Creative Nomad Jukebox 3

Despite a 30 per cent reduction in size since its last incarnation, Creative's Jukebox is still by far the chunkiest MP3 player on the market, coming in at roughly the size of 10 CDs piled on top of each other.

However, portability seems to be more coincidence than design, as many of its features, particularly the inclusion of a remote control, imply that it is more of desktop accessory.

Capable of wav, MP3 and WMA playback, the Nomad now includes a Firewire port for faster data transfer. The analogue and optical line input to the side allows for wav recording and direct MP3 encoding. Rates of between 64Kbits/sec and 320Kbits/sec can be selected.

The hard drive clocks in at 20Gb, which will easily store the average music lover's complete CD collection. Transferring 300Mb of MP3 files via the USB cable took just under six and a half minutes, and around a third of that time using the Firewire port.

Battery life is impressive to say the least, offering in the region of the stated 11 hours of playback. There's also an option to install a second lithium-ion battery, although this comes at an extra cost.

The LCD screen may be large but, from time to time, the interface was confusing. Our real complaint, though, was with Creative's supplied software. Once installed, splash screens and toolbars littered our desktop.

The quality of playback is very impressive, but the included EAX functions add various atmospheres that are ineffective and therefore pointless. The supplied headphones are reasonably comfortable, but sound quality through them is quite poor.

The remote is small, with few controls to get to grips with. But, just like the device itself, this serves its purpose.

Price: £349.99 (£297.36 ex VAT)

Specifications:

• 20Gb of storage space
• USB and Firewire connections
• Headphone output
• Two line outs
• Optical input
• Weight: 293.8g without batteries
• Dimensions: 123 x 130 x 35mm
• Battery life: 11 hours per Li-ion battery
• Software: Creative Playcentre, Creative File Manager and Audiosync.

Contact: Creative 0800 973 069
europe.creative.com