- Holds up to 16 hours WMA or 8 hours MP3 music
- Line-in connects directly from any audio source for music recording
- Built-in mic allows recording quick notes or lectures
- USB 2.0 connection transfers songs from your computer in seconds
- Compatible with Windows 98SE, 2000, Me, XP
My requirements: Driverless flash drive [I use it to transfer files between my laptop and desktop, and I want the convenience of being able to plug it into any of my friends' computers, Mac or PC, and share files/music], arm band for working out, FM radio, small and light [so a AAA battery model, not AA], and 1 year warranty (this is no longer negotiable). Microphone recording a plus, but not a requirement.
The Muvo series fit the bill. I wanted a flash memory player, not a small harddrive, because for me it's mainly a workout device, not a home for all my music. I came close to buying the Muvo Slim, because I loved the idea of a lithium ion battery charging by USB, and I think it looks very cool, but the leather cover has no place for a belt clip, and it lacks an arm band entirely, and so I went for the Muvo N200 ("micro").
So far the unit has really impressed me. The Memorex came with a bulky, cheap nylon arm strap that was the size of a belt, and even on its smallest setting, was huge. The Muvo Micro, by contrast, has an excellent arm strap, suitable for a variety of sizes, made from a nice smoky-grey slightly stretchy material. It has a well-sewn extra place to secure the Muvo, too, which they could have skipped, since you could attach the Muvo anywhere, so it is a nice touch. The Memorex used a very cheap thin faux-leather case for the Biomorph, while the Muvo really surprised me by having a case that is not merely a cover to prevent scratches, but is a thick frost-white rubber sleeve that the Muvo slips into. It's pretty cool: clearly if you drop it, and it lands on one of the three corners protected by the sleeve, it will be well protected (it might even bounce). In addition, unlike a vinyl cover, this leaves all of the buttons easily accessible: i.e. it's not like a ski mask with holes for the buttons (this was a pain on the Memorex, as the vinyl kept slipping over the buttons). The buttons are well laid out, too. Even after four months, I always had to think for a second or two to remember which buttons were for what on the Memorex. The Muvo makes more sense. For example, the volume up and down buttons are by themselves (not next to other buttons), and they border the lcd screen. The volume up botton is on the side where the bar increases with the volume, and the volume down button is on the side where the bar begins: so it's easy to make second nature. The play/pause button is also by itself somewhere else, so you don't accidentally hit that. Overall, a very good layout.
The lcd screen is small, but it's sharp, and you can adjust the brightness, contrast, etc. As others have said, there is an audible buzz on the headphones while the backlight is on, but that lasts about two seconds, and it doesn't bother me.
The menus make a lot of sense. One very nice feature is the ability to make the screen appear upside/down. This way YOU can choose how you want to wear the player while working out, and then if the screen appears upside down, just flip it. It's those little things that I was happy Creative thought of.
Another thing: I was quite surprised that the Memorex didn't get very loud. I usually had the volume on maximum. The Muvo, by contrast, is much louder, so I can have control of the volume back, keeping it around 2/3rds, and then adjusting depending on mood, surrounding noise, etc.
The earbuds which came with the Memorex were painful and were garbage, but the Creative earbuds are actually pretty good. I did have problems keeping the right earbud in my ear while running, so I'll probably go back to my pair of padded over-the-ear headphones which I prefer. But I was still pleased with the quality of the Creative earbuds: e.g. they don't hurt.
The USB 2.0 cable that comes with the Muvo is a small-standard USB cable, which means that it's the same cable my digital camera uses, as well as many other devices. This means you can replace it at any store should you lose it and, more practically, it means I can just share the cable I use for the digital camera, thus cutting down on clutter.
I haven't tried some of the advanced features, such as on-the-fly recording of any analog source through the input cable. I also plan on trying some rechargeable batteries. When I do, I'll revise the review.
One final recommendation: I do recommend you consider the size of an mp3 player before buying one for working out. I saw a picture of a Sandisk I was considering, and it looked small, but when I saw it in person, it was huge compared to the Micro.
Buy Creative MuVo Micro N200 512 MB MP3 Player Dark Blue Now
I had this for a week and here is what I've found so far:Pros:
1. Very portable and light.
2. Long battery life.
3. No drivers/software needed (tried on Win 2000 and XP).
4. Reads ID3 (only displays song name on the screen though).
5. Has a voice recorder and it can record from the FM tuner very cool.
Cons:
1. When the backlight is lit there is a buzzing noise. [Edit: After firmware update the noise disappeared]
2. The screen is very short, but I guess thats the price for portability.
3. Instead of only showing/scrolling songname only they could have shown Artist Album Songname.
4. Twice it just paused in the middle of the song (May have been bad mp3 file).
Read Best Reviews of Creative MuVo Micro N200 512 MB MP3 Player Dark Blue Here
Ups:Incredibly small (excellent for going to the gym with, or just carrying in your pocket)
Massive storage
Sleek design (and it's shiny! A big plus if you're easily amused like me)
FM tuner and line in (cables included) can be recorded directly to device's memory
Microphone (a nice little feature for recording professor's lectures or anything else you may want to record)
Can also be used as a portable storage device
Music files can be easily organized into folders which can be easily scrolled/skipped/selected on the device's cool blue back lit LCD display and ingenious scrolling wheel
No need to install anything on your computer if you're using XP (and 2000 I hear), simple "drag and drop" interface
Screen can be flipped upside down for left-handed users
Has an equalizer that you can either customize or choose from the one of the 4 presets
Surprisingly good sound, even with the included ear-buds
Short of maybe an ipod (which, might I mention, has no line-in recording, no 15 hour battery life (which is super cheap to replace, unlike the $100 ipod battery), no built in fm tuner, no microphone, and is no where near as small or light as this thing) the best mp3 player out there you can buy.
Downs:
When the backlight is on, there is this really annoying buzzing sound
Songs within a folder cannot be "jumped" to, you have to scroll through the entire list (a price you pay for the player's portability and thus lack of buttons)
The battery cover has this shoddy little plastic nub that holds it in place...I'm constantly afraid of breaking it
This model (512mb model) will be obsolete in a short while (go figure....) because creative is releasing a 1GB version soon (will cost you about 200 bucks), but if you're like me, and can't wait, go ahead and buy this sucker, you wont be disappointed
When you record things using the microphone (I use it to record my o-chem and molecular bio. Lectures sitting about 10-12 feet away from my professors) you have to turn the volume up to max to hear anything during play back (or you can do what I do, transfer it to your computer and use it to amplify the sound).
The ear-buds keep falling out when I'm running
A little pricy, I think closer to 90-100 would have been a fairer price (if u strongly think this too, wait about a month or so, the prices on these things are always dropping)
If you get a dark color (I have the black), be prepared to constantly find your fingerprints all over the plastic case (white looks nice too ;-))
It comes in a package that is impossible to open, some kind of super-metal/plastic-alloy-crap that you have to use titanium scissors to open (maybe I'm just mad because I cut myself while opening it...but hey, the loss of blood was justified)
On a scale of 1 to 10 9.6
Want Creative MuVo Micro N200 512 MB MP3 Player Dark Blue Discount?
One of the best player I ever got. and I went through alot of other mp3 players before:ipod mini
muvo2 4 gb
ireiver ifp-190t (256 meg)
creative nomad.
etc..
along with all the other stuff, Pros and Cons that other people didnt' mention before:
PRO:
USB cable is standard size (so u can use cable from anyone, instead of paying up the A$$ for expensive proprietory cables)
mp3 encoding and Voice recording is pretty good quality and small size
line-in mp3 encoding offer 96k, 128k, and 160k quality
FM radio has good reception and have have intuitive autoscanning and preset setup
Encodes files are in mp3 format and voice recording is in WAV format. so no need to convert it or load a proprietory program to convert it (that was pis me off about the i-river 190 player)
no software needed. just plug in and it shows up as a removable drive
CONS:
The Left/Right Rocker is kinda not that that easy to use. I wish they would have swap the Rocker and Volume control buttons. as I use "next/previous track" buttons more
for some reason afew of my songs would miss the first 3-4 seconds of the song. those songs sounded fine in my other players
the wrapper that it comes in be careful when opening, it can cut you :P
when recording from FM radio the record quality is not mp3 quality but WAV like voice recording (but better quality)
the little "bump" near the back for a lanyard is useless because it's too small for any of my lanyard
No Playlist feature. it plays from the folders. not that much of a problem if u have few songs but when u get to 1 gig versions it's a pain to move from song to song since u can't jump.
Had this for 3 weeks, then stopped working. Returned it and replacement also stopped working after 2 weeks. It either turned off while playing a song, turn itself off after a couple seconds, or wouldn't turn on at all.
Perplexed, I looked in the amazon reviews, and a couple reviews suggested updating the FIRMWARE. I did this, and now it WORKS PERFECTLY AGAIN!!
Here's how to update your firmware.
1)go to http://us.creative.com/support/downloads/
and pick the correct mp3 device (mp3-->muvo-->micro), then pick your Operating System, and then Firmware.
2)there's two firmware upgrades. I only upgraded the older firmware (1.12.01 from Feb 24, 2005)--Creative MuVo Micro N200 Audible Firmware Upgrade 1.12.01. I didn't upgrade the 1.15.01
3)if this doesn't fix it, you can search the forums http://forums.creative.com/creativelabs/board?board.id=dap
thanks!
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