Creative Nomad Jukebox - Connection

Latin Trade, Dec, 2001

Digital music player

Price: US$399

www.nomadworld.com

* The Good

Yow! The new 20-gigabyte version of this compact disc player-sized device holds 340 hours of music. That's 4,000 songs, or the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack played 241.5 times in a row. That's a lot of Bee Gees. Creative has been good about updating firmware, so additional features can be had for a download.

* The Bad

It's hard to imagine what's not to like, but until the whole digital music copyright issue gets worked out--and it surely will--it'll be hard to load this sucker up with anything but stolen tunes.

* Who Should Buy

If your home computer is jammed with MP3 files (we won't ask where you got them), the Nomad Jukebox is a simple way to get it all in a to-go package.

* Who Should Not

Generally, prices drop and quality improves with each new version of any technology, so if you're not sure about digital music, a few months' wait before jumping will help you more than hurt you.