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LITTLE MUSIC PLAYER HOPING TO MAKE BIG NOISE

Nomad Jukebox Suffers From Napoleon Complex, May Be Imprisoned On Saint Helena
Sometimes, size really doesn't matter.

About the size and shape of a standard portable CD player, Creative Lab's Nomad Jukebox weighs less than a pound, but has its own hard drive, allowing the portable music player to carry the equivalent to 150 CDs in MP3 format.

Instead of the memory chips standard in most portable players, the Nomad Jukebox comes with a six-gigabyte hard drive, equal to those in laptop computers, and is capable of holding more than 1,500 songs. The unit can also record 10 hours of DAT quality sound.

Songs culled from many available MP3 sites—at least those not yet shut down by the guv'ment—on the Internet can be downloaded onto the Jukebox's hard drive from either Macs or PC-compatibles through the unit's USB port. The Jukebox comes with software which makes converting CDs into MP3 files easy. The software also allows the user to build playlists and to organize files by artist, album or genre. The Jukebox's LCD screen keeps organizational tasks simple.

The expense of memory chip use has limited the appeal of smaller digital music players. A beeper-sized MP3 player carries just one to two hours of music and required the time-consuming process of frequently switching music files from a computer.

The portable Jukebox was impressive enough to garner a positive spin from The Wall Street Journal.

"In my tests, I shook the device repeatedly, and even dropped it four or five times onto a wooden desk and onto the floor," said columnist Walter S. Mossberg. "It never skipped and never stopped working."

Mossberg also praised the Nomad Jukebox for its ease of use and file-transfer speed. The major downside Mossberg found was the power drain on the four rechargeable AA batteries the unit runs on. The device does come with two sets of the batteries included, however.

The Nomad Jukebox comes with 20 hours of music and audio books, including Beethoven, Mozart and the complete Robinson Crusoe. Creative may also sell units with pre-loaded music genres.

The Nomad Jukebox will cost around $500, and will hit the stores Sept. 18.

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