Customer Reviews

Creative MuVo Micro N200 1 GB MP3 Player Red/Black

5 star:		(29)
4 star:		(18)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(13)

 

 

1.12.01 firmware has been release to address the "clicking" sound produced during playback. Get this at www.creative.com.

Added comment: The rubber holder for the player, if left on for weeks on end, will somewhat scratch certain areas of the player. So if you're concerned about cosmetics, don't use it unless you have to.

Also, the V200 has been released outside the US - it's basically the N200 with a direct USB connection, so you don't have to use a cable. I don't know when it will be released in the States.

Revised Review:
I'd give this 4 stars now: This is a nicely compact mp3/wma player for 1 GB. It's not a USB type flash drive - instead you must use a cable to connect it to the USB port on your PC. Software consists of a player and an organizer so you can drag and drop files, and pretty much everything you need to rip music off CDs and transfer them onto the N200. Comes with a translucsent/ smoke colored rubber case with a belt clip attached to it. Also comes with a very long velcro-type arm strap. There is a small hole if you care to use a neckstrap (which is not included).Earbuds have decent bass but do not fit well in small ears and keep falling out or getting loose. I recommend getting a pair of the Sony closed-type earbuds (Fontopias).
There are a total of 4 control buttons on the player. 2 buttons for volume, one for on/off/play/pause, and one button "wheel" for forwarding through songs and for accessing the menu items. Microphone is built-in along with an FM radio. FM Reception appears to be decent. Blue backlight can be turned off or left on for 3, 5, 10, or 15 seconds. Every time you move the button "wheel" the backlight will be activated. Now, the problem with the backlight is that whenever it's on, you'll hear annoying static for the duration of the backlight. So, say, when you scroll to the next song, and if you have the backlight set to 3 seconds, for the first 3 seconds of the song you'll hear static along with the song intro. The new firmware addresses this. If you just got your player in mid-January of 2005, get the new firmware.

*****MAJOR PROBLEM***** regarding intermittent electronic crackling sounds - while listening to tunes on this player, I'll hear the occasional crackling sound, like there's a loose connection. This problem has been acknowledged by Creative and although not all players (odd, isn't it?) experience this problem, another firmware update in February of 2005 will address this. In the meantime, it's very annoying but if you're willing to wait a month (I am) then go for it. I haven't heard about this issue with other Muvo models so I'm eager to find out. It is a bit pricey for the storage space but remember this isn't a hard drive, but a flash drive. And for those who don't have a CD player in their car, just get a cassette adapter like the ones that come with portable CD players and plug it into the headphone input on the N200 for easy listening in your car. Also check out the new Mini Mac - less expensive for 1 GB storage.

PROS:
tiny, light, compact
flash, not hard drive based
good software provided
backlight
built-in 5-band EQ
language selection
built-in microphone
built-in FM radio
battery (one AAA) lasts about 15-16 hours
perfect size for exercising/running without having to swap songs constantly as on a 128 KB player
direct line-in to record from other sources
fast USB transfers
shuffle function

CONS:
earbuds don't fit small ears well
intermittent crackling sound during playback (new firmware will fix in Feb, 2005)
static while backlight is activated (new firmware will fix)

not a USB plug-in - cable needed and provided
pricey when compared to slightly larger storage space on HD-based players
2-line LCD screen may be annoyingly small for some to read
actual 1 GB not available - some of the apps take up space

I have much experience with cassettes, then with MiniDisc. I rip MP3s at near-MiniDisc quality -- 256kbps. This makes the files large, so I decided not to get a 128 MB MP3 player.

I waited, and now the 1GB players that are smaller than a MiniDisc player or Mini IPod have arrived. It didn't take long to research online and determine that the Creative Labs MuVo Micro has the feature set I wanted: storage capacity far above 128 MB (for large, high-fidelity 256 kbps files), tiny size and negligible mas, true 5-band equalizer (which all music players should have), USB 2.0, and universal USB-drive functionality with Windows Explorer (no special, cumbersome software required).

The 5-band EQ enables you to pick the headphones you prefer for style and comfort, then adjust the player to match those headphones as long as they are decent and you understand the principles of frequency response compensation.

The provided earbuds have a smooth and wide frequency response. They are white, which I don't care for, and are physically uncomfortably large, larger than the inexpensive silver-gray Sony earbuds (which are larger than the older black Sonys).

I recommend the Sony in-ear-canal Fontopia earbuds, because they are wide and flat in response and they block background noise. I use a slight mid-boost with these.

The red case is a good-looking, strong middle red -- not at all the cheap orange-red hue I've seen online. It is soft plastic so be careful not to scratch it.

My unit was effectively broken for a few days (it powered off when I tried to play a song file) but I formatted the drive and, especially, installed the latest firmware, which reset the unit. Hopefully this unit won't become unusable again when I'm mobile.

I keep the special USB cable with me, for file transfer.

There is a user interface design flaw: for no reason, the FM and stored music icons are placed at opposite ends of the cycle, so it takes around 8 actions just to switch between FM and stored music. The FM reception is great. The user interface is easy to figure out. A tiny, lightweight battery lasts a long time.

I tried voice recording and it was too muddy, at least with the original firmware. I will have to double-check this with other users to find out if better results are possible. I have only done a quick pass through these extra features which didn't factor into my purchase decision.

Highly recommended, as long as installing the latest firmware is effective at resetting the unit.

Its really a very small player. Flash players are a great technological advance. It was very hard to decide weather I should get a regular hard drive mp3 player or a flash player.

You are obviously aware of the pros and cons of choosing one over the other. Flash players are exteremly portable, allow you to use your own AAA battery, widely available, but on the other hand max out at 1 GB capacity. My choice was this flash player.

Positive qualities
-----------------
1) Great Sound, comparable to the iRiver H320 and Dell DJ 30 players I test drove earlier
2) Very very portable.
3) The player appeared as a drive letter as soon as I plugged in, and allowed for easy tranfer of files using Windows Explorer, on my Win XP Pro OS.
4) Transferred 994 MB of files in 8 mins, so if you can save all your music on your machine's hard drive, this ease and speed of transfer virtually resolves your problem of limited size in Flash players, as long as don't mind refreshing your players songs every few days.
5) Handy to have FM player, and recorder, along with Line-In recorder to convert your old vinyl tapes, or anything else you want to feed to this player.

I would recommend 1 GB to anyone, but if you are just interested in using it for workout and are on a budget, then atleast get a 512 player. Any music player who uses a portable player owes it to himself to own one Flash Player..

Negatives
---------------------
1)Browsing to the next song stops the current song. In hard drive mp3 players I tested earlier, this was not a problem. They let me play my current song, and browse through rest of the player until I found something else I wanted to switch to.

2)You need to be aware of before making a informed buying decision is, I couldn't figure out how to use playlists.

3)This player could easily be your only MP3 player if you can easlily have all your music collection on your PC. If you can't and you rely on carrying all your files on your MP3 player, then this player may not be for you. Then you might need another high capacity player like DELL DJ, Creative Nomad, etc.

One good thing about this player is, I could easily connect to my car audio system with a TAPE adapter, and change songs so easily, and not worry about damaging the player or its hard drive (since it does not have any). Its lot easier to have this in your car instead of a pricey and delicate hard drive mp3 player.

OK, now for anyone who wants to compare this player with very similar Creative TX FM. My suggestion is go with this one.
Why?
a) create tx fm is slightly bigger and slightly heavier
b) creative tx fm may offer you the benefit of directly connecting to your laptop or pc, without a cable (very good feature), BUT it does not offer line in port, so no recording from external sources like walkman, cd player, mic, etc. Although, both the models (n200 and tx fm) have internal mics. So, I prefer the n200 anytime over TX FM.

I hope you find this review useful. Except for battery life which appears to be great ( i can't tell how many hours it lasts, sorry didn't observe that), i think my review should cover every other detail.

FYI, I compared the sound of this with iRiver h320 and it was comparable. I have read at many places and in reviews the iRiver is comparable with iPod in sound quality. I bet, this player sounds as good as an iPod too, but sorry, I haven't compared it directly.

If you've been pooring over thousands of user reviews trying to find the perfect MP3 player to suit your needs, you're probably like me. I don't buy ANYTHING worth more that $50 that I havn't given several hours of research and as usual, that time was time well spent. I love this player. My girlfriend and all of my friends either own an ipod or other comparable hard drive 20G players. Sure, the mammoth storage space and ultra hip image was appealing to them, but size and fexability matter to me. I inteded to use it for exercising, most particulary rock climbing.

Right out of the box this little player is virtually weightless, sits in the palm of your hand, and has a sleek design. Another out of the box feature I appreciated was the sports band. It has a size adjustable for just about any physique and a soft texture as to prevent rub-age.

One point that has seemed to raise the eyebrow of those I rave to is the detail that the MvVo N200 runs off of a AAA battery. Yes, it seems like over time this might be a costly venture, but not when you consider the biggest benefit for someone like me. When you're out in the wildnerness and you're lacking the conveniences of modern society such as a USB port or an electrical socket, the battery use is a god send.

In my readings I also came across a complaint that the player lacked playlist capabilities. Apparently when a product doesn't specifically say that it has a function it doesn't exist. WELL IT DOES! Its called a folder. If you put certain songs in a folder it will only play what is within the folder. You can even repeat and shuffle within a folder. Does that sound like a playlist to anyone else? You have to create these folders on you computer before you go out into the world with your player. Its an ultracompact flash player for crying out loud!

Anyway, the sound is great, especially when you utilize the custimizable equilizer. The radio tuner is okay but I don't really use that function much.

There is one draw back, the earbuds that come with the player. Obviously these aren't meant to be awsome but the sound sucked and they hurt my ears.

In conclusion this 1GB Flash MP3 player is awsome an if I ever meet the guys who made it they definetly deserve a high five.

Let me clarify one thing first: all the cracking others have heard comes from bad rips from CDs. This is simply not a problem with good-quality rips to MP3 or WMA.

We bought the N200 because it is the BEST of the flash-memory based MP3 players that will play Audible books in Audible's AA format. Flash-memory means no moving parts--so there is NEVER any jumping or interruption while walking, running, exercising. And flash-based memory is far less vulnerable to breaking if you drop it. [iPods are hard-disk based, more memory, but bulkier and more likely to break, and far less battery time. Even the new Apple shuffles are based on built-in NiCad batteries--and take 4 hours to recharge for 12 hours of play!]

The N200 runs about 15 hours on a single AAA battery, easily replaced. And with a GIG of builtin memory, you can fit about 50-60 hours of Audible books; or 300-400 songs. Using the USB 2.0 connection, all you do is plug this thing in--and any XP machine will instantly read it as another drive. So, you have the option of dumping data files on this player as well--very useful, fast, and convenient!

Other advantages for Audible users: Audible-ready means you can fast-scroll through the sound file--an important feature if you lose your place inside a 6-hour audio file and have to start all over again! The nice thing about the N200 is that if you accidentally scroll out of a book file, the system automatically bookmarks your place--and will start again in the same place when you return.

All in all, this is a solid, reliable player.

I've had this for a month now and I'm very happy.

Where I use it and What I use it for...

-In the gym. It's convenient. I find my headphones are more of a hassle.

-In the car. It's convenient and easy to navigate.

-Studying. I have a folder with music that is conducive to studying.

-Napping. I have a folder with music that is conducive to relaxing.

-Audio Training. My company puts training in MP3 format and I can use this to listen to them.

Pros:

-It's 1G. Although sometimes I feel like it's too little, it really makes me figure out what I really want to listen to, vs the 40GB Nomad which has "everything" so I never know what to listen to next.

-It's a hard drive to your PC, so you can just drag and drop (and use as a hard drive). What I do is build the folders on my PC and just drag and drop them on.

-Although it doesn't support playlists, it does allow folders (only one level).

-Many play modes including playing just one folder with repeat....other modes are common (shuffle, shuffle repeat, normal, repeat all, repeat song, a--b....)

-The EQ is nice.

-Navigation is fairly easy.

-Sound is pretty good. Never used the headphones that came with it. I use Shure E2Cs. It also sounds pretty good using Grado SR-80s.

-It's convenient for the car. My car has an aux jack that goes right into the headphone. I guess that's more a feature of my car than the N200.

-LCD orientation can be right handed or left handed. Although I'm right handed, I find the left handed orientation more convenient.

-FM Radio is decent.

-It's small. Sometimes, too small, but overall it's a good thing.

-I haven't tried the inline MP3 encoding, but I do like the fact that it can encode at 160bps. I find that 128bps really doesn't provide adequate quality.

-Pretty easy to navigate especially between folders. You just have to press the toggle and keep it down and it shows the folder. From there you could go forward or backward by folder.

Cons:

-Within the folders, it'll play the songs in alphabetical order only. You can get around it by numbering the songs in each folder.

-The voice recording is very sensitive and is prone to any movement or background noise.

-The battery door can fall off easily.

-The rubber case takes away some of the nice design on the player. But, it works pretty well. And makes the battery door less prone to fall off.

-There's no lanyard attachment to hang around your neck. It does come with an armband, but I never got used to that.

-To lock it you need to go through the menu. It would have been nice if it was a switch.

Issues:

-Just recently, it started turning itself off intermittently. Then, it got really bad and it would stay on for only a brief moment. Sending an email to Creative Tech Support, they responded same day and suggested I upgrade the firmware to 1.12.01. It fixed it. It also fixed the buzzing problem when the light is on. I never heard the crackling that others have heard (maybe I just wasn't paying enough attention).

Overall, I'm very happy with it. Until it starting shutting itself off, I would say that I was extremely happy. Since it only took upgrading the firmware to fix, I got over it. I would highly recommend this player. Look for rebates and a good price like here on Amazon and it is a pretty good value.

I recently tried this player. All the specs and reviews seem wonderful.
What I liked. Small size, replaceable battery, design and controls are excellent, very easy to use, very good construction - does not seem cheap.
What I didn't like. Volume level and controls.
If you like easy listening music and can live with moderate volume levels than this is the player for you.
If you listen to hard rock and would like to pump it up or if you want to use a cassette adapter with your car radio you might not be happy with this player.
When using the normal equilizer setting on this device the volume levels are so low that they are just barely audible, the sound you hear is kind of muffled or foggy and I must set my car radio to near max to get any decent respone from my Alpine speakers.
The only fixes I found were to use alternate equilizer settings.
The Rock or Pop setting helped but the solution I settled on was to use the custom equilizer and set all the frequencies to max. This was better but I still had to set the volume controls to a minimum of 30 of 40 set points for normal listening and to get a better more realistic audio it was necessary for me to set the volume to 35.
Changing ear buds did not help and in some cases only hurt.
I've had an iRiver flash player for some time and the volume will blow you away before you can max it out, not that I listen to it at max but the audio presence just seems more powerful at much lower levels.
I am not alone as I have read of other people mentioning this problem on Creative's web site, and yes I have upgraded the players firmware to the latest North American (USA) version.
If I am able to return this device to Amazon I will probably order the 1 GB iRiver flash player as a replacement even though it does not support the "Audible" digital book format.

I would love to keep this player if I could get over the volume problem. I've tried to live with it but I can't afford to throw away the better part of $200 for something that doesn't meet my expectations.
Hope this helps someone out there !!

I love this little mp3 player. I considered quite a few of them before making the purchase. I wanted at least 1GB, and because of other positive reviews, I figured this one fit the bill (actually wanted the dark blue, but the 1GB only comes in black and red, but a nice dark red). The 1GB of space gives lots of room (over 240 songs) and doesn't make it unweildy to use. If you're like me, you're constantly listening to different stuff all the time anyway, and swapping tunes in and out is easy with this thing. You can choose from all of the songs in your computer. They recommend the software that comes with it...it's easy stuff. Much easier to go running with this in my pocket or attached via the included armband than it used to be with the portable cd player around the waist. Plus it's downright tiny when compared to the iPod Mini. The negatives would be: 1) the buzzing sound when the display is illuminated (I turn off the illumination), 2) the line-in method of inputing songs isn't that hot (don't buy it for this reason, audio quality is not the same), and 3) lousy sound when used as a voice recorder (except for maybe notes to yourself when speaking right into the mic).

*update*

After owning this a few months, I've come up with a couple more pros and cons:

-You can rip songs into it without having to worry about clogging up your computer's hard drive. It rips and transfers whole discs in, bypassing the need to save to hard drive (my nephew tells me he must save discs to hard drive with his iPod Mini).

-The size compares to a small box of restaurant wooden matches, or, somewhere between a pack of Tic Tacs and a pack of Trident gum...very excellent for you runners, and a cinch to FFWD to the next track while running. And no skipping.

-BUT, when ripping a disc into it, the file created will play the songs in alphabetical order, not in the original disc order.
And to get around this, you have to go into a windows media player and rename the songs with '01', '02' in front of the titles, since the Creative media player won't let you rename the files to get them to play in order!!!

Stopped working? Freezing? Not turning on? TRY THIS TO FIX IT!!

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!

This is THE neatest little player. Its about the size of a pack of gum and just as light. I was surprised at the sound quality from such a small player. You can even customize your equalizer settings. Bass is great too. I have the 1 gig player and its more than enought room for adding and deleting albums at a time. The FM radio(no AM though) is pretty good. It has 32 presets which is plenty. There is so much you can do with this player. Record FM, or use the line in, drag and drop files with Windows explorer. Its really cool and I'm glad I got the 1 gig.
What I didn't like were the headphones included. The earbuds dont fit well and they fall out when you exercise.
Also, I been using mine for a few days now and I have not heard any "static" or crackling as reported in some of the other reviews.