JB3 Info

[Brian Skalinder]

Nomad Jukebox 3 info

I compiled this by scanning through search results using "JB3" as the criteria.  Hopefully this'll help folks having all the info in one place.  Anything to add?  You know what to do!  

Cost

• $200-300 | Standard JB3 w/ one internal battery, accessories, etc.
  
• $30-50 additional internal battery

HD Size

• 20GB
  
• 40GB

Recording Formats

• WAV (3 hr max record time per file)
  
• MP3

Data Transfer

• Firewire
  
• USB

Inputs

• Digital:  1/8" optical
  
• Analog:   1/8" stereo

Bit and Sample Rate

• 16-bit only
  
• 32, 44.1, or 48 kHz

Battery & Power

• Proprietary lithium-ion internal
  
• Two battery bays
  
• Internal 1: comes with, gets ~3 hrs
  
• Internal 2: may add a second for another ~3 hrs or so
  
• External:   5V DC.  Some people report problems running an external battery.  Apparently, the device will sometimes lock up during or after charging the internal battery.  Charging the internal battery while powering externally is unavoidable.  Has anyone tried removing both internal batteries outright and running only on external power?
  
• Turn off the light and IR remote for optimum battery life

Firmware

• Recommended:  1.20.06, above that is apparently buggy.

Feeding a digital signal

• Many people have reported audible problems - dropouts, glitches, etc. - when feeding the JB3 via a signal converter, i.e coax > optical, e.g. Midiman C02.  Very few, if any, audible problems have been reported feeding it directly from an optical source like the UA5.  However, no formal tests have been performed with respect to bit accuracy feeding the JB3 directly from the UA5.  From my recollection of past posts, folks seem to be getting good results - i.e. no audible problems - using UA5 > optical > JB3.  See Testing below for more info.

Stopping a file and starting a new one

• Instead of stopping, saving, and starting a new WAV file, try pressing the track forward button while recording.  It saves the existing and starts the new one in one quick step (takes about 8 seconds).

Testing - updated 29 Sep 2003

• Both Jamie Lutch and Dave Klein have performed bit-accuracy testing with the JB3.
  
  Jamie, if you're out there correct me if I'm wrong, but over long term testing the JB3 did not perform flawlessly when running "digital output > signal converter > UA5".  It apparently dropped bits randomly.  In this case, the setup does not appear bit perfect.  However, some people are running this setup without audible problems (not necessarily bit accurately) and are happy with their results.  
  
  Dave Klein's testing indicates the JB3 is, in fact, bit accurate when running "UA5 > JB3".  This suggests the bit accuracy problems are related to the signal converter boxes used by Jamie and others.  So perhaps best results are achieved feeding the JB3 an optical signal directly from the ADC, like a UA5, Apogee ADC, or Denecke AD-20.
  
  Any others with feedback or testing with respect to sending the JB3 an optical signal directly from the ADC, please post!
  
  

Resources

• Dave Klein's excellent website covering:
  
  Analog Input Recording on the JB3
  JB3 Bit Accuracy Tests
  Fixing/Modding the JB3 Input Jack
  Modding the Edirol UA-5 for Standalone Digital Output
  How to Identify MP3 Sourced Recordings
  
  
• www.nomadworld.com (official)
  
• www.nomadness.net (user)

[Brian Skalinder]

More good info..

Friendly warning about CSBs and JB3s...they don't work.  The 1/8" plug on my CSBs (purch. Nov 2001) has a rather wide barrel that is too large to completely fit into the recessed input on the Jukebox.  It's hard to explain but if you have one, you'll see what I mean.  It's really just a combo of the the 2 designs.  I've only had it happen on the Jukebox, but at the same time, every other 1/8" plug I tested on the Jukebox did make a proper connection.

I'm sorry to say it took me 2 failed attempts to figure it out.  
First time I used line in, without gain (which admittedly was dumb because the CSBs purposely have low output for brickwalling Sony DAT preamps).  Levels were low but I'd heard that the JB3 preamp wasn't so great so I figured I'd go line in and boost it later.  The sound was crappy and thin but I thought it might be some side effect of having to apply ridiculous amplitude adjustment.

Second time, thought I'd avoid problem #1 by using the JB3 preamp to hit some decent levels.  Got great levels.  Recording sounds like shit.  I can duplicate the sound by taking a source thru 1/8" and pulling it out partway.

A little more playing around revealed something very strange happening to the sound because of the partial insertion.  I'm not quite sure what contacts are made on a partial insertion but I can hear both mics in both channels and a paste invert of one channel perfectly cancels out the other channel - in other words, mono.  But not nice sounding mono.

The solution - change the plug on the CSBs (don't much care for that cheezy gold crap anyways).  And yeah...I'm one of those people who would respond to this by saying "you should have tested it out" so no need  

Now if someone can tell me how to decode my lifeless mono recording back into a real one, that would be useful information - I really wanted those shows! (SARS concert in Toronto w/Kathleen Edwards, Flaming Lips, Guess Who, Rush, AC/DC, Stones and then Jayhawks/Kathleen Edwards at Molson Amphitheatre...in case any else did get them)

Sorry for the cross post if you're on those 'other' lists.

david

another friendly warning .... unless your REALY REALY in a pinch, dont try to run mics>Jb3 .... the hardware is ment to handle line gain and i'm guessing it just pumps extra power through the same thing .... long story short it has a INCREDIBLY high noise floor. I'm guessing the CSB's have a battery box or some such?

anyway .... thanks for the warning.

for Infinite Ohms...there is a mic pre in the JB3 - it's just limited before it switches into straight digital gain.

Analog: 24 dB of gain in 3 dB steps, then
Digital:  24 to 40 dB?  can't remember the top end

Here's the chip http://www.semiconductors.philips.com/cgi-bin/pldb/pip/UDA1380HN

[dklein]

Here's what I ended up doing to fix the input jack problem

http://ca.geocities.com/dkleined@rogers.com/audio/JB3input/JB3_input_jack.htm

[Swampy]

Some good general info on the JB3: http://www.taperssection.com/index.php?board=1;action=display;threadid=7215

[Brian Skalinder]

Downgrading firmware instructions.

not my ideas, but it looks legit, stolen from nomadness.net

Preface: Good day people, I've heard Theysius and others asking for procedures when folks say they downgraded their firmware; in accordance to the mystery of the non-downgradable firmware. Well after my tests, it is not true *unless I have some magical Nomad*

1) Backup all you data (music/file manager)
2) Boot into Rescue Mode by pressing the reset button, holding stop, the pressing play once you see the "Creative Logo"
3) Select "Reload OS" and answer yes to the warning
4) Load the Unpacked Installer of the firmware you wish to you downgrade to (you must be on DC power to do this)
5) After it loads, you will be prompted to reset your player, do so
6) You now are on a lower firmware

The above referenced procedure works to downgrade your firmware from a higher level firmware, tested with the following configurations:

1.36.02p -> 1.32.02p
1.36.02p -> 1.20.06p
1.32.02p -> 1.20.06p

*You are unabled to downgrade your firmware to a version earlier of 1.20.06p*

I'd like to note from my research with all of this, that the "mysterious French firmware" does not in fact lower the volume on English, English Int, or Spanish language settings, only on French (I concluded this after plugging it into a decibel reader on my computer, EAX off, and on the same volume setting of 12. Also, from what I have read and found with my own small issues of the freezing after pressing next more than a few times, that the 1.36.02p firmware resolves all of these issues; and I have tested this to be completely downgradable to firmware 1.32.02p in the off chance than any upgrade from Creative Americas will release an update with a lower volume number than 1.36.02p which I wouldn't suspect since they would most likely release it for European Nomads which must be above 1.36.02p.

->->->Upgrading To Firmware 1.36.02p Is Recommended<-<-<

Good Luck People... I hope this resolved some of your doubts and questions.

*Before doing a downgrade or upgrade, I recommend backing up all data in case of any issue which might occur while doing this; also incase you select format all instead of reload os (be careful)*

hope someone can find this usefull for getting rid of any new firmware that may be causing probs

[Brian Skalinder]

More info thanks to D Klein.  How to defrag:

1.  pull the battery out
2.  while holding the 'stop' button, pop the battery back in
3.  press play as soon as you see the 'creative labs' logo
4.  select 'clean up' with the scroll wheel and let it do it's thing
5.  select 'reboot'

[MikeW]

There is also a ton of JB3 info at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/njb3tapers/ , including a recording tutorial/FAQ in the files section, along with all current and past firmware .exe's.

I've also done some extensive bit-accuracy tests.  I thing it should be noted that Jamie's very negative test results were probably the fault of the inline digital format translator (DFT) to convert coax to optical.  Also, it is quite easy to replace the 20/40GB drive with any other laptop harddrive... they current sell 80GB laptop drives for around $200 now.