JUNE 2005 MA XIMUMPC 19
C R E A T I V E M U V O M I C R O N 2 0 0
Sound quality
The MuVo’s EQ options—
including a fi ve-band custom
setting—should have
propelled it over the Shuffl e
in this category, but we were
disappointed by its timid
volume (tolerable even at
maximum). And the bundled
headphones are the usual
crap—you’ll be much happier
pairing the device with bass-
boosting earbuds or Shure’s
E2c or E3c sound-isolating
earbuds ($99/$180, http://www.
shure.com ). Winner: Shuffle
We can already hear the Apple psychos moaning: You guys
don’t get it! The whole idea is that it doesn’t have a screen—it’s
like a personal radio station! Oh, we get it—we’re just not wild
about it. Ultimately, the Shuffl e promotes a passive listening
experience that isn’t really like radio at all; instead of introducingyou to new music, it just rearranges your stuff like a bad
housekeeper. It’s a nice bauble and a great complement to the
hard drive-based iPod, but it’s no match for the MuVo Micro
N200 in the fl ash memory-based MP3 player division.Battery life
The MuVo would have taken this
category even if it didn’t beat the
Shuffl e in the endurance test,
because it runs on a single AAA
battery that can be easily swapped
out when the juice is drained. It
further sweetens the deal that a
single Energizer battery afforded us
almost 18 hours of play.
Winner: MuVoSoftware
Creative’s PlayCenter was never a
pretty lass, but it’s a decrepit old hag
now. Fortunately, you can load the
MuVo with music through Windows
Explorer and never have to look at
PlayCenter ever again.
Winner: Shuffle—by a mileT H E U P S H O T
Features
Despite its diminutive size,
the MuVo packs an orgy of
features, especially when
compared with the Shuffl e’s
masochistic minimalism. You
get no-brainers like data- and
music-fi le transfer through
Windows Explorer, voice
recording, an FM tuner, and
EQ. Although the MuVo
doesn’t support playlists, you
can create quick-and-dirty
ones by dropping tracks
into folders you create in
Windows Explorer—a boon
for those who can’t be
bothered with maintaining
good ID3-tag hygiene. No
help for those who prefer
lossless codecs like FLAC,
though—what a pity.
Winner: MuVo—by a mile
Tons of features, good battery life, great sound,
integration with Explorer.EARBUDSEARWIGS
Should have higher volume ceiling, no support for
OGG or lossless codecs.
$170, http://www.creative.comMA XIMUMPCVERDICT 9
Ease of use
Unless you’re determined to “Enjoy Uncertainty,”
an LCD screen is a must on any player with a
capacity greater than 512MB. Otherwise, you’ll
end up fast-forwarding through miles of tracks to
get to the one you want. The LCD screen on the
MuVo (which can be oriented to read left-to-right
or right-to-left) allows us to set EQ, select a folder
for playback, and fi nd out the name of the Led
Zep song that just played (“Bonzos Montreux”).
Winner: MuVoPlays: MP3, WMA, (including protected WMA fi les), WAVactual size