Customer Reviews

Creative MuVo Slim 512 MB MP3 Player Silver

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

The three things that sold me on this product were:
1) USB 2.0 interface - fast transfers

2) Included Rechargeable Lithium Battery - which recharges off the USB port on your computer (3 hours for first charge, roughly 1/2 that for recharging completely afterwards).

3) 512mb of storage for a hundred dollars

PROS: Compared to any mp3 player you could find at your local Best Buy, or other store, this product blows them out of the water - and for much less.

CONS: The FM reception is not long-range, don't expect to pull in a FM station 45-50 miles away -its best suited for urban 30 mile range.
You will need to buy a seperate charger if you will need to charge the unit away from a computer ($19-29).

For those that would like to store audio books or VERY LARGE amounts of mp3's on their portable player, look elsewhere - you will only get roughly 100-130 songs on a 512mb flash player, just remember Flash players are FAR more durable and shock-resistant than microdrive players.

My evaluation of the MuVo Slim is similar to most of the others who have rated it highly. There are a couple of additional items I'll mention however;

The unit has a replaceable rechargable battery. Listening to the player while I'm working I'd go through a battery about every two days with the AA or AAA battery players. But Li-Ion batteries have a limited life. With this unit I can replace the battery if it fails after a couple of years instead of dumping the, otherwise good, player.

The battery is very thin allowing the player to be much thinner than an AA/AAA player. (0.3")

The leather case is much higher quality than I expected. It doesn't need to be removed for any normal function. The only thing you can't do with the case in place is open the battery door. Like a previous reviewer, I noticed the battery door seems flimsy but it is well protected by the case and most people will never open it again after they initially install the battery. The only minor drawback to the case is that it pretty much doubles the thickness of the unit.

The player is exactly the same size as a business card. I slipped one of my cards into the case behind the player for identification in case it ever gets "lost." Without the headphones plugged in the cased player looks like a classy business card case. It carries well in a front shirt pocket and is small and solid enough to carry in a front pants pocket.

Microdrives are great for capacity but, being mechanical spinning disks, have very little shock resistance. A drop to even a carpeted floor is often fatal. Flash memory, being electronic, does a lot better but is limited in size. Don't expect to carry your entire music library around with you.

The earbuds are as good as most earbuds but if you're going to listen to the unit a lot you're going to want to get a headset.

Overall, for the price, the MuVo Slim is a hard unit to beat!

After having a Memorex mp3 player die on me in the 4th month, I read a lot of reviews and the Muvo series seemed to get top marks for performance and reliability. The Muvo Slim even got the top recommendation from a prestigious Consumer technology-review site. One of the best things about it is the lithium ion rechargeable battery, which even recharges quickly through the USB port. I went through a lot of batteries before. Even if your mp3 player gets 10 hours on one battery, if you work out or walk to the bus stop every day, that can mean 1 battery per week -- that starts adding up quickly, believe me!

I ended up going for the Muvo Micro instead, but that's only because it has an arm band, and I go running. I actually like the credit card shape of the Slim better, and it fits excellently in a top pocket. But I finally got my hands on one in person, and I noticed that the nice leather case doesn't have a place for a belt clip or strap, so even if I had created my own arm strap, there was no place to guide it through.

Hope this helps someone else who was thinking the same thing.

Pros:
-Great battery life
-Great user interface
-Easy/fast uploads
-Firmware easy to download and install from the software
-Radio is really clear
-Earphones are pretty good (unless you have small ears).
-Charges with the USB cable so I can upload and charge at the same time
-Looks nice and comes with a nice carrying case

Cons:
-Battery door is flimsy, but not that bad or big of a problem (it'll break if you are really careless)
-Manual says don't put any magnets near the MP3 player but the carrying case uses a magnet to close it.... hehe but who listens to what the manual says anyway.
-After you change a setting in menu it automatically exits you out back to the music screen, kind of annoying at times
-Kind of pricey for 512mb
-Bad software

Conclusion:
So far so good. The only problems I've had so far was that it crashed once to my desktop when I was uploading a few songs. However, the songs were still uploaded to the player and nothing corrupted. The software kind of sucks but you don't really need it since everything is drag and drop. No drivers are needed unless you have Win98. I think you need the software if you want to make playlists, but if you bought a 512mb player, chances are you won't need it since you probably don't listen to many different songs anyway. This is a good MP3 flash player for people that want to exercise(HDD based mp3 players aren't that great for jogging since it increases the chances of damaging the HDD) and don't have 999999 songs to listen to. It's kind of pricey for only 512mb but if you don't have over 512mb of songs worth listening to, then saving $100 is good.

This little player had better sound and features than I expected. I bought it from a Circuit City. It was a choice between this player and a Sandisk 512 MB player. After closely reading the back of the box of the Sandisk player, I realized that it used Musicmatch Jukebox software. Musicmatch is the software that was used on my previous MP3 player which I took back a few days ago. It caused the player to freeze up. Anyway, I chose this player because of the software, the size, and the price.
The software is easy to use. You can drag and drop music files from Windows Explorer or by using the Creative software. Transferring files is quick and easy. One thing that I really, really like is that you can compress the files while transferring them. This saves a lot more space on the player and it saves you the trouble of having to use Windows Media player to compress the files before you transfer them. The software did not take long to install and there were no problems installing it.
This player is very slim and light. It really does weigh about the same amount as a credit card. When I first picked up the player, I thought it was somewhat flimsy. If you're hard on your MP3 players or cell phones(always dropping them), you probably should not get this player. I'm not sure how this player will hold up because it is so light and tiny.
The sound is amazing! The player has 4 equalizer settings, pop, classical, rock, and jazz. It also has a custom equalizer setting. I really liked that because I have the sound just the way I want it. Most of my radio stations come in. I've never had an MP3 player that really played every radio station. The Muvo Slim also has the ability to record from the radio. I did not buy this player for its recording capabilities, so this is something that I probably won't use. The controls are very easy to use and they seem very stable(some MP3 players have controls that seem like they're going to fall off).
The rechargeable battery charged up pretty fast and it seems to last for a long time. The battery is also removeable so when you need a new one, you won't have to unscrew anything. The battery charges through the USB cable.
So now that I've said all these good things about the player, I also a few...disappointments. If you're looking for an MP3 player that is very portable and has excellent sound, this is probably a good player for you. However, if you're a person who likes to use your music in the gym, you should consider other players. Like a previous reviewer, I also like to run. This MP3 player comes witha protective case, but it has no belt clip. The player also has a loop for a neck strap, yet no neck strap came with the player!I have looked on the Creative website and they don't offer a beltclip for this player--they really don't offer any accessories for this player. It would be really nice to have a belt clip or an arm strap, but I suppose you can buy one from somewhere that will fit. I just really expected these things to come with the player. I will find a way arround this because there aren't many players at this price that have everything this one has. I have a neck strap from one of my flash drives and I was able to hook it to my MP3 player.
The headphones can go to the garbage. For one, they are too big to even fit into my ears. The headphones also have a short left wire and a long right wire(this seems to be the new style of headphones). I don't know about you, but I don't like to have a wire going around the back of my neck.
The display is very small. I think that the design could have included more room for the display. There is a lot of empty space that could be used for a bigger screen. I am used to being able to see which songs are on my player by looking at the screen, but with this one, there's only room to show the name of the song that is playing. The backlight is blue, just in case you wanted to know.
Overall, I feel that this is a good player that will last. It has a few set backs, but there are ways to get around them. If you're looking for a player that has everything you need to go to the gym, this one doesn't have everything. For the price, I'll make it work.

I just got this player (it is 80 dollars at Cambridge Soundworks, by the way. 256MB version for 60 dollars) and am super psyched. The following attributes make this the perfect gadget for me:

1) Interfaces with Windows Media Player. No need to install additional software to my work or home machine.

2) Rechargable battery, no AAA's, no way. Alkaline batteries are so 1986!

3) BUT, the Lithium Ion replacement battery IS available. After all the problem people have been having with iPod battery longevity, this is a great thing. OR, you could carry a charged spare!

4) Size.

5) Price. Why would I pay 200 dollars for something that will be obsolete in 2 years when I could pay 80 dollars for something that will be obsolete in 2 years? I'm just sayin'.

6) FM radio and microphone recording functions. Kinda nice to have the option of getting NPR or some such thing if the mood strikes me. Or, I can use it to record Meet the Press from the radio. Helpful!

An outstanding mp3 player. Extremely easy to use, awesome sound and it's friggin tiny, about the size of a credit card and 1/8 inch thick. Another great product from Creative.

It is extremely small, but it's a great player. It can be used to transfer data, as well as play music, and it has voice recording and an FM tuner. My one complaint is the lack of playlists; to group songs, they must be in folders on the file system, making putting a song in multiple playlists a pain. Although the screen is small, it can still display all the essential information. It can hold a lot of music if you use the included Creative Audio Converter to convert to a lower bit rate (I use 64 kbps MP3). Oh, and it can't read ID3v2.2 tags (what iTunes uses) so if you use iTunes, your song titles may not display correctly; instead, the filenames will be displayed. Also, the limited file format support is a downside (supports MP3, WAV (not a good idea), and some WMA (not protected)). Overall, a great player, but definately not in the same class as the Apple iPod.

I received this mp3 player for Christmas and have used it almost every day since. It holds about 135 songs, which is plenty for me and it's very easy to use. The software was simple to load and figure out and the player itself is just as easy. The only negative for me is that it doesn't have a belt clip or armband, so it gets a bit cumbersome to hold on to when walking the dog in clothing with no pockets. Believe it or not, it's too small for most "generic" accessories. (All of which are designed for iPods.) I would highly recommend this mp3 player!

I just got a MuVo Slim 512 today as a birthday gift (42 years old...creak...), and I'm having better luck than the previous reviewer. The software installed without a hitch, and after about a half-hour of noodling I was recording tracks from CD to the portable device.

Advantages: It's VERY small and unobtrusive, so (hopefully) less pilferable than an iPod. Also, at less than 100 bucks, it's affordable so it won't be the end of the world if I break it or lose it. I'm in the National Guard and sometimes travel to odd places, and a pmd is an absolute must in maintaining both sanity and a positive mental outlook.

Disadvantages: It's VERY small, and with only 512 MB of storage, it comes nowhere near approaching the capacity of an iPod. The software is also somewhat less intuitive, and it takes a while to become comfortable with the tools.

Anyone who worked with the digital non-linear audio and video editing software in the mid-90s would find this system an old and familiar friend.

Bottom line: This is a useful pmd with moderate features, and it's dirt-cheap. Good luck and happy rippin' to you.