My Experience with the Creative NOMAD Zen Xtra.

The Creative Nomad Jukebox line has long been an iPod alternative, and with their Zen line they have gotten closer to competing. The Zen NX was a great player, but its screen was too small to be practical. The Zen Xtra has updated that screen, and is available in 30gb, 40gb, and 60gb flavors.

I purchased the 30gb model at Best Buy, where it retailed for $299.99. It can now be found for $200 on sale.

I opened the box to find an AC charger, some nice (albeit slightly tinny) earbuds, a leather carrying case (which I really like), an easily removable rechargable battery (which the ipod, if i'm not mistaken, doesn't have), a USB 2.0 cable, and of course, the unit itself. While slightly larger than an iPod, that was not a main concern for me. The feel was durable and well-constructed.

First thing I did was charge the player. I let it charge for around 2 hours - the manual says it will need 4 the first time you charge it - and then left it on the charger while I plugged in the USB cable and installed the software. As I expected, the Creative software was complete crap, and slowed my computer down considerably, if not locking it up. I purchased Red Chair Software's Notmad Explorer, which most people seem to like. It is a great piece of software, and the feature I like most about it is the one-touch sync, to sync new music to the player. The sync was around 40mb/second, and it took 20 minutes to sync my modest 4.5gb of music via USB 2.0.

It was time to listen. I expected the included earbuds to be tinny and weak, but they produced pretty good sound. Not the best I've heard, but exceptional for their size. Fit was fairly good. My one gripe about the buds is that the pads keep falling off, and I finally lost one today, and they don't fit well without them. I gave the player a listen with my Koss PortaPro headphones, which I'd say are the best portable phones for under $100. The Zen Xtra produced the best sound I've heard from a portable.

I hooked the unit up to my stereo, and it shined again. Sound is completely outstanding. The highs were high, and the bass thumped. Amazing out of a portable if you ask me.

The features of this player are great. The screen is first-class, and its blue backlight can be seen in any light. The player can be locked if you don't want it changing when a button is hit. The case provided, though it blocks the screen, is very protective and sturdy, and I keep my player in it at all times in my backpack.

Controls of the player are good as well. You have a Power button, a volume button, a "Back" button, a "Menu" button, a Prev/Next (also Search) button, and a Play button. The main button used to navigate menus is a scroll wheel on the right of the unit. I thought this would be awkward at first, but it is easy to use. You simply select the item you want by moving the wheel up or down, and then push the wheel in to select that item.

All in all, I'm happy with my purchase, and it damn well beats spending $300 on a 30gb iPod.


Pros: Sound, Price, features
Cons: Software, size





Author's notes: I wrote this review roughly a year ago. Since then, I've been through numerous firmware updates, and I've used the Zen Xtra probably every single day. I can say that at some points it was buggy, but usually the newest firmware fixed the problem. A clean reformat never hurt anyone either. It works perfectly as of right now, but I do get some "Playback Information Errors" once in a while. It's possible that some of my ID3 tags are formatted wrong. As far as durability, I haven't had a single issue with this player. I've even dropped it off my bike at 25mph (in its leather case) and it still just keeps working.