X-bit labs

Creative MuVo TX FM Portable Audio Player: Miniaturization in Action! (page 2)

Category: Multimedia

by Sergey Samarin

[ 11/16/2004 | 11:16 PM ]

Functionality

The Creative MuVo TX FM
doesn't look like any other solution
available in the market today

The player is selling in a small transparent package, typical for highly-demanded products like batteries, memory cards, chargers and other “necessities”. Such products are not displayed in shop windows, but are stacked on a shank, usually near the cashier’s desk. Creative probably anticipates a high demand for the MuVo player or this may be just a marketing trick. The average price of models of 128MB, 256MB and 512MB capacities is $73, $100 and $129, respectively (for more details check our Check Prices engine).

Let’s now open the package up and examine its contents:

• Creative MuVo TX FM player;
• Armband or neck-strap;
• Installation CD than contains Creative Media Detector, Creative MediaSource and a digitized user manual in the PDF format;
• Quick Start booklet;
• Earphones;
• One AAA battery.

The player with the armband attached

I think the accessories are quite sufficient; I found the armband a handy thing if you have no pockets in the clothes you wear. The player’s control buttons are also always within your hand’s reach.

The player consists of several modules

The table of technical characteristics cannot tell that the Creative MuVo TX FM is a modular device. I mean there are a battery module and a USB flash drive module in it. This design solution enhances the player’s functionality, as you can use it as an ordinary USB flash drive. Alas, the manufacturer didn’t give a thought to a separate cap for the USB connector – the battery module serves as a cap. By the way, the Creative MuVo TX FM will be available in three color schemes (the color of the battery module varies).

The USB flash drive module has a standard connector for the player to attach to the computer, so there are no additional adapters among the accessories. What’s the most important thing, the player needs no special software (or driver) for communicating to the computer. Right after being attached to the PC, it is recognized by the system as a “removable disk” and becomes ready for standard file operations. Of course, only modern operating systems like Windows XP support such instant connection; the driver for Windows 98 is supplied by Creative on the enclosed compact-disc. You can just drag and drop musical files to the player in any file manager (in Windows Explorer, for example). As for DRM-protected WMA files, Creative suggests that you use either Windows Media Player or Creative Media Source to work with them. I guess you understand that you can copy files of any type to the player to transport them to another computer.

The main components of the Creative MuVo TX FM player

An LCD display and a porthole of the integrated microphone are located on the player’s front panel. There’s also a Play/Pause button here which also serves to turn the player on and off (you have to press and hold the button for a few seconds to perform the latter functions, so you’re unlikely to use them accidentally).

The player’s controls are found on its side panel: volume up/down buttons and a mini joystick (scroller) that looks like a three-positional wheel. This scroller helps to browse quickly between music compositions as well as to navigate the onscreen menu.

The menu itself has a hierarchical structure and consists of several subsections (for example, when you choose the FM receiver subsection, the main menu adds more menu items). By the way, the MuVo TX FM can store up to 32 preset stations and can seek for them either in manual or automatic mode. Radio broadcasts can be recorded into audio files whose size is only limited by the player’s memory.

Among other menu options, you can set up a five-band equalizer which comes with four presets (Jazz, Rock, Pop and Classical). The LCD display can be adapted for right- and left-handed users.