[Hasselhoffia]

Quote:

Originally Posted by *JespeR* so whta do you thing about the Creative Zen Xtra???

You'd sure be walking funny if you had that in your pocket...

 

[Hasselhoffia]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Intrigue Hi-MD™ Walkman® MZNH1 is still my preference as it allow me to rip my cd directly through optical cable with no conversion. Added bonus is there's no limit on storage. what do you folks think?

Nice idea, but you still have to haul mini-discs around with you, which is more space in your bag. I'm quite enjoying just setting my NW-HD3 to random play and having some long forgotten gems of tracks spring forth from the headphones, its nice having all your music in one place.

 

[grantp]

Quote:

Originally Posted by *JespeR* Hey guys, I read quite everything on this forum about sony nw-hd3/1. I saw both, and maybe the hd1 it's cooler but the hd3 is also really nice to see. But my question it's a little bit different: 20 GB are a lot but maybe not enough for me, expecially if I want to use it not only as a mp3 player but also as an external drive...so whta do you thing about the Creative Zen Xtra??? (Creative Zend Xtra ) I mean ok it's quite ugly but is there somebody that can tell me something more about it in comparison with nw-hd3??? THX!!!!!!!

I have a 40Gb Zen Xtra as well as the HD3 used by my daughter.

The Zen is a lot bigger and heavier BUT not so bad if you think of it as a computer storage device with a higher capacity than the HD3. (And you can get at least 60Gb versions. Maybe even bigger soon.) It's about as big as a cassette tape player. Less expensive than HD3 or iPod. Has a removable battery (14hrs per charge even at quite high volume) which means that a spare can be carried of necessary. Quick charge time though so I don;t see the need. However batteries don't last forever so the ability to fit a new one in seconds may be useful at some point.

Volume of output is fine, especially with portable device dedicated earphones. Regular headphones require more power to drive them so tend to sound a little quieter. I understand EU rules require a lower output at point of sale but most users upgrade the firmware to US spec anyway, approved by Creative.

There seems to a common experience of some background hiss heard when nothing is playing or the sound level of the track is very low. Not heard when the backlight is on! It does not worry me - my notebook output is MUCH worse!

Some interesting features to play with, some useful, others may not so useful. Overall quite easy and effective to use.

Managing the files on and off is easy and the admin application has some useful features for changing/editing track info if you wish to.

Mine has USB 2 using a full size connector, which may be important if using the device as a regular external disk for a PC. However, unlike some dedicated external disks for computers, the Zen does require a driver installation, or at least that has been my experience so far.

I haven't needed to to use mine as an external drive so I don't have extensive experience to provide feedback other than testing that it would work. Having loaded all of my available MP3 files I don't connect it for further loads very often either! Maybe is I get the rest of my vinyl and old tapes converted there will be more to do. I have more than 20Gb loaded, though if I decided to use a 20Gb device I could reduce to that capacity by removing less listened to stuff - but I like the idea of having everything available since it is possible to do so.

I mostly use it around the house and carry it in a pocket or use the open sided cover which has a belt clip.

Both Zen and HD3 seem like good devices. If you want the higher capacity I think the Zen is probably the only option and seems to be cheaper.

If you want small and light then the HD1/3 is probably the way to go if capacity of disk is not too much of a compromise because of your secondary file carrying requirement.

I hope this is useful.

 

[*JespeR*]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hasselhoffia You'd sure be walking funny if you had that in your pocket...

OK, I know, it is not cool. It's bigger, it's heavyer but... I'd like to have all my cds in the same place, so the idea it's to use my mp3 player not only to go around only but at the same time as a jukebox at home, to connect it to the Hi-fi. And of course to do it I need something more, in term of qualities, than mp3 @ 128, and something more that 20 GB.

 

[*JespeR*]

@ GRANTP: Thanksssssss!!!!!
just a question: can you do what is impossible with iPod and HD3? I mean can you put music on your zen listen to it and then download it to another pc???
It would be wonderfoul to put all my music on my Zen, be able to listen to it and at the same time have the opportunity to give this music to friends!

 

[grantp]

Quote:

Originally Posted by *JespeR* @ GRANTP: Thanksssssss!!!!! just a question: can you do what is impossible with iPod and HD3? I mean can you put music on your zen listen to it and then download it to another pc??? It would be wonderfoul to put all my music on my Zen, be able to listen to it and at the same time have the opportunity to give this music to friends!

Yes. Providing the CD or other source is rippable in the first place or course.

The Nomad will simply appear as a disk device with a Data Folder and a music library once Nomad explorer is installed. Files can then be copied as required.

As I remember you have to install the Nomad explorer as the driver for the device - I will try to find a machine without it already installed and check that later. Basically it acts as the driver - I don't believe XP recognises the disk correctly (or at all) without it. However I will check again as it is a while since I needed to install on anything.

 

[*JespeR*]

Quote:

Originally Posted by grantp Yes. Providing the CD or other source is rippable in the first place or course. The Nomad will simply appear as a disk device with a Data Folder and a music library once Nomad explorer is installed. Files can then be copied as required. As I remember you have to install the Nomad explorer as the driver for the device - I will try to find a machine without it already installed and check that later. Basically it acts as the driver - I don't believe XP recognises the disk correctly (or at all) without it. However I will check again as it is a while since I needed to install on anything.

So you mean that on the Zen there is no Wrapper for the file mp3, vaw,...
they are just there in the music directory like on my laptop???

Cooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo ooooooooooooolll!!
I can share my music with everybody so! This is a such a beautiful thing!
I don't like the way of Sony and Apple to protect the music on the player!

 

[bangraman]

The Zen requires software installed (driver, Nomad Explorer, etc) to be able to wrote/read music from the machine.


The iPod doesn't encrypt onboard music data, even your own rips like the Sony. They're just stored re-indexed in a hidden folder. With third party software you can have music extracted from it by programs which you run directly from the iPod. Example: http://www25.brinkster.com/carmagt/SharePod/


The iRivers and iAudio are of course drag & drop.

 

[*JespeR*]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bangraman The Zen requires software installed (driver, Nomad Explorer, etc) to be able to wrote/read music from the machine. The iPod doesn't encrypt onboard music data, even your own rips like the Sony. They're just stored re-indexed in a hidden folder. With third party software you can have music extracted from it by programs which you run directly from the iPod. Example: http://www25.brinkster.com/carmagt/SharePod/ The iRivers and iAudio are of course drag & drop.

So in a way it's the same: both, zen and iPod, need software to share music.
But I'd prefer not to buy iPod for several reasons and expecially because I read something like this.

It seems to me that the iPod owners in a way feel better than the others just because the own a cool mp3 player. (and according to me the iPod is not so beautiful! And it's so delicate! You have really to take care about it!)

 

[grantp]

Quote:

Originally Posted by *JespeR* So you mean that on the Zen there is no Wrapper for the file mp3, vaw,... they are just there in the music directory like on my laptop??? Cooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo ooooooooooooolll!! I can share my music with everybody so! This is a such a beautiful thing! I don't like the way of Sony and Apple to protect the music on the player!

Have a look at the Creative web site for more information.

http://www.creative.com/products/pro...uct=9288&nav=3

Using Nomad Explorer is not quite as easy as simply having a plug in disk drive since the Nomad software has to be installed. However once installed there are no problems.

 

[bangraman]

Quote:

Originally Posted by *JespeR* So in a way it's the same: both, zen and iPod, need software to share music. But I'd prefer not to buy iPod for several reasons and expecially because I read something like this. It seems to me that the iPod owners in a way feel better than the others just because the own a cool mp3 player. (and according to me the iPod is not so beautiful! And it's so delicate! You have really to take care about it!)

I'm not sure why you have a problem with someone saying that on an iPod support board. Worse things happen on Head-Fi, many of the Sony MD forums, etc.


I'd suggest looking into the iAudio or iRiver players as alternatives in any case. You don't need software to share music with those.

 

[Intrigue]

"Nice idea, but you still have to haul mini-discs around with you, which is more space in your bag. I'm quite enjoying just setting my NW-HD3 to random play and having some long forgotten gems of tracks spring forth from the headphones, its nice having all your music in one place."

that's a great idea, random play! Wonder how that would work with classical music