Is Creative Labs Nomad Jukebox 3 still the one to beat?

[Dusty Chalk]

I've been spending a lot of time on the bus and on the Metro (subway) recently, and CD's are getting to be a bit cumbersome. I'm thinking of getting a refurbished Creative Labs Nomad Jukebox 3 40G off of eBay from Creative Labs themselves (they sell them with a buy-it-now price of US$290, and they often go for less; the 20G version goes for US$180 and less). Is there a better bang-for-the-buck player out there? I notice Austonia now prefers the Rio Karma. Any others that should be on my short list?

 

[DigDub]

i think you could add in the iriver, ipod, dell and creative hard disk players into your list too. each of them has their strong and weak points. it really depends on what features you are looking for.

 

[raaj]

iPod, iRiver, Rio and Dell have credible contenders, but for the price/performance/options ratio, the NJB3 still remains to be THE HDD based player to beat.. iRiver iHP line comes close to the versatility, but you could probably buy 2 NJB3s for the price of one.. (almost !!)..

But to each his own.. and every player has it's share of strengths and drawbacks.. For the NJB3, the drawback is the stone-age looks and dimensions..

The magic formula for Creative:

1. Improve the design and dimensions (hire some damn Italian design studio, if it is what it takes !!) and shrink the player to the size of a 3G iPod. (the size of a mini is asking too much)
2. Support more file formats.. WAV, MP3 and WMA don't cut it anymore.. Give us lossless format and gapless playback support
3. Keep all the present options available on NJB3.. after all the iRiver iHP pulls it off in cramming all the I/O options into that little shell..
4. And last but not the least.. try to stay in the range of $250-300 for a 20GB model..
5. Instead of an el cheapo FM adapter, give us XM compatibility..

and you can have Apple for breakfast, Rio for lunch and iRiver for dinner.

If they

 

[Dusty Chalk]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DigDub i think you could add in the iriver, ipod, dell and creative hard disk players into your list too. each of them has their strong and weak points. it really depends on what features you are looking for.

Oh, yeah, I guess I forgot to mention -- fidelity comes first, before anything, for me. Features -- pah! As long as it plays, I'll be happy...this is my first DAP. Just for example of the crap I'm willing to put up with -- I don't have a firewire card, so will probably load the NJB3 via USB...probably an overnight job...

Sizewise, it's fine. It's about the same size as a portable CD player, and I already know I can handle that. It was the CD's that was bugging me.

EDIT: Investigating further, seems maybe the Rio Karma might be better. But Rio Karma only comes in 20G? I wouldn't mind 40G. Here's the price comparison:

Rio Karma: US$254.04 (+ shipping, presumably)
NJB3 20G: US$180 (or less if I have patience [I don't])
NJB3 40G: US$290 (ditto)
NJB3 60G: US$380 (ditto -- less likely, they haven't had one in a while)

 

[gpalmer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dusty Chalk Rio Karma: US$254.04 (+ shipping, presumably) NJB3 20G: US$180 (or less if I have patience [I don't]) NJB3 40G: US$290 (ditto) NJB3 60G: US$380 (ditto -- less likely, they haven't had one in a while)

Well if you can pick up the NJB3 20G, it's about another 150 plus shipping for a standard 80 GB laptop drive that you can install in it (Instructions on Nomadness) so you'd wind up with an 80 GB for $330.00 plus shipping.

http://www.nomadness.net/modules.php...ticle&artid=23

I haven't dealt with these folks before I got their name from PriceWatch.com.
http://www.memorylabs.net/tonyh/data...laptophdd.html

 

[gpalmer]

Here is another drive I found that looks better:

http://www.hitachigst.com/hdd/support/4k80/4k80.htm

I got the 80 Gb drive instead of the one I linked you to originally since it uses less power and is rated to take about 2.5 Gs of operational shock instead of 2 Gs. I found it on-line for about 10% more than the first drive. (Something like 166 instead of 155). The first drive though has the advantage that Bangraman is using it in his NJB3 and it works fine, whereas I won't know for sure on this one till it gets here this Friday. Since the interface is the same as the drive Bangraman is using, it SHOULD work fine, but you might want to wait until I play the part of the Crash Test Dummy before considering it!

The real news though is the new Toshiba 100 GB drive. If I remember correctly it will take about 3.8 Gs of operational shock because of a lighter head mechanism and it's better on power than anything in their present line up. I couldn't find it for sale yet, it appears to be a blurb on their home page, but it doesn't appear to have reached manufacturing yet. If you can hold off, and then wait till it drops in price, that would be the really hot setup. I wish I could have but I am time constrained.

 

[jmb]

I think the JB3 is best in terms of price:features ratio. I picked up a used 20GB for $120 shipped. Thus, it is possible to make an 80GD JB3 for well under $300.

Suggest using Notmad Manager/Explorer instead of Creative's software. Very good software and they constantly update it.

 

[Dusty Chalk]

Thanks for the information! Yes, this is definitely the way to go, because I don't think I'll use up the 20G right away, I'm just planning ahead.

You got a link for nomadness? I'm presuming that 4200 RPM are adequate.

Never mind, I found it.

 

[Gummy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dusty Chalk I'm presuming that 4200 RPM are adequate.

You wouldn't want a really fast drive since it will eat up the battery life

 

[gpalmer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gummy You wouldn't want a really fast drive since it will eat up the battery life

Actually the power difference didn't seem to be that great, you're talking about 5W for spinup instead of 4.7W for the disc Bangraman is using or 4.5W for the drive I ordered so probably 7-10% difference assuming the very worst case. I can think of a number of things that would make those numbers go down. Bangraman reports that his doesn't seem all that much different for battery life than the stock unit.

OTOH, I just don't see that the drive is really doing that much that it justify the cost of the 5400 RPM drive. The 5400 RPMs were running about 33% more than the 4200s or about $50. I also couldn't justify some of the drives I found out there that have a 16 MB cache instead of the 8 MB. I'm figuring that most MP3s will fit in the 8MB fine. You might get a bit of improvement, but I really couldn't sell myself on it being worthwhile (I could be wrong though). I figure, how often do you move big blocks of MP3s around?

 

[Muad'dib]

You've got 16mb on the nmjb3 cache anyways too

 

[gpalmer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by gpalmer http://www.hitachigst.com/hdd/support/4k80/4k80.htm ... Since the interface is the same as the drive Bangraman is using, it SHOULD work fine, but you might want to wait until I play the part of the Crash Test Dummy before considering it!

The drive above arrived and I installed it last night. It's working like a charm, the instructions on Nomadness I linked above worked perfectly.

 

[austonia]

Quote:

Originally Posted by gpalmer The drive above arrived and I installed it last night. It's working like a charm, the instructions on Nomadness I linked above worked perfectly.

good to hear. my 60gb NJB3 looks wimpy in comparison.