Creative Labs MuVo TX 256 MB MP3 Player

This is an excellent small mp3 player. I was looking for something to use while I'm on the treadmill. Thus I did not need the huge capacity of a hard drive player like an iPod, and I was concerned about the durability of the moving parts inside--not to mention the non-user-replaceable battery you'll find in an iPod.For exercisers this player is quite nifty. It is the size of a small pack of gum, so you can easily run while carrying it in your hand. It is equally easy to place it in your pocket. The controls are very well thought out: a small wheel zips forward or backward through your tracks and also navigates the menu. Two buttons control the volume.Using the player with any computer is easy, as there is no software to install assuming you're using an operating system with built-in USB support (Windows XP qualifies.) Just plug the player into a USB port and it shows up on your computer as a drive. You can drag individual tracks to it. You can also drag entire folders, and then the tracks will be organized when you play them back.Battery life has been superb, and I've found no need to use rechargeables with AAA batteries being so cheap. If the battery indicator is low when I'm heading down to the treadmill, I just bring an extra battery with me.I find 256MB of memory to be quite generous. I only need enough to last me the 40 minutes or so on the treadmill, and 256MB is plenty for that. I'll fill it up with music for use over three or so workouts. When I get tired of that music, re-filling the player is easy.If you buy this player I have a few tips for you. First, though Windows Media Player has a feature allowing you to "sync" the player to load it up with tracks, I have found that this feature will not organize the tracks into folders. Therefore, they will play back on the player in a jumbled order rather than one album at a time. If this bothers you, just use Windows Explorer to drag the tracks by the folder over to the Creative player.Second, the included headphones are awful. The cord for one ear is longer than the cord for the other ear, for reasons I don't understand. Further, if you are a runner, they will fall out of your ears. I quickly replaced the headphones with better ones.Third, if you are a runner, the headphone cord will pick up static electricity as you run. All the bouncing of the cord generates electricity. This can deliver little shocks to your ears. It can also travel into the player, producing odd glitches. To prevent this problem I simply use a safety pin to clip the headphone cord to my shirt, keeping it from bouncing so much. You could also run it inside your shirt (especially if you wear tight shirts.)Fourth, sometimes the maximum volume may not be quite loud enough. A great solution for this is to use "volume leveling" software. Such software allows you to boost the volume of your tracks and also to equalize the volume so one track is not louder than the other. A good free program for this is called MediaMonkey and you can download it. After using this I have plenty of volume for all my tracks.So the only things keeping me from giving this player five stars are the poor included headphones and the low maximum volume. Those things are easily fixed, though.

This is a great and tiny alternative for those who think other MP3 players are too expensive, big, or complicated. As a Mac user using System 9.2, this couldn't be easier to use. Even without the battery (only needed for playback), the tiny unit plugged in right into the USB port and came up instantly on my Mac without having to install anything; true plug & play! This also makes sharing songs with other people easy (assuming you want to risk the wrath of the RIAA, not that I'd ever do it of course). Windows users will probably have to install the enclosed software. Then it was simply drag and drop. This makes updating it so easy! This is especially useful when you just want to hear individual songs. It will hold folders of songs like if you want a whole album, but unless you preface each track with a order number (01, 02, 03, etc), it will play the folder in alphabetical order. It has a decent MP3 display for song titles (not artists). Also, the included headphones are crappy but the sound is very good if you replace them. And yes, there's a slight buzz when the backlight goes on for half a second, but if you don't make any adjustments while playing you'll never hear it like during a workout. Also, the single AAA battery lasts 11 hours which is also replacable, unlike iPods which you have send the whole thing back. It holds 4 hours of music in non-compressed CD quality (a minimum 128kbs), which is plently of non-repetetive music for the commuter, excersise enthusiast, or pretty much anyone. It can hold more in a more compressed format, but you'll lose some quality in sound. It includes most of the major playback selections like normal, repeat, and shuffle play for the whole player or folders. No programming feature, but that can be fixed by making a folder on you computer of songs and tranferring it to the Muvo. It also doubles as a voice recorder or for holding any small non-audio file. For the very minor problems it has, this a very simple machine that really delivers.

I just got this unit yesterday...first impressions.The package is wrapped in one of those confounded hard plastics - i used a utility knife and cut myself slightly...didn't feel it...got to open the package.Package contains - unit + belt-clip + AAA battery + arm-belt + headphones + software.Installation was a breeze - nothing to install. just put the battery in the unit and connect to your pc/laptop. Gets recognized as a flash drive and copy the files/folders over.The interface is easy...i was able to figure most out w/o opening the manual.Now the down-side...i'm NO audiophile - but as soon as i heard it - i was not impressed. before i used to listen on my laptop and/or pocketpc pda...and this sound was noticably weaker and range wasn't there. i don't know the proper terms - but my ears were telling me this is not the same quality sound as i heard on the other machines.the headphones are a little big and hard to fit in the ears. i used a high-quality sony headphones.Overall satisfied with the size and simplicity of the unit...and plus i got a great price from Amazon (<$80 USD)...so i can't complain.4 stars - great gizmo but sound is not as good as other sources.