cheap Ipod alternative

GrahamGraham
in Off Topic Lounge
I'm thinking of picking one of these up...priced in Canadian dollars too :) think of how many hours @ the poker tables this thing could get you through.


http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=11059

it's a 30gb player for the same price as a 4GB Ipod @ futureshop:

http://www.futureshop.ca/catalog/proddetail.asp?sku_id=0665000FS10047081&newdeptid=19&logon=&langid=EN&dept=0&WLBS=fsweb5

11059-l.gif

Comments

  • garrogarro
    I have the Nomad3 (an early model shaped like a discman) with a 20 gig drive and it has been one of the best purchases I have ever made.

    Just as a side note however the software which creative ships it with bites :mad:.

    Go to http://www.redchairsoftware.com/notmad/ and check out the Notmad software. It works a lot better than creative's for loading music/data and organizing play lists.
  • GrahamGraham
    awesome. glad to know it has a "'thumbs up" from someone before getting one. :)
  • garrogarro
    One quick additional note. These devices do less than the iPods do. Specifically they have no Contact/Organizer features. They are basically a very large MP3 player and portable harddrive. The harddrive feature is not Plug an play, you have to use creative's or a 3rd party software addon. Also these devices will not work with a Mac at present. However there is Linux alternative software for them.

    Go to http://www.nomadness.net/ for additional info.
  • GrahamGraham
    so...just curious...could you load just about any files you want for storage on it? Like, could you load 10 GB of music...and say a 10GB .bkf file to back up a hard drive?
  • garrogarro
    Yeah no problem. But in order to off load the info onto a new computer or a computer that has suffered a crash and been rebuilt you first have to install the nomad drivers and disk reader software. However to get it onto the computer it came off of it is not a problem.

    This is because the nomad uses special mySQL proprietary (I believe???) file system that cannot be read without the proper drivers and software. This make queuing, searching and playing files on the nomad very fast since it is all data-based inside the drive. But files are not simply stored on a fat16 partition like most other disk based players are. Thus preventing the Zen from being a plug and play drive.

    This has never been a problem for me because along with my nomad I always carry my 512 meg USB key (hey I'm a geek what can I say) with all the nomad drivers and software on it. So I always have them ready to install at the crash of the drive.

    Perhaps a bit more technical than you wanted but I have a friend who thought he was buying something exactly like the iPod (when he bought his) and was disappointed because it did not do everything the iPod did. You pay more for the iPod but that is because it is a little more than just an MP3/Portable HD.

    However having used both the iPod and the Nomad products I still prefer the Nomads because of the extra attention they pay to making them a fantastic MP3 player (rather than an all around electronic device), Amazing sound (much better than the iPod IMHO), digital out/in, USB and Firewire support, great add-ons (remote/radio adapter, special speakers, etc). For contact management I still prefer my Crackberry (AKA Blackberry) and quick short term storage my USB Key. But I am a specific device for a specific purpose kind of guy.
  • GrahamGraham
    wow. Awesome...thanks for the detailed info..I think you sold me :)
  • garrogarro
    Great now if I can only get them to ship me my kick-back ;).
  • Paul3221Paul3221
    I have a buddy that got the 40Gb version of this player, and he loves it. The only problem he had was that it took him 4 nights to update and standardize the ID3 tags on all of his 15GB of MP3's.
  • wheelerwheeler
    i got an ipod and it is bloody perfect
    reconsider gettin cheap alt.
    pay the price
    they r excellent
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