Listen up! 2 MP3 players that break new ground

AnchorDesk

Listen up! 2 MP3 players that break new ground

John Morris and Josh Taylor
Contributing Editors, AnchorDesk
Friday, May 3, 2002

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Seems like the latest upgrades to recent MP3 players have had more to do with gigabytes than features. This week, however, our team reviewed two new players offering more than just additional storage.

First up: Creative Labs has updated its original Nomad Jukebox with the Nomad Jukebox 3. While it sports a similar look to the original, the Nomad 3 is smaller and has a much-improved user interface, including a jog dial and Back and Find buttons.

But its connectivity options are what set it apart from the rest of the pack. In the past, all Windows- and hard drive-based MP3 players connected to your PC via USB (the exception being Apple's iPod, which can be used with Windows-based machines provided you're running software like EphPod or Mediafour's XPlay). The Nomad 3, however, offers both a FireWire/IEEE 1394 port and a USB port, so you won't be slowed down by huge files or compatibility issues. This is also the first hard drive-based player we've seen that allows you to sync with multiple PCs, and that offers an optical digital in.

And that's not all. The Nomad 3's recording options are second to none. Using analog-in or digital-in connections, you can record straight to the unit's hard drive from just about any source and store your files as WAVs or MP3s. Oh, and we mustn't forget the 20GB of storage. If that's still not enough, music junkies can vie for the 40GB version due out later this month.

The second model we looked at was from iRiver. Our editors have always liked iRiver's SlimX MP3 CD player, but they're really excited to check out the company's upcoming iDP-100. It will be the first digital audio player to use DataPlay's highly anticipated recordable media to store files. If you haven't heard the buzz on this new media, DataPlay discs are cheap ($10 each), small (about the size of a quarter) write-once discs that can hold up to 500MB of tunes.

Though we only got a look at an iDP-100 prototype, thus far we're impressed. Our editors loved the jog dial and its sharp, backlit display. It can also play a variety of formats, including MP3, AAC, WMA, QDX, or CK. Keep your eyes out for our full review of the iDP-100 in the coming weeks.

Creative Labs Nomad Jukebox 3 (Editors' Choice)
Editors' Rating: 8.8
Read Review | Check Latest Prices

iRiver iDP-100 DataPlay Enabled Player
Read First Take

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Jessica Kashiwabara contributed to this column.

What features do you want your next MP3 player to have? Do the new models we reviewed sound appealing to you? TalkBack to us!

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