[Robster1958]

to say the least, buying a jukebox with any degree of comfort is impossible. i mean...there is no way to listen first.

anyhow, i thought i would order the PJB100 (online only, sight unseen/unheard) until my earlier thread on the iPod got a bad comment on this unit.

now maybe i'll just buy the nomad 6 gig at $200 as a stopgap until the ideal unit comes out (windows iPod with 20 gig.)

btw, this unit is being sold for $195 on eCost.com.

these are my two choices...any opinions?


more info: if i get the pjb, i'll keep the koss35's it comes with, but if i get the nomad, i can afford Ety 6P's. so that's the choice.

 

[mbriant]

I own 2 PJB's which I'm very happy with. Just last week, a buddy of mine purchased a Nomad and brought it over to show me. I didn't spend much time comparing the two, and the nomad sounded fine when listening through my Koss porta-pros ( the phones that come with the nomad aren't great)

But when we connected the nomad via it's line out jacks to my home stereo, it sounded aniemic. I had to crank my 1800 watt home hi fi to extremely high levels to get the nomad to sound reasonably loud, and even when I did, the sound lacked bass and was very thin. The PJB required much less volume and sounded rich and full with lots of bass.

I'm assuming the line out output is weaker on the nomad but perhaps it had something to do with his ripping software or method of recording MP3's, but then again, my PJB contains Napster downloads which aren't great.

At this point in time, you can get a new PJB (or an upgrade) with up to a 40 gig. HD in it. The PJB, after more than 2 or 3 years on the market, is still being tweaked and updated with added features by a loyal group of programmer-type users who post regularly on a dedicated Yahoo site.

 

[e-r0ck]

I wouldn't step to a Nomad. If you're choosing between the two, I'd definately go with the PJB. The Nomad's navigation is horrid compared to the PJB. It has less battery life (from what I've heard) and I've heard boot up times up to 30 seconds.

I own an Archos Recorder (as I've tried to defend many times) mainly because of the size. The sound quality is comparable to the PJB. Not quite as good reproduction, but the PJB has a louder hiss so it kinda evens out. Either way, the hiss is hardly noticeable under normal conditions.

Basically, the PJB is better than the Nomad.

 

[aeberbach]

Usually when I read that something "sucks" I think that it is probably unfair. I didn't believe that the Nomad Jukebox could be as bad as all that, then I got to play with one. Oh god, it sucks. Even at $195, even at $7.95, stay well clear of the Nomad.

 

[Robster1958]

i'm going around in circles now.

e-rock: pls. tell me more about your archos (the newer version right?). i also like its form factor. what headphones do you use?

now i'm thinking about the Treo also (or the twin Classic).

 

[e-r0ck]

Quote:

Originally posted by Robster1958 i'm going around in circles now. e-rock: pls. tell me more about your archos (the newer version right?). i also like its form factor. what headphones do you use? now i'm thinking about the Treo also (or the twin Classic).

Sure thing man... first off, I tried to say the Nomad was bad without offending an owner, but as aeberbach said, it sucks, dont even touch it or you may be infected.

I have the Archos Recorder and I usually use my good ol' KSC-35s with them. If I feel like it, I use my V7506s with em. It sounds great to me and I definately would recommend buying it.

It also functions as an mp3 recorder. I think it records up to 160kbps in variable bit rate. It's a little low for most of the people on the board and obviously using a computer to encode mp3s is much better and easier, but it's always good on the fly. It also has a built in mic... it catches internal sounds of the hard drive spinning up so its mainly used for small voice recording. Or you can hook up an external, pre-amplified mic to do real microphone recordings.

Hmmm... the battery life can be around 15 hours if you set a playlist and just let it run. They sell it in 6, 10, and 20 gig sizes. Let's see, it, uhhh, OH, cool feature, you can view .txt files on it so it can double as an address book with a little time and organization.

the HUGE flaw behind it is that you can't Randomize all the tracks on the unit. You can randomize palylists, but as of now, playlists can only be a total of 999 songs. They release new firmware upgrades and someone hacked the sourse code so some independent parties are workin on new firmware (they've been able to make the power indicating LED flash

), but this wont be fixed for a while.

you should check out www.funmp3players.com and read the review of the unit. Also, theres an mp3 player comparison table at www.hotmp3gear.com . They both sell Archos products so they are a bit biased towards their products, but if you ask me, the best HD-MP3 players out right now are the iPod, the Archos Recorder and the PJB.

I hope that helps a little.

of course, Archos should be releasing a 10 gig Multimedia player in about a month so that may bring in a new player.

 

[Robster1958]

again e-rock

 

[jcorkery]

Can you guys tell me why you think the Nomad Jukebox sucks?

I own one and think it's a great little (OK, not so little!) machine. The sound quality is excellent through ER4Ps (the stock headphones *do* suck), it has the ability to record and play uncompressed audio (uncompressed audio will provide better sound quality than MD), and I've never had any problems with its interface. Plus, it seems to be a lot less expensive than the other HD MP3 products out there. I've hooked it up to my home system many times and it sounds very good that way, although understandably not quite as good as CDs being played on a full-size player containing more expensive, higher quality electronics. However, I do find that listening to the NJB/ER4P combo portably is just as impressive as listening to CDs on my home system (and I've got a pretty decent home setup); possibly even more so when I consider the size difference between the two systems!

I'm not offended at all by your comments, because I *can* tell the difference between an insult directed at an inanimate product and an insult directed at me!

I'm just curious as to why a lot of people on this forum seem to bash the NJB when my own experiences with the product have only been positive. I wonder if any of it has to do with preconceived notions about Creative, the big company who manufactures it, or the fact that it's much more of a mainstream product than the PJB or Archos?

 

[aeberbach]

The 30-second wait on startup was the big thing for me. I could imagine using it in a car for long trips but never at other times. The interface is worse than the PJBs, and that's saying something. Sound quality I won't complain but I don't think it matters much, for those times that you are really listening carefully you're at home with the CD and your favorite amp - if you're out with the MP3 player it's going to be background noise and interruptions anyway. Finally, the weird shape is just wrong! If I wanted to carry something more or less square I'd get a CD-based MP3 player - costs less, no startup time, many choices.

 

[jcorkery]

Yes, it does take mine a good 20 seconds or so to boot up, but I guess I don't consider that to be a big deal. Sure, I wouldn't mind if it booted up instantaneously, but I've never used the thing and thought to myself, "Man, I wish I could've started listening to this music 20 seconds ago!"

I haven't had any troubles using the interface, but I can imagine that if a person wants to constantly pick one particular song at a time to listen to, it would be a pain. I loaded my NJB with only my absolute favorite songs out of my rather large CD collection, so I usually just put the thing on shuffle play and let it behave like a jukebox. To me it's kind of cool that way, because I'm always wondering what the next song is going to be, and if I don't feel like listening to it at the time, I just skip it. Playing all songs by a particular artist or on a particular album is very easy, I think. The interface does seem to be a little unintuitive at first, but after experimenting with it for about 10 minutes to figure out exactly how it works, it's pretty simple to use.

For me, sound quality is the most important thing. That's why I bought my ER4Ps. It blocks out the background noise you would normally hear in portable situations, so all you hear is the music. I had considered a CD-based MP3 player, but then I'd be forced to carry around CD(R)s. I like the idea of having all of my favorite songs stored inside the unit. When I take it on the road, I don't have to shuffle through CD(R)s to decide which ones to take with me and I don't have to change discs, either.

 

[crk]

Hi
I have a NJB and use it all the time with a variety of headphones including my ETY 4P's. I also use the line out and an amp and haven't noted the problems noted by mbriant. There is a variety of 3rd party user software out there (www.nomadness.net). BTW the site also provides a guide as to how to upgrade the HD which I have just done to 30GB.
The main drawback is the battery life of 3-4 hrs. I don't notice the start-up delay, it takes me longer to insert the ETY's

I initially chose it over the PJB as it was $400 as opposed to $695 (which shows you how long ago I bought it).
crk

 

[BritAle]

Well, I may as will put in my two cents for the NJB. It is the 20 gig version, which cost $279) and contains nothing but directly ripped CDs (a feature I really like). I actually wished I had gone for the 30 or 40 gig version, since I ripped all the CDs at near CD quality compression, which took most of the disk space. I listen mostly with the ER4Ps and all the time with the Total Airhead amp. And I love the sound it produces. And there is nothing like being on an airplane with a selection of 300+ CDs! As for the interface, it took all of 5 minutes to figure out and now I maneuver through selections without thinking. Shoot, I have more problems finding selections on my DVD player. And I love the solid construction, even if it won’t fit in my pocket. As for portability, I have the Headroom Total Airhead travel bag built for the NJB. It makes listening to the NJB while on the move a real pleasure.

The NJB software is also updateable. It fact, the latest release added some new features and reduced the start up time to less than 30 seconds. As for the start time, by the time I get the headphone and amp setup, the NJB ends up waiting for me.

BTW, the newest NJB has a ten hour battery life, a fly wheel for scanning selections and firewall support.

 

[fredpb]

Each to his own. I owned an Archos, and I thought it was junk. Pretty, but junk. It's battery handling is horrid. It has a longer batter life than the Nomand JB but try changing the batteries on the Archos often. Sound of Archos is terrible. Navigation of Arcos is terrible.

I love the NJB. Sound is great, and I listen to classical music most of the time. My favorite setup for the thing is Sennheiser HD570's and a Total Airhead. Sounds great to me. Line out to amp is low in volume, but sounds very good.

I never heard the PJB100, but my research when looking for a jukebox indicated it was the best of breed, but just too expensive.

I got the NJB 6gb from Best Buy, with a 4 year warranty.

My first NJB was bad out of the box. No problem with return. My first Archos lasted three days. I used it for cooking it got so hot during recharge. Boot time is no problem for me, a firmware release fixed that problem in the NJB.

I love the NJB navigation. It is geared toward music, not computers. Good product. Weakness: short battery life... 2 1/2 to 4 hours. Best battery life is obtained with a good external charger. Batteries are easily replaced, so you can carry spares.

Rio and Creative are coming out with new models this month. Wait and check these out.