Creative Muvo NX

Creative's Muvo is a favourite in the PCW office, mostly thanks to its tiny dimensions, 128MB of storage and decent battery life - though it lacks certain features that would have made it brilliant. The 'NX' update doesn't tinker with the basic formula much and adds some vital features that were missing from the original, such as an LCD, battery level indicator and the ability to delete tracks from the device itself.

You may also notice the rather unique colour. Its shiny red cover is not to all tastes, but there is a light silver alternative included in the box. The NX is still powered by a mere AAA battery, but we got nearly a week's worth of tube journeys and gym trips out of this before we needed a replacement - and there's always the option of buying rechargeable cells to keep costs down.

After formatting, the overall capacity of this solid-state disk comes down to 121MB. This is good enough for short journeys and breaks away, although those without frequent access to a PC will want more.

The screen is an excellent addition. While it's not exactly large it has enough space to show the track name, duration, play status, current battery level and any EQ setting you may have on. Our only complaint about ease of use was that the jog dial button used to skip tracks was a little slow to react on our preproduction review model, but this could change before it hits the shelves.

File compatibility is decent, covering MP3, wav and wma files, though our model failed to handle vbr (variable bit rate) files.

At £120, its versatility, battery life and size make the Muvo hard to resist. However, many may want more than the two hours of tunes it can provide. In addition, MSI's Mega Stick has most of the features for £25 less.

Contact: Creative
http://uk.europe.creative.com

Specifications:

• 128MB storage capacity
• USB connection
• Headphone out, microphone in
• 43g
• 75 x 37 x 16mm (w x d x h)
• 11hr quoted battery life