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
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