Customer Reviews

Creative MuVo Micro N200 512 MB MP3 Player White

5 star:		(51)
4 star:		(29)
3 star:		(13)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(11)

 

 

I wanted an mp3 player for working out and running. I am one of those guys who reads everything they can about something before buying one. What I read about mp3 players was a bit worrisome: countless reports that mp3 players break or have minor problems. So I picked up a Memorex Biomorph (I liked the size and features) along with an extended warranty beyond the 3 month product warranty, and sure enough, with light use, the product died with lots of strange nonsense on the lcd screen after 4 months. (I "reset" the device per technical support troubleshooting, but it didn't help.) I went through the hassle of returning it and getting reimbursed, minus the 40 dollar extended warranty cost. And I set out to read all the reviews I could before buying another mp3 player. I read the most positive reviews and least complaints with the Creative MUVO series.

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.

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).

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

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.

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 player I ended up getting after doing a lot of research. I figured that 512mb was enough, and although 1gb would be nice, it wasn't worth the additionall cost. I wanted a player that had a radio in case I got sick of what was loaded into the player. The radio has great reception, but you seem to have to hold it away from your body for weaker stations to come in. It comes with a little rubbery case that has the belt clip on it if you want to clip it to something (like the included armband or your belt). It also has a spot to attach a neclace on the player itself. See my "customer pictures" at the link at the top of the page if you're curious what everything that comes with it looks like. One of the things about all these mp3 players is that unless you go to a store, it's hard to tell what they look like from the one angle they show you. It's very light (about 1oz WITH the battery inside, 1.5 oz with battery and little rubbery case). I got rechargeable batteries for mine and I've been using it for about 3 weeks, 3 hours per week and it's still going with more than half the battery power showing on the battery indicator. It is easy to navigate the music on the player too. You can skip through tracks or go up a level to skip through folders if you have your music organized in folders. The player remembers where you were even if you switch to listen to the radio for a while and then go back to mp3 (especially nice for books on tape/cd). This seemed to me to be the best flash based player. The only other contender was the Sandisk one, but this has one feature that the Sandisk doesn't have; input so you can record from your stereo or an external microphone. It's easy to use, sounds great. Also, although Creative doesn't list it as Mac compatible, it is. If you plug it into a mac, the player shows up on the desktop as a drive and you can drag mp3 files onto it and they copy to the player perfectly. The only complaint I have is the same one that everyone does, when you push the buttons the backlight comes on for a few seconds and during the time the light is on there is a buzz. Not a big deal, but has to be said. Here are the features that drove me to buy this:
<ul>
<li>Plays mp3 of course
<li>Small and light
<li>FM tuner
<li>record from FM tuner, built in mic or line input
<li>takes one AAA battery (light, easy to find, cheap rechargeables avail)
<li>came with a belt clip
<li>has a display screen (unlike the flash based ipod)

I got the Muvo N200 for Christmas. I previously had a Samsung Yp-35, and was more than satisfied with it. However, this blows the Yepp out of the water. Here's a list of some of the pros and cons I have found with the player.

PROS
1. The volume range is great. I have never had to turn it all the way up, so you wont have a problem with it being too quiet like some other players.
2. The folder starage is great. Instead of scolling throught a couple hundred songs, I can just go through a dozen or so folders.
3. Great size. The thing is tiny
4. The button interface on it is very well laid out. I can use it in my pocket, without haveing to worry about hitting the wrong thing.
5. The recorder and microphone are great. I particularly liked that you could change the bit rate right on the player. (bit rate: higher bit rate= better quality, but larger file, and vice-versa.)
6. The line in ias a great feature.
7. Really easy to use. Just copy and paste your files.
8. Completely customizable equalizer.
9. Great options for the player's diplay. Reversible screen, contrast, etc.

CONS
1. Like some other people commented, there is a buzz in the background when the light is on. However, you only barely notice if the volume is at lower than 23 or so. (the volume goes up to 40)
2. The ear phones, while they do sound pretty good, are HUGE. They definetly are not the most comfortable things in the world, but they soung pretty good, and you can always replace them.

Overall, I think that this is definetly an awsome buy. Personally, I don't think i will ever regret it. However, I've only had it for one day, so I'll change my review if anything comes up in the future. But as of rightnow, it is great.

Like many of the previous reviewers I spent a lot of time researching MP3 players. I wanted something that was small, had respectable sound quality, used AA/AAA battery(s), and used mature technology to limit malfunctions. I chose the Creative product after reading many glowing reviews on this website as well as cnet.com. I purchased the player about 8 months ago, and have been very pleased with it. Good radio reception, good sound quality (except when the back light is on, but a few seconds of buzz is nothing to get worked up about), very small, impressive battery life (18 hours typically with 850mAh NiMH AAA) and intuitive controls really made me a believer in the product. That is until about two weeks ago when the player began to malfunction.

I am not sure what transpired but the unit began to act up. The radio function no longer worked, intermittently the unit would not play, and then it would not turn off (without removing the battery). After two to three battery removals the unit would begin to limp along.

I spent some time on Creative's website researching, and I found that a firmware update was the only recourse. It worked. All problems were resolved, and the unit actually some improved functionality (higher volume levels, more intuitive control menu structure). So my suggestion to anyone who has been having trouble with their unit(s) (muvo, zen, etc.) try updating the firmware.

I again am very happy with the player and glad I purchased it. However, I am giving the unit (4) stars instead of (5), simply because of the lack of information on Creative's website for troubleshooting, and the fact that a consumer should not have to update/deal with something as complex as firmware.

I received the Micro as a gift after suggesting it to someone else. I'd done a *lot* of research on MP3 players, and this one fit exactly what was needed--small, flash-storage, not too expensive, good quality. After playing with it, I have to admit the research paid off. The sound is great, the controls are easy to use, there are lots of options, the accessories are just what you need and the price is nice for how much they packed into it.

To answer the biggest questions I had before getting one....The FM works. In fact, my wife seems to think it works better than her car stereo. We had no problem picking up a radio station 70+ miles away (of course, that's in flat ND). The included software does rip CDs without a problem, though the method for transferring previously stored MP3 is rather awkward. It does *NOT* accept songs directly from iTunes. You'll need to be...creative...to get that to work (iTunes downloads in MP4 and protects the file). The thing is tiny and can go pretty much anywhere. The protective case is a frosted white material (plastic/rubber/silicone) and covers most of what you want covered, but none of what you don't want covered. Line-in and microphone are there and work, but aren't exceptional. The earbuds sound okay, but are pretty big and will probably need to be swapped out. Oh, and the dark blue version is a nice navy color.

The only things I'd consider changing (beyond the size of the buds) are giving it a replaceable USB-rechargable battery and making the volume buttons feel just a bit more solid. Really not much of an issue though.

If I was going to buy another MP3 player for this price, there's no doubt I'd buy this one again. Only thing better would be a 1GB version. (Mine will be moving around alot, so I don't want a non-solid-state (iPod-type) player.)

I wanted an mp3 player for working out and running. I am one of those guys who reads everything they can about something before buying one. What I read about mp3 players was a bit worrisome: countless reports that mp3 players break or have minor problems. So I picked up a Memorex Biomorph (I liked the size and features) along with an extended warranty beyond the 3 month product warranty, and sure enough, with light use, the product died with lots of strange nonsense on the lcd screen after 4 months. (I "reset" the device per technical support troubleshooting, but it didn't help.) I went through the hassle of returning it and getting reimbursed, minus the 40 dollar extended warranty cost. And I set out to read all the reviews I could before buying another mp3 player. I read the most positive reviews and least complaints with the Creative MUVO series.

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. 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.