Creative Nomad Zen 2.0
 

Does anyone own this piece of hardware, or have experience with it? I am planning to buy it (along with two other friends who will buy whatever I buy) next week when I visit New York. At first glance it seems to be a very reasonable IPOD clone, but there are several things which bother me.

Proprietory battery which cannot be changed without voiding the warranty and is only rated for 300-500 charges.

Hard disk based, so not great for jogging or bringing to the gym.

Dodgy firmware and software, althouth there seems to be a good 3rd party alternative to the creative software.

Lack of availability for the optional FM wired remote


As you can see I have done my homework, read user reviews, tech specs, etc. I just want the opinions of intelligent tech guys like the ones you can so easily find here. Is it worth the 300USD, or is it better to spend 200 more on the IPOD, or stick with a flash memory based player?

I don't have any experience with the Nomad Zen but for the money you might want to re-consider the iPod or Archos Multimedia Jukebox for a similar price.

well ive got the nomad jukebox... like 6 gigs i think... ive been very pleased with it...well except for the lame creative software...