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Jukebox Zen combines power, great price
By Jeordan Legon
(CNN) -- If I could only get one gift this holiday, Creative's Nomad Jukebox Zen would be it. Slick, functional and easy to use, this gadget's 20-gigabyte hard disk can hold up to 5,000 MP3 songs, and you can bump that up to 8,000 tunes using Windows Media Audio formats. The Creative PlayCenter 3 software that accompanies the player can be a bit buggy, but once you get it going, it lets you easily convert CD tracks to MP3s, create playlists and move files from your computer to your player with the click of a button. The Zen's silver case doesn't have the milky white hipness of Apple's iPod jukebox. And this unit is bulkier than an iPod -- not really meant to fit in your front pocket. But the $299 price after a $50 mail-in rebate is about $200 less than an iPod. I would definitely be willing to part with a little style to save a few bucks. Call it practicalThe Zen looks like the iPod's less refined but handsome cousin. Its brushed aluminum body measuring 2.99-by-4.43-by-.95-inches fits comfortably in one hand. And its lines are clean and rectangular. The unit weighs 9.5 ounces, and one of my favorite features is the jog dial on the unit that lets you easily scroll to songs and press the dial to play. The unit connects to your computer via USB port and FireWire. Right now, it only works with Window's PCs, not Apple products. And the Zen lets you connect and share your music collections in multiple computers. By contrast, the iPod, according to reviewers who have tried it, has light copy protection that only allows syncing to one computer. Another handy Zen feature is that you can recharge it via your laptop's USB port, which could save you the trouble of carrying a separate charger when you travel. On the other hand, to hear the radio or make recordings, you have to buy a separate attachment. How does it work?Setting it up was relatively easy. However, I had to install the Creative PlayCenter software twice on my laptop before it would work. The player itself has crisp sound quality and a long battery life -- about 12 hours from a single charge. The interactive tutorial that comes with the software is a great touch. It takes you on a guided tour of the jukebox's many features and the file-management software. One of my favorite options is the Smart Volume settings, which let you tailor your music to an airplane, bathroom or car. And if you're going to sleep, you can normalize the volume to reduce the peaks and valleys that may disturb your rest. Doing the shuffleThe shuffle feature is not so easy to find. After four days of searching through menus, I still can't find a way to shuffle a playlist without having to go into the file-management software in my computer and sorting the files there. But on the other hand, I can easily search for song titles, artists, playlists or albums from the unit. And I love how fast files go from the computer to the jukebox. Listening to audio books on the Zen is also nice because you can bookmark the spot where you left off and return there later. I've been resisting taking my CD collection digital for years because MP3 players have lacked the hard drive space, ease of use, dependability and low price. The Jukebox Zen delivers a compelling argument for music lovers to go digital.
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