I did return my Nomad since the tech support guy said there was a chance the problem was with that particular device.
I am considering getting another one. I see 30 Gig on Buy.com that would cost me $40 less than 20 Gig in Circuit City.
But I did get some controversial statements from the tech support as to what kind of MP3 files it plays.
The tech support guy said that the Nomad plays any file that the bundled software (Creative Media Source Organiser) would produce. I see that the software allows to rip and encode 16kbs at 11kHz, 18kbs @ 11kHz and 20kbs@11kHz - but I do not have a Nomad now to test it.
The 16kbs at 11kHz and 20kbs@11kHz that I had did not play correctly and that may be the fault of the files - not being encoded by the bundled software, of that particular device or of the Nomad design in general.
Could you do me a huge favor and rip/encode tracks at certain rates and see if ithey load/play on your Nomad. And also some files from the internet.
Here is what I'd like you to do:
1. In Creative Media Source Organiser, click Tools-->Settings...
Select Audio/CD Rip tag.
Click on "Change Rip Format".
Select "MP3, Mono" option from the menue.
Use slider to set Quality to 16 kbps.
Rip a track from a CD. Play it in Winamp. It should indicate rate of 16 kbps and sampling frequency of 11. Winamp is the only common app that I know that shows both those parameters.
1a. Repeat the same with Quality slider set to 18 kbps - which should produce an 18kbps @ 11 kHz file
1b. Repeat the same with Quality slider set to 20 kbps
Load the files onto Nomad and see whether it loads, plays and how it sounds.
2. Could you copy a few files off the net and try to load and play them after making sure they play on your PC.
http://www.mises.org/mp3/ss03/Shenoy.mp3http://www.mises.org/mp3/ss03/Denson.mp3 Those two files failed to even load on my Nomad.
http://www.mises.org/mp3/ss03/SS-1.mp3 This one played in slo-mo.
http://www.mises.org/mp3/ss03/Murphy-06-25-2003.mp3 This one was fine.
If you have an inclination to play with encoding wave files at the same rates with different encoders (CDEX, etc.) and trying to play it, the data would be appreciated.
I also tried to create an MP3 CD with the bundled software (Creative Media Source Organiser). I could not find the "Burn MP3 CD button", so I checked the Help and it says "Only available with MP3 plugin".
I called tech support to ask where was my plugin and he says that I only get it if I buy an Audigy sound card. What does the sound card has to do with burning a data CD and why does the package says that I will be eaily make an MP3 CD but does not mantion that I would have to buy an Audigy card - he could not explain.
Thanks.
miko
