Great player -- poor support, some design flaws
Written: Dec 04 '03
|
Product Rating:
|
|
|
Pros: Outstanding sound; Tiny form; Easy file transfer; Large capacity
Cons: Poor documentation and telephone support. Some inconvenient design features. 90-day warranty.
The Bottom Line: Buy this product: Its price/performance is outstanding. But prepare to learn some of its features by experimentation.
|
|
|
| gberman's Full Review: Creative Labs Nomad MuVo NX 256MB MP3 Player |
I agree with all the raves: the MuVo NX 286 does what it promises to do, in spades. However, support is poor on several levels, and the design could use some attention.
Documentation
The manual comes in two forms. First, in the package, you get a giant sheet in seven languages, providing a brief overview. On the accompanying CD-ROM, there is a more extensive manual. There is no index, but the chapters are so short that one can readily find what there is to find. Unfortunately, what you are looking for is probably not there.
Whether it's a documentation problem or a design problem, one flaw is that several operations require pretty fast fingerwork, or the system goes on to new tasks. Thus, the instructions for skipping from one folder to the next are clear: Press the jog wheel to select "skip folder" then rotate the jog wheel to select the next folder. Trouble is, you have about 2 seconds to select that folder, and then the tiny display moves on to playing the selection you were playing when you started. And the instructions never mention in which screen presentation to rotate the jog wheel. If you do it while "skip folder" is still on screen, you'll arrive at "delete track."
Telephone Support
Telephone support can be even less helpful. The first time I called, to ask how to move from one folder to the next, "Charlie" asked, "Why would you want to do that?" After I explained I did not want to mix Cisco Houston with Beethoven, he set out to find out what a MuVo NX was. He was also unable to make it work, but some higher-level techie said to re-format the drive, and gave me the KB article number. That didn't help.
I followed standard procedure in such cases: call back and hope you get a better rep. My next contact was also mystified by the product, and suggested I return it to the store where I purchased it. On my third call, I reached "Brent," who had tried the product, and together we solved my problem. Faster fingerwork.
Design Problems
Design problems, at least for me, center around the MuVo NX plugged into my USB port. On my computer, this port is located an inch above the floor, and is recessed 1½ inches into the computer. Thus, when the instructions say not to remove the unit until you see the following icon on its little tiny screen, I have to laugh. I can barely find the MuVo, much less see the screen. On my wife's computer, the USB port is also an inch off the ground, but it's located on the back of the computer, so reading the screen requires hanging upside down over her desk, in the dark. I find it difficult to breathe in this position, much less read the screen.
I would have liked a tiny LED on the end of the unit to signal when it can be safely removed.
The playlist is not circular. That is, it only goes in one direction. If you want to delete the last of 20 tracks in an album, you'll have to jog, jog, jog through 19 tracks to get there. If you jog past the last track at either end of one album, you find yourself in the next album.
Sometimes I can change tracks. Other times, jogging the track just restarts the track. Or does nothing. I'm working on this, but there's nothing in the manual about changing tracks! So far, it seems that pausing the play is what makes the difference.
If you put the unit in "pause" it times out after a preset time. Good idea. Sometimes the unit restarts where it left off. Good. Sometimes it goes back to Track One. Bad. I haven't yet figured out what governs this behavior.
And why is the right earbud cable 2½ times as long as the left? Perhaps Picasso designed it.
I thought someone ought to mention some shortcomings of this really good buy. Maybe I'm just a klutz. If you are also, contact me -- I'll listen sympathetically, and maybe I'll have blundered onto the answer to your problem.
Recommended:
Yes
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
gberman
|
|
Member: George Berman
Location: Boca Raton, FL USA
Reviews written: 5
Trusted by: 0 members
About Me:
Engineer, statistician, business planner, PR exec
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.