Creative MuVo TX FM 256 MB MP3 Player

The 256 MB internal flash memory will store up to eight hours of WMA files at 64 kbps or up to four hours of MP3 music a t 128 kbps; it will also store up to 16 hours of voice recordings. With support for WMA, MuVo Micro N200 offers you acce ss to the widest selection of music download services on the Internet, including Best Buy MusicNow, Buy Music, Musicmatc h, and Napster.

The Creative MuVo TX FM plugs directly into your computer's USB port.

It's powered by one AAA battery that provides up to 15 hours of continuous play. With super-fast USB 2.0 connectivity an d simple drag-and-drop transfer without software, the MuVo TX FM accepts music files as quickly as a song per second. Th e 96 x 32-pixel blue backlit LCD displays file information, and you can scroll through folders, playlists, or individual songs. You can customize playback with a five-band graphic equalizer with four equalization presets, as well as environ mental settings for pop, rock, jazz, or classical.

What's in the Box
This package includes the 256 MB MuVo TX FM digital audio player, earbuds, 15-inch velcro armband, carrying case with be ltclip, and CD-ROM with Creative MediaSource music management software. MediaSource is an easy-to-use application for ri pping CDs, organizing entire digital music collections, and easily transferring MP3 and WMA files.

Choose your music. Choose your device. Know it's going to work.

Compatible with PlaysForSure.

The PlaysForSure logo makes it easy to find digital media stores and devices that work together. Choose from a large number of digital music and video stores, including CinemaNow, MSN Music, Musicmatch, MusicNow, Napster, Wal-Mart Music Downloads, and many more.

Look for the PlaysForSure logo on a wide variety of devices, including portable music devices, portable video devices, digital audio receivers, Pocket PCs, and Smartphones.

The checkmarks indicate if the device is capable of playing back audio and video that's been downloaded from an online store. Additionally, some devices can play back media that has been purchased through an online store that offers subscriptions or rentals.

Product Description
MuVo TX FM is an ultra-light (1.1oz without battery), high-performance and easy to use Digital Audio Player that also plays and records FM Radio. Perfectly designed for flawless performance during exercise or other rigorous activity, MuVo TX FM comes with either 128MB or 256MB of flash memory that can carry hours of skip free, high-fidelity music.You can even customize the music you like, just the way you like it, with a 5-band custom equalizer and 4 presets for Jazz, Rock, Pop or Classical music. MuVo TX FM will play up to 15hrs of continuous MP3 playback on 1 x AAA batteryMuVo TX FM has a high-resolution backlit LCD that is reversible for left or right handed operation. Plus, the LCD provides full track information (ID3 tags) and is great for folder navigation with the convenient scroll button. MuVo TX FM is equipped with super-fast USB 2.0 that transfers music or data files in blazing speed to and from your computer. Simply attach MuVo TX FM to any PC or notebook and drag-and-drop your files - no cables or installation software needed.You can use MuVo TX FM to carry presentations, photos and any other data files between PCs at home, work or on the road. And, with a built-in microphone for handy voice recordings, you'll never want to be without your MuVo TX FM.

This is my first mp3 player. I have played around with my friend's iPOD and iPOD mini before so I have some experience with digital music players.

What I liked:

- Great value: Keep in mind that you are not just buy a 256 MB mp3 player. THe Muvo TX FM is also a USB hard drive, a voice recorder, and a FM radio. This was what made me buy the Muvo despite cheaper, comparable 256 MB mp3 players being on the market.

- Great sound: The Muvo delievers a really nice sound and I find it indistinguishable from an iPOD.

- Great headphones: The included headphones are very good and delivers a good range of sound. As an experiment I tried out a cheap $1.99 headphone and there is just no comparison.

- Good battery life: 14 hr on an AAA battery. More if you listen to the radio a lot.

- Accessories: You also get a protective cover/belt clip and an armband for exercise. The same cannot be said for other mp3 players.

What I didn't like:

- Earphone design: The earphones unfortunately don't fit my ears very well (I have small ears) and the left earphone has a tendency to fall out when I'm moving around.

- Inability to skip to the middle of a song. The Muvo only allows you to play a song from the beginning. There is no provision for to to skip into the middle of the song.

- Case design: The USB part of the Muvo (the black part) is very thick. This means that it can't be plugged into any recessed USB ports. This is not a problem if you have a desktop or a USB hub. Unfortunately, many laptops (including my Sony Vaio) have USB ports recessed into the case with an overhang. This makes it impossible to plug in the Muvo and requires you to buy a USB hub or an extension cable. Before you buy this product, try the following: take a usb cable and grab it with your pinkie flat on top of the plastic connector just behind the metal part. Attempt to insert the cable into an availabe port. If you can do it and not jam your finger, you are fine. Otherwise, you'll need an extension cable or hub.


Excellent Product   June 14, 2004
Dennis D. Soerensen (Smyrna, GA United States)
248 out of 251 found this review helpful

I have read reviews here on amazon.com lots of times before when I had to make a decision about buying a product or not and I thought it was about time to return the favor.

I bought the player (I decided to call it "player" since it is not just a MP3 player) directly from Creative Labs. I live in Georgia (USA) and had to pay tax. The player was $167 incl. tax and shipping. I have had the player for about a week now and I love it.

The package included player, ear phones, quick start guide, CD-ROM with ripping SW, arm band, a white battery module, and an alkaline battery.

Transfer speed: Write: ~2.7 Mbytes/second. Read: ~3.2 Mbytes/second. That means that it only take about 100 seconds to fill the entire memory. Not bad.

Menu system: It is straight forward and user friendly. 3 buttons and one scroller make it very easy to navigate. It doesn't let you stay in one submenu for long before jumping back to showing the song playing though, but that is fine when you are actually using the player, and not just playing around with it to write a review ;-) You can't go that "deep" in the menu tree anyway.

Radio: The FM version has a radio. At first I was disappointed with the reception. That was because I scanned manually. Then I tried the automatic scan and boy did that make a difference. The radio quality is EXCELLENT. I can not distinguish between radio quality (stereo of course) and high bit rate mp3's or wma's. It picks up as many stations as my car radio! You can also record what is on the radio (also .wav format). You can even switch between international and Japanese FM radio regions.

Display: The display is small, but not too small. It provides you with the info you need not more not less. You can switch the display orientation and turn it 180 degrees, which comes in handy when it is on your arm. Contrast and backlight intensity is easily adjusted. When playing music files, the display only shows you the title of the song playing, not the artist. Other than that, it shows you time, battery remaining (3 levels), and equalizer setting. The player can turn off automatically if not used for 1, 5, 10 or 30 minute(s).

Equalizer: Normal, rock, jazz, classical, pop, and custom (5 bands). Custom is easy to set.

Playing modes: Normal, A-B, repeat track, repeat all, repeat folder, track once, shuffle repeat, shuffle once, and shuffle folder. I haven't had a chance to try all the modes out (and I probably never will).

MP3/WMA play back: I have tried both mp3 and wma files with 320 kbps and variable bit rate and it works well. You can't display the bit rate. I found that a bit annoying to begin with, but now I am asking myself what I should use that info for anyway.

The voice recording is easy and the quality is good (.wav format).

Ear phones: The normal ear plug kind, where the right wire is longer than the left, so you can take it around the back of your neck reducing the annoyance of the wire. The ear phones are decent, but not as good as the Sennheiser ear plugs that came with my girlfriends Rio.

Arm band: It is working well. I am not sure if the player will stay in the armband, but a key ring will make absolutely sure that the player, if it should fall out of the sheath, will not fall down and hit the ground.

15 languages: The Muvo can display the menus in English, German, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Danish (I am from Denmark, so - Thank You Creative Labs!), Norwegian, Swedish, Finnish, Dutch, Chinese, Japanese and what I think is another Asian language and Arabic.

Battery: I have only used one alkaline (1.5V) battery with the player. Before I ordered the player I asked Creative Labs if I could use NiMH batteries (1.2V) and they said yes. I will let you know if NiMH batteries work when I have tried it.

Software (CD-ROM): I think that the software is good. It allows for ripping CD's and saves as either mp3, wma (constant or variable bit rates), wma pro or wma lossless. I haven't spent much time using the SW so maybe I am missing something out. However, since Windows Media Player and other freeware come with the necessary ripping capabilities, the included software is not that important in my opinion.

Conclusion: It is not the cheapest player around; however, I think it is well worth the money. The Muvo is very small and very light. The TX transfers files faster than the NX series, but I am not sure if that justifies the much higher price for the TX. I don't think you can get the NX series with radio, though. If you are looking for a good radio in a MP3/WMA player you should go for the Muvo TX FM. Even though 256 MB is not that much, it is still enough for about 130 songs in good quality. Since the Muvo TX FM transfers files fast, the limited space is not that important. If you want a player for running or if you want to be the coolest in the gym, this is the player for you. It is light, small, easy to carry, and you can actually read the display and operate the player WHILE running.
I can highly recommend the Muvo TX FM 256 MB from Creative Labs to anyone, especially runners.

I give it 5 stars without hesitation.

UPDATE: 1.2V rechargeable batteries work fine.


Great quality, great buy!!   August 18, 2004
J. Peplinski (Michigan)
74 out of 74 found this review helpful

I did a lot of research before purchasing the Muvo TX-FM, and one of the things that made sense to me was to consider the manufacturer. Creative Labs has been making quality software and hardware products for years, which puts them head and shoulders above smaller corporations that were just formed to crank out cheap mp3 players for the general public. They seem to understand how to make powerful programs and devices easy-to-use, even for novices.

I had concerns about compatibility with my Sony Vaio, as I have learned it doesn't always like to play nice with non-Sony plug-ins. But this was a snap - just pop the device into the USB port and off you go. No cords!

The player itself is very simple; menus are so easy that the instruction book is practically unnecessary. It's hardy and durable, having already survived a tumble to the bathroom tile with no ill effects (the belt clip is good quality but can only handle so much maniacal dancing). I agree with the other reviewers that the ear buds are not the most comfortable, but the sound quality is spectacular!

One thing the other reviewers haven't mentioned much is the accompanying software. The drag & drop capacity is terrific, the MuVo TX-FM works perfectly wonderfully with any software you're already comfortable with - a huge benefit. BUT, the software that comes with it is really nice too!! The "SmartFit" feature can automatically convert any tune you want into the smallest possible format so you can fits lots of `em on here. The software can even load songs directly from your favorite CD's onto the player, speedily converting them into mp3's or wma's at the same time. It took about 5 minutes to convert & load an entire CD! Older processors may take a little longer, but that's still pretty impressive. When I think of the DAYS I spent putting together mixtapes back in the 80's, it's mind-boggling!

Bookmark this page and do your own research, but believe me you won't be disappointed with this one.



Great product with only minor flaws   October 19, 2004
Eddie Monge (San Bernardino, California)
54 out of 54 found this review helpful

This is the first mp3 player I have bought, but I am a techie so I know all about various computer related products. I had spent a couple of weeks looking for a decent mp3 player. I choose a Flash based player because I wanted to use it while I exercise (or when I start to actually) and a hard drive based player is just not a good idea for that. My requirements were that it have at least 256 MB of memory, have a FM radio and be able to carry more than just music. Having said that, I am providing a list of pros and cons.

Pros:
Small Size: Smaller than my cell phone so it can fit in all my pockets and I barely notice its there.
Connectivity: USB 2.0 is so much faster than USB 1.1. Loading music goes quick.
Ease of Use: I opened it and within 5 minutes I had it loaded with music and playing songs. I give it to a few other people who wanted to look at it and they were able to do everything with it right away.
Sound quality: It produces very good sounding music. I connected it to my speakers which have very good bass and all around performance and the Muvo was on par in terms of quality as my PC is.
Buttons: The buttons are nice and big and easy to find. The power button has to be held in for a bit to turn it on and off. At first I thought this was a con but it is actually a benefit as it prevents accidently turning it on or off.
One last thing, some people have said that you can't skip to the middle of a song, well if you press the dial forward and hold it there it will fast forward through a song. Same goes for reverse if you hold it the other way.
Battery: The battery that came with it is a major brand battery and it has lasted a long time so far. I would guess at least 10 hours and its only half way done. Its only a AAA so thats pretty impressive to me.

Cons:
Headphones: These things hurt! I have big ears and they still don't fit me. They sound from them when they are in is good but the discomfort of having them in outweighs this fact.
Included Belt clip: The way the clip is positioned is great if you use it with the armband but if you put it on your belt it kinda digs into your stomach and I'm a really thin guy so its not my stomach causing the problem. It would have been nice if the player could be turned sideways so it is horizontal instead of vertical. That would have made the positioning much more comfortable while I am listening at work.
Belt Clip Case-thingy: The rubber case covers only half of the player. Since it makes it really hard to take the USB part out of the battery pack, it would have been nice if the case covered more of the player to protect all of it or made smaller so its easier to take the player out.
Lanyard holder: Creative could have spent the extra 10 cents and thrown a key ring in with this so you can attach it to a neck lanyard since there is a spot for one.
Did I mention how uncomfortable these included headphones are?


File System Error Fix   September 30, 2004
Mad Hiker (Phoenix, AZ USA)
44 out of 46 found this review helpful

In general, I love this little machine. It has all the right features. It's small, but packed with goodies such as a FM tuner, a voice recorder, a 256 MB USB storage device with an integrated USB plug (no wires), and the sound quality is great.

A few small complaints. First when the clear plastic belt clip holder is on, it's really hard to remove the MP3 player from the battery housing. I guess it's not supposed to be removed with the belt clip on, but I'd like to be able to do that. I ended up cutting a chunk off the clear plastic so I can unplug it easier.

Second, the headphones are poor. The ear buds don't fit well and the sound quality is poor. The wire has an asymmetric joint so the wire to one ear is longer than the wire to the other ear. Ditch the headphones and buy a good one.

Third, I had the unfortunate experience of having the dreaded "File System Error" show up on the screen. Don't know how I got it, but when it happens, you can't turn the beast on. It just flashes the error message and turns itself off. I can plug it into the PC just fine and it will work as a USB storage device. Just won't work outside of the PC.

Formatting it didn't help. Calling Creative tech support didn't help. They told me to return it for an exchange. I did a web search and found some people with similar problems. They were all told to return it to Creative or to return it to the store for an exchange.

By an incredible stroke of luck, I stumbled on a way to fix this nagged problem. I formatted it again (using windows explorer), but this time, I specified FAT file format instead of FAT32. Voila! It turns on and seems to be working just fine now. So those of you who see the "File System Error" message, try that first. You may also try to put a Label on it. Perhaps that helps too.

Overall, I still love this little music machine and would recommend it to anyone.