Creative MuVo Micro N200 256 MB MP3 Player White – Customer Reviews

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1/10/2006 12:00 AM | Rating:

The Creative Muvo Micro N200 MP3 player may not be found in the market, as it has been 'replaced' by a 'new' model called the Zen Nano Plus, which seems to be the same model with a new name. I think that this review can apply to new player as well.

As regards the player:

The Creative Muvo Micro is a flash based MP3 player, not hard-disk based, unlike the Apple iPod. Let's see it according to various parameters:

1. Style:
Well, the MP3 players from creative have been stylish, and this one is no exception. It is almost the size of a cigarette lighter, and only slightly larger than a matchbox. While this may seem de riguer for all flash based players these days, not all of them can truly claim to be this small in reality. The Micro is basically a rectangular/cuboidal shape with soft edges and a small display (which is not colored, but suits a player of this size). Of course, some MP3 players like Sandisk's Flash range offer a bigger display, but are also bigger in size overall.

2. Build:
This is one area where I feel the player could have done a bit better, It is well made, even though it is constructed in plastic, but the volume and play/power button are a wee bit flimsy. Nothing to worry about, of course, unless you have a 6 year old with a penchant for using it as a WMD ;)

3. Features:
This is the Creative's USP. It is one player that is loaded to the gills with features such as a FM radio with FM Radio Recording, Microphone, and even Line-in recording, for converting songs from cassettes directly to MP3 using th player alone. No need of the computer. In addition, the player has 4 equalizer settings, and even a customizable one. And of course, it plays music brilliantly. My player has 256MB of memory which holds about 50-60songs, and the player also comes in 128MB, 512MB and 1GB versions. I would advice you to avoid the 1GB version, as it is expensive, and at that price, I'd rather say you stretch your budget for the uber-cool 2GB iPod Nano. (which has a colour screen, but no FM radio).

4. Sound:
This of course is the primary thing anyone should look for in an MP3 player, and the Creative does not disappoint. The sound quality is quite good, and can handle all genres of music from Pop to Rock to Hip-Hop, Trance... and everything in between. The earphones provided are of an excellent quality, with a nice comfortable padding, and feel quite good to use even for long durations. The volume may need to pumped up a bit for listening in loud situations, but i found that a software update on the net loudens up the set quite a bit, providing even louder volume, which is good.

5. Other features:
The player also comes with a very nice rubber-like extra cover to protect it. This cover is white and translucent, and lets you access the controls very easily. IT also doubles up as a belt clip, and the Micro also comes with a shoulder strap. The cover is quite good, as it saved the player from getting scratches when I dropped it.

A few quirks/drawbacks of the player:

There area a few drawbacks to the Muvo, primarily the weird sort of faint buzzing sound which comes whenever the backlight is on. This can or cannot be a major issue, and I guess most owners have come to accept and live with this. This problem is only heard when you are changing songs, in the silent period between the change of songs. For once the song is being played, you cannot hear the buzz in the background. Besides, I found that, unless you use the player at night or in a dark room, you do not need the backlight. In a moderately lit room, the backlight is not needed.

The other quirk is the relative lack of FM signal strength. I say relative, as compared to other players, as reception is quite good. It may only get a bit fuzzy if you are in a lift or a closed room with no windows ;). You have to manually scan for the FM stations, as Auto scan can't pick them up very effectively, but once you've got your station of choice, you only need to save it to the Preset mode, and you can access it at the flick of a switch.

Overall, the Muvo Micro is a very nice MP3 player to have. For those concerned about the slight Buzz, you can try Creative's Muvo TX FM, which has the same features, but is slightly larger.

11/8/2005 12:00 AM | Rating:

I have been through two of these units, and neither one operated properly for more than a few hours.I spent hours corresponding with Creative's help desk trying to correct the "programming error" on the first unit, and nothing worked.I finally returned it and got a replacement, which also malfunctioned after the first use.Problems varied from not staying powered on, to forward and reverse buttons turning off the unit rather than doing what they are supposed to, and also the memory malfunctioning so that when I turned it off or paused it and turned it back on, it picked up at a totally different location.There are supposedly downloads you can get to correct these errors, but I don't think it's too much to expect a new product to function properly for several months, let alone a few hours!
Buy something else!

10/18/2005 12:00 AM | Rating: