Zen And The Art of Nomad Hacking

securitas writes "ExtremeTech just published a step-by-step how-to guide on hacking the Nomad Zen and Nomad Jukebox to upgrade the hard drive in each type of MP3 player. So if a 60 GB hard disk isn't big enough for you (20 GB on the older models) here's how to mod your Nomad."

Comments

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

[deander2]

FYI, the title is referencing a classic book:
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

Re:What would

[sklender]

There are do-it-yourself replacement batteries for the iPod. For example, the iPod 1500mAh Replacement Internal Battery Kit costs around $60 online.

And according to the site, they'll replace your battery via a mail-in for an additional $9 fee if you are uncomfortable cracking open your case.

I've not had to replace mine yet, but knowing this made the original decision to purchase an iPod easier. BTW, I do not work for or know anyone at PDASmart.com -- just passing along something I ran across in research. :-)

-S

Re:What would

[2nd Post!]

Um, why can't they be replaced?

If an iPod can be disassembled, then the iPod's battery can be replaced...? Yes?

Re:Nomad Jukebox 2 ?

[u38cg]

Yep, similar approach. The forums at Creative's site (at least the European ones) are (or were, it's a while since I frequented them) quite helpful, and Creative turn a blind eye to this kind of discussion, beyond pointing out what nasty things it does to your warranty (pah). See also Nomadness.net for more.

And for those of us with an Archos...

[Cyno01]

Here's a mod for the Archos Jukebox. It seems to be the same basic idea, and is probably doable with any HD based MP3 player. Also for archos owners who may not have it yet, Rockbox is a great replacement for the crappy firmware that came with the thing.

Track Limits

[Madeleine Williams]

A warning to wannabe upgraders: all of Creative's players have a limit on the number of tracks you can load onto the player. (The limit isn't actually a fixed number, but a problem arising out of the space allowable for file tag data. If you have a lot of tag data in your files, you'll hit the limit a lot sooner than someone who has barely any tag data.) The Nomad Jukebox 3 and the original Zens both topped out at around 9,000 - 10,000 tracks. The new 60GB Zens have upped the limit to around 16,000 tracks. A future firmware upgrade is rumored to give the older players the same limit as the new Zen, but there is no ETA yet for that upgrade.

Re:Tools you'll need:

[cpt kangarooski]

Feh. The LCD screen is not particularly impressive. Ancient Palms had better screens. I disliked the Zen enough to return mine to the store. Not enough codec support, not enough metadata support, crappy ass program to put music onboard, and a lousy UI.

Maybe the iPod is better, but having done my own work on mp3 players (canceled before production, the bastards) I have very high expectations.

don't throw away your PC...

[joebeone]

There's no Mac support for the higher-capacity Nomad products due to a tiff between Creative Labs and Apple people... and it all started going sour right around the date of release for the iPod. Anyway, if you are a OS X nerd that buys one of these things myself and a few others are trying to get either Gnomad2 or GnomeDAP up and running under Gnome 2.0 using libnjb (current cvs). Wish us luck...

Re:Gimme that screwdriver

[Realistic_Dragon]

Yup, in the UK A&E is where they do triage and emergency treatment. Roughly the same as the ER in American hospitals, but the rate of lawsuits to patients is lower ;o)