Ooh, Shiny

Posted on October 14, 2002

Creative Labs has just rolled out what looks like the first real competition for Apple’s iPod — the NOMAD Jukebox Zen. Same tiny form factor, same FireWire connectivity, same brushed-aluminum look, but $349 scores you 20GB of storage with the Nomad. (The same size iPod for Windows runs a hefty $499.)

I’ve been a fan of the Archos Jukebox line of MP3 players forever — they were the first ones to roll out affordable hard-drive based MP3 jukeboxes, and they’ve led the price-performance equation ever since — but this thing might lure me away; the equivalent Archos Jukebox is cheaper, but also bigger and boxier. Although for a little more than the Nomad, you can get an Archos Jukebox Multimedia, and that one plays back video too… aagh, too many choices, not enough money!