Creative Nomad MuVo NX
The primary change between the original MuVo and the MuVo NX is the addition of an LCD screen that displays track information, allows the MuVo to support multiple equalizer and playback settings, and, suprisingly, manages to run without significantly impacting the overall battery life of the MuVo NX.
There is a small price to pay with the addition of the screen, as the MuVo NX is 20g heavier than its predecessor, but at 55g it's still lightweight enough to be easily carried in pockets. There's only one catch with hiding the MuVo, and that's Creative's continuing reluctance to place a physical hold switch on anything; to stop the controls working you've got to negotiate a series of menus, which is a touch irritating.
The MuVo NX we tested was the 128MB variant, which allowed us to put just under 2.5 hours worth of MP3 files onto it. With the battery life of an estimated 11 hours -- we managed an average of 8 -- that's three to four sets of repeats before you need to replace the single AAA battery. As with the original MuVo, there's no inbuilt recharging ability, which is a real pity, although unless the battery was embedded into the USB memory key portion of the device, we can't see a way that it would really be feasible.
The LCD on the MuVo NX is a solid improvement on the screenless standard MuVo, as it shows track name (from ID3 tag), timing, equaliser setting, play mode and battery life. Cramming that much information in does mean that it has quite small text and images, although the LCD itself is quite clear and detail is fine. A jog dial takes you through menu selection, and it's relatively easy to exit out of menus at any time.
The MuVo NX also doubles as a voice recorder, with a capacity of up to eight hours of mono WAV recording; not ideal if you're at a concert, but fine for those who need to record speeches. It's possible to delete inadvertenly recorded files, and as they're common .wav files, just about any PC should be equipped for necessary audio editing once tracks are off the MuVo NX.
Physically comparing the MuVo NX to the Acer MagicDrive, the biggest obvious difference is that the MuVo NX is pretty small; at 36 by 74 by 16mm it's unlikely to make too many unsightly bulges in your clothing. As with the original MuVo, the drive is made up of a USB storage drive portion and a slide-in jacket that houses the battery and lanyard loop. A secondary jacket is also provided in a dark blue shade.
The MuVo NX is still only USB 1.1 -- only Sony's MicroVault range has made the jump to USB 2.0 -- and in our tests managed around 0.64MB/sec transfer rates, filling the 128MB drive in just under three and a half minutes. While Creative supplies a driver CD (for Windows 98 users) and its MediaSource MP3/WMA application, if you're confident enough to drag and drop files, there's no particular need for any additional software installation.
In terms of audio quality we've got to give the gong to the MuVo NX. While both it and the MagicDrive offer some very similar preset equalisers, the MuVo offers an additional user-defined equaliser set. It's also a mile ahead of the MagicDrive in terms of the volume control; it's both louder and capable of increasing in smaller increments than the MagicDrive, so softer tracks can be boosted without inadvertently blasting your eardrums.
While at AU$299 the MuVo NX isn't exactly cheap -- and for the cost of two MuVo NX units, you could score a multi-gigabyte iPod -- it's definitely the better pick out of the two MP3 players we've tested here.
Creative MuVo NX
Company: Creative
Price: AU$299
Distributor: Selected resellers
Phone: (02) 9666 6500
Acer MagicDrive MF-350
On paper, the MagicDrive offers a compelling bundle; it's priced the same as the MuVo NX, has the same USB connectivity and storage capacity, and on top of the MuVo's capabilities can also act as an FM Radio. The devil, however, is in the details, and the MagicDrive, while outclassing the MuVo on paper, proves fiddly to deal with in actual use.
The biggest thing we noticed about the MagicDrive MF-350 is that it's the biggest USB storage device we've ever seen; if you grabbed it in the dark you might mistakenly take it for a fun-size Mars bar. Unlike the Muvo it's a wholly integrated unit with a light plastic cap at one end shielding the USB plug. The other end of the 95.7x30x 18.8mm MagicDrive houses headphone and microphone sockets, and the top edge contains controls for the radio, recording and a jog dial for most of the MagicDrive's menu functions. Strangely for all its physical bulk, it's actually slightly lighter than the MuVo NX at 41g with single AAA battery installed. One thing that puts it ahead of the MuVo is a physical hold switch, so it doesn't suddenly switch tracks while it's snuggled into your pocket.
As it's an integrated unit, some users may find it difficult to fit into certain notebook and desktop cases and thankfully a USB extension cable is supplied. Taking integration even further, the Magicdrive ships with the only combine lanyard/headphones we've ever seen, although the drive will take any standard headphone plug.
The MagicDrive is certainly crammed with functionality, but it's hampered by being difficult to use. Despite having a larger LCD screen than the MuVo NX, it delivers less information on it. Track running times remain a mystery, although you can see track lengths in recording mode. The MagicDrive's menus are all represented as single words with no icons, making it tricky to work out where in the menu tree you are, and positively befuddling when you want to back out of certain menu structures. The volume rocker on the top of the MagicDrive is easy enough to access, but jumps around in increments that are much too large, so you move from very soft music to ear-bleedingly loud far too easily.
We tested the Magicdrive with the same 128MB of MP3 files as the MuVo NX, giving us just under 2.5 hours of musical playback. Acer rates the battery life of the Magicdrive at around 12 hours, although our initial testing with the supplied battery only brought us four hours of playback time. Switching to a standard Energizer AAA battery did bring us better results of around 8-9 hours, placing it on a par with the MuVo NX in this regard.
Like the MuVo NX, the MagicDrive is capable of voice recording, and here it does outclass the Creative competition. Aside from allowing you to plug in an external microphone, it's also possible to specify recording sampling rates -- up to 48000Hz -- depending on the quality and length of recording required.
The Magicdrive and MuVo NX also stood essentially head to head in terms of data transfer speed, with the Acer having a very, very slight nod; it managed an average data transfer rate of 0.65MB/second to the MuVo's 0.64MB/second. That's pretty much to be expected with both devices running on the USB 1.1 specification. One factor that did annoy us with the MagicDrive was that it's not recognised by any system unless it's switched on. This isn't a battery issue, as it'll power up with no battery while connected, but it's one extra little chore to have to perform every time, and the only USB storage device we've ever seen that has this particular quirk.
The FM radio portion of the MagicDrive worked as well as you'd expect a radio with no antenna to function, although again we were somewhat irked by fiddly controls. In order to tune stations (you can preset up to ten) the jog dial acts like a radio dial, and in this case, it's a very slow radio dial that moves in tiny increments. If the Magicdrive didn't have the ability to store radio stations we'd probably have thrown it across the room, as the concept of having to wait while it scans up through the low FM frequencies would be enough to send anyone insane.
The packaging for the MagicDrive promises something called "Language Learning", which makes it sound as though the drive has some kind of exceptional vocabulary or clever training software. Sadly, it has nothing of the sort; the 'Language Learning' capability of the MagicDrive is a simple A-B repeat function, with the idea being that you repeat key phrases until you learn them. Saying that the MagicDrive has Language Learning is the functional equivalent of saying that a cow has language teaching capabilities, being fully versed as it is in the bovine tongue. Both statements are true, but they're not terribly helpful in a real sense.
Ultimately the Magicdrive attempts a great deal, and while it does offer more in pure functionality terms than the MuVo NX, the difficulty in actual usage makes it a less compelling option than Creative's second-generation USB device.
Acer MagicDrive MF-350
Company: Acer Australia
Price: AU$299
Distributor: Selected resellers
Phone: 1300 366 567
We put the latest USB Storage/MP3 playback devices to test. Two drives enter, but only one comes out humming a happy tune. Read our Australian review.