30GB Creative Technology Nomad Jukebox Zen Xtra

Pros: Relatively inexpensive, small size, stylish and strong build, good battery life, easy to use...

Cons: May *still* be too expensive for some folks...

The Bottom Line: If you're looking for a viable alternative to the Apple iPod look no further than the Creative Labs Zen Xtra 30GB MP3 player!

Review: The gold standard of MP3 players is definitely the Apple iPod. And as such I purchased my husband the 30GB for about $500 in lieu of his birthday a few months back. It’s what he wanted and for the sake of ease I bought it instead of doing much ...

Pros: Outstanding sonics, repairable by a power user, low cost for function, reliable

Cons: size, weight, less rugged, separate power charger, ergonomics

The Bottom Line: Excellent sonics, but all such players are at risk for disk damage. Its guts are easier to self service as PCs are to a Mac. Great bang for buck.

Review: UPDATED 7282005 FYI, while reloading 30G of music the Xtra freezed on me. Removing, batteries or resetting did not fix the problem. I had to enter 'rescue mode', i.e., press play and reset until the menu appears, and do a disk 'clean up', which is ...

Pros: great sound, HUGE storage capacity, good transfer software, can act like a portable hard drive

Cons: navigation a bit tricky, can't see display with cover on, no stop button, only pause

The Bottom Line: I would definitely recommend this unit for anybody who is looking at the 20GB and up portable MP3 player.

Review: I had been looking at portable MP3 players for several weeks and preferred to get one with a hard drive. I considered the iPODs, but noticed that the Nomads seemed to be a slightly better value (more GB for less money). So, I decided on this unit. I ...

Pros: HUGE capacity, great sound, very affordable, very reliable and versatile. Goes anywhere!

Cons: May be TOO big for some. Many options take more time to master.

The Bottom Line: This player has a huge storage capacity, yet it is portable and cheap. Welcome to the hybrid of MP3 players!

Review: OUTLINE: I'll admit this upfront: I'm a nut when it comes to listening to music. I listen to it at home, on the way to class, in my car, while I work out, and whenever else I possibly can. I fell in love with MP3/audio players from day one. My ...

Pros: Rechargeable battery, high capacity, backlit display, menu system, lots of playback options

Cons: File storage feature is not (yet) plug-n-play
No drag-n-drop for music files

The Bottom Line: Excellent choice, though Creative has more advanced models now. If you don't need the cutting edge or a status symbol, this is a good player.

Review: I bought this MP3 player after suffering through two smaller capacity and horribly user interfaced players. This one has the features I needed which include: random play, playlists, play by album, play by artist, create ad-hoc playlists, etc. It comes ...

Pros: Sound quality, price, hard drive size, battery life.

Cons: Clunky, froze up on me once already.

The Bottom Line: This player is wonderful for its quality and price. Good for music lovers but also for beginners with music collections too large for smaller players.

Review: I recently graduated from high school, and one of the electronics I was not going to go to college without was an Mp3 player. I browsed through countless reviews on players, but was limited by price. My price limit was $250, but players with the size I ...

Pros: Great sound; good interface; replaceable, powerful battery; good software; wake-up, sleep timers; multiple play modes

Cons: Not plug & play; relies on ID3; no FM or recording; short warranty

The Bottom Line: Can’t beat carrying my 500-CD collection wherever I go. My favorite is to play “any track”– am rediscovering my music! Also love waking up to music with the attached speakers.

Review: Pros: 1) Great sound (>98dB signal-to-noise ratio beats Ipod’s “unspecified” ratio) and good power output allow the Zen Xtra to drive large head-phones as well as external speakers. With my Sennheiser 497 headphones, the volume is loud ...

Pros: Great (replaceable) battery Excellent value

Cons: firmware a little buggy boring appearance

The Bottom Line: If you're a basic MP3 user looking for something to use in the gym or on your commute, this is the player for you.

Review: Let me start by saying that I bought my Nomad for 2 primary reasons: 1) It was over $100 bucks cheaper than a similarly-equipped iPod when I bought it a year ago. 2) I am a bit of a contrarian—the more I heard about how miraculous the iPod was, the ...

Pros: huge size, removable battery, backlight

Cons: its a bit big, battery could be larger, cant run with it

The Bottom Line: loved it, because it works as my portable storage for my movies and camera photos. the audio quality was amazing

Review: i got one of these refurbished from frys for $90 USD, and i can say, its a pretty nice little unit. with a little bit of hacking, some people were even capable of mounting a larger hard drive. its got tons of space, i use my archos to take filed off of ...

Pros: Cheap! Reliable! and Better Then the Ipod!

Cons: Software Still Needs Work, Occasional Pop.

The Bottom Line: By Far a Great MP3 Player for the price! If I was choosing a first MP3 player this is the one to go with though. *And I still have it

Review: Update: Wow the time went by... Still have it, although I have replaced it for a smaller one but I still love this one for the majority of my music needs. Still pops but battery life is the same. It has a few scratches and I dont know how many times I ...