Creative MuVo Micro N200 (1GB) review

We understand that a simple MP3 player with no extra features or even an LCD appeals to some people, but we prefer a device that gives us a little more bang for our pound. The 512MB MuVo Micro costs a bit more than the Apple flash player but includes an LCD as well as advanced features such as FM tuning and line-in recording. Even better, the N200's overall user experience is a pleasant one. We just wish the screen was a bit bigger.

Unlike its predecessor, the MuVo TX FM, the Creative MuVo Micro features a seamless construction without a built-in USB interface. The benefit of this design is that it affords the N200 the luxury of being smaller and a touch lighter than its older sibling. Of course, you give up the convenience of having a built-in USB key. The player does come with the requisite USB cable, but we wish Creative had thrown in a USB adapter key for added portability. That said, we highly appreciate the inclusion of a belt clip, a case, and an armband in the box -- the MuVo Micro is certainly a gym-worthy player.

You might assume that the MuVo Micro's tiny size is its most distinguishing feature, but actually it's the selection of bright colours in which the player is encased. You can choose from a palette of eight hues, including black, white, orange, red, dark blue, light blue, pink, and lime green. Our nail-polish-pink test unit definitely looks sweet, but better yet, it seems quite resistant to scratches.

The controls on the MuVo Micro are minimal, which actually make the player a breeze to use. Rather than fumbling with a bunch of buttons, you access all features through the one menu toggle, located along the bottom edge of the player, that you press in to view your choices. This same switch scans through tracks when not in Menu mode. To the left of this switch are the two dedicated volume keys. The only other control is a button that controls play/pause/power.

A small LCD, a USB port, and jacks for headphones and line-in audio round out the physical characteristics of the device. Creative is nice enough to include a line-in cable in the package. There's no Hold switch per se, but this function is easily accessible in the first layer of the menu. About that small LCD: Thanks to the high-res display, the text is easy enough to read, if you have perfect vision, anyway. The main screen shows only the song name, the time elapsed, and minuscule icons for battery life and play mode. It would be nice if the screen was large enough to display album and artist info as well.

Initial setup and use of the MuVo Micro is a snap: just plug it in and start using Windows Media Player 10.0 or Windows Explorer drag-and-drop to transfer files. Note that Creative's quick-start guide instructs you not to plug in the player until you've installed the driver and software from the included CD, but this isn't necessary if you're running Windows XP. Users of other Windows platforms, however, should follow Creative's directions. Creative also includes its own MediaSource music management software, but we prefer not to use it since it's not as convenient as Windows Media Player.

Along with standard playback features such as shuffle, A/B loop, and repeat, to name a few, the MuVo Micro features a five-band custom EQ as well as five presets: Normal, Rock, Pop, Classical, and Jazz. The player also offers several settings options, the coolest of which is LCD orientation; this lets you flip the screen to optimise it for either right- or left-handed use. Screen settings for contrast, backlighting, and language are also available.

Now for the fun stuff: The MuVo Micro includes an FM tuner with Autoscan and 32 preset slots. The tuner is blissfully easy to use: simply select Autoscan from within the menu when you're in FM mode; the player will scan all frequencies and save all the ones that come in as presets for future use (you can also scan manually if desired). You can record from the radio, and the player has a built-in mic for voice recordings as well; these recordings are saved as WAV files. The icing on the cake, however, is the line-in recording option, which encodes tracks directly to MP3. You can choose between three bit rates (96Kbps, 128Kbps, or 160Kbps) and even enable a function called Sync Track that automatically splits tracks. Do note that the MuVo Micro's line-in port is smaller than the norm, so you'll always want to have the included cable on hand for such recordings.