Customer Reviews

Creative Labs Nomad MuVoČ 4 GB MP3 Player (Version 2.0)

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(18)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(9)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

Before reading my review, you should know that I didn't intend to buy this device originally, but an iPod mini. We all know the aspect and design of the iPod is much "cooler", but this fact was not among the many reasons to why I preferred the iPod, some of them being:

- Had previously owned 2 Creative mp3 devices (MuVo and MuVo NX) which ended up being flimsy, cheaply, easy-dying ones
- I wanted a device that was sports-ready: the iPod claimed to have a number of minutes of buffer memory to compensate for skipping, it even promoted an arm-band accessory clearly aimed at joggers.
- MuVoČ said nothing about anti-shock memory and made no claim it could be useful for sporting. In fact, they promoted a 512 MB model (the MuVoČ X-trainer) as the "sporty" model.
- I didn't like some facts about the MuVoČ read in other user reviews

Since iPod mini was out of stock everywhere (except at exorbitant price) and wasn't going to be available until October 2004, and I urgently needed an mp3 device for my upcoming ski-vacation, I reluctantly ended up buying a MuVoČ. Now, my personal review:

Aspect and ergonomics:
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The good:
-I received the device and was shocked at its tiny size. Yes, you can read the dimensions in the specifications, but after seeing all the hi-res pictures in the net, I unconsciously expected it to be bigger.
-The LCD is crisp and clear despite its small size. If you are the kind that wants all 1000 songs on the same root folder, it'll be impossible to manage them. Things are made so that you store your songs in different folders, i.e. divided by artist.
The bad:
-The control wheel is too small, and although you will end up handling it well, it takes some training to do this. Only at day 7 I stopped failing with it.
-The device looks so cheap and plastic that almost invites you to chew it. Keep off your dog!

Version 2.0:
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I bought this device as being "version 2.0", having no idea of what this meant, but I knew this had nothing to do with the 4 GB capacity. Well, for the record: The difference I noticed with (what I read about) version 1.0 is that this one brings no carrying case. That's right folks: NO CARRYING CASE, NO BELT-CLIP, no nothing. It's just the device. After all the criticizing of the carrying case in version v.1.0 for not having orifices to reach the buttons, Creative acknowledged this concern by wiping out any vestige of a carrying case at all. Do they expect us to stick the device in our a**es??

Battery charging through USB:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The device has USB 2.0, but I haven't tried it because my PC only has USB 1.1, so transfer speeds are reduced for me. Despite this, the MuVoČ can charge its battery through USB 1.1 fairly quick. There's also the included charger that plugs to a wall outlet.

Freezes and battery:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The battery is removable, which proved to be a good thing because during this month and a half that I have owned the MuVoČ, it hanged (froze) itself 4 or 5 times with the only possible remedy being to remove and place back the battery (I wonder what would I be writing of my MuVoČ now if battery wasn't removable). Two of the hangs occurred at no apparent reason, the others occurred when using a car-lighter adapter to power it, after firing up the car. Fortunately, none of them erased the hard disk, so after the battery out/in procedure, things were as if nothing ever happened.

Battery life:
~~~~~~~~~
I didn't specifically measure it, but it's quite a lot. I charge the device once every two days, but never ran out of battery actually.

Functionality as an external HDD:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It comes with a driver for Windows 98se: a single file that weights less than 500k and installs in a snap. I have this file posted in a personal Internet site and this allows me to use the MuVoČ as an external hard disk almost everywhere. For Windows 2000 and XP, no driver needed

Sports:
~~~~~
I took this device to my ski-vacation. I ski quite hard, jump bumps, take high speeds, etc. The MuVo didn't skip even once. I even had two major crashes and the device kept singing as if nothing happened... so I'm very happy regarding this matter.
A note to point out though: during days of very low temperatures (below -5°C) the songs played with pitch shifted down... remember old days when cassette players were running out of batteries? Well, something similar was barely noticeable, but noticeable. Maybe the internal clock runs slower at low temperatures???

Volume power:
~~~~~~~~~
I remember the MuVo NX being very limited in this matter, most of the time I was listening at full volume because it lacked power. Fortunately, MuVoČ doesn't suffer this crucial problem. The volume is a 25 step bar. I live in a very noisy city, and hardly need to set the volume over 21, being 17/18 my most used.

Robustness:
~~~~~~~~
I unintentionally drop the device twice from 1 meter (3 feet) high into hard floor (no carpet). Not only it survived, it even kept playing the song. An impact of similar characteristics killed my MuVo NX in the first crash, so here is an improvement.

Finally, Myths and Truths:
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-"When you connect this device to the PC, it must be powered from the AC adapter or else it hangs/freezes the PC (read at the official C-NET review)".
MYTH. I usually plug it into many computers, both 98se and XP, battery-powered only, and copy GBs of files without ever causing a freeze or a hang. It's extremely stable.

-"The sound quality is outstanding, just like an expensive hi-fi system (claimed by Creative)"
MYTH. I don't care that Creative claims 98 db SNR. Don't be fooled by this number, as a matter of fact the specification says "up to 98 db SNR" which could very well mean "one every a thousand units reaches this mark, all others are way below 90". "Uptos" are not important in engeneering, minimums are, and no minimum SNR is given out by Creative. MuVoČ has acceptable sound quality, but it's in no way superlative, it doesn't even beat my previous MuVo and MuVo NX, despite their inferior SNR rating claim.

-"It doesn't deliver good BASS sound (read at many users reviews)".
TRUTH. When I read these reviews before buying the unit, I didn't give too much credit to them because I thought this issue was due to people using bad quality headphones. Well my friends, nothing farther from the truth: MuVoČ is in fact a poor bass deliverer. I tried it with my Sony MDR-A34 headphones and with two other models. And of course I tried pushing bass up in the equalizer. What happens is that you push up the bass in the equalizer and instead of having a louder bass, you end up having bass distortion.

-"The included headphones suck (read at many user/official reviews)".
MYTH. The included headphones are the most ergonomic part of the MuVoČ. I used to hate the inside-the-ear headphones because they cause me pain after some minutes of use and because they fail at reproducing bass sounds. Well, these are the first earphones I can fit into my ear and not feel pain after some minutes. Regarding bass sounds, there's not much to be delivered by the MuVo, but all in all they do a good job and overall sound quality is better than average.

Conclusion:
~~~~~~~
My main concern with Creative products is durability. I speak for me and for some friends who also owned MuVos (not MuVoČ) and none could pass the 6 month mark... its like if Creative were selling beta versions of the devices... I'm sure the 3 months warranty (against iPod's 1 year) is no coincidence... Creative knows his devices aren't designed to last... I hope within 5 months I can regret these words by having my MuVoČ still alive.


I hope you find the above useful if you're considering purchasing.

The four stars are strictly for the following:
-4Gb hard drive, which alone is a $300 item in bulk;
-WMA and MP3 playback;
-nice LCD interface;
-USB 2.0 speeds for really fast xfer rates;
-instantaneous recognition by WinXP/2k machines.

Those features above make this an outstanding player, and should make this a 5-star item. However:
-the enclosed headphones are earbuds, I don't like 'em;
-it isn't armored enough for decent shock-resistance (would like to see it rubber-skinned like its cousin the Rio Cali);
-no belt-loop holster or anything like an armband, so exercising with it might be a little challenging;
-FM headphone function is extra (boo!);
-controls are dexterity-building exercises in themselves.

This thing has an LCD screen, so why not use a thumb-wheel with pushbutton ability to handle on/off and playback? Granted, it has a four-way pad and a separate button which should be sufficient, but my banana-sized fingers keep jumping selections to "Menu" instead of scrolling left or right through the playlist.

Here's why this is so critical: this player can hold 500-1000 songs, depending on how dense the encoding is. Navigating through a straight list of 500 or 1000 songs takes awhile. Folders become paramount to organizing songs or artists, just so you can find something you like inside of a minute.

But does it play well? Does it do what it should? Oh yes, most definitely. And having a Li-On battery in it that recharges off the USB port is *exactly* what every player should have (if it used my Nokia 3650's battery I'd have given it the fifth star for the serendipitous convergence).

"Would I buy it again?" Sure, if I could find another one.
"Is it better than the Rio Cali?"

Hmmm... the Cali is definitely nice, armored with an armband I really like, better UI (LCD presents info much faster, is square and shows more at a glance), has FM built-in. But 4Gb makes up a lot of ground on 256Mb, even 768Mb if you pony up some cash for a 512Mb SD Card. Nah, the Muvo2 isn't perfect (putting the 4GB HD in a Rio Cali makes *that* perfect), but it's capacious, and sometimes that's more important.

Fred

I don't usually write reviews, but I had to give proper kudos where it is due. I bought one for my wife as a gift and it definitely has her approval. Here are some points as I see them:

Pros (for her)
-Small. Very lightweight and small enough to put in your pocket and forget about until you want it.

-Sound Quality. Even with 64 bit .wma files or 128 bit .mp3 files, sound was very clear with little-to-no noise and with lots of volume room to spare.

-"cute" factor. This very critical point to most women and especially to my Japanese wife pretty much narrows the competition to this and the iPod mini. She says it comes in a close 2nd, but she's quite satisfied. Good enough for me.

Pros for me
-$189. Darn near impossible to beat today for what you're getting

-Replaceable battery. One worry about the iPod mini that doesn't apply here - changing the lithium-ion polymer battery when it dies

-4gb. Enough for roughly over 100-120 CDs.

-Battery is chargeable via USB port. THIS is nice....

-Unicode support. OK, I haven't bought an mp3 player in a while, but THIS THING IS AMAZING! Ever try translating foreign CDs to English just because your player couldn't recognize or play the file name? Not with this guy....not only will it recognize foreign tracks and CDs but it supports and displays Japanese, Korean, Chinese, or any other language that adheres to the UNICODE standard. This deserves a star in itself. Alot of people wouldn't care about this, but there are definitely some of you out there that know what I'm talking about.

-Voice recorder and FM support (with some attachments). Nice extra

There aren't many Cons so far as I see them, but here they are:

-Earbuds. They were apparently designed for jumbo-sized ears and don't seem to fit comfortably. The wife will make sure these get replaced soon

-USB 2.0 So far in my experience, those theoretical 480/sec transfer rates? Yeah, I'm not seeing em. But in all fairness I've only seen 1 product ever that was USB 2.0, that didn't act like it was USB 1.x. This wasn't it.

Navigation wasn't great, but isn't bad either. Neutral here. All in all, this is a great product and well-worth what I paid for it.

Yes, it was disappointing that a case was not included, but this MP3 player is fantastic. Despite not being technically savvy, I had no difficulty setting up and downloading music. Creative's software is intuitive. I run at least an hour/day with it and have had no problems. With the shuffle mode it will be weeks before I hear the same song twice. The replaceable, rechargeable lithium battery is a plus--my old Rio consumed batteries. I selected the MuVo because of its small size and price and would recommend it highly.

I've had my Muvo2 since early August, and I'm really pleased with it. When I first received it, I was amazed by its tiny size, but don't confuse its size with its capacity -- it holds a nice 4 gigabytes (in reality, it's around 3.83 for me). The buttons are small, but can be used easily. The LCD is bright, albeit small.

The only qualm I have with the Creative Nomad Muvo2 is the functionality of the playlist. I organize my MP3s by album, so I usually just drag and drop albums into the Muvo (sometimes, I use my Muvo as a flash drive as well). However, sometimes I like to listen to MP3s from different albums, but I can't since one can't create playlists on the fly. This is a bit of a bummer, but I usually avoid it by creating a folder on the Muvo HD called "playlist" which is an amalgamation of different MP3s.

After about three months of usage, the HD now makes small clicking noises every time it is accessed. I've asked some people on a Muvo2 message board if this is something to be concerned about, and they replied that it is perfectly normal. I still have my fears. Hopefully this can last another year (hopefully two).

I decided on the MuVo 2 after researching several devices including the IPOD Mini. ITunes has a great simple interface and my employer provides educational discounts on Apple products. These factors made the IPOD Mini tempting. However, the non user replaceable battery and an additional fee for a wall wart style charger (IPOD Mini comes only with USB charging which is reportedly slower than the wall charger) are what convinced me to look elsewhere for a micro hard driver mp3 player.

The Good -

- Replaceable battery and wall wart for charging - various reviews have reported that a charge lasts anywhere from 4 to 12 hours.

- Current rebate makes the total cost of this device around $140.00 which is almost half the price of an IPOD mini with wall charging device.

- I like the fidelity - the sound is a little more focused and compressed than the mp3 cd player I was using...surprisingly big sound for the size of the device which is less than a pack of cigs.

- 4 gig drive holds a lot of tunes - I currently have 3.5 gigs of mp3's - 850 songs.

- It is simple to move tunes back and forth between and XP machine and the MuVo 2 via the USB port. Just make sure that you follow the directions about disconnecting the MuVo 2 from your pc.

The Not so good -

- 90 day warranty - it should be a year. I recently got screwed by Sony's 90 day warranty when my minidisk quit functioning after 110 days. Hopefully, I will not repeat that experience with the MuVo 2
- The reports of the semi cheap plastic feel are warranted. I don't think it would have cost that much more to make the thing a little more rugged. I'm looking for a short stereo jack with a male and female end which might prevent some of the problems I've read about concerning the stereo jack wearing out.
- The Menu is tiny and song navigation is clumsy, but better than I had assumed based on reviews. I can make out the icons with my bi-focally challenged eyes.


Overall, I'm happy with this purchase - especially for the price of $140.00. But I am aware that some reviewers have had the player lock up and have had problems with the stereo jack. The MuVo 2's internals are really slick and the replaceable battery is a feature that all players should have. However, external design could have been easier to use and sturdier.

The carrying case is a bit bulky and the control buttons take a some getting used to, but these were not the reasons I bought the unit in the first place. They were the sound it produces and the storage capacity along with its ability to handle wma AND mp3. Heard through my stereo or a decent set of head phones it is difficult to believe it's coming from such a compact little thing like the muvo2 sitting in the palm of my hand. 4 gigs of music is more than the average person can keep track of - what's in all those folders and playlists is forgotten over time.

Ease of use with your computer is a HUGE plus. Charge the battery, plug muvo2 in to a USB port and you immediately have a new hard drive to work with - you don't even need the Media Organizer software that comes with it. By the way, you can store data as well as music on muvo2's tiny hard drive you can carry around from computer to computer.

I've had mine for a couple of months now and it has performed flawlessly. There isn't a better buy around right now.

I purchased this player from an individual buyer off of amazon obviously and I got a great deal for only $140. I read some of the other reviews about this player being cheap and the buttons were flimsy. I have large fingers and my hangs still fit on the buttons, dont listen to the other reviews, all you have to do is tilt your hand to one side of the button and it changes song or other features.
The sound is very powerful for being such a tiny mp3 player that can fit in the palm of your hand.The bass is a LITTLE weak and for myself being a bass player it isnt a big flaw. I normally leave the volume on 16 or 17 but it can go up to 25 on my custom sound options.
Overall I got this player at a great price and if your a smart buyer you will too. This price that i got it for was almost $100 cheaper than an Ipod mini! O, by the way did i mention ive had it since december and i had a crappy rio before this mp3 player. It hasnt broken on me yet and i still dont plan on it. I RECOMMEND THIS PLAYER TO ANYONE WITH $200 OR LESS. IT IS GREAT!

I've only had this player for 2 months, and I'm already trying to send it back to Creative Labs to get fixed because IT HAS STOPPED WORKING. It doesn't turn on, and my computer doesn't even recognize it when it's plugged in. I've tried the troubleshooting tips provided in the forums on Creative's website (i.e., reinserting the battery, holding down the Menu button). I don't even use this player often; probably only twice a week at most. From the few times I have used it, it worked like a dream come true: fast and easy transfers, great sound quality. It comes with software to download, but you don't even need it. Once you plug it into your computer, it's recognized as a removeable drive, so all you have to do is open up Windows Explorer and click/drag your files (music, docs, apps, pics, etc.). The earbuds didn't fit well in my ears, though, so like other people have recommended, you might want to invest in another pair. Also, I wish there were a manual lock on the outside so the buttons don't get accidentally pushed while the player is in your pocket. There's a digital lock, but I feel like a manual lock would be more convenient.

Thank god I'm still under warranty (90 days only!). If yours breaks after 90 days, Creative will make you pay for the repairs. Good luck!

[...]
I use Audiograbber with Lame.exe set on '--preset medium' to rip mp3s for this player. Good happy medium between quality and size. Then I just drag the entire artist folders onto the Muvo2 from Explorer. The songs in the folder play in their correct track order (though the MuVo2 can do random, repeat, etc).

To make playlists I actually use the software that came with player (MediaSource Organizer). It works well for this purpose.

I have big hands and long fingers and it took me all of 5 minutes to get used to the buttons. It's a small pad, but easy to use.

Doesn't have a case and I hear the one sold by Creative is no good..but you should be able to find something else suitable without much hassle. I am using a case that came from a little generic brand folding knife/carabiner/compass set someone gave me for Christmas. The MuVo2 fits absolutely perfect (you flip the velcro front up and all but the bottom 1/3rd of the Muvo2 is visible).

Bottom line...if you don't care about being 'hip' and just want a really affordable MP3 player, then this is a good choice. If you want to be hip and you can justify the cost, or perhaps just really want U2's autographs etched into your mp3 player, then get an iPod.