Makeshift In-flight audio entertainment review

Guest Discussion
#1

Following up on earlier posts, I went out and got the NOMAD portable mp3 player to use as my co-pilot on x-country flights in my 260SE, in lieu of buying a portable CD player. Here are my thoughts:

If you have a computer with a CD-ROM drive and appropriate amount of memory/system req. (they are fairly minimal) then I’d say this is a good value if you fall into the “I want to do this once and forget it” category. The unit holds over 100 CD’S and is no larger than a regular portable CD playerYou simply install the software on your computer (10 mins) and connect the NOMAD to your computer (must have USB) and then you can begin converting CD’s to MP3. It takes about 6-15 mins per CD on my Mac. I just stop back at my computer every now and then and switch disks. Amazingly, the program will search on-line (in about 1 sec.) and “recognize” which CD is in your computer by studying the pattern of song lengths…etc.

Bottom line, it stores everything by Album, Artist, Style…etc. Amazing. The NOMAD is the size of a portable CD player and tucks nicely in a front pocket on the co-pilot side. It comes with rechargable nimh batteries but can be powered by a 12v. Batteries give you 4hrs play and the unit comes with two sets. At about $400 on-line, it is not cheap, but allows you to load up anything you could ever want and take it with you whether you are flying or driving or want it in the office. I’m no audiophile, but sound quality is darn good, probably the same as CD’s. Overall: much more versatile then one little cd. You can have stuff for kids, grown-ups, etc. All stored differently with various playlists…etc. A little pricey but worth it for me.

#2

Love it! I may have to convert. Sounds like it might be worth the investment. Thanks

#3

Following up on earlier posts, I went out and got the NOMAD portable mp3 player to use as my co-pilot on x-country flights in my 260SE, in lieu of buying a portable CD player. Here are my thoughts:

If you have a computer with a CD-ROM drive and appropriate amount of memory/system req. (they are fairly minimal) then I’d say this is a good value if you fall into the “I want to do this once and forget it” category. The unit holds over 100 CD’S and is no larger than a regular portable CD player

How do you get it to store 100 CD’s? It seems as though the max memory you can put in these things is 64 MB, and, as I understand it, you need 1 MB/minute of music. That’s basically 1 CD. Do you bring your laptop along and play the music through that? Why bother having the MP3 player? Why not just play it off of the laptop?

Tom

#4

I believe the Nomad uses a small hard disk drive rather than flash memory (as with the smaller MP3 players). A dedicated device is cheaper, more compact and less prone to crashing than a multipurpose laptop PC

George

Following up on earlier posts, I went out and got the NOMAD portable mp3 player to use as my co-pilot on x-country flights in my 260SE, in lieu of buying a portable CD player. Here are my thoughts:

If you have a computer with a CD-ROM drive and appropriate amount of memory/system req. (they are fairly minimal) then I’d say this is a good value if you fall into the “I want to do this once and forget it” category. The unit holds over 100 CD’S and is no larger than a regular portable CD player

How do you get it to store 100 CD’s? It seems as though the max memory you can put in these things is 64 MB, and, as I understand it, you need 1 MB/minute of music. That’s basically 1 CD. Do you bring your laptop along and play the music through that? Why bother having the MP3 player? Why not just play it off of the laptop?

Tom

#5

I believe the Nomad uses a small hard disk drive rather than flash memory (as with the smaller MP3 players). A dedicated device is cheaper, more compact and less prone to crashing than a multipurpose laptop PC

George

I didn’t see any mention on Nomad’s website. The only mention of capacity is “hours” of CD quality music, or 4 hours of voice recording. It would seem to me that voice recording would be a lower quality (less space) than CD music, which means to me 1 or 2 hours of capacity. I was just wondering how it works since Dean’s post said 100 CD’s, and the Nomad website was less than informative on the actual specifications of the product.

Tom

#6

I didn’t see any mention on Nomad’s website. The only mention of capacity is “hours” of CD quality music, or 4 hours of voice recording. It would seem to me that voice recording would be a lower quality (less space) than CD music, which means to me 1 or 2 hours of capacity. I was just wondering how it works since Dean’s post said 100 CD’s, and the Nomad website was less than informative on the actual specifications of the product.

Tom

Tom,

This link from Amazon indicates that at least one version, the “Nomad Jukebox” comes with a 6 GB hard drive, which they claim is enough for 100 hours of music. and one user’s review/comment indicates this can be replaced with an even bigger drive.

Maybe this is the version being discussed earlier?

Steve

#7

I didn’t see any mention on Nomad’s website. The only mention of capacity is “hours” of CD quality music, or 4 hours of voice recording>

Tom

They’re talking about the Nomad Jukebox. Check out all the specs at:

http://www.nomadworld.com/products/jukebox/

Derek