Creative MuVo Micro N200 256 MB

Creatives rather nifty little n200 has, I found recieved quite mixed reviews by various people, and I have made it my mission to set the record as straight as humanly possible!!

My nth mp3 player here (mathmeticians take note!!), was originally intended to take with myself for anywhere really. I wanted something durable, light, and skip free which I could take both when I went out, and jogging or excercising. No disappointments here it would seem. Light, sturdy as..something very sturdy (i dropped it down a few flights of stairs and nothing but a scratch), and easy to change tracks while feeling in your pocket (i love that feature).

Packing in a modest 512MB of memory, the N200 doesnt do all that bad really when you consider the price of around £70 nowadays. Enough for those mid-users of music, but not enough for the serial downloaders (you know who you are), it still has the added option of writing straight from a cd player..which I will discuss here..

CD Ripping: Do not, i repeat do not be fooled by this feature creative have so generously decided to add. The quality is absolutely appalling, and unless you like your music hissing like an angry cat, its not recommended you buy solely for this feature.

---Upgradeable firmware comes as standard with the player, and it should be noted that some of the problems of sound quality and ripping copy protected cd's can be solved by an upgrade in firmware---

The buzzing backlight: Ahh the mystery that so many users complain about. If im being honest, there IS a buzz, but not quite so bad as the majority of people make out. Its barely audible (unless you prefer to stick the player in your ear and listen rather then the headphones), and if you dont like it, you can switch the backlight off!

The FM radio is a pain really, as if it were not for this, the player would get a high review. Reception is not good, not good at all. Perhaps if you were standing on the top of canary wharf I might beg to differ, but for the majority of us walking between buildings, and not on top of them, its really an added feature to stare at rather then use.

Overall, a great product, good sound quality, easy to use, BUT with the buzz and the radio, its gonna have to be a:

9/10