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Welcome to the Fence: iPod Shuffle vs. Creative MuVo
It's only a matter of time before you'll all have an mp3 player. Considering I like to be in the early adopter/visionary camp it's quite surprising that it's taken until now to actually buy one of these things. I guess I'd been kind of silently waiting for the 120GB iPod for $300 -- that way I could truly bring *all* of my music with me and DJ to my heart's content.
Since that is not going to happen any time soon us idealists need to decide what our other niche is; are we willing to spend a lot of money to carry some or most of our music, or get a Flash player and use the device for the gym, the commute, etc.
Gym/commute it is.
So if you want something with decent storage, function, and style there are really only two choices:
- Apple's iPod shuffle
- Creative MuVo
After some quality firsthand experience here is my quick rundown of the battle. First of all, neither is really ready to go out of the box so I'm allowing 1 $30 add-on for each so it's a fair fight; the iPod doesn't come with an armband so you'll need to get that on the Apple end -- the MuVo's earbuds honestly suck (most online reviews mention how the standard earbuds hurt, I just found them to fall out constantly), so we're going to choose a nice sexy set of Sony MDR-J20 headphones.
IPOD SHUFFLE (512MB, $124 LOADED):
+ The minimalist interface is the correct style for a single-use device like this one. Apple *nailed* the design.
+ Rechargable battery built in
+ Tight iTunes integration
- Sound quality downright tinny compared to iPod mini or fullsize
- Niche was defined too narrowly; sorry, runners might not be looking at the screen but everyone else does -- just enough to show title and battery meter - that's all we ask
= Not too useful: Random songlist downloaded to player -- with the small memory size you could really get a dud batch if you have a hard time deleting songs on your computer.
CREATIVE MUVO (512MB, $129 LOADED):
+ AAA batteries are easier to swap (you can use rechargables if you feel so inspired)
+ LCD screen, yay
+ Louder/better sound output than iPod shuffle
+ Drag-and-drop files for Mac is good; integration with iTunes 4.7.0 better (this feature disappeared in 4.7.1 oddly enough...)
- Still more buttons than needed
- Obsessive/busy designers put text, logos, and explanations all over the device; scroller button different color than the rest; overall "sloppy" execution on the closest-to-apple minimalist flash device out there
= Not too useful: FM Radio (who's ever gotten good FM reception?), tons of unnecessary preferences settings
So it looks like a dead heat. In the end I picked the MuVo because this is, after all, a music player and therefore sound quality is king. The better amplification and LCD screen give the Creative the edge (for now).
Posted by Aaron R. Deutsch on March 28, 2005 11:15 PM