Creative Rhomba NX User manual

User’s Guide
Creative Rhomba NX
Information in this document is subject to change without notice and does not represent a commitment on the part of Creative
Technology Ltd. No part of this manual may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical,
including photocopying and recording, for any purpose without the written permission of Creative Technology Ltd. The software
described in this document is furnished under a license agreement and may be used or copied only in accordance with the terms of
the license agreement. It is against the law to copy the software on any other medium except as specifically allowed in the license
agreement. The licensee may make one copy of the software for backup purposes.
The Software License Agreement is found in a separate folder on the installation CD.
Copyright © 2004 Creative Technology Ltd. All rights reserved.
Version 1.2
September 2004
MediaSource, EAX and the Creative logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Creative Technology Ltd. in the United States
and/or other countries.
NOMAD is a registered trademark of Aonix and is used by Creative Technology Ltd. and/or its affiliates under license.
Microsoft, MS-DOS, and Windows are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
Intel and Pentium are trademarks of Intel Corporation in the U.S. and other countries.
MP3.com and the MP3.com logo are trademarks of MP3.com, Inc.
All other products are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.

Contents

iii
Contents
Safety and Other Instructions
Caring For Your Player.......................................................................................................................... v
Customer Support Services ....................................................................................................... v
Introduction
Before You Begin................................................................................................................................... vii
Package Contents ........................................................................................................................ vii
Software Included ........................................................................................................................ vii
Creative Media Detector ......................................................................................................... viii
Creative MediaSource............................................................................................................... viii
Creative MediaSource Player........................................................................................ viii
Creative MediaSource Organizer ................................................................................ viii
Minimum System Requirements ....................................................................................................... ix
Document Conventions........................................................................................................................ x
Web Information ................................................................................................................................... xi
Online Registration ................................................................................................................................ xi
1 A Tour of Your Player
Your Player at a Glance..................................................................................................................... 1-1
Using the Scroller ................................................................................................................................ 1-4
Scroll Select.................................................................................................................................. 1-4

iv
2 Getting Started
Installing Software................................................................................................................................ 2-1
Inserting batteries ................................................................................................................................ 2-2
Power Level Indicators ...................................................................................................................... 2-3
3 Transferring Tracks or Files
Downloading from the Internet...................................................................................................... 3-1
Ripping Audio CDs.............................................................................................................................. 3-2
4 Using Your Player
Turning Your Player On/Off ........................................................................................ 4-1
Selecting Your Player’s Menu Language.................................................................... 4-1
Playing Audio..................................................................................................................... 4-1
Enabling Modes................................................................................................................. 4-2
Using FM Mode................................................................................................................. 4-2
Making Recordings........................................................................................................... 4-4
Changing the Settings...................................................................................................... 4-4
Selecting equalizer settings............................................................................................ 4-7
Repeating tracks ............................................................................................................... 4-8
Saving a Bookmark .......................................................................................................... 4-8
Editing the playlist............................................................................................................. 4-9
Deleting tracks............................................................................................................... 4-10
Changing the LCD settings ........................................................................................ 4-11
Changing the LED settings ......................................................................................... 4-12
Changing the FM region.............................................................................................. 4-12
Enabling the audio track marker .............................................................................. 4-12
Changing microphone sensitivity.............................................................................. 4-13

v
Locking and unlocking your player.......................................................................... 4-13
Formatting Your Player............................................................................................... 4-13
5 Software Applications
About Creative MediaSource .......................................................................................................... 5-1
Appendixes
A General Specifications
Size....................................................................................................................................... A-1
Weight................................................................................................................................ A-1
Capacity.............................................................................................................................. A-1
Recording time................................................................................................................. A-1
Battery type ...................................................................................................................... A-1
Battery playback time .................................................................................................... A-1
Interface ............................................................................................................................. A-1
Playback Formats ............................................................................................................ A-1
Voice Recording Format............................................................................................... A-1
Signal to Noise Ratio...................................................................................................... A-2
FM Frequency Range...................................................................................................... A-2
THD.................................................................................................................................... A-2
Earphone Output............................................................................................................ A-2
LCD backlight................................................................................................................... A-2
Line-in Specs..................................................................................................................... A-2

vi
B Frequently Asked Questions
AutoPlay................................................................................................................................................. B-1
General .................................................................................................................................................. B-2
Usage ...................................................................................................................................................... B-3

Safety and Other Instructions

Safety and Other Instructions v
Safety and Other Instructions
Caring For
Your Player
While your player is quite robust, observing these handling procedures will
prolong its life:
❍Follow the information in this User's Guide only.
❍Do not use your earphones at high volume continuously as this may
damage your ears.
❍Do not shake or vibrate your player excessively as this may damage your
player or cause it to malfunction.
❍Do not expose the player to high temperature or extreme temperature
change.
❍Keep the player away from strong magnetic fields.
❍Keep the player away from excessive moisture.
❍Keep the player away from chemicals like alcohol, polish, or benzene.
Customer
Support
Services
Visit www.creative.com and go to your region’s web site for general help.
Creative will not be
responsible for any
loss of data due to
any reasons
whatsoever, including
loss of data due to
product breakage or
malfunction.

Introduction

Introduction vii
Introduction
Creative Rhomba NX allows you to play both MP3 and WMA (Windows
Media Audio) formats. Its built-in internal memory provides ample capacity to
store your favorite music files, and doubles as a storage device for
documents, presentations and other data files. The player also has a built-in
microphone and an FM radio.
Before You
Begin
Package Contents ❍Creative Rhomba NX
❍Earphones
❍Installation CD including User’s Guide (on CD)
❍Quick Start leaflet
❍Neck strap
❍USB cable
❍Line In cable
❍2 x AAA alkaline batteries
Software Included ❍Creative Media Detector
❍Creative MediaSource
The package
contents listed
here may differ
from country to
country.

Introduction viii
Creative Media
Detector
Media Detector makes it easy for you to access multimedia content from
various internal or external media. There is no need to hunt through a maze
of different software to play different types of files.
Media Detector automatically recognizes the insertion of CDs, and
connection of external devices like Creative Rhomba NX. Upon recognition,
the content in the media will automatically start playing.
Creative
MediaSource
Creative MediaSource is your ultimate all-in-one digital entertainment
software, designed for playing, creating, organizing and transferring digital
music. It includes several applications like the Player and Organizer.
For more information and usage details on Creative MediaSource, refer to its
online Help.
Creative
MediaSource
Player
Unlike other media players, Creative MediaSource Player provides exclusive
features (such as SmartFit), specially designed to manage and configure
your Creative Rhomba NX more efficiently. With Creative MediaSource
Player, you can play back a wide variety of digital audio and video formats
such as MP3, WMA, WAV, Audio CD, Midi, VCD, AVI and MPEG-1 on the
computer. You can also use the integrated recorder in Creative MediaSource
to record audio.
Creative
MediaSource
Organizer
The Organizer can be considered an extended view of the Player, as it
provides additional features to help you manage a huge music library more
easily. With it, you can:
❍rip Audio CDs and create high quality digital audio files (up to 320 kbps
for MP3 and 256 kbps for WMA)
❍configure the settings for Creative Rhomba NX while it is plugged-in to
Creative MediaSource

Introduction ix
❍"squeeze" more audio tracks into your player with SmartFit, which
employs intelligent track management and WMA compression
❍view the contents of your computer and your Creative Rhomba NX using
the dual-window transfer panel, convenient for file transfer
❍locate songs in a few seconds, just by typing some keywords into the
sophisticated music search engine
Minimum
System
Requirements
❍Microsoft®Windows®XP, Windows Millennium Edition (Me), Windows
2000, or Windows 98 Second Edition (SE)
❍Intel®Pentium®II 233 MHz
❍CD-ROM drive
❍USB 1.1 port
❍128 MB RAM
❍100 MB free hard disk space (more needed for storing audio)
❍SVGA graphics adapter (256 colors, 800 x 600 resolution or better)
The software
applications on the
installation CD may
have higher
requirements for
basic functionality.
Refer to each
application’s
documentation for
details

Introduction x
Document
Conventions
We use icons to highlight useful or urgent information for you:
Tip. This tells you about shortcuts or hints relating to a feature.
Note. This highlights additional or important information about
a feature.
Caution! This highlights proper usage of your player. Use this
information to avoid situations involving risk.
Warning! This warns you of possible hazards to yourself or
your player, which may result in injury or damage.

Introduction xi
Web
Information
Visit www.creative.com regularly for information on:
❍firmware updates
❍tips and tricks
❍frequently asked questions
❍documentation updates
❍software updates or purchases
❍technologies used in your player
❍an online glossary
Online
Registration
Enjoy a host of benefits by registering your product during installation, or at
www.creative.com/register. Benefits include:
❍Service and Product support from Creative.
❍Exclusive updates on promotions and events!
When checking on
product
information, go to
your respective
region.

A Tour of Your Player

A Tour of Your Player 1-1
A Tour of Your Player
Your Player at
a Glance
Mode scroller
Liquid Crystal
Display (LCD)
Record button
Hold switch
Front View
Side Views
Folder/A-B button
Volume/Menu scroller
Earphone jack
Line In jack
Microphone
Play/Pause button
USB port

A Tour of Your Player 1-2
Button What It Does Usage Tips
PLAY/PAUSE
❍turns the player on and off
❍starts, pauses or continues playback
❍changes FM radio presets
❍recalls menu screen
❍recalls playback screen
❍press and hold until player turns
on or off
VOLUME/MENU
❍increases and decreases the volume
❍scrolls through menu options
❍selects menu options
❍push to the right or left to
increase or decrease the volume
quickly
❍use the Volume/Menu scroller to
scroll through menu options and
press the Volume/Menu scroller
to select an option (for more
information, see "Using the
Scroller" on page 1-4)
RECORD ❍records voice or FM Radio channels ❍in Voice or FM Radio mode,
press to start or stop recording
HOLD
❍locks the player buttons so they will not be
accidentally pressed
FOLDER/A-B
❍repeats a specific section of a track
❍mutes the audio (in FM Radio mode only)
❍goes back to the main screen for
changing folders
❍during playback, press once to
mark the beginning of a section,
and press again to mark the end
of the section. The section is
repeated automatically.
❍press and hold to go back to the
main folder screen

A Tour of Your Player 1-3
MODE SCROLLER
❍selects Music, FM Radio, Voice or Line-In
mode
❍starts or stops playback
❍goes to the previous or next track
❍moves ahead or moves back
❍selects mode options
❍changes FM radio frequencies
❍stores or deletes FM presets
❍during playback, turn the Mode
scroller to go to the previous or
next track
❍during playback, turn and hold
the Mode scroller to move ahead
or move back within a track
❍during playback, press the Mode
scroller to stop playback
❍press and hold to go back to the
main mode screen
❍use the Mode scroller to
navigate through folders and
press to select a folder
❍press the Mode scroller to store
or delete FM presets in FM
mode
❍use the Mode scroller to scroll
through mode options and press
the Mode scroller to select an
option (for more information, see
"Using the Scroller" on page 1-4)
Button What It Does Usage Tips

A Tour of Your Player 1-4
Using the
Scroller
Scroll Select The scroller is one of the most important features of your Rhomba NX. In this
document, we will use a new term, “Scroll Select”, to indicate that you should
use the scroller to scroll through options and then select the option by
pressing the scroller.
Depending on the screen you are in, you can have different menu options.
You can also choose options from a list.
To "Scroll Select",
use the scroller to
scroll to the option
you want, and select
the option by
pressing the scroller.