Creative MuVo TX FM 256 MB MP3 Player Review

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(More customer reviews)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.

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Creative's MuVo TX FM makes it a breeze to take your favorite music with you wherever you go--to the office, tothe gym, or on a rollerblading expedition. The size of a small USB flash memory drive, the MuVo TX FM weighs just 1.1 ou nces with the single AAA battery inserted into the battery pack. This multiformat player is compatible with both MP3 and WMA files, and it also includes an FM tuner and the capability to record music directly from the radio. It also include s a built-in microphone for recording short voice notes or long lectures. You can also use the MuVo TX FM as a mass stor age USB drive, enabling you to carry important documents and presentations.
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.
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.Look for the PlaysForSure logo if you're shopping for a portable music or video device and you want to make sure the digital music and video you purchase will play back on it every time. Match the PlaysForSure logo on a large selecti on of leading devices and online music stores. If you see the logo, you'll know your digital music will play for sure.
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.

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