Creative Technology MuVo Muvo N200 (512 MB) MP3 Player
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- Number of Songs: 120
- Usage: Music Recording
- Interface: USB 2.0
- Main Storage Type: Built-in Memory
- Storage Capacity: 512 MB
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Nifty little player
Pros
Ease of use, price, size and features.
Cons
backlight buzzing, can't be expanded to play other formats.
Recommended it?
Yes
The Bottom Line:
Need music on the go? Need music in general? this unit goes above and beyond the competition and where ever you go.
I bought this player 2 months after my my Nex ia died for no reason. I have to say after having to suffer listening to such terrible quality music on the nex, the only thing that comes to my mind is the word rejoice after using the muvo. Where the nex fails, the muvo micro succeeds in every way possible (read my review concerning the Nex ia bashing).
The moment I took out the player from the sealed package, I was struck that the player feels cheap but very very light. I guess that's thanks to the player being covered in all plastic. The box says "feel your music, not your player" and it's pretty true to it's word. even with a battery (included in the box) inside the unit, it weighs less than a pack of gum. From the first view, it's bigger than an ipod shuffle but i think this player is just a little shorter. i say it's about 3 AAA batteries or smaller side to side. it's a nice convenient size which is not too small and not too big. I think it's great that it's the size it is since i'm a bit of a butter fingers. it's a perfect balance between size and usability.
After inspecting the physical details of the unit, I plugged the player into my computer with the supplied cable and it instantly recognized it. I didn't even need to press an ok button to be able to access it in my file browser. in seconds, i was able to drag and drop my songs and listen to them instantly. while it's nothing new, i think that not having to use software to transfer files is a bonus, without proprietary software that is. it even doubles as a storage flash drive and i can retrieve information off of if i need to. after all the file swapping is done, i just remove the device and i'm off with my music. simple and easy enough for even the most novice pc user.
speaking of simple, i love how the buttons are laid out on the player, it has 3 buttons and a wheel like device that acts as a button as well. one button on the face of the unit plays, pauses, and acts as a power button and that's a lot of function in one button and it's terribly easy to use. holding it turns the player on and off, one press and it plays or pauses. Beautiful interface. the other two buttons are volume up and down but have no other function. the wheel is in charge of track skip, folder browsing, settings, and all the options the player has to offer. press it once and it enters the user into the menu for you to set the player how you like. move the wheel left and right will let you select the setting and pressing the wheel again allows you to confirm the setting. the buttons and wheel are placed far enough so there isn't any guess work at all. the wheel is placed on the side at the top of the unit with the volume buttons just below, and again the play button is on the face just above the lcd screen. This interface has almost no faults, i think my grandmother can use it without much trouble.
The player has features that rival all the flash iriver players available. Direct mp3 encoding, FM radio, FM recorder, voice recorder, equalizer and etc. which is more than what i can even whisper of what an ipod shuffle can do. although i'll probably never use the microphone or recording feature, it's nice to know that it's there. FM signals can be picked up quite well, and have the basic preset function and autoseek function. I've only used the player for about 2 days and i still haven't used many of the features i've listed. i've only been using it to listen to mp3s.
And how do the mp3s sound? exactly how i encoded them. if i encoded them at a low bit rate then i'll get really bad sound. but if i record them at a very high bit rate, it's like listening to a cd on any respectable cd player. there's no hissing, no pops when i skip tracks, just smooth music that sounds like it sounded when i listen to them on my computer. the only sound problem is when the backlight comes on, there's a slight buzz, but i chose not to have it on to conserve the batteries on my player. The earphones that came with the player sound decent but they don't feel very comfortable. i'm using my sennheisers anyways and it sounds terrific. Theres even an equalizer that lets you adjust it to the way you'd like the base and treble to sound. solid music from this player.
This player really is designed for everyone including active people. the player comes with a rubber shock absorving sleeve with a belt clip on the back. it comes with an armband that allows you to clip the sleeve on your arm to go jogging with it. it comes with a cable that allows you to plug into the line in jack and record from any source with a 3.5mm headphone jack. it comes with a manual that explains the already easy to use interface. it comes with an installation cd that guides you through using and installing software. I can't think of anyone who won't be able to use the player. It even changes the orientation of the lcd screen so the user can hold it in his left or right hand and the lcd will still be right side up as long as he changes the settings.
I've had no problems with the unit's firmware as of yet and i have updated to the latest 1.12.01 firmware that fixes some hanging problems, and loose ends. It's a pretty recent update too, feb24 2005 which to me is something quite unusual of creative. in the past i have found that updating drivers can be frustrating when the creative website leads me in 16 directions except where i want to go. I appreciate updates and fixes to make my player more reliable.
the only problem i have the the player is that it doesn't play ogg vorbis or any other file types other than mp3 and wma. i doubt the player will ever be able to expand for file formats but most of my music is encoded in mp3 format anyways.
At $110 CDN I don't know why anyone would consider passing this up. I bought the light blue one because of overstock on the colour no one wants. There's a whole whack of colours available and I highly recommend this unit. It's price is considerably cheaper than an ipod shuffle of equal memory and has all the functions of an ipod and much much more.
The moment I took out the player from the sealed package, I was struck that the player feels cheap but very very light. I guess that's thanks to the player being covered in all plastic. The box says "feel your music, not your player" and it's pretty true to it's word. even with a battery (included in the box) inside the unit, it weighs less than a pack of gum. From the first view, it's bigger than an ipod shuffle but i think this player is just a little shorter. i say it's about 3 AAA batteries or smaller side to side. it's a nice convenient size which is not too small and not too big. I think it's great that it's the size it is since i'm a bit of a butter fingers. it's a perfect balance between size and usability.
After inspecting the physical details of the unit, I plugged the player into my computer with the supplied cable and it instantly recognized it. I didn't even need to press an ok button to be able to access it in my file browser. in seconds, i was able to drag and drop my songs and listen to them instantly. while it's nothing new, i think that not having to use software to transfer files is a bonus, without proprietary software that is. it even doubles as a storage flash drive and i can retrieve information off of if i need to. after all the file swapping is done, i just remove the device and i'm off with my music. simple and easy enough for even the most novice pc user.
speaking of simple, i love how the buttons are laid out on the player, it has 3 buttons and a wheel like device that acts as a button as well. one button on the face of the unit plays, pauses, and acts as a power button and that's a lot of function in one button and it's terribly easy to use. holding it turns the player on and off, one press and it plays or pauses. Beautiful interface. the other two buttons are volume up and down but have no other function. the wheel is in charge of track skip, folder browsing, settings, and all the options the player has to offer. press it once and it enters the user into the menu for you to set the player how you like. move the wheel left and right will let you select the setting and pressing the wheel again allows you to confirm the setting. the buttons and wheel are placed far enough so there isn't any guess work at all. the wheel is placed on the side at the top of the unit with the volume buttons just below, and again the play button is on the face just above the lcd screen. This interface has almost no faults, i think my grandmother can use it without much trouble.
The player has features that rival all the flash iriver players available. Direct mp3 encoding, FM radio, FM recorder, voice recorder, equalizer and etc. which is more than what i can even whisper of what an ipod shuffle can do. although i'll probably never use the microphone or recording feature, it's nice to know that it's there. FM signals can be picked up quite well, and have the basic preset function and autoseek function. I've only used the player for about 2 days and i still haven't used many of the features i've listed. i've only been using it to listen to mp3s.
And how do the mp3s sound? exactly how i encoded them. if i encoded them at a low bit rate then i'll get really bad sound. but if i record them at a very high bit rate, it's like listening to a cd on any respectable cd player. there's no hissing, no pops when i skip tracks, just smooth music that sounds like it sounded when i listen to them on my computer. the only sound problem is when the backlight comes on, there's a slight buzz, but i chose not to have it on to conserve the batteries on my player. The earphones that came with the player sound decent but they don't feel very comfortable. i'm using my sennheisers anyways and it sounds terrific. Theres even an equalizer that lets you adjust it to the way you'd like the base and treble to sound. solid music from this player.
This player really is designed for everyone including active people. the player comes with a rubber shock absorving sleeve with a belt clip on the back. it comes with an armband that allows you to clip the sleeve on your arm to go jogging with it. it comes with a cable that allows you to plug into the line in jack and record from any source with a 3.5mm headphone jack. it comes with a manual that explains the already easy to use interface. it comes with an installation cd that guides you through using and installing software. I can't think of anyone who won't be able to use the player. It even changes the orientation of the lcd screen so the user can hold it in his left or right hand and the lcd will still be right side up as long as he changes the settings.
I've had no problems with the unit's firmware as of yet and i have updated to the latest 1.12.01 firmware that fixes some hanging problems, and loose ends. It's a pretty recent update too, feb24 2005 which to me is something quite unusual of creative. in the past i have found that updating drivers can be frustrating when the creative website leads me in 16 directions except where i want to go. I appreciate updates and fixes to make my player more reliable.
the only problem i have the the player is that it doesn't play ogg vorbis or any other file types other than mp3 and wma. i doubt the player will ever be able to expand for file formats but most of my music is encoded in mp3 format anyways.
At $110 CDN I don't know why anyone would consider passing this up. I bought the light blue one because of overstock on the colour no one wants. There's a whole whack of colours available and I highly recommend this unit. It's price is considerably cheaper than an ipod shuffle of equal memory and has all the functions of an ipod and much much more.
