, high performance, travel size camera, i initially gravitated to this little gem because of the superior picture quality 4 mega pixel.
after using it for about a month, i can state unequivocably that this nikon definitely delivers a huge bang for the buck.
its easy to use and the sheer fun of being able to use an array of nikon accessories like the telephoto and wide-angle lenses is the proverbial icing on the cake.
yes, the picture quality and features which are too numerous to mention are unmatched for any camera in this price range.
the design and construction are excellent -- as is the legendary quality of the nikon optics.
i own a 35mm slr camera and this is my second digital.
if you're seeking that elusive state of photographic euphoria that is free of buyer's remorse and filled with cool, then travel to the world of the coolpix 4300!
i love this baby had it for a week.
there are so many functions in this little, yet powerful camera!
it's so cool seriously!
i love it!
my room is so dark and when i tried taking pics of it with my old camera, they came out black, but with this, they look the same in the picture as in real life.
better actually cause my carpet looks clean, lol.
but this camera is great!
the picture quality is amazing and you can connect it to your tv and could make silent movies that way if you wanted to.
i can't connect it to my computer though, but that's a problem with windows me, not the camera.
if you have windows me you should upgrade to xp anyway, lol.
but it works perfectly fine on my parent's computer.
it does have a lense cap, but it won't let you take pics with it on which is real good.
the battery recharges ral fast and the recharger thingy that comes with is real nice.
ooh, and i dropped it and it still works fine: this little camera has so many features i haven't even gotten to all of them yet.
excellent little camera i did quite a bit of research before buying this camera, and this one had everything i was looking for.
it's easy for beginners to use, but has features that more serious photographers will love, so it's an excellent camera to grow into.
it's light weight enough to take with you everywhere, but powerful enough to get outstanding pix.
i love the continuous shot mode, which allows you to take up to 16 pix in rapid succession -- great for action shots.
i'm amazed at the photo quality -- prints are indistinguishable from 35mm prints.
i only have one complaint, and that is the 8mb card included.
8mb for a camera like this is a joke.
a card with more memory is a must.
a minor quibble, since most cameras on the market still only include the 8mb cards.
perfect consumer digital camera if you do any research into digital cameras, you'll quickly find that this camera is just about the best value out there.
these are the reasons i think it's great:  1 it has all the features an amatuer photo-enthusiast would want.
2 it is easy enough for my grandmother to use.
3 it is very compact but the controls are so well designed that they're still easy to use.
4 it has optional lenses like wide angles and extra zooms.
5 for " digital film " it uses compact flash cards, which are easy to find, cheap, reliable and supported by many other devices you may have at hoome.
6 the nikon coolpix line is a well-established line so you know support and parts are going to be available even when nikon releases a newer model.
7 picture quality is excellent.
8 battery life is excellent.
9 3x built-in optical zoom is a lot for this price range.
10 great price for all the features.
here's what you may miss or be annoyed by with this camera:  1 no direct firewire to the camera.
there is usb, though.
2 the camera is so small that when you attach some lenses i have the 19mm wide-angle -- wc-e 68, the optical viewfinder is partially obscured.
this doesn't affect the picture, of course.
you just have to use the lcd viewfinder to see the whole picture.
it's no problem for me personally.
3 battery has to be removed to recharge.
4 an ac adapter for powering the camera while the battery's out is not included, although one can be purchased separately.
5 two different adapters -- ur-e 4 and ur-e 7 -- are required for some attachment lenses.
most of these " annoyances ", though, are comparable to what you'll find on other cameras in this price range.
small camera i am new to the whole digital camera thing; well, new to the whole camera thing period, really.
this camera was affordable, very easy to learn, and produces spectacular images.
the auto-mode is good enough for most shots but the 4300 also boasts 12 versatile scene modes as well as a manual mode though i admit i haven't played with it too much on manual.
it's size also makes it ideal for travel.
overall the nikon 4300 is a very dependable, robust, and useful little camera.
excellent phone, excellent service.
there is much which has been said in other reviews about the features of this phone, it is a great phone, mine worked without any problems right out of the box.
after several years of torture in the hands of at&t customer service i am delighted to drop them, and look forward to august 2004 when i will convert our other 3 family-phones from at&t to t-mobile!
i have had the phone for 1 week, the signal quality has been great in the detroit area (suburbs) and in my recent road trip between detroit and northern kentucky (cincinnati) i experienced perfect signal and reception along i-75, far superior to at & t's which does not work along several long stretches on that same route.
i have owned motorola, panasonic and nokia phones over the last 8 years and generally prefer nokia, this phone combines many of the best nokia features, the only feature missing for me is the voice recognition.
my favorite features, although there are many, are the speaker phone, the radio and the infrared.
the speaker phone is very functional and i use it in the car, very audible even with freeway noise.
the infrared is a blessing if you have a previous nokia and want to transfer your old phone book to this phone, saved me hours of re-entering my numbers.
the combination of the nokia 6610 and t-mobile service (signal, price, service) is a winner, i highly recommend it.
good phone, so-so service.
the day finally arrived when i was sure i'd leave sprint.
after years with that carrier's expensive plans and horrible customer service, portability seemed heaven-sent.
i'd always eyed the nokia phones and had heard decent things about t-mobile, so i gave it a whirl.
here's the brief synopsis: the phone is tiny, cute, feels kind of " plastic-like " (as if it might break), but seems pretty sturdy.
it has lots of little cute features, my favorite being the games and the pim (personal information manager -- i.e.
organizer), and the radio!
i spent hours setting up the stations (accepts about 13-14, i believe), though the reception is unpredictable.
also, you need to have the headset plugged in all the time to have the radio work and that can get tedious.
the headset that comes with the phone has good sound volume but it hurts the ears like you cannot imagine!
the phone comes with okay ringtones, some decent backgrounds / screensavers, but the phone has very little memory (mine had 230kb as it arrived from amazon, so you don't have too many options on what you can put on there).
the colors on the screen are not as crisp as i'd have liked them to be.
however, it serves its purpose.
the backlight on the phone goes off way too quickly (dangerous when you're driving at night), and there's no way to change this --  i checked with nokia.
the buttons on the phone are small, even for my small fingertips, but you get used to them rather quickly.
the menu options are uncreative, as you can't see a full screen of menu items to pick from; you have to scroll up and down to find what you're looking for (yes, this is minor, but not when you're trying to keep your eye on the road!).
more downside to this phone?
oh my goodness --  i have excellent hearing but the volume level on this phone is especially quiet.
forget talking on it in public -- you just can't hear the other person!
on the up-side, the phone has amazing battery life.
i do like this phone overall (would give it a 3.5), but unforutnately, i am returning it.
i was surprised by t-mobile's service.
i assumed they had exceptional service, but their reception in my area (los angeles) is horrendous.
they piggy-back on cingular's service.
also, their t-zones, although cheap ($ 4.99 / mo.
) never works.
since i received the phone, i spent countless hours on the phone with customer service reps who promised t-zones would work " in 24 hours ".
i must have heard this about a dozen times over the span of 2 weeks, when t-zones never worked.
by what time standards -- martian?
apparently, t-mobile is heavily back-logged and can't keep up with demands.
also, they'd forgotten to add " wap " capability to my service (duh), so that took another 4-5 days of figuring out.
in all fairness, customer reps are very nice, and they (most of them) try hard to answer your questions.
but they do have this annoying habit of asking you if they've answered all your questions, even if they didn't, to which they always seem to expect a " yes " answer from you.
i realize this is for quality assurance purposes, but i should have the right to say when my questions have not been answered (i.e.
me:  " when will my t-zones work?"
csr:  " i'm not sure ".).
umm, well, thanks for nothing.
this one csr insisted on trying to get me to say that he'd answered all my questions (same interaction as i just described), and well...  that was annoying.
t-mobile is trying very hard, and again -- they do have pretty good csr's.
however, the calls constantly drop in my area and i experince mega-static, to the point where i'd have to dial numbers 6-7 times to get a clear line.
and no t-zones.
so what's the point?
i'm staying with sprint, and though i fear that their csr isn't nearly as good as t-mobile's, the clarity of their reception is exceptional.
i've bought the very expensive sanyo 5500/vm4500 -- which i love -- and i'm okay with my services.
guess all that glitters is not gold.
it was worth a shot -- too bad it didn't work out.
hope someone else has better luck!
the phone refused to die.
i bought one of these phones in kuwait to use with the mtc prepaid telephone service ez because i would be able to use it when i return to the states with t-mobile.
recently i accidently washed my telephone with my laundry through two complete 18 minute wash cycles of a washing machine.
disgusted with myself after i found the phone in the bottom of the washing machine, i was about to throw it away when one of my fellow soldiers asked if he could dry it out for me in an effort to revive the phone.
two days later the phone was returned to me in complete working order.
while i like the performance of the phone in every regard, i would buy another one solely upon the apparent indestructibility of it.
i highly recommend a nokia 6610.
best phone for free.
and in my opinion, nokia has the best menus and promps hands down.
no other color phone has the combination of features that the 6610 offers.
from the speakerphone that can be used up to 15 feet away with clarity, to the downloadable poly-graphic megatones that adds a personal touch to this nifty phone.
whether you're taking a brisk jog, waiting for a bus or just having lunch at the park, you'll be glad you had the fm radio.
wish it were a flip phone, but thats not a deal breaker!
glad to own.
i have had this phone for about 5 months.
i treat the battery well and it has lasted.
at my heaviest usage, i must recharge after 3 days.
it lasts about 5 days otherwise and has lasted up to 10 when i was making very few calls.
signal strength will affect the battery life.
frequent signal searches eat up battery power.
i took great care of the screen, till i realized that the part that might get scratched is part of the cover.
i can replace that if the scratch is unbearable to look at.
the volume level of the phone is not all that good.
some of the higher pitched rings are very easy to hear, but not easy to listen to.
the more subtle tones that were included with the phone are hard to hear at times.
the vibration is not top.
it is a teeny phone, so it is hard to put a big mechanism in.
i don't use the vibration, because it is often easier to hear it vibrate then to feel it.
vibration was not even listed as a feature when i purchased this.
so it was no loss.
overall this has been my favorite phone that i have owned.
great battery life, perfect size, but a tid bit quieter than i would like.
i do hope that they offer more faceplate options.
i am bored with the silver look.
cool.
it has a nice color screen.
it is small.
radio is awsome, but it doesn't work unless you have the earpice in.
that is a major minus, but its not that bad.
t-mobile was a pretty good server.
it has 2 games.
they are not wowable good.
you have to buy better ones.
it also doesn't have voice activated dialing.
big minus!!
great phone, but no warranty!
this is a very nice phone, but there is no warranty on it.
nokia will not cover phones bought from amazon.
we got two phones for the t-mobile family plan (indeed very easy to switch to the family plan) and one came with a broken headphone (can hear but cannot be heard) and one died today after less than two weeks of use.
i'll see how much help i can get from amazon and report back.
menu flaws?
mine couldn't send text messages.
i upgraded to a 6610 at my local t-mobile store.
when i got it home, i discovered that the menu options for sending messages via either text or email simply weren't there:  it defaulted to unchangeable email.
so i spent half an hour on the phone with tech support, only to have the online tech person pull one off the shelf and tell me he had the same problem.
i returned to the store, whereupon the clerk insisted that he could make it work; he couldn't.
he spent another half hour on the phone with tech support, to no avail.
so i had to give up and return it, having lost about 4 hours.
while i had the phone, the positive features were: good sound quality and an excellent fm phone and earpiece.
negative: impossibly tiny and difficult to operate, barely visible, power button.
poor visibility on the keys.
you have to tilt the phone around to catch the light on them.
great speakerphone and great reception!!
reccomend!
the title says it all...  the two biggest things is the excellent working speakerphone " unlike the nokia 3650 " and the superb reception nokia is known for in the gsm phones they make...  only con i can think of is no camera....  no big deal for the size..  this phone is a winner...
perfect.
anything this phone does, it does perfectly.
the speakerphone, the radio, all features work perfectly.
the speakerphone:  this phone has a very cool and useful feature -- the speakerphone.
as said before this works perfectly.
you can adjust the volume to be heard anywhere or so that it doesn't make that big of a disturbance.
the person on the other end of the call can hear you perfectly.
you can be up to about 3 feet away from it and it will still work perfectly.
only one complaint about the speakerphone, you can only activate the speakerphone feature once the person you are calling answers the phone, not while it is ringing.
the radio:  this phone is one of the few phones that have an fm radio tuner built in.
this radio receives fairly decent reception but not nearly as good as a normal radio, but as long as the stations are coming in clearly the phone's radio should work perfectly.
tri-band:  one highly beneficial feature of this phone (at least to me) is that it can be used anywhere in the world except a few countries that do not use gsm, a few in asia.
i bought this phone for my trip to south africa and it worked almost perfectly.
the only problem i had was a small glitch with t-mobile.
anywhere i went in south africa this phone received full bar reception.
if it worked like that in south africa, i imagine it would just work without a hitch in europe.
sold in other parts of the world:  another benefit of this phone is that it is truly an international phone; the 6610 is sold in almost everywhere in the world.
this means that there is a good chance that this phone will not break easily like typical american phones.
or on the rare occasion it does you can bring it into any t-mobile store, which are located in many countries in europe.
i cannot stress enough how big of a benefit it is to have a european phone and a european company providing your cell phone service.
able to use service in another country:  if you decide to go to another country for an extended period of time, you can just buy a sim card from a service provider in that country.
you would then have a phone number in that country and not have to pay for international roaming in that country.
size and weight:  when you put this phone in your pocket you forget it is there; it is unbelievably small and oh, so light.
this is a benefit for many reasons; one being just for appearance, your pants won't be bulging with this phone in your pocket.
battery life:  the battery life on this phone is surreal.
it lasts, truly, 7 days on standby.
i've used the speakerphone for almost two hours once and the battery did not even go down one single bar.
it is amazing that the battery lasts so long when the phone is so small and light.
this phone has many other features, ir,; just to name one, the features above i view as the most beneficial.
the phone has a few minor inconveniences, but only because it lacks those features, bluetooth and high spend internet, but there are very few problems with things that you expected this phone to do.
overall, i highly recommend this phone.
it is a perfect phone in such a small and appealing package.
so far i am more than pleased.
i love the pros and cons reviews so here ya go:  pros:  size - extremely small and convenient will fit in your pocket and not bother you.
sound - excellent polyphonic ringing tones are very nice (check cons) it also doubles as a radio, which is a nice feature when you are bored.
speakerphone - loud and clear has some nice extra features like currency converter and a stopwatch.
surfing the web on it is nice as well, i just wish there were more wap pages available.
cons:  ring tones only come with crazy songs and annoying rings, there is only one ring that sounds close to a regular ring.
the screen is easily scratched but if you have the warranty you should be able to swap it out.
games kind of stink and you cant download them you have to get the link cable to get additional games.
great buy.
nice little phone... light compact..  great features..  buttons do seem a little sticky tho.. and the hands free kits ' connector might be a problem..
it works... as a phone!
perhaps there is a tone of irony in the title of my review, but i actually mean it in earnest.
after having had my heart broken by a sexy piece of hardware that simply wouldn't perform.
i replaced it with this not-quite-so-dazzling, but definitely more functional device.
although the nokia 6610 is a little short on the features department, it is an outstanding piece of hardware for doing what it was primarily meant to do: to be a wireless telephone.
the reception and sound quality are top-notch.
i can routinely talk on the phone in my house in the suburbs, which is an unaccustomed luxury, even with t-mobile service.
i like the size and weight of this little critter.
i am able to carry it close to my body, in places where other phones are not so easily concealed.
the keys are close together, and the layout is a bit funky in relation to standard rectangular layout keypads, but it's not too weird.
the fact that the " 0 " key is the space key for text input is a bit confusing, as many phones use the " # " key instead.
but that's not an insurmoutable obstacle.
the screen is bright, easy to see in the daylight, with nice colors.
it receives very nice mms pictures from other gsm phones.
there are some features in the user interface that i find a little inconvenient.
the menu options appear one at a time, taking up the whole screen, and one has to scroll down one by one, or have memorized where they are in the menu order, to select them by using the number keypad.
thumbs down on that one.
the vibrate setting is loud!
so loud, really, that it doesn't work terribly well as a silent ringer option.
but, then again, the ringer can be so loud that i heard it ringing inside my office, when i was already out on the street...  which was a good thing, because i realized i had forgotten my phone...  other things that i miss are voice-activated dialing and a standard 2.5 mm headset jack.
i'd like a camera phone, but i'd rather have a phone than a toy that takes pictures but makes no calls...  pros:  - light, compact design  - solid, high-quality construction  - well-backlit keypad  - outstanding signal reception  - excellent sound quality  - bright, visible screen  - speakerphone  - very long-lasting battery life  cons:  - some features in the user interface  - no voice activated dialing (what were they thinking  - no option for caller-id pictures or individualized ringtones.
 - no propietary headset jack
this bumpy is wicked groovy.
i thought it would be haggard but when i be gotted this junky i was mad happy and stuff.
this junky is super duper rad.
it be my fav c-phone and stuff.
so go and buy dis sucka beefo it all be gone an stuffff.
aight den bumpy?
word... peace in the east bruvah.
i love this phone.
one of the best cell phones i have ever used to-date.
i like the speakphone function a lot.
it allows me to place the phone on the table while talking and working on my computer or other jobs.
i am very pleased with its quality and durability.
i like the automatic key lock function.
the phone is very light weight.
the screen is bright and ring tones are unlimited.
the fm radio is cool.
most of our emplyees use this model phone.
best regards sadoun satellite sales
best of the best mobile phone.
while going for a cellphone, i was fully determined to buy a nokia only as it is the best in cellphones.
after much survey of all the present handsets and recommendations from friends, i bought this nokia 6610.  and really this is the best phone one could have.
it has all the features one would need in a cellphone.
it is lightweight, sleek and attractive.
this phone is very user-friendly, easy to manipulate & very convenient to scroll in menu etc.
the time taken in shifting from one menu option to other is in microseconds only.
it has fm radio option and i can listen to music anytime.
its speakerphone option allows us to do long talks conveniently, lying on bed & phone lying by your pillowside.
it comes equipped with lot of wallpapers and polyphonic sweet tunes.
only if we could get one camera in it..  it did have scored over all other competitors....  i am enjoying my phone a lot....
cool phone!
i had been comparing the 3650, 3560 and the 3595 but couldn't settle... then along came the 6610, which was perfect for me.
pros:  small size.
i love the fact i can carry it in my shirt or pants pocket and forget about it.
just make sure the keys are locked.
color screen is good.
it has lots of features such as the calendar which works like my outlook calendar.
the keys are laid out normal so there is no guessing.
navigating through the menus is super easy, especially if you have owned a previous model nokia phone.
battery life is very good, i use it every day and i have to charge it every 5 or 6 days or so.
cons:  not many.
the volume key can be hard to press, but i think this may be by design rather than a flaw, perhaps to keep you from pressing it accidentally when you are in a call.
pc cable is too expensive... $ 50 for a usb cable?
please!
is this how nokia subsidizes their free pc software?
slightly better than average phone in its class.
first of all i have been a big nokia fan and have been upgrading my cell phones about once a year (right after the release contract is over).
my last phone was a samsung s105 which imo is superior and cheaper to this phone.
below is how i evaulate this phone with other t-mobile phones which i have borrowed from parents / friends:  sound quality:  the most important thing for me is sound quality.
nokias have always had good sound quality and this is no exception.
i think the sound quality of this phone is slightly better than my samsung phone, the motorolla t720 series, and the sony ericsson t610 series.
the loud speaker function on the 6610 is great because you don't need to put your phone right next to your ear to talk.
overall design:  i like my phones to be small so i can fit it in my pockets.
of all these phones the motorolla and the sony ericsson phones are the smallest.
the 6610 is the actually the longest but they are all very small.
as much as i like nokia phones the flip phones imo are much better because a) you wont scratch your screens / keys b) you dont need to lock your phone all the time to prevent accidently hitting the keys.
ease of use:  how easy is it for me to get to a certain menu?
that is a very nice feature.
the 6610 is still easier to use than the other two phones (t610, t720i).
the sony ericsson phone (t610) has the most whistles and bells, but is also the hardest to use.
battery:  the nokia, samsung and the sony phones can all last for 3 days provided you don't talk too much.
the motorolla phone have a horrible battery which lasts about a day (although i heard that the motorolla t722i has a much longer battery life).
features:  the t610 has the most functionality hands down.
personally i found the integrated digital camera of the t610 to be very nice.
the t610 can also compose music, a feature which most won't use.
the 6610 has the radio function which is utterly useless.
it also has a stock tracking app built in (also useless) and a somewhat useful application which converts all types of metrics (currency, length, area, etc).
the s105 (samsung) has a beautiful big display (65,000 colors), and i can't say much about the motorolla.
all these phones have color screens, polymorphic tones, and are internet ready.
in music tones department the 6610 has 20 chords (thats number of different instruments which it can play) i think, the samsung i think have 15, i donno about the other phones but i feel the t610 has the best sounding ring tones.
regarding pc software support nokia suite does not work with some versions of xp as i tried to connect my phone via infrared port on my laptop.
i called nokia tech support and they blamed microsoft.
oh well..  overall this is a slightly better than average phone.
both the samsung and the sony phones offer a lot more features than this 6610.  personally i like the samsung phones better because i found myself liking the flip phones so much more.
i think there is a good chance i will try to get a samsung flip camera phone next year.
if t-mobile does not offer such a phone most likely i will get the t610.
they are all free if you get a new account anyway, but stick to t-mobile if you are going to use your phone overseas because t-mobile actually allows you to unlock your simm cards so that you can buy simm cards cheap from other nations and plug into your phone when you are doing some international travelling.
perfect phone.
this is the best phone i have seen.
i bought 2. i bought 2 of these phones 2 months ago for myself and my girlfriend.
we got a familyplan from t-mobile which saves us tons.
the phones are awesome.
we hardly ever have to charge them, get great reception (live in chicago), and the customization and applications are awesome.
here's a hint: go to nokia.com and get their pc suite and a connection cable if you dont have irda or bluetooth.
you can do * so * much more with the pc suite, i.e.
free ringtones from midi files, free graphics from any picture on your computer, and if you know how to program jme you can even make your own apps / games.
the phone's sound quality is great (turn up the volume if its too quiet, people, this thing will get loud) i dont have any complaints about this phone and the only thing that i miss from my 8290 is voice dialing.
nokia 6610 great for games and ringtones.
i bought this slick phone and i am very happy with it.
nice and small and excellent when it comes to downloading games, graphics and ringtones from www.crazycellphone.com
nokia 6610. i just purchased this phone and i think this is the coolest phone i ever had.
the features are really cool like the radio.
the first night i got this phone i put it next to me when i went to bed just to listen to my favorite music station and the handset itself doesnt weight anything its too light and feel so comfy with it.
technology wise, i think this is awesome plus the speaker makes it even great!!!!
i love this phone!!!
why i don't can this product without a plan?
i'm live in brazil and i need very to buy this product without a plan to use in here in other operators.
i'm pay in auto-debit in my account.
please, if anyone want sell to me this cell phone in my conditions, i'm wait very happy.
thanks!
excellent, but only gsm?
i thought this was the ultimate phone when it comes to basic features, but i was dissapointed when i saw that it was only a gsm comaptible phone.
as i travel quite a lot, i'd want something with gsm as well as cdma tri-band.
for a specific location, i still think its a great phone.
i think that it is a were good mobile phone and i may buy it.
great phone, but what did you say?
this really is a great little phone; its got nice features, a beatiful screen, great ergonomics, and its tiny!
i waited a few years between phones, mostly because (like most i think) i didnt really need one.
this phone won me over, and a big seller was the size; it fits nicely into any pocket without falling out.
the downside though, may be a big one for you.
its quiet.
really quiet.
grandma in church quiet.
i've gotten used to it (holding it in just the right realation to the ear, ducking into quieter places in bars) but when others borrow it they're shocked i can use it.
so, i recomend it, but not for those that have any hearing troubles, or for those that like to talk a lot in crowded public places (which is annoying, by the way.)
incredibly pleased.
i bought this phone when it first came out in the summer.
to say the least, i was horribly dissatisified with my service with sprint, which was why t-mobile was so fantastically refreshing.
my past two phones were all flip phones, and i was beginning to tire of them.
nokia was my first nonflip phone, and i'm glad i decided to go with them.
first of all, my calls were loud and clear, unlike with sprint.
i could make phone calls from locations i previously could not (like my apartment).
the phone is small, light, and very attractive.
the battery life is amazing.
the color screen is a plus, as are the polyphonic ringtones.
i'm not one who uses web browsing, so this phone easily met and surpassed my needs.
i highly recommend this phone to anyone.
i've yet to be dissappointed.
nokia 6610 (sound quality) the phone is great with very cool features & options, but comparing to my older motorola phone, it gets a failing grade in speaker quality.
i do here a constant high-pitched distorted sound, not to mention the volume does not seem to be loud enough.
it's going back today, & being replaced with the new samsung x105.
you do take your chances with this phone.
ultimate phone for mobile life.
i considered this phone (nokia 6610), mainly because of my sister and the features.
it is a great phone, if you are traveling all over the world, packed with wonderful features.
truly, i am quite impressed..!!
this is a very light phone - a little less than 3 oz, with long battery life (not as long as the new polymer technology).
on an average, you would charge it once a week.
the hands-free speakerphone is quite powerful (like the motorola phone, i used to own).
i simply love this feature.
in addition it comes with a sleek and powerful headset.
the built in fm radio is excellent for people traveling by public transport.
if you buy the stereo headset, you will enjoy it much more.
the pc sync feature is superb that comes with nokia pc suite software (with data cable or infrared port or bluetooth).
no more hazzles of keying in all data, using the small phone keypad.
just maintain them (phonebook, calendar and to-do list) in ms outlook or lotus notes and transfer data back and forth.
additionally, it has more fun stuff like more tones, wallpapers, screensaver, stop clock, alarm, java applications (chess, currency converter etc.)
the mobile text messaging, chat, picture sharing etc.
other nicities, that you would enjoy.
the mms technology is very well integrated with this phone, which you will enjoy.
the built-in camera they offer these days is more of kids stuff.
if you have a good digital camera, there is no reason to consider the camera capabilities of a mobile phone.
however, if you are keen, you can attach a camera to this phone.
i have not yet discovered the internet features yet, which i will be doing soon.
i felt that i should write this comment asap, as i am quite excited in using its features.
i can recommend this phone to anyone, anytime.
awesome phone choice.
after using the bulky 3650 for three weeks, i searched for a smaller alternative.
i was immediately interested in the 6610.  i have used this phone for two months now.
not only is it the perfect size (not too small, not too large), it also has all the features a high-tech phone user would want.
if you can live without an integrated camera, you won't miss much more.
the phone book is very user-friendly and the speakerphone is excellent.
even better, with the optional headset you can listen to music over the integrated radio.
if there are any drawbacks to this phone here they are.
although i find it more convenient to use 1-touch dialing, this phone does not have voice dialing.
the keypad is a decent size, but the power on/off key is small and difficult to press.
however, the battery life is good enough you shouldn't be overly concerned with turning this phone off.
in my opinion the worst issue on this phone is the side-mounted volume control.
it requires significant force to operate which can be scary on such a small phone.
one other issue is that the headphone jack is unique to nokia, so standard headphones will not work.
overall this is the best phone i have ever owned.
any disadvantages are easily outweighed by its advantages.
nokia does not disappoint in this model.
go for it!
awesome phone, great prices on amazon.com.
i couldn't be happier with t-mobile either, i switched from cingular.
one complaint... the screen is too easily scratched!
but there are faceplates to replace it i guess...  almost there.
i got this phone in t-mobile's current customer retention program for very little money and no contract renewal.
i was getting so sick of my old motorola l7089, but was waiting for the right phone to come along.
this is almost it but not quite but the price was right.
that said this phone does what it does extremely well - way better than anything motorola can produce.
it has great battery life, fm radio, excellent signal, hands free speakerphone (which i have to say is probably my favorite function) and downloadable java apps.
what it lacks for me isn't available on one phone yet, namely gsm850 (also sometimes known as gsm800), bluetooth and edge.
so when the quad bands start appearing i will be upgrading again.
but for now this will do.
oh and before anyone comments yes i know motorola have announced a quad band edge bluetooth phone, but its not shipping at time of writing and the tri-band gsm850 phones lack the gsm900 band which is important if you like me globally roam.
great phone...  great features...
great plan.
i purchased this phone after having been an at & t subscriber with a nokia 8260 phone for over three years.
i did a ton of research and settled on this phone because of the small size, speakerphone option, great priced calling plan and access to my corporate email.
i went to an at & t store before i bought this phone to see if it was possible to get corporate email with any of their services and they looked at me like i had three heads.
they told me i would have to connect to my laptop, which had to be on and connected to my corporate network through the phone in order to access my corporate email.
with the t-mobile unlimited t-zones for $ 10, i can check any number of email addresses and use unlimited internet.
i have had no problems with the phone.
friends of mine are always asking about it and wanting to use it.
i've even had one friend buy one immediately after a test drive.
great phone, i'd buy another.
excellent phone.
excellent phone, the phone looks much better than what u see in the pictures.
bluetooth functionality would have made the phone even better.
one more thing, the default ringtones that come with the phone are horrible.
overall an excellent phone.
the service from t-mobile is very good too.
in all a winning combination.
worth every penny!
great phone, easy to use, excellent network, no regrets!!
yo what a find.
i purchased this phone for just 50 $ and there is no end to what i can do with it.
nokia and t-mobile really teamed up well on this baby.
it puts an end to organizational deficiencies as well as communications and internet, without a bulky phone like the treo or something, which i had to cell because i was so unhappy with it.
now my little 6610 is the most coveted item at school!
people have paid me money just to borrow it because its so elegant.
service is great as far as i can tell, features work like a charm, ringtones are high quality if you buy them from t-mobile and aim is great.
now i can always be in contact.
this is probably your best bet if you are looking for a phone in this price range, or like me, do not have the patience to deal with annoying flip phones.
a great deal in general!
i would not give up this phone for the world.
1 month, no problems, great phone i'm very pleased with my 6610 phone.
yes, the features are numerous.
the speakerphone works better than any speakerphone i've ever had.
people i talk to on the speakerphone are shocked when it comes out at times that i'm even using a speakerphone.
the sound quality is excellent, except, maybe a * tad * too quiet at times when there are quieter talkers on the other end of the line.
the included earpiece is very comfortable and easy to use.
i have not had any distortion problems with this phone and am more pleased with this phone than any i've used before.
nokia has definitely won me over with this one.
best phone out there... a+ not only is this the best phone out there but is cheap (free!!).
first let me say that it is much smaller than it looks on the web and it also looks better.
the radio feature has superb sound quality.
i've compared this phone to others such as 6100, siemens sl55.
even though they might be smaller many people seem to have alot of problems with them.
it has a classic design yet looks hip.
is a lot better compared to the toy phone design of the nokia 7210 with its cheap feel.
it is extremely light and dissapears in your pocket.
for those that are looking for camera phones just get the camera attachement and comes with the stereo headphones to listen to the radio in style.
the battery is alot better than most of the phones out there.
one thing that i found out recently is that you don't need t-zones from tmobile to go online.
every t-mobile plan comes with gsm data, meaning that instead of speeds of 56 kbps is around 9 kbps (with those small size wap websites do you really think it makes a difference).
anyways there are ways to set up your 6610 to connect to csd which uses regular minutes and you are surfing the net, being able to download pics and ringtones (not java apps, you need t-zones for that).
tmobiles might not have the best reception in some areas but with amazing phones such as nokia 6610 and cheap plans that you get way more minutes than any other plans.
if you thought about getting this phone buy it.
this phone is great as a whole and is not like others with one or two good qualities.
6610 = great phone and a few extras i am a person that needs my phone (s) on demand.
i currrently have service with t-mobile, verizon, and t-mobile.
the reason so many is that i am a contractor and all of my subs have these carriers and i can benifit from the mobile to mobile features that companies are now offering!
that beside you are prob.
very well aware of many of the features that this phone is known for, and one that has not yet been mentioned: using this phone as a modem for any computer with a usb 1.0 port!
using the gprs option you can pay 19.99 extra a month and have unlimited internet access added to you account.
yes it is 56k speed, but the functionality is what you are paying for.
i myself find this great for when i am at a site i can run to my truck and hook up my modem cable (49.99 @ nokiausa.com or t-mobile.com) press dial up on my laptop (by the way it is a mac pb 1gz.
and in a matter of seconds i can access my email, fax, and the entire web from my truck!
the only problem that i have found with the internet service is that it does not access mls (real estate broker software) very well at all.
i find a great amount of value in this option for any and all the people that travel buy car and do not have access to the t-mobile " hot-spots ".
it does well in all aspects of internet browsing.
as i also leave you with this review i would like to thank you for reading it.
sound good but complicated.
do too many stuffs to get to a free phone after rebate.
also, if i want a family plan, which mean i need tw phones on a plan...  so how can i do that... aren't that free for two after the rebates.
and how can i do that....  print those coupons twice for two phones?
...
i saw another review saying his only gripe was a lack of voice dialing.
the phone does have voice dialing according to amazon & t-mobile and nokia.
the phone may look large but it is very small smaller then the 3390 phone.
my sister has this series of phone and she loves the radio and headset.
i find the lack of entertaining games on this phone quite disturbing.
i don't really like bounce.
i have always known nokia to provide me with good games on their phones.
battery life is good for a phone of this size.
but anyway, the only thing you should really look at here is the fact that the phone does have voice dialing.
great screen and great sound.
the 6610 excels as a cell phone, thank god.
the voice quality is very good, and it gets great reception (that is, in places where you get t-mobile coverage, which is not that good; see below).
the color screen makes this free-after-rebates phone shine bright, and commands are very responsive.
my only gripe about the hardware is the buttons.
nokia seems on a campaign to revamp the phone keypad, which imho is totally unnecessary.
this model does have the traditional key arrangement, it's just that they are really close to one another, and have unconventional shapes, so it takes a big getting used to for someone like me with big hands.
(to be fair, the same can be said about many korean imports, and the nokia's build quality is light years ahead of the koreans.)
other than that, this is a perfect phone for those of us with no patience for flips.
finally, i reiterate my thumbs-down rating for t-mobile as a carrier.
their network coverage is very sporadic, and the network always seems overloaded, resulting in very unpleasant calling experience.
if you can get this phone for cingular or at&t, go with the other carriers.
great phone, great service, no voice dialing.
the nokia 6610 is a relatively new phone, and what a great phone it is.
when i first saw the 6610, i thought it was too small.
after using it, i found the size to be perfect for carrying in a pocket.
it is just a tad small to hold to your ear with your shoulder, but that is solved with the very comfortable handsfree ear-piece which is included.
the ear-piece has a button that answers and hangs-up the phone so you do not have to mess with the phone at all, unless dialing a number.
unfortunately, the 6610 does not offer voice dialing like my previous phone, but the other features it packs outweighs this shortcoming.
when i turned the phone on, the first thing that hit me is how good the screen is.
the resolution is very good and the colors are bright and even changeable!
the phone has several color schemes you can choose from.
i like the default blue.
you can also set a background wallpaper.
the ringtones included are awesome, and did i mention they were polyphonic?
no more annoying series of beeps.
this phone plays up to 4 tones at one time and it actually sounds like music.
you can also assign special rings and graphics to special people when they call.
the massive phonebook can hold 300 entries, with multiple phone number per entry, so you can program your boss's home, work and cellphone numbers all under one contact.
the phone also sports an image gallery (with option camera attachment), a calendar / organizer, alarm clock with snooze, fm radio (way cool, even if it is just through an ear-peice), games, java applications and gprs high-speed internet connection.
the gprs connection is sometimes slow, and writing instant messages with the included aol instant messenger software is a pain, but the other t-zones applications are quite useful.
you can get weather, movies, horoscopes and more with a few clicks.
the service deafults to showing the information associated with your billing zip code, but you can change the default and seach other areas while on the go.
one downside: as of this writing, t-mobile hasn't updated their t-zone system to fully support the 6610.  their website does not show it as a compatible phone, and should i try to access the game downloads on t-zones the system returns an error message saying my phone is not supported.
i have been assured this will be fixed soon.
now, for the t-mobile service:  i cannot say enough good things about the people who answer the phones.
if you have a question, they have the answer.
and should they not know it, they can find it out pretty quick.
every phone experience has started with a very brief time on hold followed by a cheerful representative answering the phone.
all my questions or problems have been quickly and satisfactorily resolved.
i'd like to see my old carrier do that!
the rate plans are also very good, at least for me.
different people have different needs, of course, but the t-mobile plans are priced very well for the minutes and services you receive.
the phone would have received 5 stars if the phone had voice dialing and the game downloads from t-zones worked.
this phone is highly recommended otherwise.
t-mobile ruins an otherwise good phone.
nokia makes a great phone, that's clear.
with all its complicated features, the menus are easily accessible and the quality of the features is great.
the one huge disappointment is that the phones manufactured for t-mobile lack many of the menus and functions that a nokia straight from the manufacturer should have.
one of the things t-mobile brags about is the fact that it's a " worldphone " and can be used in europe, etc.
yet they've gotten rid of most of the languages that should be in the phone, including italian, german, and dutch.
the internet functions of the phone - wap and gprs - will only work through t-mobile's services, because they have deleted the menu options that would enable you to configure the phone to be used on a different network.
therefore, if you wanted to travel abroad and pop in a local sim card, even if you unlock the phone, there is no way you can use the local wap browser or internet.
after spending hours being transferred from one tech help person to another, i got fed up and have decided to return the phone.
bottom line, if you're attracted to this phone because of its tri-band feature so you can take it abroad, forget it.
find another phone, or buy this one in its manufacturer-unlocked form.
a good phone.
this phone is good with a huge array of features built into it.
i purchased the phone last week and have been using till then..  i didn't had any problem till now.
the design is sleek and the color screen has good resolution.
it is very light weight and has a good signal strength.
however, the main problem that i think is the with the sound quality.
it is not as good as the samsung phones that i have used earlier.
when talking the voice is not very clear.
but, i would definately recommend this phone.
go for it...
a quick update to the new zen nx?
while, there are flaws with the machine, the xtra gets five stars because of its affordability.
it is the most bang-for-the-buck out there.
like it's predecessor, the quickly revised nx, this player boasts a decent size and weight, a relatively-intuitive navigational system that categorizes based on id3 tags, and excellent sound (widely known to be better than ipod - not surprising considering the number of years creative has been in the audio peripheral business).
the xtra improves upon the zen nx with a larger, now-blue backlit screen, which is infinitely better.
further, the xtra doubles the maximum filecount capacity to 16000 mp3.
this is especially useful for those who listen mostly to pop music and store all those short ditties.
when compared to the ipod the zen xtra falls short, but only by a bit.
yes the ipod is smaller, but not $ 200 worth, which is the premium you'll pay for an equivalent capacity model.
yes, the ipod looks in tune with the carefully articulated urban-hipster persona thats become popular as of late, but sure-as-hell isn't worth the $ 200 premium (unless you are just dying to match your music player with that volkswagen beetle and urban outfitters wardrobe).
for me, i'll save that cash for another purchase.
get this player!
before i decided to get this player, i did my research.
i looked up the ipod, the dell jukebox, and the samsung napster player.
i chose this one because from what i read, it was the best deal for the money.
another reason i got it is because you can put wma files on it.
that takes up half the space of mp3's.
that's important because i have a lot of music.
the software is great.
you can sort your music by artist, title, album, or genre, and you can play music based on those categories.
transfering is easy, the software makes everythig pretty easy.
even the battery life is great - it advertises 14 hours, it's actually a little less but still good.
only 1 problem, no accessories... yet.
i hope it's because it's new and they are not out yet, but being without a remote is hard.
they player's interface itself is also very easy to use.
can't complain and i recommend it over all the other players, just hope that remote will come out soon.
get it, it's woth every penny!
!
i've had it for a week now, don't regret the purchase one bit, and i never leave home without it.
if you have any doubts about this player, well don't.
pros:  software is easy to use (although redhat software is better, but costs money)  much cheaper than i-pod good looking player (beautiful blue back-lit screen) if you've read about the player, some have complained about the lack of a viewing hole for the face when the case is on, but this is good because the face doesn't get damaged / scratched fast transfer rate  no issues as of yet  cons:  you're going to need to buy new headphones, the stock ones suck  hopefully, this player will out sell the ridculously over-hyped i-pod.
if you want to be a poser and follow the herd, mooooooh, then buy the i-pod.
otherwise, be smart, save the cash.
the sound is the thing!
for me the sound of the music is what is important.
the zen xtra sounds great with good headphone and well recored mp3s.
navigation is a bit tricky and takes getting used to but the included pdf instructions cover the operation pretty well.
at 8 ounces it is pretty light but not as light as the ipod.
the battery is replaceable (a real plus) and there is a leather case (another real plus).
i suppose that you could jog with it but it seems to be made for the enjoyment of music.
so far the software for the pc works easily.
by the way, it looks nice also.
an ipod killer: this thing kicks mighty apple butt!
i would have given this thing 4.5 stars but since i can't, i'll be sweet and give it the full 5 stars.
it's worth it.
i personally don't like apple or their business practices (screwing resellers, customers and employees left and right) so i shopped around for something else.
after finally stumbling upon this zen nx player, i knew i had found what i was looking for.
my two main requirements were longer battery life and lower price: i found both.
this thing lasted well over 14 hours when i played it straight for the first time.
the zen nx is $ 100 cheaper than the ipod of the same size, so you have to wonder just how much apple's markup is anyway!
the sound is excellent, but a tip: get a real pair of headphones.
you won't appreciate the quality this thing has to offer unless you are using a good set of cans.
the controls are on the side instead of on the front, which i like, because that's where my thumb is when i hold the thing!
the scroll wheel is a big improvement over the ipod touchpad.
it could be a little bit bigger, but it's easy to get used to.
the screen may be a little smaller, but it is very readable and doesn't come in the overused blue.
it doesn't have firewire, not a real complaint since most windows users don't generally have firewire cards themselves.
(i would have appreciated having a firewire plug, however)  the included leather pouch is a big plus: it actually protects the unit well, something a lot of ' carrying cases ' fail to do with other audio devices.
other plusses: changable battery, loads of presets for environments, decent construction, still quite small and light despite being slightly bigger than an ipod.
(did i mention you can actually change the battery?
apple?
are you listening?)
i probably would have liked to have a player in something other than silver / metallic... like the battery adapters on their usb thumbdrive (muvo nx) mp3 player models.
since the front plate is removable to access the battery compartment, aftermarket alternate covers would not be difficult or expensive to make.
overall: small, sounds great, and less expensive than apple's overpriced ipod!
(batteries last longer too!)
way better than a i-pod!
i shopped around for a month looking for a good mp3 player, and all i heard was how good the i-pod was.
after messing with it at a store i noticed how bad the i-pod was.
it was marked up increadably high compared to other models (almost $ 500 for a 30gb), and theres was nothing about it that made it worth that much money.
the creative labs zen xtra has all the features the i-pod has and if you get if from amazon your only going to pay $ 300 for this great player.
i've had it for about 2 weeks and it's the best player i've seen, and used, ever.
the music is easy to get to (all of the menus are easy to understand despite what alot of i-pod owners say) and if you know how to search for an artist by name online, then you can do the same with the zen.
the screen is very easy to read and the blue light is bright enough to read at night, but dim enough so it doesn't blind you when you stare too long.
all in all this a great player that blows the i-pod away, with easy to use and understand features, software that is simple to understand and use, and a great sound (which is all that matters in a mp3 player).
just get some new headphones and your set.
great product for a windows computer.
within 5 minutes i was able to transfer files.
it's a very intuitive program.
i had no problems following their installation instructions.
the menus are very easy to navigate.
the only complaint i have is that when you push in the scroll wheel to select, you have to push straight in or it sticks.
the other controls are all very easy to use.
it has several play options, one of the best is an option to shuffle, based on all or a certain playlist.
the only downside i see is that it doesn't look like you can manage playlists from the nomad, it has to be done from the computer.
unlike the ipod, this is fully windows compatible and can be used right out of the box.
for ipod you have to buy a cable and it isn't compatible with all windows pcs.
it also costs a lot less than the ipod.
the earbuds that come with it aren't that bad.
they're pretty comfortable, stay in place and deliver a decent audio quality.
this is a good deal for music and data storage.
the interfacing software is unacceptably bad.
one thing i should note is that i have only had this product for one day, so there are many options i have not explored.
the main problem with the nomad jukebox zen xtra 30 gb is the software.
on my relatively new computer (p4 with windows xp and usb 2.0), the os complained about the installation of the drivers.
despite the instructions insisting that the process was fairly automatic, i had to install the usb drivers and the nomad interface software manually.
the interface software itself, which should be user-friendly, was anything but easy-to-use.
with the nomad explorer software, songs should be drag-and-drop.
i have not yet tried the cd-ripping program.
the player itself has all sorts of problems.
the face-plate, which pops out for the battery, pops open by itself every 10 minutes or so.
the player hangs up on file transfer every once-in-a-while, prompting a reset.
the scroll button is overly sensitive at times; not sensitive enough at others.
depressing the scroll button (for selecting) is not always responsive.
the scroll bar problems make the task of creating playlists more frustrating.
on the positive side, the sound of the player is pretty good, once you have everything configured.
i haven't had time to really push this player to the limit, but audio aspects on the nomad are satisfactory, as should be expected from creative labs.
overall, a very disappointing product.
the setup process for the nomad is infuriating, and the interface with the player is sub-par.
the player's mechanics are also flawed.
although the sound-quality is good, it takes more than good sound on a portable-mp 3 player to result in a good product.
great player.
when it came down to it, the price on this player is hard to beat.
if you want the other accessories the ipod offer, maybe that's where you should go...  this is a great investment for someone like me who enjoys music and hates carrying multiple cds.
i just transfered over some 40 cds and have plenty of space left for me.
one beef is the scroll, it doesn't work as well as i'd like.
other than that this thing is great...  enjoy!
replaceable battery lets zennx keep running and running.
zennx's replaceable battery was the deciding factor in my purchase of zennx over ipod.
all rechargeable batteries lose their holding power over time (around 2 years).
apple's solution - pay apple another $ 400 + for a new ipod (less a paltry discount).
the zennx will keep running for the price of a replacement battery, just like any other battery-powered appliance.
notmad by red chair software is an explorer-based program that enables simple drag-and-drop transfer of music files from pc to zennx.
the blue-screen display in the zennx xtra model is an improvement, but the toggle switch is still tricky.
zennx's capacity / price ratio on the 30g model ($ 10/gig)) trumps ipod's 30g model ($ 14/gig).
choosing zennx is a no-brainer when factoring in the cost of a new $ 400 + ipod every few years versus the $ 50 cost of replacing zennx's rechargeable battery.
zennx hopefully will gain market share and prompt arrogant apple to lower prices and enable consumers to replace the battery.
update: apple recently announced that for $ 107, it will replace the battery in ipods shipped to their factory.
lithium ion rechargeable batteries are good for 300-500 rechargings, so battery lifespan will vary according to your usage.
still, apple continues to squeeze dollars from consumers by not designing the battery to be replaceable.
terrific mp3 player, great price.
i love my new nomad, its great!
now i dont have to lug around 80 cds if i dont know what i'm going to want to listen to biking home.
this thing, while looking pretty cool, is not as sexy as the ipod.
for some this might be a problem, but for the price of a 30 gig ipod, you can get a 60gb nomad, the ipod simply pales in comparison.
the software is very easy to use, and within 30 minutes of opening my box, i was out and about listening to any one of my 80 cds.
the free (i didnt know they still did that) carrying case is really protective, and to me its the only accessory you need (except good headphones).
on the subject of headphones, this thing seems like a normal mp3 player when you use the headphones they give you in the box, but invest 30 dollars in a nice pair and the sound quality goes up through the roof!
if you want a sexy, cool, accessory-availible mp3 player, by all means, get an ipod for a hundred dollars more (or one for the same price that holds 1/3 of the music).
but if you want a great deal and a great mp3 player, get the nomad.
best electronic i've bought since i was born.
flat out
impressed!
i just sold my archos 20gb jukebox recorder after not being satisfied with it's slow loading & difficult navigation, not to mention it froze quite a bit.
for an early christmas gift, i got a zen xtra 40 gb player.
i refused to go for an ipod, i am not going to spend all that money just for the apple name and because it is " trendy " to have that player.
this was the closest alternative and best buy for this type.
after receiving my zen xtra 40gb mp3 player...  i will just say this:  i will never go back to my archos again!!
so easy to set up, had some problems with my archos.
stayed up all night trying to figure out that thing.
just easily drag and drop files into the nomad explorer and from there you easily alter id tags and sort your music according to your liking, by artist, song title, genre, etc.
not only is it functional and runs super smooth & fast, but it is also eye candy.
very sleek & stylish as well as the screen options and visuals it has.
the leather case it comes with is pretty nice, similar to a pda style case and does hold and protect it perfectly.
all the buttons & neccessary lil ' gadgets are on the sides of the player which is nice for when you are holding it in the palm of your hand.
the sound quality is also nice... after i hooked up my sony headphones instead of those factory earbuds it comes with.
lots of sound options, has an equalizer almost like winamp with the options.
navigation is so smooth and finding files is a cinch.
also navigating while playing music is a plus unlike my previous player.
it was impossible to do so before.
oh, and the screen saver feature is pretty sweet ^ _ ^  another plus in my book, no file limits!
i was limited to 999 files in a playlist with archos ' os, now i can have as many as i want.
i have over 2000 files in my playlist at the moment and the random does a nice job mixing it up.
i am quite happy having over 10 gigs of music stored on this baby as well as a few gigs of media files in the data folder.
now i can transport files to friends house with ease.
when plugged in, it doesn't lag the computer like the archos did... unless you are doing a massive transfer of data in one load.
after playing with this little device, i don't know why i would look at an ipod with the same space when it costs $ 500 and i got mine for a little more than half that price!
i really have no complaints over this unit.
i really do recommend this to anyone in need of a new player.
in fact, my boyfriend is now going to invest into one of these suckers as well... now he realizes that this is the best choice over his current archos and the ipod he was eyeing.
not able to install.
getting the program to install properly has been a living hell experience.
the cd just has too many problems with win xp.
i am going to have to try an online download and see if that works.
also, the instruction manual is very bad.
fantastic piece of machinery.
i have no complaints with this mp3 player.
getting files onto it is quick and painless.
then sorting the files is easy as pie.
and it holds sooooo much music and audio files.
my music demands are pretty intense and this handles those demands without problems.
also, the sound is wonderful... my only gripe were those aweful earphones that this came with.
come on, at $ 300 they could at least put in a good pair of earphones.
sheesh!!
the battery is nice.
i listened to it for several days before needing to recharge them.
the lcd screen was very large and readable.
thank you!
my last mp3 player's screen drove me nuts.
a great buy.
compared to everything else in this category, this is most definately the best bang for the buck.
not ipod competition.
i think the whole zen line has been fairly innovative and reasonably priced, but it's not really appropriate to compare the pricing of the zen line to the ipods (although, the ipod is still way over priced).
you're talking totally different hardware.
all of the zens use a standard notebook drive.
this puts the zen in line with players like the rca jukebox and the whole line of archos players (the newer ones are a bit better than the original archos jukeboxes... but i popped out the drive in my 20 gig jukebox recorder and put in a 60 gig drive and use it exclusively as a powered portable usb 2.0 drive).
the ipod uses a smaller (and more expensive) drive (1.8 ").
i should point out that the new rio karma is now down to about $ 280 and is reviewed readily as being as good as (and better in some areas) the ipod.
the 20 gig ipod still goes for just under $ 400.  that's a huge difference... especially in this price range.
i can't believe people continue to pay those prices.
i gave the zen 5 stars because it's excellent for the class that it is in and it's not really appropriate to rate it based on players in a different class.
my personal favorite is the karma (i currently own a karma, a zen usb 2.0, a philips hdd100, and an upgraded 60 gig archos jukebox recorder).
i guess that's why you so often see " ipodders " bashing every other player out there (very often not knowing anything about them the whole " i spent $ 120 more for something not any better and so should you... so i can feel better " thing.
ipod vs nomad zen xtra i originally purchase a 30 gb nomad zen xtra as a portable mp3 player.
after fiddling around with it for a while, i notice a few dissapointments:  transfering - i could not get my songs to completely transfer via usb 1.1 or 2.0.  it would only transfer 30 or so songs, and then come up with an error.
having 4000 or so mp3s, i never got more than 500 transfered.
scroll button - the scroll wheel was a nice idea to keep less clutter, but the button would sometimes get stuck or keep scrolling.
size - bigger than the ipod  software - music match jukebox isn't the greatest, the search funtion isn't fast even when accessing it with the hotkey shortcut.
after i went through the transer issue, i returned the zen xtra and purchased the 40 gig ipod.
song transfers were not an issue.
i transfered all 16 gigs in 15 minutes without any errors via firewire.
the navigion on it can be a little quirky, but still operates better than the zen's did.
the ipod is also an attractable piece, being lightweight and small.
the casing scratches a little easy, but the glove cases work great to protect against this.
sound quality was the same between the two, but the zen did have more sound adjustments with the normal eax features.
i chose to keep the ipod and am very happy with the purchase.
granted it is a little more than the zen, it is well worth it.
itunes is a versatile program and i haven't had any issues with the ipod itself.
wonderful.
i love this player.
its great.
all i have to say is that i did freeze on me once, but it hasn't done it since.
i love this player and would probably go with creative labs again.
the software was great, as long as you have an adminstrative user account (windows xp).
i got every song i had downloaded to the player within a day or so.
it only took about 30 minutes to download everything, and that was about 950 songs.
anyway, this player is a great deal and i really love it.
a good product.
first, the cons... a tad bulky... not the most asthetic looking player... and doesn't support a folder stucture.
the pro...  way less expensive than the ipod.
my opinions:  personally, i don't understand all the complaints about the interface...  i find it pretty easy to use... and unlike the remote interface for the audigy 2 nx (on the pc)...  it actually gives the option to clear the previous playlist when i want to play another list.
meaning i don't have to manually clear the list, and then load the new list.
the cons aren't really a big deal to me... except one con that does annoy me is the way it stores files... no folder structure... and it's based on the title of the songs... many of my songs where seperated into folders (on the pc)... and a few had same titles... so i had to change the titles to make sure that i didn't have any that might be the same as another.
and man... i had to work to put my chinese songs on the player... because i had the actual chinese names of the songs as the title..  and since the current language selection was english (even though i think only the menu supports chinese, and not the track info)... all it saw were "?
and even though the songs had different names in chinese..  if it had the same number of "?
then it would ask if you want to overwrite another song that just had the same number of "?
...  buyer beware!
sort your songs and adjust the titles accordingly (maybe this applies to other players too, and not just the nomad, i don't know).
i would've still bought this drive even if i knew about this issue beforehand.
not counting the time i spent editing the songs (i suppose i should've done it anyway on my pc) the transfer was pretty painless.
once you start sending files, it'll continue until it's done or it hits a song that has the same title as another song... at which point you can skip, skip all, replace, replace all, or cancel.
and go from there... if you chose one of the " all " options, then you don't need to do anything until it's done.
in two transfer batches (first was english songs, then foreign languages), it didn't come up with any errors (aside the duplicate name i mentioned).
so i don't know what the previous review that couldn't do more than 30 songs is talking about.
of course, unlike that person i will mention that i upgraded the firmware to 1.23.
00. but i did transfer files before the upgrade without problem too.
you should update the firmware before upgrading the drivers if you decide you need the newer drivers for the pc.
the mediasource itself was flaky... crashing my explorer twice within the first hour (the crash didn't require a reboot)... but after another reboot, it hasn't crashed since.
that wasn't pretty.
there's a dent on the upper-back-right and lower-back-right corners... not too obvious unless you're up close.
so far, it's sweet.
bought the 30gb xtra a couple of weeks ago, and so far it has been excellent.
i still have over 19gb left, and already have over 200 cd's on it.
i'll have to borrow cd's to rip from friends to even come close to filling the thing.
i'm not sure why people have problems with either the interface of the nomad, or the software that comes with the unit.
both are very easy to learn & use, and intuitive enough for even a novice.
besides user error (surprise, surprise), it's hard to imagine people having trouble with either.
ripping & transferring tunes is basic, and pretty fast (even on a 1.1 usb).
people also have complained about the case not having a window, but that's not really a big deal to me either -- the case is sturdy and offers very good protection.
it's easy enough to pop it open to see what song you're listening to.
the sound quality is excellent (and i'm fussy with that stuff), the unit looks cool, screen is bright and easy to read, and the replaceable battery means a major advantage over the ipod (besides the price, but everyone knows that).
you of course have some good customization options with the unit as well (sound presets, navigating options, playlists, etc).
i just put it on " shuffle ", sit back, and enjoy the eclectic mix that almost 3,000 tunes offer!
the only thing i'm concerned about is the quality / longevity of the buttons on the thing.
my " fast forward " button works, but it takes a little extra pressure on it to make it go.
not an urgent issue, as it still works...  all other buttons are pretty sensitive to touch and work well.
i'll have to see if this becomes a problem down the road.
but i've already emailed creative tech support about it, and gotten timely responses - they will fix it for me if necessary...  we'll see if i need them to.
sure, it's a little bigger than the ipod, but not by much.
this is not the unit you should use if you go jogging anyway.
it still fits in the palm of your hand, and it's not heavy.
i use mine at the office, in the car (with a cassette adapter), and will be taking it on a flight back east for the holiday.
yes.
get better headphones.
rip your tunes at 192kb if you like, alhthough 128kb sounds just dandy, and you'll get more tunes stored on it.
bottom line... great product, unbeatable price.
i got mine for $ 160 less than the ipod 30gb (got an extra $ 30 off for applying for an amazon visa... thanks amazon!)
basic shipping was a bit slow, but that's okay.
i got it now, and i'm diggin ' it.
nightmare.
awful, awful, awful.
unlike my 3 other mp3 players, this thing will only work properly if you have id3 tags on all of your tracks.
if you don't have tags, it'll lump all of your tracks into the same directory and they cannot be searched via artist or album as the zen does not recognize folders.
it's a shame, but mine is going back.
bummer as it has great sound quality.
excellent product.
i just received my 40gb zen xtra yesterday and i'm extremely pleased with it.
my brother bought an ipod this past summer and my dad bought the original zen around the same time..  just before we all spent a couple weeks in an rv together.
the ipod is a neat piece of machinery but after screwing around with both of them i think the zen products are the way to go.
so i requested and received a zen xtra as a christmas gift.
the setup and transfer process was cake for me.
i just used the explorer program to move my songs to my player.
i did have to put a little work into renaming some duplicate file names to get all my music on my zen xtra but it wasn't a big problem.
the explorer program did shut down a couple times while i was renaming titles and changing genres but i didn't have to reboot the computer or anything, just open up explorer again.
it's been so long since i've had a program not shut down on me in windows that i hardly even noticed that it happened.
that's probably a bad thing.
the unit itself did lock up a few times and i had to hit the reset button but that was a fairly painless process as well.
it was always after it finished a process or something, so it didn't cause any file errors.
now that i have all my music on it there hasn't been any more problems.
the screen is large and bright and has all the info i need where i need it.
i haven't tried setting up any playlists yet so i can't comment on any problems there.
the eax mode that keeps the volume at the same level for any song will come in handy when i take my holiday plane rides.
the little jog dial seems weak and quirky and i hope i don't figure out a way to break it.
the dial on the original zen was perfect and i wish it was on this model.
all in all though i'm very happy with my new mp3 player.
i'll admit that i'd own an ipod if i had money to burn, but for the money this is a much better buy.
highly recommended!
fantasic product.
i purchased the nomad jukebox zen xtra 40gb and it is fantastic!
i have windows xp pro and when installing the enclosed software i did receive a message that there was a problem installing the driver.
this was quickly and easily fixed by going to the creative web site and downloaded then installed the updated driver.
i found using the supplied mediasource software very easy.
if you have always on internet or are logged into the internet you can use the feature that will download the album & song id information (this is a free service) with the click of a button.
ripping your songs and creating playlists couldn't be any easier.
i found using mediasource to load your songs to the nomad jukebox to be much easier and faster than using windows explorer.
just highlight the songs you want to transfer from your playlist or music library then click one button and it's done!
being a creative product the playback quality is unbeatable.
i use my own mid-priced headphones rather than the enclosed earbuds.
when i played back a symphony orchestra you would swear that you were seated dead center in front of the orchestra - it's that good!
the sound quality with jazz and pop music is equally superior.
actually using the nomad jukebox is easy and uncomplicated.
finding a particular song (s) or album on the nomad jukebox is fast and easy.
i like to play my music by album and the nomad jukebox plays the songs in the same order as the actual cd.
the high resolution screen is easy to read and has a backlight.
i can highly recommend this product because of its ease of use (hardware and software), playback quality and value for the price.
good value.
just bought one & i've enjoyed it to date.
nice palm sized unit, somewhat bigger then the ipod but not an issue if you're not going to try & jog with it or something.
all reviews i've seen seem to indicate that the creative mp3 jukeboxes have the best sound quality of these 2nd generation jukeboxed (ipod, archos, dell, samsung).
the eax settings are somewhat superfluous but not really a negative.
i've tried the belkin fm transmitter unit with it & it worked well when i set it on top of a portable radio, but was awful trying to use in the car which is somewhat of a disappointment.
dislikes  - the controls are much inferior to the simple ipod ones.
the black fly wheel feels pretty cheap & is uncomfortable to use.
the locations of various buttons on one side or the other is somewhat illogical  - included creative software is pretty poor.
red chair's notmad explorer is great & recommended by about every reviewer to repleace the creative jukebox software.
note: this will add about $ 30 to the price to purchase, but worth it  likes  - great value 40gb vs 10 gb ipod for the price  - best in class sound  - large easy readable screen
depressingly poor quality.
after receiving the box from amazon, i proceeded with charging the unit for the specified 4 hours, after which i installed the software and connected the unit to my pc via usb 2.0.  the pc quickly picked up on it and attempted to install the software, which failed, as creative chose not to follow microsoft standards, whatever.
i then installed the software manually instead, after having to click past about 5 windows of " please register with us so we can spam your inbox ".
at this time, i decided to turn the player on, and much to my surprise it comes with quite the little library of classical music, one of which is a childhood favorite, bach's air.
i tried to play the song three times, with no success.
it would either not play the song at all, or skip wildly, no matter that the unit was resting on my desk.
well, maybe that particular song was just corrupt, so i tried to upload some of my own, after four attempts, at each one the unit locked up and required a reboot, i managed to upload an album, which albeit was surprisingly fast, however when attempting to create a playlist out of my newly uploaded songs, the nomad again froze up and refused to work.
i made an additional five attempts at creating a playlist, before packing the unit up and heading over to amazon's product return page.
needless to say, i wouldn't recommend anyone purchasing this product.
had there been strange noises, or obvious defects, i would have accepted a replacement, but this is clearly from a defective and inferior operating system and i for one do not intend on waiting for patches.
wonderful.
charged my battery.
plugged it in.
installed software.
started ripping and transferring.
if you arent hooked up to cddb to get the album info i guess you have to manually input the stuff, but that little work will save you looking for songs.
i've got 1200 songs on it now and about 4000 more to go.
working for 10 hours with it on " shuffle " totally rocks!!
i love it!
!
poor reliability.
i bought this only to have it break within a month.
this product is too fragile for normal use.
good player, but this technology is not yet great.
i received this as a gift.
i had no problems setting up the software and getting my favorite cd's transferred.
however, the creative software is not real intuitive.
the software is somewhat nice to look at, using it is not the easiest.
if you want to rename a cd title that you have already transferred, you will become frustrated quite quickly.
you are better off deleting it, re-ripping it with the new title and then transferring it to the player.
transfers are surprisingly quick through usb 2.0.  it is great sounding, even with the supplied earbuds.
i must have differing preferences than others here, as i prefer the supplied earbuds to the sony's that i thought sounded good on other players.
i love the storage in this thing.
i have 100 of my cd's transferred and haven't made a dent in the 30 gb drive.
i doubt i will use half of the storage capacity, but you never know.
this is definitely opening up possibilities to obtaining mp3's in which i would have never purchased the cd.
now my dissapointments.
the description of the warranty is buried on the supplied set up cd.
the warranty is 90 days.
this is ridiculous.
to me this alludes to the manufacturer's confidence that the product will last for a year.
buy the re-seller's extended warranty and save yourself a headache for the problems you will have later, after all it is a hard drive and it will die or have issues over time (probably sooner than later).
the scroll wheel, to be blunt, sucks.
seems it is always difficult to press to make a selection.
the interface used could be better designed.
it is a little cumbersome to scroll through so many levels to get to the selection you want.
i am a software engineer and if i wrote an interface to my software that worked like this, there would be hell to pay, not to mention the ridicule from my peers.
and the case, how did this ever make it out of quality control.
the screen is covered, so to make any new selections you have to open it.
the cut-outs for the controls is not thought out as there is too much material in the way to adequately access the controls, especially the scroll wheel.
there are no other aftermarket cases available for this model yet, so you have to live with it.
despite the things that i have listed so far, i could live with this item since it saves me from lugging a cd case to work, to the gym, in the car, etc..  however the main reason i am not satisfied with this product is the fact that it will lock up at odd times.
i have had it lock up after a transfer of music.
the files are there, but i could not access the player without removing the battery, waiting a short period and re-inserting the battery.
also have had it lock up when i shut it down to attend to a phone call.
left it set on my desk came back five minutes later and it just wanted to keep playing the same song over and over.
could not stop it, could not get out of the " now playing " screen.
again had to remove the battery.
there have been other occurrences of locking, but i will not bore you with the details.
quite simply, the firmware and / or the os that control this thing is not ready for prime time.
there have also been times that the unit has been turned off for some period of time, upon powering it up it starts on the " now playing " screen with a song or cd that i had been playing days before.
i haven't quite figured this one out yet, but it is probably operator error.
now i have not owned other mp3 players as i was waiting until they matured, but since i received it as a gift i now have this one.
i would suspect that there are similar problems with all of the other brands as this is somewhat new technology.
and we all know about the rush to market on new products.
i have had this player for 2 weeks, i will be returning it for an exchange in the hopes that the locking problem and scroll wheel are problems with this particular unit.
while i am at the store i will definitely get the extended warranty as i have another day or so (from the purchase date) to obtain one.
i know this unit will have problems in the future and the $ 40 for the 2 year " no questions asked " replacement warranty will be worth it, since creative will only warrant it for 90 days - which in itself is totally ridiculous!
excellent product.
this is my second creative labs mp3 player, and it is definitely a fine product.
first let me give you the bad things:  1. the size is a little bit bigger than the ipod, and it weighs a little bit more.
2. the scroll button isn't the best, as it sometimes can be hard to select.
3. that's pretty much all the negatives the positive things truly outnumber the negatives, and the negatives aren't that bad.
first of all the player's sound quality is superior to the ipod.
the player's software is very easy to use and very good.
compared to musicmatch, the software has a better filing system and easier to use.
to keep it short, this is cheaper, and in my opinion a better choice than an ipod.
difficulties with tags.
if you purchase this product, definitely rip your songs through windows media player.
otherwise, you'll have to mess around a lot with filenames inside the (decent) nomad explorer, which is not fun at all.
this thing seriously is a good player though.
another electronics fan.
summary  overall i like the unit.
i gave it only 3 stars due to the fact that the 1st one broke when i dropped it from a fairly short distance (less than 2 ft).
if it were not for that i would have given it 4.  pros:  1) price / gb of storage  2) storage capacity  3) user replaceable battery  cons:  1) fragile (i broke the 1st one within 10 days)  2) scroll button / switch  3) the case hides the display - you have to open it to see what you are doing.
features that would have been nice:  1) fm receiver - some models out there have this.
2) fm transmitter - so you can place the unit in your car and listen to the unit through your car stereo.
they sell an adapter unit to use with your car's cassette deck.
but who wants the wires involved.
a short range fm transmitter would be much nicer.
i believe the napster mp3 player has this feature.
details:  don't drop this unit:  i've had the player for about a month now.
overall i like it.
as mentioned above i broke the player within the 1st 10 days.
i was sitting on a train and it fell off my lap and broke.
i think it fell right on the earphone plug when it fell (murphy strikes again).
if you are going to need a player that is rugged this may not be the one for you.
i purchased the extended warranty (something i almost never do) when i returned the unit to get the replacement.
updating the unit's firmware:  when i first purchased the unit i downloaded the firmware update that was available on their website.
the upgrade went smoothly and was easy to do if you can follow directions.
i would recommend doing the upgrade to be sure you have the best chance at trouble free operation.
storage:  the storage capacity is great.
i don't think i will ever use the full 30gb.
i currently have ~ 1100 songs encoded mostly at 196 kpbs and i haven't even used 10gb of storage yet.
i'm starting to listen to cd's that i haven't listened to in years now that i have them all handy in one place.
for those out there that are not familiar with mp3 encoding, you can encode your cd's at varying quality levels.
the higher the number the better the quality (less data compression is used) and the larger the file size.
if you decide to encode at 320 you will fit less on this device than someone who encodes at 128kps.
you should consider this when deciding what bit rate you want to use and how much you want to put on the player.
if you're someone who wants to put 10,000 songs on this thing you may want to encode at the lower end (typically 128 is considered close to cd quality).
price:  the price compared to the ipod is great.
price, along with the replaceable battery (which i understand apple charges a small fortune to replace - as well as the hassle of returning it) were the two main factors on why i picked the nomad.
one word of caution with regards to using the nomad with itunes.
i discovered this weekend that itunes does not sell mp3's in the mp3 format.
it using something called ac3 (at least the trial song i purchased was in this format) which is not a compatible format for the nomad.
i haven't figured out if this is the case for all the songs on itunes.
but for now it appears that this player doesn't play well with itunes.
scroll bar:  the scroll bar is a bit of a pain.
sometimes you skip past things or have to press it twice to select items.
it's not the end of the world, but a better design sure would be nice.
software:  i've had no problems with the software.
i found it intuitive to use (i didn't read any documentation for it and was using it successfully within a few minutes).
the software will convert your cd's to mp3 and put them on the player as well as your hard disk if you want it to.
my 2.6 mhz pentium 4 with usb 2.0 was able to perform the task pretty quickly (i would estimate ~ 5 - 8 minutes per cd).
through the software you can classify songs in genres.
this is a nice feature (i.e.
it's early in the morning and you rather listen to " easy listening " rather than " heavy metal " - no problem.
the software comes with plenty of defaults genres.
you can also create your own if you don't like their classifications.
you can edit the genres once the songs are on the play if you decide to re-classify things later.
this can be done on a song by song basis or in mass.
in addition, you can create play lists where you can create the equivalent to a compilation cd right on your player.
this is pretty cool.
sound:  the sound from the player is ok.  i was a little disappointed in the low end.
i did buy separate headphones as other have recommended.
i was able to improve things a bit by using the units equalizer and boosting the base.
the sound level is also not as high as i would have expected.
it's probably good for the health of your ears, however i consistently play it near the high end of the volume range (and my hearing is fine).
wow, dennis sure is great!
slowly yet surely my unit engorged as i read my own review, similar to when i look in the mirror.
this thing is great, i like to use it to pick up tough stains on my countertop and also to listen to my old 8-track records.
sometimes when i get really lonely, i like to put on some kenny g and light some candles, and while this doesn't help, i am a capitalist pig and like buying things too, nah mean!?
i did have some problems figuring out how to turn the unit on, but creative did a good job with this, as they had a clearly labled " on " button that i found when i left my cellar for the first time in years.
there was very little light in there.
anyway, im gon na go find dennis now, have a nice day!!
!
it is ok, but... i got my zen xtra a little bit more then a week ago.
it was not my first choice.
i have done a lot of research before i decided to buy the nomad zen xtra.
one good thing, it is 40 gb of disk space (well, it is 38 gb in reality).
for the price and features it is really good.
support and asked them if i can navigate by folders beside artist / album and answer was yes.
sure enough there is no such ability.
not sure, if customer rep. did not know the product exactly, it is still new or they just give an anser which users would like to hear.
in any case, navigation by artist / album is ok however i miss an ability to navigate by folders.
you even can not navigate by genre / artist / album since under genre you get just all tracks in that genre, no other division.
creative is talking about updating it via firmware, however after following some while the descussion groups for nomad players, looks like creative represents mostly bug fixes in their firmware updates, not too much of new features.
the software, which comes with player is not good at all.
i did not managed to make creative nomad explorer to work.
after installing it and trying to make it working for 30 minutes i went and bought notmad.
notmad worked right away after install and it is what i would like to see from the product.
transfer files is easy using notmad, however again, would be great if nomad supported folders like iriver, rca lyra and some other.
often i fill i need to have better organization for the library and there is not enought of variables.
artist, album and genre are only mp3 tags which are supported buy this player, and if you have 100 artists would be good to have another subcategory.
after all those players have 40-60 gb of hard drive, so better organization is required.
the bottom line, i'll still watch the progress of iriver hdd players and if they produce 40 gb player i'll will sell my nomad and buy iriver.
the bundled software blows, yes...... but i heard of notmad explorer (http://redchairsoftware.com) from the creative tech support people.
i downloaded the trial version, and after less than 10 minutes of using it, decided it was well worth the price.
so yes, as with all software bundled with creative products, it was useless and ugly.
for once, though, this 3rd party software is excellent.
dont let the bad reviews of the software change your mind.
zens rule.
unmatched quality and beyond cool.
originally i wanted the ipod.
i like the way apple is innovative, but let's face it - they can't be the only one with an idea to enclose a 2.5 " hd within an aluminum case in a stylish package for long, especially after the buzz is out of their little techie pod.
the 30gb zen xtra rocks my socks, spills my beer, but doesn't wash my car.
so what?
i can do that myself.
longer battery life, greater accessibility to online music services, and pc compatibility are the sensibilities.
the visceral teases include the case, the sound quality, and the capacity.
i haven't checked the resilience of my xtra yet, and don't plan to.
i'm considering using mine as a distraction to winter boredom in the paintball fields.
it can get pretty lonely out there.
creative thinking.
i just purchased this player and i have to say that i love it.
the sound is excellent, the battery life is excellent, the fact that the battery is replacable is excellent, and finally the price, $ 200 cheaper than the 40gb ipod, is excellent.
the only thing the ipod has over the nomad is the style, size, and ease of use.
the nomad is not ugly, it is not that big, it comfortably fits in my pocket, or heavy, and the controls are not hard to get used to.
so far i have no complaints and i recommend this to anyone who wants quality over appearance, also anyone who wants a harddrive based mp3 player and wants to pay next to nothing.
i only have one question, when i add tracks to my nomad, via nomad explorer, they are automatically put in alphebetical order, rather than album order.
is this possible to fix, if so how, if not does notmad explorer from red chair software do this?
i would like album order for my live albums and was just wondering.
thank you very much, and go out and get yourself a nomad!
got to get an ipod!
wow...  this thing is trash.
want the laundry list of reasons why?
of course you do!
a) feel cheap -- the plastic is feels like it would break very easily, and it definately wouldnt survive a drop  b) the screen is hard to read -- the cover hides it an already annoying poorly lit display  c) the scroll bar is a travesty -- enough said  d) software is another great misfortune -- hard to operate, crashes frequently, screwed my music library up, doesnt work with mp4s, the list goes on and on  e) the case is too small -- it took me like a half hour just to get this monstrosity to fit in its cage  f) it doesnt look pretty -- spending this kind of cash, you want something that has the asthetics bit down, of course  so...  im taking mine back tomorrow morning, and getting a nice shiny new ipod instead.
don't waste your time, engery, resources on this thing, just spend a little more for a far more functional ipod.
don't buy it.
i bought the zen xtra 30g as a gift.
what a disappointment.
the software failed repeatedly.
i couldn't load more than one song before the software crashed.
creative labs customer support website is useless.
software downloads on the site crashed my pc.
creative tech support operators work 9-6 p.m. weekdays - as if i had time during work hours to spend time on this.
don't buy this thing.
great mp3 player.
i just bought this player today and i already love it.
it has a few inconveniences: one is that the songs do not automatically play one after another like on a cd.
another irriation is that if you hold the scroll button down for too long, it keeps going past the song you may have wanted to stop on.
otherwise, this player is awesome!
it has a clear blue light that allows you to see everything on the screen easily.
the volume range is great, so you can blast it if you want.
overall, this player is awesome and i definately recommend it.
perfect purchase.
i received this item for christmas and it has met and exceeded all my standards.
naturally i did quite a bit of review before purchasing (i recomend www.nomadness.net), and price-wise zens are unbeatable.
compared to other leading hdd mp3 players, the value per gb is the tops.
 - sound quality: excellent, everything you would expect from this company.
 - the unit is easy to use and intuitive.
it took me about 5 minutes before i had mastered the controls.
 - uploading music is quick and easy.
although the supplied software can be annoying at times, on whole it is excellent.
i have uploaded about 3,000 songs now with very minimal difficulty.
(it's fast too!)
btw, be sure to have your mp3 tags labled correctly, as this will ensure a great organization.
- the unit itself its well structured, with just the buttons you need and none you don't.
as often mentioned, the scroll tab is average, however, not difficult to use or horrible.
structurally, everything is secure and it won't fall apart on you.
the screen is large, defined, and easy to read, and the silver unit is naturally cool.
there are lots of interesting features included such as eax, and customization.
 - the replacable battery is great since once it eventually wears out (as all lithium batteries do), you will be able to buy another easily.
ipod users have to send theirs back and pay $ 100 for a replacement.
also, the nomad's 14 hours of battery life versus 8 is handy.
- equipment included is average, but that isn't a big deal since thats not what you are buying it for.
the case is strong and stylish, but unfortunately lacks a window (now a big deal).
the headphone earbuds are average, so just use your regular pair instead.
conclusion:  this player is an ideal purchase.
there isn't need to get in details again, but just remember it rocks because: price, sound, ease of use, and features.
i would recogmend this player to anyone i know, and you will not be dissapointed.
impressive with few flaws.
the nomad jukebox zen xtra is a very good mp3 player but the software is it gets hurt.
i have no problem using the player itself and i feel it is a very good player.
on my main computer the software did not work right.
i had to sit on the phone with customer support for 2 hours and they did not help at all.
i eventually gave up with customer support and worked on fixing the problem myself.
i have the software working fine now and the mp3 player is fantastic.
it seems that depending on the system the software might not work or might work, because it works on all the other computers i have.
so once i worked out the problem with the software this mp3 player is worth the money it cost.
awesome.
i'm very pleased with my zx so here's a quick review.
first there's the unit itself.
it is small overall, bigger than the ipod, but keep in mind that this is because different, less expensive but not necessarily inferior technology is used in the zx.
the zx boasts superior sound quality than the ipod, however it compromises a bit of the unit's size in doing so.
the lcd is larger than the previous model, the nx, and has a bright blue backlight which illuminates the screen more successfully than the nx's green backlight did.
the scroll wheel is easy to use and works great for me, however many have complained that the wheel is cumbersome and difficult to operate.
the sound is excellent as one would suspect from a creative product.
the included eax support is useful at times, especially when you listen to a variety of genres, as it will adjust the equalizer for you which can be a big hassle.
the environmental audio, however, is almost completely useless and has made most of my songs sound worse than without it (i encode my songs at 192-256 kbps without variable bit rates.)
the signal to noise ratio (the ratio of detectable, useful data to unusable garbage in, say, a radio wave; a larger stn ratio is better) is nice and high at 98 decibles, and it should be noted that apple refuses to release the stn ratio of any of the ipods.
the software hasn't been a hassle for me at all.
i ignored the instruction booklet (as i do with any product) and figured out how to organize separate playlists within minutes.
my sister was able to figure it out on her own as well, and she is of average computer competence.
the less computer-saavy might find apple's software a bit friendlier, though (i use it at a friend's house and it does do a lot more for you.)
lastly, the price is fantastic:  i spent $ 269 for my 30gb zx, compared to the $ 299 for a 10gb ipod and the also expensive iriver ihp-120.
for prospective buyers, i would warn of the following: 1) purchase a better pair of headphones as soon as possible, as earbuds sound terrible and are terribly uncomfortable (this applies to earbuds in general,) and 2) make sure that your mp3s have id3 tags on them, that when when they are loaded into the playlist they will automatically sort themselves.
if you want great sound quality, don't want to spend an arm and a leg per-gigabyte, don't mind being something of an iconoclast among many ipod users, and are willing to sacrifice a few cubic centimeters of your personal space for a large discount, then i would suggest the zen xtra for you.
it's pretty good.
read the instuctions - do not plug the zen into your computer until you have installed all the software onto your computer and rebooted it!!
(i had no problems since i did this but there seem to be a couple of very bitter reviews further down - maybe they did not do this or maybe there are some very sad ipod owners since they all recomend it instead).
and have you seen the price of the ipod extras that you need.
eg 60 $ for a plastic box to hold 4 aaa batteries to increase the use time past 6-8 hrs (reviewers figures)  i uploaded the drivers and new software in 15 minutes - no crashes or problems.
transferred the zens new software onto it in about 10 seconds.
it is transferes a song in about 2 seconds.
usb 2.0 - very fast  yeah i agree the earbuds are pretty crap, replace them.
but the sound is very good (and loud) and works well on my portable speakers.
and for those that are intrested the recharger works anywhere in the world (and is quite small).
it looks very cool, and seems quite small to me and very light.
the scroll button seems ok, i have no problems with it.
i am very pleased so far.
i had all my files already on my pc in wma format (200 cd's).
so far so good, no problems, no conversions.
very simple to use.
the reason it does not get 5 stars  1) a spare battery would have been great.
2) no games - it has a cool screen - why not use it.
3) it does not work automatically like a hard drive when you connect it to your computer, like some players  all in all suprisingly easy to use.
a great player for the price.
summary:  lots of flaws, but exceptional sound quality, hd size, and price make it a good buy.
pros:  excellent sound - i found the music reproduced faithfully through the jukebox.
there was no distortion and it sounded great, especially with eax environmental audio enabled.
transfer through windows explorer - windows recognizes the jukebox as an additional hard disk, so it allows you to simply drag and drop files from windows explorer to a folder for the nomad.
i found this to be a much easier method of transferring my music to the nomad than using their software.
however, it doesn't register instantly as a hard drive like other players.
you have to install the software to the computer you're transferring to, instead of just connecting it with a usb connection.
this would have been much easier.
the nomad can hold any type of file, not just mp3, so you can use it as a portable hard disk.
i found it very useful for transferring large files to another computer.
this almost made it worth the price alone.
i was able to easily copy 2gb worth of video files from my computer, and then transfer them to a friend's.
huge storage space - even at 320kbs, you can store a ton of songs on this thing.
30gb is more than enough for most people.
having usb 2.0 makes for very fast transfers.
it only took me about 10 seconds to transfer a 200mb file.
it took maybe 15 minutes to transfer 1000 songs.
cons:  navigation system - the zen xtra uses id3 tags that are embedded in the mp3 files to organize your songs.
this is great as long as all of your music have id3 tags, and if you've downloaded your songs off the internet, many probably don't.
it would have been much easier to use a windows explorer style navigation system.
you can't simply open up a folder from the player and play all the songs in it.
whe you transfer your songs to the jukebox, it dumps all of them into a single folder, and then sorts them by the id3 tags.
fm receiver - it has none.
i would be nice to have a simple fm receiver so i could pick up local stations.
that way i could get rid of a walkman alltogether.
cheap construction - they should have made the player out of hard plastic and put some rubber on the corners.
the player feels very delicate, as if i'm holding an actual hard drive.
i'm not sure if it would survive a fall from 3 feet.
as a portable player, it should feel a bit more durable.
the top of the player is a thin metal piece that covers up the battery and is removable.
i could crush this thing in half with two fingers if i wanted to.
this is not a player you can take jogging.
the songs don't play one after another like on a cd.
you have to add them to the playing list.
i can't simply bring up my entire list of songs, click play, and then hit next.
you have to add all the songs to a play list.
there is probably an easier way to do this, i just haven't found it yet.
software - the software is crap.
i use it for ripping cds, which it does a pretty good job of.
otherwise, it is difficult to figure out and awkward.
like most people, i don't want to read the instructions, i just want to use it.
even after reading some of the instructions, it's still hard to figure out.
i would recommend replacing the existing software with the " notmad explorer, " which is simpler to use and can be found on the internet.
no line out jack - as i said, there is none.
the headphone jack acts as a pseudo line out jack.
so you can plug your nomad directly into your stereo or use a car adapter, but you don't get the quality from a true line out jack.
it sounds decent, but i would estimate you get maybe 80% of the quality that you would from a true line out jack.
controls are a bit awkward.
the controls definately took some getting used to.
it wasn't as easy to fast forward or pause a song than it was with a regular walkman.
when i first had it i kept finding myself having to look at the nomad to figure out where the skip button was.
a sliding old fashioned volume knob would also have been easier than the digital version that was included.
i want to have instant access to the volume, not have to hold down a button and have to wait a half second for the player to register it.
crappy headphones.
the included earbuds were uncomfortable.
i would replace them with some better sounding and more comfortable phones.
difficult navigation - i won't necessarily say " difficult, " but i don't enjoy the scrollwheel to navigate.
it is a bit cumbersome, and i can't get to the songs i want as quickly.
i think this is it's biggest flaw.
i would much more have preferred a keypad-type navigator like found on dvd remotes.
up, down, left, and right would have given me better control.
if you hold down the scroll wheel too long (which is common if you have a lot of songs to sort through), it will get " stuck " rapidly going through the songs and won't stop until several seconds after you let your finger off of it.
case - the nomad comes with a leather holding case.
it would have been much nicer if it had a window so you could see the screen, and if the button didn't cover up the ac jack.
that way i could keep it in the case all the time.
as it stands now, the case is pretty useless unless you're packing the player up for travel, or if you load up all your songs beforehand.
you can cut up the case a bit with an xacto knife and make it useable though.
overall, i feel that it's a decent buy, and am happy that i own it.
i am willing to overlook it's problems to get superior sound quality and low price, although i feel the player has a lot of room for improvement.
good for the money, but software is awful.
after looking over multiple large mp3 players, i decided to get this one.
for the price and size and features, you can't beat the price.
a 10 gb ipod is just as much and i have heard from multiple sources that the ipod is very loud and you can heard the hard drive everytime it spins, accesses files or does antyhing.
i think the reson for the creative being larger is for sound dampening and protection, whihc is a plus, but then again it is only speculation.
the buttons and interface are very easy to use.
simple click buttons, back buttons volume and display are very easy to read, access and use.
but the major problem i had was with the software.
you are not able to simply import files, but rather you have to go through multiple steps to find them.
the instructions that come with it don't explain how to make things simple.
the quick sync isn't any good becuase it either needs to be configured properly or just isn't very useful.
i tried to make sense of the file transfer program and just got more confused.
well that was not a simple task.
i ended up suing windows player to make mp3's (actually wma files) and then using the probram to transfer.
i think the lack of the mp3 player being able to run without special software is also a downer, becuase it makes it more cumbersome for people less computer illiterate.
buy this for the storage and price, avoid it if you know nothing about computers.
buy this instead of an ipod.
with this mp3 player you get much more memory for much less than an ipod.
an ipod with the same amount of memory is $ 150 cheaper.
the reason for this the ipod has " a better user interface ".
i have found that the interface on the nomad is very easy to use if you have a basic knowledge of a computer.
also the ipod has games on it.
games are ok for a cell phone, but mp3's are for music.
this thing roxxorz.
i purchased this player last week.
i did a little research on the web and this is the player i decided on.
i refuse to buy anything made by apple and the nomad is about $ 200 cheaper anyway.
i have had no problem what-so-ever with this product.
the software installed flawlessly and without any problems on my windows 2k machine.
the headphones aren't the best, but you can really expect much out of the small headphones you insert in the ear cavity.
the battery life seems good, takes very lttle time to charge, it uploads mp3s quickly and there is no delay between songs.
took me a few tries to get use to the navigation, but it's a very user friendly player imo.
i haven't messed with the firmware at all, the player worked perfect for me right out of the box.
all-in-all, this is another excellent creative product.
if you have the money and need 40 gb, this is the player for you.
it's small, light and nice looking and the display is decent as well.
i would recommend this product to anyone.
it doesn't get any better than this.
before asking for the zen xtra specifically for christmas i researched many different mp3 players but finally decided on this one, and now that i have it i couldn't be happier and i'm convinced it's the best one out there.
many people have written about the software being its one downfall, personally i haven't had a single problem with the software, i'm running windows me.
the cd ripping to mp3 is so easy, and you can even rip the cd directly to the mp3 player, so it won't take up space on your pc hard drive.
the software runs smooth, it's nice to look at, it's very organized, easy to follow and makes things very simple.
the controls on the player are very simple, no need for a manual.
the player is fast and sounds great, it also has many options like slowing or speeding up the music, or making it sound like you're hearing the music in a huge auditorium.
the battery lasts very long when playing music, but writing files to the player drains the battery fast, so you need to have it plugged into an outlet when sending files.
playlists can be made on the fly, without aid of a computer, and you can use play modes like shuffle and repeat for your ' now playing ' selections or playlists.
the software couldn't be better and the mp3 player works like a dream, i couldn't give this anything but a 5, i wish there was a 6.
difficult to manage large library.
i purchased and returned this product, but not because of any glaring flaws in the design.
i made the mistake of thinking i could easily manage my mp3 library with this device.
i initially loaded about 3700 tracks with the intent of ripping the majority of my remaining cds to mp3.
i quickly discovered that the nomad wasn't going to work for me.
here's why:  1. i don't need the nomad at the office.
i have my mp3's stored on my workstation.
2. i don't need the nomad at home for the same reason (although using it to sync between the two pc's might be a reason enough to get it.)
3. it's a hazard in the car.
the navigation is nice enough, but scrolling and searching through thousands of tracks, hundreds of albums or artists, or even dozens of genres is not conducive to save driving.
(throw a cell phone and you're asking for trouble.)
) 3a.
creating playlists using the included software to minimize issue 3 wasn't as easy as i would have liked.
the bottom line:  if i have to get into making playlists to avoid rear-end collisions, i'll just buy a regular portable cd/mp3 player and burn myself collections of about 120 tracks per disk.
sure it's " old school " to carry a cd wallet around, but it will be easier to manage and i'll save around 250 bucks.
one major complaint:  my only significant complaint is sound quality.
the eax sound enhancement feature didn't do enough for me and the custom eq was a limited 5 band eq.
this did not give me enough control.
i wanted to use the nomad with a cassette style car adapter.
i was unable achieve a sound quality on par with my simple portable cd player with " bass boost.
"  the sound quality of my cd player is superior in this setting to the nomad.
it is an extremely cool gizmo.
great product.
well in the beginning i was asking around for mp3 players.
so i was all excited about the ipod but then the day before i went to best buy to check out the other mp3 players and i came across this one.
well i decided to get this one.
well i have to say that this product is very good i mean it might be a little big but it still fits in your pocket.
well surely this is a product that i recommend someone in getting rather than any other mp3 player (at that size and the price).
well just one con - its not really plug and play at first i mean its very confusing to start the program but one you do it, it will be a breeze.
enjoy.
in a word... amazing i got this for christmas.
i was going to get a 10gb ipod, but after looking at the 10 day warranty for ipod and www.ipodsdirtysecret.com (battery lasts 18 months;  it costs like 200 dollars to replace - now you mail it off to get the battery replaced for like 99...  what a big improvement... lol) and the fact that lots of people have had problems with ipods on windows computers, i realized this is a much better buy.
not only is it more affordable, but its a better player for windows, which is what i have.
so far i've only had it since christmas, so i cant tell you much about the battery life.
it hasnt gone below the second notch (i charge mine whenever i'm at home and not using it), so the battery life seems fine (so far).
software: for the people who complain about software, please, stop complaining.
once you hook the thing up to the computer (via the usb cable), the machine instantly recognizes the fact that it's there & installs the drivers.
from there, you transfer files from your computer to the mp3 player (with the help of the media sniffer... read the manual).
my only complaint would be that you need id3 tags & that takes a while to do if your mp3 files don't have them.
if you're copying cds with windows media, its really simple to give your songs id3 tags, so thats what i do.
oh... and file transfers are fast & easy.
the player: it's silver.
a little weighty (9 ounces... no biggie), but otherwise fine.
people complain about the scroll wheel, but its not a big deal at all (though it is just a little annoying at times).
it's easy.
the buttons are easy to use, and its easy to navigate.
the big backlight makes things easy to see, and the writing is big enough for people to see.
my favorite thing about the nomad is the eax feature.
you can customize bass, etc.
like usual, but also you can customize the sound of the player (like how it would sound in a concert hall, jazz club, etc).
its really cool.
sound quality is amazing.
i was expecting worse, but its really good (especially if your files have good sound quality).
you can also slow a song down & speed it up, which is cool too.
but the earbuds suck!
buy new ones asap.
every time you move your face or something they pop out.
for a 250 dollar player, they could have thrown in nice headphones.
a remote would have been cool too... but lets not push it.
i forgot, the case doesn't fit.
my case doesnt close... maybe mine was just faulty, but the case isnt that great.
so far the player froze on me once (i started pushing buttons before it loaded) but since is hard drive based - you have to expect that.
so all you do is stick a pin or something small in the reset button & you're golden.
also, you can store data on it, which is a plus.
for all you people who want to buy an ipod just to say you have an ipod, don't bother, this is a much better buy.
hope i helped!
simply doesnt shine.
i'd like to start off saying that before this product i was using an archos jukebox recorder...  what made this product so great to me was the open source os called rockbox...  based on hardware one could assume the archos players were horrible (which by hardware standards... they were)...  but because a few fine men and women took the time to create the upstanding rockbox software, the archos became a top notch player for me with intuitive features out the wazoo...  now we come to the zen xtra...  first i'll start off by saying that this players hardware is pretty good...  the sound is indeed excellent and the form factore is not bad (but still rather larger than i had expected)...  what really made this a mediocre mp3 player for me was the software.
not just the transfer software (which was a hellishly horrible experience) but also the player's software.
first of all, many actions that the player utilizes don't make sense..  bookmarks for example, are an excellent feature... but not on this player...  rather than creating a directory for bookmarks to be found in one area, the user must actually find the track where the bookmark was made..  this makes no sense and sort of defeats the purpose of audio bookmarks...  the dynamic playlists (" now playing ", i belive creative calls it) feels very awkward at times and some menus simply take to long to get to and operate...  well, anyway i could go on and on on why this player didn't meet my expectations...  i'll just say this...  for the average music listener not expecting much... this may be a satisfactory mp3 player...  but for someone who cares about thier music collection and wants fluid and responsive playback... i can't recommend this product.
excellent product with a few minor problems.
i became interested in getting a mp3 player when i got a new work computer; while my office bars the addition of any non-work software, it doesn't care if you load cds onto the hard drive.
over time, i loaded hundreds of cds onto the computer, and the idea of carrying around all of my music with me became attractive.
many people recommended the ipod, and i borrowed one from a friend.
while the ease of use was very impressive, i was put off by the price -- about $ 130 more than what i paid amazon for this player.
also, there is the need to send the ipod to replace the batteries when they die (which they will).
i have had the nomad jukebox for about three weeks now, and i am very happy with it.
it's only slightly heavier than the ipod, and has a longer battery life.
the storage capacity is great for me --  i have a large but not huge cd collection and have loaded everything i want to listen to on it and still have 13 gigabytes free.
the controls are somewhat harder to use than the ipod, but i have gotten use to them, and even at the beginning did not think would justify the huge difference in price.
loading cds was somewhat time-consuming, but i think it would have been with the ipod as well.
my office would not let me put the software on to my work computer.
this meant that i had to take all my cds and do in a fairly short period of time what i had done over a year at work.
if the music had been on my home computer, the transfer would have been accomplished very quickly.
i have an older computer, running windows 98 se, and so those of you with something more recent would find the process even quicker.
my only reservations about this product concern the tagging process and the way it interacts with the software.
when you load a disc, you go to an internet cite for the insertion of the names for the cd and the tracks.
while the listing process is accurate for track names (unlike windows ' reliance on the amg, which frequently gets track listings out of order), the results can be odd.
the cd will be classified into a number of genres, and in multidisk sets, you can get separate classifications for different disks by the same artist and the same performance.
for example, jimi hendrix's 2 cd live at the fillmore east had one cd classifed as classic rock and the other psychidelic rock.
perhaps the weirdest was one of bruce springsteen's cds from the tracks set being classified as goth rock.
you can change any of these, but need to be paying attention when the information is downloaded before you copy it.
a somewhat more troublesome problem is that the internet site will sometimes give different discs of the same set slightly different names.
this will cause the discs not to show up together when you are looking for them on the nomad.
again, you can change this, but it's harder to spot a minor variation in the title when you don't have the title of the other disk in front of you.
other tagging problems result (i think) from the nomad's operating system.
if you have two tracks with exactly the same name on one disk, it will not copy both -- it gives you the option of skipping the second or overwriting the first with the second.
this is rarely a problem with any kind of popular music, but can be troublesome with classical music where tracks are identified by tempi.
i also had it happen when recording a jazz set where there were a number of outtakes of the same song without numbering them separately.
also, i can't understand why the software does not ignore " the " when it lists the cds in alphabetical order.
finally, making playlists from the computer can be complicated because the tracks are listed individually, and are organized by cd, which are not listed but are organized in alphabetical order.
in other words, to locate a track using the software on the computer and add it to a playlist, you must know the name of the cd it appears on and then find the track by locating the location of the unlisted cd by looking for tracks that appear on it.
you don't have this problem if you make your playlist from the nomad, where cds are listed separately.
you need your computer, however, if you want to add tracks to a playlist.
these are minor problems, and i list them to save anyone else the trouble of discovering them.
had i not been in such a hurry to load cds, i would have spotted them sooner.
also, if i had already loaded and tagged by cds on my home computer, this would not have been an issue.
the bottom line for me is that i am very happy with this product.
apple's ipod is dominant now, but i have to wonder whether the price differential will mean that in 3 or 4 years its market share will drop significantly.
poor substitute for an ipod.
simply not as friendly for functional as an ipod.
even better, ipod integrates perfectly with itunes so that managing music is a snap.
zen versus ipod.
i just got a 40gb ipod to replace my zen (a 20gb model).
while the ipod's form factor is much nicer, here's where the zen is better.
software:  a lot of people complain about the creative software, but i actually find creative mediasource organizer to have some strengths over itunes.
first, the zen lets you sync to more than one computer.
the ipod is a one way only machine - from computer to player.
the zen is an outstanding way to shuttle music between sources, you can't do this on the ipod (except for a cumbersome work-around using the ipod as a hard drive instead of a player).
second, the " automatic " sync on creative lets you review the songs before it begins its transfer.
if the hard drive on your computer should fail, better have your music backed up somewhere or its gone!
the zen serves as a back-up device as well as a player.
third, creative software allows you to keep two windows open to look at both the content on the player and the computer.
only thing missing from creative is a cd burner.
lastly, ipod / itunes will not play wma formatted songs.
if you have a lot of those, be prepared to convert to mp3.
itunes does what apple is famous for, makes software that works for the less computer saavy.
for those of us that like to tinker, i think creative offers some advantages.
player controls:  here's where the ipod drives me nuts.
the player controls are too easy to hit accidentally.
if you happen to push the wrong button, you can wipe out the order of songs you had put in.
the ipod also does not let you see what's coming up next on the player.
zen allows you to scroll up and down the song list selected on the player.
it also lets you remove songs from the play order.
if you bring up an album, but absolutely hate some of the tracks, the zen will allow you to delete that from the playing order.
you have to skip to the next track when your hated song comes up with the ipod.
lastly, you cannot manage anything on the ipod itself.
while you can create a temporary playlist, you can't store it permanently, delete songs, search very easily, etc.
none of these features are available because of the ipod's 1-way transfers - you cannot make changes on the ipod that are premanent.
again, the ipod is a beautiful thing to look at and touch, player controls are less functional.
i think the ipod versus zen typifies differences between apple and win machines.
win software can be a little cranky, but much more easier to customize to your needs.
with apple, you get a good product, but you get it the way apple wants you to have it.
if i had to do this again, i might get the 40gb zen.
its ability to serve as a back-up for my music collection is a huge plus.
excellent alternative.
i got this thing for christmas and i have been very happy with it ever since.
i was planning on getting an ipod, but i changed my mind last minute... mostly because of the whole battery issue, i don't have the patience for those sorta things.
my cuzin got an ipod and i won't say it is an awful product, but i will say that for the price, apple could do better as far as storage and battery life goes.
the only thing i would complain about the zen xtra is that the controls aren't as easy as the ipod's, or as " sexy " looking.
excellent.
i got this player for christmas & this was my first time using an mp3 player.
i have a large collection of cds and have loaded over 100 of them so far.
the software is quick & easy to use & i found the entire process very easily mastered.
as mentioned in other reviews the headphones are useless and need to be replaced right away!
the unit works great with my cassette adapter for my car & is also easily worked without taking your eyes off the road!
i have tried the belkin tunecast mobile fm transmitter but found there was too much interference.
overall it is a great unit & hopefully creative labs or some other vendor will soon come out with some accessories for it.
i purchased this mp3 player just last night after doing some scouting around.
why does a 256 mb player cost $$$...and a 40 gb (40,000 mb) player only cost  mp3 players have either flash card memory or a hard drive in them.
the flash card memory is more expensive but is very light and compact.
that's why you have these things that can be keychain size.
tiny!
mp3 players of this kind of memory are typically small and light and have between 64 mb - 1.5 gb of memory.
i am averaging 4.5 mb per song, to give you an idea of how many songs you can get by the amount of memory.
(1 gb = 1,000 mb)  hard drives (this is what most ipods have - and just about all mp3 players over 3-5 gb of memory).
cheaper to produce, holds a lot, heavier and has moving parts which means it's a little more prone to damage from being banged around.
that said, they are pretty sturdy machines and i wouldn't let this dissuade you from getting an mp3 with a lot of memory.
just be aware of it.
this explains why you see what appears to be such weird pricing on mp3 players.
a 256 mb player (roughly 60 songs for me) is about x amount of dollars but a 30 gb (30,000 mb) player (roughly 6,650 songs) sells for only slightly more.
that's the first thing to understand.
so consider what you're going to use the device for.
if you're a jogger and you want to strap it to your arm, i'd recommend flash memory.
if you want to listen to tunes while you travel, i'd get a hard drive because you can put so much on the thing - including audio books.
review of zen xtra - 40 gb  the device is larger than an ipod of similar capacity.
this didn't bother me too much because it's still a decent size.
it comes with a good case that fits it snuggly.
the front cover (which you remove to take out the battery) feels flimsy but when snapped on, the device still feels pretty solid.
as some other reviewers noted, after it was connected to the computer for a bit, it somehow stopped reading the player so i had to replug it.
it did not lock up my computer or require a reboot.
the software lets you pop in a cd and then scans the internet to name the artist, track name and album name.
extremely convenient.
then it rips the tunes into mp3s and puts them on your computer.
you can even skip that step and rip them directly from the cd to the player.
(won't leave copy on your computer.)
the pros and cons of it:  great price.
the ipod costs more for the same amount of memory.
i thought the software was decent enough - it wasn't complicated to learn at all.
the scroll button is sort of annoying to push - a nice button would be nicer but eh, not a big deal.
it also stores data so i can see myself placing some data files on here.
it is slightly larger than an ipod, no doubt about it.
for me, that was the only drawback.
i'm really happy with this purchase.
also, when i installed the software, it said that windows xp hadn't approved something with the drivers, etc - and that continuing it install may cause instability.
if you're like me, that will definitely make you pause.
after i reviewed the manual (a pdf file included on the cd), i felt better because they warned you about the message and said it wouldn't cause problems and, in fact, it hasn't.
so if you have xp, be prepared for this and don't be alarmed.
if you are out for an mp3 player with a lot of memory and do not want to spend a ton of money, i think this is a great purchase and strongly recommend it.
i would have liked to have given it 4 1/2 stars docking that 1/2 star only for the size.
what a beast.
it is a beast.
if i wasnt a runner i would take a bullet in the foot for my nomad jukebox.
now heres the stuff you should know starting with the good things: the screen is really big and the blue light in the back is perfect, fast as hell in music transfer, controls are easy to use after mastering the scroll button, great sound and ive heard many mp3 players, a ton of different equilizer type deals on here.
there are a couple things i didnt like though but nothing serious: a little larger than other mp3s but still light, the software takes some time to get used to (maybe 10-15 mins), and this thing would definitely be destroyed with one fall.
but it comes with a tank of a case and if you cut a piece out where the screen is you can always keep it in the case and still access everything.
ive seen em all, the archos, dell, ipods, everything... good price and great sound makes this one the best in my opinion.
yet another inferior knockoff.
granted this is cheaper than an ipod.
cheaper in every way.
its far heavier and much larger which might not seem to matter except if you use it while running or keep it in your pocket.
its far more difficult to select songs and has no easy to use on the fly playlist creation such as the new ipod not to mention it doesn't sinc with contact lists, phone numbers, address books, ect.
like the ipod (which eliminated my need for any kind of palm device).
it also has unproven battery life.
everyone who says i can't buy the ipod because after excessive use in a short time (the man who made the ipod battery life video admitted that he had used it extensively every day and charged fully every night for those 18 months, conditions under which any rechargeable battery dies.
while it is an alternative to the ipod and one of the few viable ones its just that, an alternative and why would anyone seek an alternative to something that really needs no alternative choice because theres nothing wrong and everything right with it.
i'd like to see how well a small company supports its mp3 player in 2 years when its battery dies as all rechargeable do.
finally the software used to put all the songs into it is vastly inferior to itunes on two levels, first it is poorly integrated into the overall player and clunky to use especially with tagging and second the wma audio format sucks, flat out sucks in terms of sound quality compared with the vastly superior aac format the apple ipod uses and it sticks you with one of the sub par paid music services such as napster instead of allowing to use the itunes store, which, if you ever plan to pay for your music, is by far the best.
before anyone says hey you haven't used the product, i have, my friend received one for christmas instead of an ipod and has since envied me for my vastly superior product.
good player, bad software.
pros:  * price and capacity  * slick-looking design and improved interface  * removable battery  cons:  * protective case completely useless as is since it obscures display window.
had to cut out a window using a swiss army knife.
how did this gigantic flaw go unnoticed by creative?
* scroll button more cumbersome than on earlier models.
doesn't always register push-button movement.
* eax equalizer accentuates dimished quality of mp3 files.
i have to rip everything as a 160 kbps wma file (as opposed to 128 kbps mp3) to avoid hearing digital garbling.
* does not provide enough volume when connected to larger headphones, or external receivers (car radio).
* software is absolutely terrible:  -- > will not automatically transfer songs with identical titles (if you have live albums or greatest hits albums, this will cause you inordinate frustration).
-- > does not recognize player at random times, despite being connected and displaying player's library.
-- > too difficult to change genre / album / track information for large number of tracks.
-- > you'll be changing track information a lot because the cd database information utilized by the software is mediocre at best.
if you have any multi-disc box sets, you'll notice that the artist's name, album name, and genre will often change with every disc.
final verdict:  a good player at a great price with terrible software that makes ripping and transferring way more difficult than it should be.
excellent way to carry your music collection!
after investigating a multitude of player options, i asked for and received the 60 gb zen xtra for christmas.
despite its being slightly larger than the ipod, i must say i was surprised to see how small it was when i unwrapped the box!
i am ripping my cd collection into 160 kbps wma files; this gives an average of around 60-65 mb per cd, good for about 900 cds in the ~ 57,000 mb of free memory available to me.
file transfers are fast, nearly a song per second via usb 2.0.  several people have complained of difficulty transferring multiple songs with the same title.
this is possible!!
since the zen xtra does not use a folder structure, the " duplicate name " problem stems from the actual file name, not from the song's title / artist / album.
solution?
simply configure the mediasource software (or windows media player, or your ripper-du-jour) to create file names that include artist and (especially) album names in addition to track names.
using this method, i have not once encountered a situation where a track was rejected, and i have plenty of duplicate tracks on live and compilation albums.
even if there happened to be identical track titles on the same disc, you could still edit the file name manually and get them both onto the player.
my one issue with the mediasource software is that, despite pulling id3 tag data from the cdds service, the ripping process fails to populate the " year " field.
weird.
how does it sound?
to my ears, a 160 kbps wma file sounds just as good as the source cd, and the zen xtra sounds just as good as a portable cd player.
no complaints there.
the eax features are pretty cool, as well, as creative has included a number of eq adjustments that, for example, compensate for the extraneous noise encountered in a car or on a train.
navigation could be better, but there isn't really anything the zen xtra can't do once you've gotten comfortable with it.
at the end of the day, what i wanted was a large-capacity player which allows me to easily play any album from my collection wherever i go, and the zen xtra's combination of price, capacity and features easily meets those criteria.
cd collection in your pocket.
i got this for christmas, and it is a great gift.
i have been ripping songs into it for the past few weeks, and the ease of use is wonderful.
the memory will hold an amazing amount of songs, my entire collection of cd's will all fit on this great little tiny piece of digital fun.
plusses are the easy to remove battery and the terrific sound produced by the nomad.
the only two things that stop me from giving it 5 stars are the ho-hum software that comes with the system, and the traveling case it comes with.
this is a powerful piece of equipment.
it is great to no longer wonder what music i want to take with me for a cross country flight or a two week trip - now i just take everything.
ripping the songs, even with my 1.1 usb connection is still very quick, and the quality is very good.
considering the price and specs, this might be the best buy out there for a large memory mp3 player.
before jumping on the ipod train, take a look at this marvel.
buy an extended warranty - you'll need it!
but you might find my review useful, nonetheless.
two months ago, an internal part failed (not due to customer abuse; it just failed).
i got an rma from creative, sent my player in to them for repairs.
it took them twice as long to get to my unit as they said.
moreover, they want a total of $ 107 to repair it.
(this includes the $ 20 that you have to pay up front, just to get them to look at your player.)
if creative offered a 12-month warranty on their mp3 players, i'd be covered.
but they offer only a 3-month warranty (on all of their players, including the zen xtra).
so i'm screwed.
but you don't have to be.
if you buy a creative mp3 player, be sure to get the optional extended warranty.
or better yet, buy from another company that stands behind their products with a 12-month warranty.
it's really a shame, because otherwise, creative mp3 players are very good, and have the best sound quality of any players on the market.
the best ipod alternative.
i shopped around for a while before buying a hard-drive mp3 player.
despite all the hype about ipods, i knew i wanted something different, because i wanted more storage than the ipod i could afford would offer, and because i wanted more flexibility in where i purchased music online.
after some consideration i chose the 40gb nomad zen xtra from creative, and i have not been disappointed.
i purchased it at a retail store, and got an extended warranty.
first, the battery is replacable by the user, because creative intended it to be - unlike apple with the ipod.
it was easy enough to remove the front plate, and there was only one way the battery could be inserted.
creative also sells batteries via its website, so there's no shipping off my player and waiting for it to be sent back to me with the new battery.
the new organizer software that ships with the nomad zen xtra couldn't be easier to use.
point the " media sniffer " to your music files and let it do the rest.
you can create playlists, drag & drop songs and playlists to your player, and rip directly from cd to your player.
and with usb 2.0, transferring music to your player is incredibly easy.
you can also delete songs from the player itself, and create playlists - on the fly - on your player.
the sound is great, and the volume is more than satisfactory for commutes and shutting out external noise.
i thought i'd have to buy a set of headphones to use with it, but the included earbuds work quite well.
they could be more comfortable, but no complaints in the sound department.
i've played around with the equalizer settings and am satisfied at the range of choices i have there too.
there are plenty other features that i haven't checked out, but i'm sure i soon will.
it ships with a carrying case that has a belt clip on it.
however, i don't like to carry it on my belt because the clip isn't secure and the case can slip off.
so now i keep it in my pocket.
also, the carrying case that came with mine covers up the display, so even though the side controls are reachable, i have to open it up to see the display.
it would have been better to have some sort of window on teh carrying case, so you could see the display without opening it.
that's my only real complaint about the nomad zen xtra, though.
important zen information.
this player is an overall disappointment with a couple of big flaws that potential buyers should be wary of; and all readers need to know about a third party software company that resolves virtually all of the creative mediasource file transfer issues.
zen good points:  1. i achieved my basic objective; my entire cd collection is on a portable device with lots of room to store more.
2. most mp3 players have a gap between the end of one track and the start of the next; it's annoying in music that is intended to be continuous.
the zen has minimal stoppage between tracks; when listening to music that continues from one track to the next the gap is just a hesitation - a slightly audible click; if i am not listening for the progress from one track to the next i don't even notice the click.
flaws:  1. creative mediasource software is ok to rip, catalog & burn music if you are starting from scratch; but i used musicmatch to rip my cds before i bought the zen (278 cds; 3,400 tracks; 12.5 gb of music all ripped at 128bps) and guess what?
mediasource did not recognize my tags!
my choices at that moment were to manually re-tag my music or re-rip using mediasource.
i don't think so.
btw, if you * are * ripping your cds, mediasource accesses the cddb music catalog over the internet and the few cds i experimented with all provided good quality [ correct & uncluttered ] tag information.
2. despite most reviewers giving kudos to the zen for music quality, i experienced a flaw using eax.
after about 45 mins of listening there was audible static in the player.
when i turned eax off the static disappeared.
when i turned eax back on the static was also not present.
creative are * the * sound people for computers, i can't understand why eax would introduce static.
is eax faulty?
is my unit defective?
was i just unlucky at that moment?
was it a full moon that night?
i haven't figured it out yet.
3. mediasource is an application with serious user interface flaws.
do not underestimate this in your purchase decision.
many reviewers refer to it as " clunky " or " difficult " - heed their warnings.
some amazon reviewers say it corrrupted their music files;  i didn't use it long enough to know, but clearly you need to use it with caution.
4.the zen * stores * data files, but does not allow a folder structure nor does it allow documents to be opened or programs to be launched from its disk (they must be copied to another hard drive to be launched).
in other words, the zen is not a convenient data storage device; only buy the capacity you need for your music collection (see point 1. for some sizing information).
5. the zen does not have a stop button!
you can stop playback by pressing 2 buttons, first the pause button, then the " next track " or " previous track " button.
but this is * not documented * in the zen manual - neither the hard copy nor the cd version.
to discover this i had to read about 10 online reviews (with many complaints about the lack of stop button) before i found one reviewer who was smart enough to both figure it out & document it.
6. the zen nx battery requires the ac adapter to recharge; it does not charge by usb cable; this is not tragic, but usb recharging would be a convenient (additional) choice.
if you are buying a zen xtra check whether the battery recharges via usb; it does not on the zen nx.
7. mediasource did not install on my personal notebook.
it referred to a " microsoft jet database engine " error and the install program suggested i download a service pack from the ms website to fix the problem;  i did that and re-installed the software but had the same error.
creative provided e-mail support;  i followed their advice but that failed, too.
i experimented with installing mediasource on 2 other computers at home and it worked fine.
so it is probably " just bad luck " on my part that the personal notebook i own had this install error.
however, it did motivate me to find a work-around solution.
third party software to the rescue  after much frustration (above) i found the notmad explorer; cute product name for software that resolves virtually all of the creative mediasource file transfer & organization problems.
i am not associated with the company, i am not providing a url, but search for notmad and you should find it pretty easily.
this provides drag & drop transfers of music between the computer & zen; each time it transfers music to the zen it asks if you want to generate a playlist; it allows playlists developed in other software to be transferred to the zen (.
m3u files are used by most mp3 players like musicmatch and winamp, but not creative - without notmad you need to manually recreate your playlists); it doesn't care what software you use to rip or catalog your music - creative or any other company - all my 12.5 gb of music were transferred to the zen with correct tags - hooray!
notmad has other features too, but this is not an advertisement so please see the company's web site for more information...  conclusion:  if i knew then what i know now i would have paid the extra to get an ipod & avoided the zen.
given that i already have the zen the only reason i am happy with it is because of the notmad software.
and i am hoping the static i heard when using eax was a blip...  to summarize, i am using the creative zen as a mobile device;  i am using musicmatch to rip & catalog (and if i choose, download) music;  i am using notmad explorer to move music & playlists between the zen & my computer.
the only creative software i am using is the device driver (s).
how did i get by without this?
this is one of those items that, at first glance, looked cool but didn't really ring a bell with me.
now that i own it, however, i can't imagine being without it!
i have stored around 60 cd's (at 160kbps) on this and have barely touched the available memory.
the sound quality is fantastic (cd quality) and it is really great to carry this around instead of stacks of cd's or tapes!
it is exceedingly simple to navigate around in this device.
i didn't read a thing about how to operate it -- it was just intuitive.
i was cruising around the device within 20 minutes.
the pc-side software can be goofy and takes a little getting used to but it's not as bad as some reviewers have indicated.
one other plus is that napster now supports this device via their software.
my one recommendation to creative is to get some marketing people to work on the names of these things.
they have a whole bunch of devices that all have the same-sounding name (and they are long).
whereas some folks have the " ipod ", i have the " nomad jukebox zen xtra " (not to be confused with the " nomad jukebox zen nx ").
minor gripe.
i can't imagine why i would spend hundreds of dollars more to have an ipod.
great memory, quality?
i just bought one and returned it as defective for good reason.
in a quick summation, here is what i found.
+ the memory (40 gb) is staggering.
it may have taken several years to fill this up.
+ i had no problem using musicmatch software already on my computer to load songs and albums onto this unit  + screen was good, easy to read  + / - sound quality was good but it was going to take some tweakings with settings to try to make it great.
 - the software that came with it was tough to load.
i got weird messages about it not being ok'd by microsoft (or something like that), then i thought it failed to load, then it loaded.
 - the top that covered the battery kept poping off without much of a touch near the bottom latch.
not good if you're taking this traveling.
the top did not fit well into the unit.
(felt defective)  - the cover that came with it didn't fit very well  - the flywheel you use for most of the navigation wasn't in tightly and it was uneven as far as the amount of pressure to make it engage.
i wasn't sure how long it would take before it would break.
- this did not feel like quality construction and i wasn't sure how long it would last.
great product great price.
i decided to save the $ $ and opted for the zen xtra... and i was not disappointed.
the player is intuitive and outputs great sound quality.
navigation is easy and i found that syncing files from the player to the computer (and vice versa) was easy too.
many have complained about the software included but in my opinion it's easy to use and effective.
i love this player and am extremely happy with my decision.
i cannot recommend it enough!
flimsy product.
i recently bought the nomad jukebox zen xtra, and didn't even get as far as charging the battery.
the construction of the player is the cheesiest i have ever seen -- the front panel refused to clip in correctly, leaving a noticeable gap between the panel and base of the player.
this gap allowed the front panel to fly off after barely being touched.
i can't comment on the quality of the audio, because it was back at the store before i ripped a single cd.
i'm not willing to accept shoddy construction on something i paid over 250 dollars for.
if the casing of the player is this bad, i can't image that the hardware is of very good quality.
don't be pulled in by the great price -- you get what you pay for, and there's a reason this model is so cheap.
the 3 (?!)
month warranty should be a warning.
like many reviewers, i really wanted to like this product.
the price / performance looked just right.
when i bought it late last year, there were enough reviews that i knew the navigation wheel and software would be less than ideal, but it sounded like a fair tradeoff.
boy was i wrong.
reading the reviews, it looks as though people really love this device for a month or two and then come to hate it.
if i'd been paying attention, i would have noticed the 3 month warranty.
but i didn't because i'm used to electronic products having a 12 month warranty.
now i know better.
i've had this thing just over a month and the headphone jack has already come loose.
a $ 300 device and they skimped on the headphone jack?
so now i've got to call their customer " service " (of course, no 800 number) to send the thing back.
from the other reviews i've read, it sounds like that won't be the end of my troubles.
i fully expect it to go bad again in the same or some other way in the next 6 months because, as other reviewers have pointed out, the construction is pretty flimsy.
now let's talk about the software.
like other reviewers, installation was hell.
subsequent behavior even worse.
about 10% of the time it can't find the device when i attach it to my pc.
after i had it a couple weeks, it got into a state where it could never find the device, no matter how often i rebooted my pc, reset the device, reloaded drivers, etc, etc.
creative's online support was no help at all.
in fact, i'd have to rate it among the worst i've ever encountered.
finally, i uninstalled and reinstalled the software, the usual measure of last resort for this sort of thing.
to my amazement, even that process was error-prone.
it took several days of attempts before things finally " worked " again and i haven't a clue why.
that doesn't leave me with a good feeling about its future stability.
i did buy the notmad software a week ago and found that a vast improvement.
but that's a moot point now.
my gut tells me the nomad will in the long run be, at best, a 40gb portable hard drive, albeit one on which i can't create folders, or, at worst, a very expensive lesson in companies never to buy products from again (i have their audigy sound card and find it in many ways equally frustrating).
my gut tells me i'll also end up buying an ipod.
which means that in trying to save a few hundred dollars, i'll end up spending more than twice that.
be forewarned.
i would have given a 3 to 5 star review in my first few weeks, depending on how mad i felt about the crummy software.
now, even 1 star seems like i'm giving creative the benefit of the doubt.
very bad company.
i will never buy a creative product again.
i purchased a jukebox, it got fried while being recharged, they asked for $ 20usd just to look at it and said that they would charge me for repaing the damned thing.
no way, now i have an ipod and i'm a very happy man.
also bought a soundblaster card that they sold for the mac.
within months they stopped supporting the new mac os.
what kind of a company does that!
great value & great sound; carry your entire collection!
pros:  1) great sound (> 98db signal-to-noise ratio beats ipod's " unspecified " ratio) and good power output allow the zen xtra to drive large head-phones as well as external speakers.
with my sennheiser 497 headphones, the volume is loud enough at 12 (max is 20).
the player works well with my sony srs-a 202 powered speakers.
2) the player user interface (ui) is intuitive to use, and allows easy navigation of a large or small collection.
3) the nomad explorer (winxp style interface) works well to transfer files back and forth to use the nomad as an external although the tech support web-site states that the primary intended purpose of the player is as a player.
the nomad explorer provide most of the functionality offered by 3rd party programs like notmad.
4) usb 2.0 means fast data transfers (1 song / sec!).
5) the cheap, user-replaceable battery ($ 50 from creative) is a great advantage over the ipod's battery which costs $ 100 to replace.
6) excellent battery life - 14 hours beats ipod's.
7) chic look and good build - the player comes in a compact form with a metal face plate.
i use it primarily in the provided protective case although i have dropped it about 3 feet from my desk (by accident) as well as have played it outdoors in - 30 fahrenheit weather (by design) and it has continued to work fine.
8) creative mediasource, although not as sleek looking as windows mediaplayer, is effective in organizing your collection and is linked to a good cddb service (gracenotes).
a. the cddb downloads information for the cd that you insert such that you do not have to type in the track information such as album, artist, song title, etc.
i don't always care for gracenotes ' genre listings but it allows easy editing of id3 tags.
b. fast mediasource cd ripping - takes about 40 seconds for a cd on my pentium 4 pc (2.4 ghz with 1gb ram) with 52x drive.
c. i do love audio sync which allows a one-click synchronization between the player and the music collection on the computer.
9) wake-up feature that allows you to set up the player to wake up and play selected music at a specified time.
i have it connected to speakers for a nice musical alarm in the morning.
10) multiple play modes - tracks in order of album, shuffle, etc., is standard on all jukebox players but worth noting that the zen xtra is not deficient in this matter.
11) minimal pause between songs - less than that on other devices - good achievement for a hard-drive based player  12) big storage - my entire cd collection in one small device (5717 songs, 491 albums and counting)!
cons:  1) player is not plug and play - need to install nomad explorer first and mediasource to transfer files and i had to be patient as i was used to winxp detecting the player and dragging and dropping the music files into it.
2) music organization is based on id3 (by genre, artist, album, etc.
) and this can be a problem for older downloaded music files with missing or incorrect id3 information.
this was not a problem for me as most of my collection was ripped from my own cds and i updated the id3 tags on my downloaded music.
3) folders cannot be created for the audio files.
this is unnecessary with id3 tags but people who like to organize their music in folders will not like the zen as the audio files do not allow subfolders but rely on id3 tags.
the workaround is to update id3 tags on your files (through mediasource) but it can be a hassle if you have many such music files.
4) no fm or voice recording - these would have been nice extras.
5) lack of good accessories - this is more of an oversight of creative's marketing.
both creative and third-party powered speakers work great, as do third-party wireless transmitters.
a dock is unnecessary as the charger and usb cable do the necessary.
6) the case occludes the display screen when it is closed.
i would have liked to be able to see what is playing without having to open the case.
7) some people have problems with the flip switch on the bottom that releases the player cover - has not been an issue for me and is immaterial if you use the case as the case covers the switch.
experience:  once i got home with it i had to first install creative mediasource and figure out how it transferred files to the player.
this required patience as i was used to winxp detecting the player and dragging and dropping the music files into it (which i could do with my flash player).
i did already have mediasource installed due to owning the creative audigy 2 soundcard but i did need to re-install it from the supplied cd as the older version did not have the connector to the zen.
also, i downloaded the latest firmware upgrade and software updates.
recommendations:  1) buy an extended coverage if offered by the retailer as this device has moving parts and is essentially a portable hard-drive.
2) buy a good pair of head-phones unless you already own one.
3) use files with id3 tags - not a problem if your cds were ripped within the last year.
4) a set of speakers and a wireless transmitter are accessories that will add to your player's usability (the latter will allow you to play it on your car radio, home receiver, etc.)
5) handle the player with care - it is not meant to be dropped.
resources: http://www.nomadworld.com, http://www.nomadness.net  pros summary:  great sound; good interface; replaceable, powerful battery; good software; wake-up, sleep timers; multiple play modes  cons summary:  not plug & play; relies on id3; no fm or recording  bottom-line:  can't beat carrying 500-cd collection with me wherever i go.
my favorite is to play " any track " - am rediscovering my music!
also love waking up to music with attached speakers.
headphone jack.
i got the 40gb jukebox zen xtra for christmas.
so, i've had it for a month, and the headphone jack went out.
i called creative and they said to send it in and they would decide if it in warranty.
it'll take 10-15 business days for them to decide form when they get it.
nothing but hassle with this company.
what kind of product goes out within a month?
those who don't like it are ipod lovers and are in denial.
this thing does its job.
i felt better with this one since it had the shuffle feature and i'm not too keen on www.ipodsdirtysecret.com.
replacement battery is $ 50 compared to ipod's $ 150.  cons:  the only thing i don't like about this is the cover does suck.
i dropped it from the couch, landed on carpet and the cover and battery flew out.
it's kinda heavy, kinda like having a walkman.
headphones suck, i would invest in some cool ones since it has the eax feature.
the software sucks.
it overrides songs so you have to go in there and put it your own titles especially if you have remixes.
also the feature to automatically put in the song information isn't always accurate.
you discover this later when you're listening to a song and it's the wrong title, causing you to rename everything on your own.
the best jukebox mp3 player, hands-down.
i bought the 30gb zen xtra from a well-known national electronics store as soon as i saw they were advertising it for $ 219.99.  the combination of the price, storage size, and player features makes this player the best on the market.
the battery stays charged for a long time, and takes no more than 2 or 3 hours at most to fully recharge via the included ac adapter.
connect the player to your computer (via usb), open up mediasource, and you can listen to your stored mp3s as they stream directly from the xtra!
get those mp3s off your hard drive, save space, and enjoy your massive music library.
awesome feature.
usb 2.0 transfer is insanely fast.
minor complaints: 1) even though the music is sorted via id3 tag on the player, the option to search for music contained in a folder is unavailable.
that is, if a folder on your computer called " mp3 " has slayer (thrash metal), stravinsky (classical), and ice cube (rap) in it, you will only be able to play the contents of that folder by searching for the artists or genres manually.
the zen xtra will transfer the files to the player, but not the folder name.
not a big hassle as many would have you think.
2) having unfilled id3 tags will cause music to be potentially placed in a folder called " unknown.
"  i would recommend against using id3v2 tags, and stick with id3v1 only.
hard disk mp3 players.
if you read reviews for the 4 main contenders in this market - the ipod, creative zen, rio karma and iriver ihp - you'll notice that each has their pros and cons; none are perfect and you should decide whether you want to take to take the plunge now or later.
if your view in life is that you are going to pay $ x00 to get a device then it must be near ideal - ruggedly constructed, fault proof, good product support, easy to use software - then do yourself a favor and don't buy yet.
all the products have drawbacks and are not mature yet; if you expect value and reliability then wait a while.
if you are ok paying $ x00 for something that can be used now, but is likely to both get better and cost less in the future then try to determine which device is the lesser of evils for you.
ipod clearly has the most buzz.
great design and looks cool.
it has a hold button to deactivate the buttons to avoid accidents; however, enough reviewers have complained that the hold button is easily broken and then the device can't be used.
some of the more geeky (non-apple type) reviewers complain that the scrollwheel is annoying after a while and they resent being forced into this apple-like interface.
everyone complains about the non-replaceable battery, yet this is the price of sturdy construction.
ipod can be used as an external disk, and apparently stores files without problem.
however, the music and data are apparently not separated; ipod reviewers complain about " white noise " in random feedback mode that comes from appointments / contacts created on the ipod during synchronization.
synchronizing music among computers, if you have more than one, seems to be an issue; research this before buying if you have multiple computers you want to be synchronized.
reviews for sound quality are generally (but not universally) positive.
reviews of apple's support are generally poor; they seem to address issues in warranty, which covers a short time after delivery / pickup of item.
after that it seems like you're on your own.
ipod has no stop button; when new users mention this ipod veterans call it " unnecessary " and " so 20th century ".
creative zen feedback suffers from construction quality, poor product support, difficulty of using the scroll wheel and reasonably consistent feedback about problems with the headphone jack.
construction quality is a difficult item.
the zen has a detachable face plate that allows the battery to be replaced.
what is added in functionality (battery replacement) detracts in build quality as the face plate is prone to popping off.
drop if just a few inches on a hard surface and the faceplate pops off (but not if it's in its case).
many reviewers say the faceplate simply didn't fit well so they returned the zen.
feedback on creative's product support is universally poor; this is not limited to the zen, it applies to all the company's products.
the scroll wheel is finicky; it works most of the time but there is a learning curve for pressing it just right; new users say they have 50% - 75% success rate; some find it so frustrating that they just return the device.
the creative software is awkward / difficult to use and just plain doesn't load on some computers.
enough people have reported that their headphone jack doesn't work after a month of using the device to believe that creative has some inbuilt manufacturing or quality control problem.
the zen doesn't support folders so it is not really a storage device; even with third party software that " creates " folders, documents and programs can't be launched from the zen, so it is not a hard disk, it's a storage device at best.
reviews for sound quality are generally (but not universally) positive.
the zen has no stop button.
veteran zen users have explained how to stop if that's what you want.
the rio karma feedback suffers from sensitivity in the hard disk.
it seems like movement, even small movement, causes skipping in playback and even the device freezing.
karma gets consistently good reviews for sound quality and connectivity from its docking device, which has rca output jacks and ethernet jacks for connectivity.
usability (button usage, feature selection, menu structure, display size and quality) also has good feedback.
repair seems to be an issue; some say the repair don't exist  - you just have to buy a new player.
perhaps because of its smaller user base there is also a lack of accessories.
like the zen, the karma does not support folders and is not designed to be a data storage device.
the karma does have a stop button.
there aren't many reviews for the iriver ihp.
those that have it like it.
the only complaint seems to be that the disk rotation is slow, leading to longer delays in some functions (playback and even a slow display of the menu?).
otherwise feedback seems to be good.
no comments on reliability, warranty, repairs, accessories.
no-one mentions whether there is a stop button, but the photos don't show one.
none of these are perfect.
accept that there will be better devices (or new generations of these ones) in a year or two that will cost less.
if that is for you then pay the money, learn from the experience and you'll be a more informed buyer when you buy device # 2.  if you aren't into paying $ x00 to learn and experiment, or the cons outweigh the pros, then wait a year or so.
good for a little while, but... sure, this thing is definitely more cost-effective than an ipod.
but with a low price, comes lower quality.
our special friends at creative gave this thing good sound quality, great features, long battery life, and an unbeatable price.
the catch is it's built like a piece of crap.
it lasted about 1 1/2 weeks.
i didn't abuse it, i charged it every day, but the headphone jack just sort of fizzled out.
i tried re-setting it, i tried just about every pair of headphones in my house (10 pairs), and nothing worked.
so i contacted customer service at creative, but they said, " if the product seems broken, we cannot help, " or something to that effect.
wow.
don't get me wrong, the thing was like heaven for about a week.
if you want a quality mp3 player, splurge on an ipod.
if you really need to save, buy this thing on amazon, they eventually gave me a full refund.
i bought myself an rca mp3-cd player, and i'm happy with that until a cheap, worthwhile mp3 player coomes out.
software problem.
i bought the player this week and i like it by far.
this is my fourth mp3 player (creative nomad jukebox2 and 3, rio chie, and this one), and my third player from creative.
here's something you have to know before you considering about buying this one.
pro: 1.  removable and cheap battery - a li battery usually works properly for 1-3 years.
my friend has an i-pod for about 2 years and the battery has so so messed up.
his i-pod can only play for a couple of hours with a fully recharging now.
2.  value: comparing data storage with price.
3.  size and style:  the appearance is okayed (at least not ugly).
the size is small (just a little bit bigger than an i-pod.)
4.  easy to use: a lot of reviews has mentioned about this  con:  the software, mediasource, cannot work on my pc.
a tons of reveiws has reported this problem and the same here.
in fact, each of my creative mp3 players had software problem in the first place.
however, the creative lab did come out new update to fix their software problems.
i am crossing my finger and wish they will fix the problem.
ps: (mediasource provides similar functions with ms mediaplay such like cd ripping, tagging, music database managing, music file transfering, and more)  now i use ms mediaplayer, musicmatch (free downladed), and " explorer / my computer / grab files from disk c or d into the player " to replace the mediasource.
in short, this player is good at size, value, hardware design but really bad at its software
a great player, excellent sound quality, hovewer, has flaws.
well to say, i had a very bad history with players.
one broke, one got stolen, and then i bought the riovolt sp - 350.  if you are planning to buy that player, do not!
that player is a complete piece of sh ***.
i returned it once, then i sent it back, and it is crap.
now as others said, so far this player is an awesome player, there are flaws.
cons:  1.  the display is awesome, you can see everything you want and read it clearly  2.  huge storage space, i loaded my entire collection of music, which isnt that much, 400 songs, and still have 26 gb, out of the 28 provided to you.
(28 not 30 because software itself takes space).
and those songs mostly are 320 kbps.
3.  the sound is awesome, but if u put it too loud, depends on yoursound quality, the sound might crack.
4.  with eax on, you can modify your sound, with 4 different presets, which is pretty good, you can get different variations with it.
5.  if you use software correctly, put in all the id3 tags, you will get an awesome database collection, from which you can easily access your songs.
you can also search for your song, which is good.
6.  i dont know what other people are saying, but the software is awesome.
you can easily access ur files, and easily fill in the id3 tags, which can take a while with a big collection of music, but if your not lazy, you will do it without a problem.
and i read today that you can also have online fill out the id3, so its not a problem.
7.  battery recharge, is an awesome thing, because it recharges in only like 2-3 hours.
8.  when you turn on your player, the player turns on really fast, and the music continues to play, as you left it when you were turning it off.
9.  you can manage your profile, change the contrast of backlight, make different type of display, either list or tabbed.
you can do other different things with it such as choose what kind of " now playing " interface, you can see the interface as modern or classical.
there is an alarm, i still havent used it yet, but it should be good.
there is a clock, and date, which can get helpful.
10.  the player has firmware, which will remove the glitches, if there are any.
11.  the music plays awesome, never skips, even if u run for a bit, so you can listen to music without interruption.
cons:  1.  the one and most major thing that i was dissapointed with, in this player, is the battery life.
the product manufacturer promised me 14 hours, and what i recieved was 6-8.
5 hours max.
i did it like this  eax on: 6 hours eax off: 8.5 hours  2.  the panel seems like it will come off very easily as other people have said.
3.  you need the software to actually transfer files  4.  the player has its minor glitches like for example when i turn it on, 60 percent of the time, it sais, shutting down, which means i have to turn off, and turn it on again, which is not to my likings.
also, the player sometimes freezes, not a very big problem, but can also be annoying.
(but as any hard drive, all of them freeze at certain points)  well thats about it, and as people said in earlier previews that the headfone jack gets messed up, stil havent happened to me, and i hope it doesnt.
easy to use, massive storage space, sounds great.
and also, it's priced very affordably.
with 40gb of storage i have about 7,500 songs on the player (everything music file i have is on there) with room for about 2,500 more.
a similarily priced 15gb ipod wouldn't have been nearly enough room.
having my entire music collection is great when travelling (both on plane and car trips) and i don't have to decide what to bring or copy onto the player -- it's all there.
having to copy / delete files would be time-consuming and is rendered a non-issue with 40gb of storage.
the software interface supplied was very easy to use but i went ahead and got red chair's " notmad " software because of some advanced features i wanted.
the sound is great even with the supplied earbuds -- but i find earbuds uncomfortable so i use different headphones.
on planes i use a splitter so two headphones can be plugged in for two people and the sound is equally good.
sound settings can be adjusted for personal preference.
accessing files by artist and album (i mostly look things up by artist) is easy and intuitive.
possibly the biggest advantage this player has (if price wasn't enough) is the fact that the user can replace the battery him / herself by opening the lid and popping in the new battery.
since batteries do run out on everything, this will also be a big money-saver since ipods, irivers, rca, dell, all have built-in batteries that need to be replaced by a technician (apple charges 100 bones for the battery replacement).
try before you buy if at all possible: although i am a mac addict now for over a decade and everyone i know has previously bought an ipod, the nomad zen xtra was a far better value and is just as easy to use with regards to both hardware and software interface.
i personally am not crazy about the looks of either the ipod or the nomad.
the ipod's white plastic look / surface doesn't suit me.
i like the nomad's color better, but it's not terribly flashy.
the mini ipod's look the best to me -- but with only 4gb there's no way i would ever buy any mp3 player with a measly 4gb of storage.
my advice to mp3 buyers: consider how much storage space you will need, then try and listen before you buy -- mp3 players can only fully evaluated by holding and listening to them.
good for the price.
i have had mine for a month now and have to say i have enjoyed it.
the pros:  price!
almost half what an ipod would cost you!
i don't care how it looks and i always drive so the size is not important to me.
sound quality is wonderful, i really like the smart volume sound normalization.
yes the included earphones suck but everyone replaces them anyway.
i quickly got to use to the interface and can find any song / playlist etc fast enough.
i also liked the fact that you can save custom playlist you made on the player not just the computer!
cons.
creative software stinks.
it's horrible.
redchair software makes nice software that allows you to do everything you would want to and more!
the front cover can pop off easily but i always have mine in the case so i didn't notice after first day.
great player.
have had the player since xmass and love it!
pros:  great sound, very long battery life (i routinely play it for 12 + hours), very fast recharges rate, removable battery, storage size, nice screen, firmware updates, and great price.
cons:  short warranty (3 months, so i got the extended warranty at best buy), occasional freeze up (easily fixed by popping out battery), somewhat flimsy navigation wheel.
i just bought notmad manager ($ 25) and file transfers are easy drag and drop, songs stored by id3 tags not by folders, needs to have software on computer to transfer files, no window on case (nice case otherwise.
i don't see what everyone's problem is - i love this player.
this is an excellent player, especially for the price, with features that are comparable to and even excel the ipod.
for a price that's still less than even the lowest level ipod i was able to get this 40gb monster, and the best part is it works as great as it was advertised to and then some.
here are the pros and cons (few there are) in detail:  look / design:  the system is terrific in size and design, imo looking better than the ipods.
it's bigger, but people have grossly exaggerated the size differences - it's only about half an inch longer and 1/3 inch thicker than the new-generation ipods.
it's very solidly built, and has a nice dense feel to it.
i find all of the controls well-placed and not flimsy in the least.
the scroll wheel is better than the ipod's as well, in that you don't risk giving yourself a cramp running your thumb around in circles endlessly - just a small nudge of the finger and you're there.
the screen's large and easily read.
the only beef i can raise in this regard is the pop-off face, that sometimes comes off a bit easily, but besides that it's perfect.
sound: exceptional, though i can't really compare it to the ipod.
from what i've heard it's at least equal.
like others have mentioned, you can manage to hear new things in songs even though they're on lower bit levels.
there's no so-called background hiss that i've noticed, at least so far.
interface - practically seamless.
songs are recognized automatically by id3 tags, which at first i was against since i had organized my files by folder with a previous player from iriver.
yet after ensuring that all the id3 tags are in order (with the software which is actually not as bad as people make it out) it actually turns out to be really handy.
it's a dedicated music playing device, anyway, so this serves it better.
you can find any song quicky by an artist, album, or genre search.
playlists can be generated on the fly (which is a bit clunky but still a really nice bonus) or by using the software, and there are a bevy of eq options.
the only thing missing is an option to adjust the balance.
software:  as i mentioned before, the creative mediasource software is actually really robust despite what others have said, though notmad may still work better.
it's easy to transfer, preview, and organize files.
the in-program id3 tag editing is a strong point, as well.
it was no problem for me to use their software.
some may complain that there's no drag-and-drop capability, but what they should realize is that this is mainly a portable music player, not a computer accessory or hard drive.
the software and design are geared towards enhancing the music experience.
overall, i'm giving this 5 stars as i've seen nothing of the problems people have repeatedly cried havoc over, but as i've only had the player for a while i leave room for doubt if the headphone jack, hissing, or scroll wheel problems show up with me too.
so far, however, i'm a very happy customer.
please consider this much superior piece of equipment before plopping down half a grand for an ipod.
does not function correctly, unhelpful customer service.
don't buy this player.
i recently bought this after my archos 20 multimedia self-destructed (don't get me started on that piece of junk!)
and expected it to be flawless.
unfortunately, after loading 280 + songs, all i get now is " player either not connected or busy."
it will not load any further songs on and customer service has no idea what to do.
don't buy this player.
why can't it be rated zero stars?
do not buy this product --  i took perfect care of this player and still it died in the week after the lousy 90 day warranty ended.
nearly 4000 songs went up in smoke.
the software is not good either and the driver has trouble working with other sound blaster products, which is very dumb.
o man, not cool.
honestly, i love this player.
one horrible flaw, or mayybe more than one.
once again, the sound is awesome, the batterly life is only 6-8 hours, and that is because all my music is 320 kbps which does affect the battery life.
ok so i donno about what other people said, how the player breaks and stuff, and the headfone jack, fortunately that did not happen to me.
however, my hard drive did fail, and i have not dropped it once.
therefore im saying im returning it right now, and i will see wat happens with my next zen xtra (same replacement).
if that one fails too, and i hope if it does, let it happen in the first 90 days, not later, cuz thats the warranty.
if it does, ill give up.
basically wat happened, is that the hard drive failed.
thats it.
i cant do anything about it, and i have to send back.
the only good thing about this whole process, is that im getting like a 34 dollar amount back, because of the price difference between when i bought it, and now.
basically u can see that i have given the player 3 stars, instead of 1.  you know why?
because other people that complain about this player are talking bull, this player is awesome, it just breaks fast, which is horrible.
now honestly, i love this player, but with all seriousness, i would not recommend it to other people, because of the breakdown flaw.
and i honestly would not recomment the people of the ipod, that crap sucks big donkey..... never mind.
i hope my next player doesnt breakdown..  honestly, the best players without any flaws were the goddam cd players.
this is all i have to say.
what a junk.
what a junk.
every time nomad thinks the file is corrupt the os freezes.
the only way to recover is to plug the power cord and go into recovery mode.
so if you happen to be out of the house and you have a frozen os you can't use nomad until you get home.
after os froze twice on me in the subway i returned the jukebox.
you will be very disappointed with this product.
the reviews of this product can be roughly divided into two groups: (1) those who have had the product for a few weeks and (2) those have had the product for a few months.
those who have had the nomad for a few weeks are mostly thrilled with it.
the price is way below an ipod of the same size.
the nomad is only sligtly larger than an ipod.
the sound quality is very good.
the controls are somewhat harder to use, and there are some oddities about the software tagging system, but most people can live with this.
because of the large capacity of the nomad, owners can load hundreds of cds on to it.
for most people, they can carry around all or almost all of their music collection.
having access to so much music where ever you go is terrific.
they fall in love with the product.
and then it breaks.
usually around the time the 90 day warranty expires.
typically, the problem is the headphone jack -- it was for me and many others.
the nomad is sent back to creative labs.
they decide that the owner was responsible for the damage and so even if it is returned within the warranty period, creative will charge you to fix it.
in my case, the bill was $ 81, about a third of what i paid for it.
like many others, i had not abused the product, and had tried to take care of it.
if my level of care wasn't good enough, i had to expect that even if i paid to have it fixed it would break again in a month or two.
i'm convinced by my own experience and that of many other people who have posted here who have had the same experience that the product is defectively designed, and will not hold up to normal use.
the headphone jack seems to be a major problem.
the one other thing i observed while i had the nomad is that the front cover, which is taken off to have access to the battery, seemed to come undone very easily.
the headphone jack failure seems to occur just about when the warrranty period is to expire.
even if it hasn't expired, creative is likely to claim that the owner caused the damage which in turn voids the warranty.
and most stores will not take back a product 90 days after purchase.
this means that you will have the nomad long enough to load a lot of music on to it, and get used to having it.
so when it breaks, as it will, you will find yourself very disappointed and depressed at the loss of the nomad.
you will find it very hard or impossible to get you money back.
you will have a very expensive paperweight.
there are not a lot of good options out there.
most people say buy an ipod, but they are pretty expensive and also require you to send the product back to the factory just to replace the battery.
my suggestion is to wait to see how the market develops.
maybe creative will come out with a better design, although it will be hard for me and its other customers to trust it again.
maybe more competitors will bring out similar products.
and maybe the answer is to buy an ipod.
whatever you do, don't buy this product.
you will be sorry if you do.
piece of junk.
i bought the nomad when i went home on leave and it worked great for about a month.
the other day when i was listening to a song, it locked up and will not do anything now.
it says i have a harddisk problem.
and since i'm out here i can't mail it back under my 90 days and they won't help me out cause they say that the conditions here are not covered under the warranty.
it worked good for a while.
it did lock up on me a couple of times, and then it just froze and now i'm out $ 300 for their piece of junk.