HDD's based portables

[Watchdog]

I'm considering a NJB3. I actually don't consider it a true portable, but that doesn't concern me too much as I'll continue to use MD for my portable needs. I'm really looking more for a transportable player, one that will see mainly home use that can be moved from room to room easily with all the music on it.

Since small size isn't a high priority to me I think the NJB3 would suit me well but I have a couple of questions:

1) NJB3 owners, I've heard that the software is buggy and customer support from CL to be poor. Could you comment on this?

2) Which HDD player do you have and how happy are you with it?

3) I've seen many rumours of new iPods coming. How about a NJB4? Has anyone heard if Creative plans on a new unit soon?

4) Has anyone bought a NJB3 in Canada? If so where did you buy it and how much did you pay? It seems as though prices in Canada are quite a bit higher than in the US? Cheapest I've seen is $470 Cdn. whereas I've seen as low as around $150 US after rebates.

5) How many owners have had warranty issues? Given the price difference I'm thinking of buying one from the US.

Thanks

 

[austonia]

I have a comparison of pocket size hard drive players at www.dapReview.com if you are interested. I havn't had any probles with my Nomad Zen, and it's upgradable to 60gb or more. I'm happy with both the iPod and Zen but they are totally different. iPod can't be beat for portability, you won't even know its in your pocket. Zen is a little bigger/heavier and you can make playlists on the player itself. The Zen's OS is more cumbersom than iPod but it can do more too. If you can afford it I would take the iPod but the Zen is a great deal at $250. I wouldn't pick the NJB3 personally just because of the form factor.

 

[Watchdog]

Austonia I found your website to be quite useful. Thanks for having it, I just wish the forums were a little more active.

Given I don't want the unit for portable use I figure buying the iPod is paying for a feature that I won't use much.

Could you be a little more specific as to why you don't like the NJB3?

 

[austonia]

Yeah my forums are suck but, gotta start somewhere. My only problem with the NJB3 is its size. It's an excellent deal at around $190 shipped, I have another thread on that deal. So if you don't need it for portable use, go for it. It has one very strong advantage over the others, that it was REPLACABLE lithium batteries. And it has line out and MP3 recording/encoding too.

 

[MDDrew]

i have a NJB2 and found it to be much smaller than i thought it to be. i can put it in my pockets so its portable enuff for me
austonia is the ipod about the size of a nokia 3360 or bigger

 

[austonia]

Sorry I don't know the size of nokia 3360 but the iPod is small enough that you could easily confuse it as a flash-based player. About 30% lighter/smaller than Nomad Zen.

 

[AIM9x]

I have the njb3 and I haven't had a single problem with the software. i use EAC to do all my ripping and I use playcenter to x-fer it all to the jukebox and haven't had any problems yet. The sound quality is great, especially through CHA-47 (can't wait 'till i get the money for a meta).

 

[austonia]

AIM9x, how would you rate the encoding function of the NJB3? Is ripping/encoding on a PC significantly better? I mean it seems like it would be really easy to rip right from a PCDP to the NJB3 line-in record.

 

[AIM9x]

if i would use the njb3 to record anything, i'd just record it to wav and use EAC to compress the wav to MP3 using lame 3.91. I wouldn't trust anything other than EAC to encode. I havne't tested the NJB3 encoders and I will most likely continue to not test them.

 

[Watchdog]

Quote:

Originally posted by austonia Yeah my forums are suck but, gotta start somewhere. My only problem with the NJB3 is its size. It's an excellent deal at around $190 shipped, I have another thread on that deal. So if you don't need it for portable use, go for it. It has one very strong advantage over the others, that it was REPLACABLE lithium batteries. And it has line out and MP3 recording/encoding too.

Where can the NJB3 be purchased for $190 shipped? That's way cheaper in Canada and I can have my friend in Seattle buy it for me and send it up.

I'll sign up for your forum and post a few messages, hopefully it will encourage others to start posting.

 

[austonia]

excellent, thanks.

here is the thread I was talking about :

http://www4.head-fi.org/forums/showt...threadid=28800

I don't know if it's still on but here is as reprint :

Amazon.com
247.99 - $10 coupon - $50.00 rebate = 187.99

coupon info:
$10.00 Off w/ $149.00 Purchase
Enter this code at checkout: LST102