Wednesday, July 17, 2002

Gadget gripes. One of my favorites is the Creative Labs Nomad Jukebox, but it does have these defects:

  • Inadequate battery life.
  • Awkward shape. It is difficult to stick it in a coat pocket.
  • Slow boot time. It reminds me of using my grandmothers tube-based radio, where I had to wait a few minutes for the tubes to warm up.
  • Lousy PC software.
  • Bad buttons. It is just too easy to accidently hit a but that turns the player off, or wipes out the playlist.
  • Clumsy on/off lock switch. Because it is so easy to accidentally turn on or off, there is a lock switch, but the switch doesn't really lock but triggers a warning message on the still. Still, you have to use the lock switch if the player in in your pocket. But the switch is on the opposite side from the volume control, so it is very awkward to make a minor volume adjustment.
  • It freezes a lot, and you cannot even turn it off, I have to keep a bent paper clip handy to punch in a tiny hole on the back to reset it.
  • The earphone jack plugs into the side instead of the top, making it impossible to use the carrying case.

Except for these problems and a few others, it is a really nice MP3 music player.

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