All was good when I bought my 128MB NOMAD MuVo (Model DAP-TD0001) way back when. I now had a USB RAM chip that could play its own music files. What could be better? I installed its driver for Windows98SE so I could see the NOMAD MuVo as a USB port device in My Computer. Then I updated my existing Creative PlayCenter 2 software (that originally came with my SoundBlaster Live! 5.1 audio card) to version 3.02.52 so that I could use the NOMAD MuVo plugin I downloaded for it. It was real easy to transfer music files to and from my NOMAD MuVo using PlayCenter. Yes, life was good.



THE HORROR

A year or so later, I upgraded to WindowsXP and notice some new downloads for my NOMAD MuVo on Creative's web site. I downloaded Creative's MediaSource program and when I started its installation, it detected that I had both PlayCenter installed and my NOMAD MuVo plugged in so that it could complete the install. I liked its cool design compared to PlayCenter's. Then I noticed that I couldn't access my NOMAD MuVo with MediaSource (even with the NOMAD MuVo plugin installed for CMS). I soon found out that I needed a newer NOMAD MuVo driver and updated firmware in order for the MediaSource NOMAD MuVo plugin to communicate with the NOMAD Muvo. Then I found out I could use FAT32 formatting if I wanted to. How awesome was that?!

So I changed the NOMAD MuVo's format to FAT32 and I let MediaSource initialize the thing. I then copied some music files to my NOMAD MuVo. But it wouldn't play them for some reason. No lights would come on when I pressed the play button. No problem, I thought. I could just re-initialize the firmware I installed earlier. But there was a problem. I thought I'd try installing the original NOMAD MuVo driver from the CD and put back the original firmware on the NOMAD MuVo that way. The original driver detected the thing. But it wouldn't appear in My Computer. Maybe if I went back to Windows98 things would work better?

I got Windows98 up and running again and installed the original firmware for NOMAD MuVo. But the original driver still wouldn't detect the thing. No problem, I thought again. I could just re-install the newest firmware and newest driver again. That worked fine and I could see it in My Computer. It was shown as a hard drive, though, instead of the usual USB NOMAD MuVo device I knew and loved. And PlayCenter's plugin for the thing wouldn't detect it! Hmmm... Did I install everything in the right order? Yes... So why wouldn't the NOMAD MuVo work?! I tried not to panic.

Maybe it was the FAT32 format it was using? Argh! Windows98 couldn't change it back to FAT16! I upgraded back to WindowsXP again and loaded the driver. Then I formatted the NOMAD MuVo using FAT16. Things looked ok. But I couldn't install MediaSource! What the hell?! It couldn't find any NOMAD MuVo devices before continuing its install! So then I put Windows98 back on again and (huh?!) it still wouldn't work right! The CD software refused to talk to my NOMAD MuVo! I re-installed the newest NOMAD MuVo firmware and driver again just to make sure I hadn't corrupted anything on it. Ok, good. It was back again in My Computer as a hard drive. But it reported 0MB and I couldn't format the thing. I tried installing a previous version of the NOMAD MuVo firmware and crossed my fingers. Still no luck.

Well... my system's registry was screwed. So I stuck the NOMAD MuVo into a Windows2000 machine and installed the previous NOMAD MuVo firmware (1.20.03) for it, and used the latest NOMAD MuVo driver (1.00.04.250). Cool! It worked. The green light would come on when it played. And the red light would come on when I paused it.

Finally, I re-installed Windows98 one last time and used the same NOMAD MuVo driver I used on the Windows2000 system. And I didn't mess with it anymore. I just had to get used to using the thing as another drive in My Computer. The NOMAD MuVo would just have to be accessed by its drive letter in PlayCenter 3.02.52. Ok, fine. But, wait a minute! This NOMAD MuVo could now be accessed by Windows Explorer! I didn't need PlayCenter anymore! And the best part was, my NOMAD MuVo was alive again!



TROUBLE-SHOOTING

• If you are happy with your 128MB NOMAD MuVo and only plan on using it with PlayCenter 3.02.52 (using the downloaded Creative NOMAD MuVo plugin for it), DO NOT UPGRADE THE FIRMWARE on it!





• If you want to access your 128MB NOMAD MuVo as a removable drive using other programs you have, then upgrade the firmware on it using only this version (1.20.03). Before running this firmware upgrade, you have to first put your NOMAD MuVo in Device Recovery mode. This is done by pressing the power button on your NOMAD MuVo while plugging it into your computer and holding the button down for 10 seconds. When you let go of the NOMAD MuVo's power button, Windows will understand that the USB device has been set for recovery. Now you can run the fireware upgrade which will search your system for the device to recover and (re-)install the firmware on it. Afterwards, be sure you plug the NOMAD MuVo into its battery pack and turn it on and off to initialize its storage first before transferring files to it.





• Be sure you install this Windows98/Me/2000/XP driver (1.00.04.250) first in order to successfully run the above mentioned firmware updater.





• Once you've updated the firmware on your 128MB NOMAD MuVo, the original NOMAD MuVo driver from the CD will no longer work for Windows98.





• You can never re-install the original firmware from the CD again once you've updated your 128MB NOMAD MuVo's firmware. This is because the original firmware installer (a.k.a the NOMAD MuVo firmware recovery/formatter) on the CD only works with the NOMAD MuVo driver it comes with. And since the original NOMAD MuVo driver won't detect your NOMAD MuVo's updated firmware, you can just throw the NOMAD MuVo CD away. Simply make a new CD of your own that contains the updated NOMAD MuVo firmware and newer NOMAD MuVo driver you're using.





• Make sure you plug your NOMAD MuVo into its battery pack after formatting it, or upgrading its firmware. This initializes the much needed SETTINGS.DAT file for your NOMAD MuVo so that your computer will detect the device and be able to transfer files to it.





• Turning the volume all the way up on the NOMAD MuVo will cause it to skip audio during play. Only people going deaf will ever worry about this little known fact.





• Make sure you read the NOMAD MuVo manual. It explains how the controls work and the proper use of batteries.





• Use Windows Media Player 9 to save your CD audio as 64Kbps WMA files on your hard drive before transferring them to your NOMAD MuVo. They sound just as good as 128Kbps WMA files and use half the memory space.





• Deleting the SETTINGS.DAT file from a NOMAD MuVo will force it to play songs from the start of its playlist the next time it is turned on. The NOMAD MuVo will then create a new SETTINGS.DAT file in order to remember where to resume playing from the next time it is turned on.





• Notmad Explorer has trouble auto-detecting a NOMAD MuVo if the SETTINGS.DAT file is not found on the device.





• I've seen a NOMAD MuVo and MuVo TX FM drain a perfectly good AAA battery that wasn't used for a month. Disconnecting the battery pack from a NOMAD MuVo still drains the AAA battery. So remove the AAA battery from the battery pack if you're not going to be listening to music for a while.

• Creative is known for publishing very ambiguous user guides and download instructions.





• Trial and error is the norm when installing one of their products.





• Included programs that we hate and don't want to install/use (like Keytar and Rhythmania) seem to be the only ones that work right.





• I like how Creative eventually changed the NOMAD MuVo from being accessed only as a proprietary USB device to being accessed now by any program that can browse any drive.





• I no longer use PlayCenter these days because it messes with the audio's pitch and plays MP3 files slowly. Windows Media Player 9 is what I use now to create 64Kbps WMA files for my NOMAD MuVo.





• I bought Notmad Explorer from Red Chair Software and used it for about an hour. Its interface took some getting used to. Eventually, I went back to using Windows Media Player 9 for creating playlists and using Windows Explorer to transfer them to my NOMAD MuVo.





• I really like the Resume Play feature included in the current NOMAD MuVo firmware I'm using (version 1.20.03).





• I don't think I'll ever get used to pressing my NOMAD MuVo's Play button for three seconds to turn it on or off. At least it will never happen by accident.





• Formatting a 128MB NOMAD MuVo using a FAT32 scheme doesn't save you all that much in storage space.





• I recently bought a 256MB MuVo TX FM. It had a defect in its workmanship (a cracked edge on the LCD). Without trying it out, I returned it to the store and got another one. The second one had a few scratches on the battery pack and some kind of gum on the USB plug (which I managed to pick off so it could slide in and out easier). Both of the MuVo TX FM's were flimsily constructed compared to the NOMAD MuVo's solid construction. It was probably to save costs, since I paid the same price for the new 256MB MuVo TX FM as I did for my old 128MB NOMAD MuVo.





• I'm debating whether if I should buy another version of Notmad Explorer to use for my MuVo TX FM, or if I should just use the MediaSource program that came with it. Both the NOMAD MuVo and MuVo TX FM work fine with MediaSource 2.02.06. But Windows Media Player 9 seems to be the best still.





• No. I won't be upgrading the firmware on my Factory Default MuVo TX FM, or be trying to format it using FAT32 anytime soon.





• For those of you that aren't thrilled with the MuVo TX FM's volume level after having used a NOMAD MuVo, just go to the Equalizer Menu on the MuVo TX FM and set its audio to ROCK style. It will then sound just as loud as the NOMAD MuVo that you're used to.





• Placing the MuVo TX FM's power button right where you have to grab to pull the USB storage device from its battery pack is a bad design.





• The song-naming convention is a bit odd with the MuVo TX FM. If you copy a filename of 01_Rush_Hour_Metropolis.mp3 to the MuVo TX FM and play it back, its LCD will show the filename for 1/2 a second and then begin scrolling the song's name as Metropolis. That's hardly much time to read an artist or album name if they're included in a song's filename. If a song's name is six or less characters long, the MuVo TX FM won't display the song's filename at all when played. Maybe there is a fix?





• This has nothing to do with MuVo's. But I recently updated the firmware on my Linksys firewall (model no. BEFSX41) to version 1.50.18, which caused it to not work anymore. I finally found a firmware (version 1.45.7) that got my firewall working again. But it would no longer perform URL blocking. And the unit rebooted whenever I uploaded to my web site. Now I'm trying out a firmware version of 1.44.3 (probably the one I should have stayed with originally) which has URL blocking working again.





• The way I organize the music on my MuVo TX FM is by using Windows Explorer to copy album folders from my PC that Windows Media Player 9 creates. Each album folder contains songs (saved as "01 Song Name", "02 Song Name", etc.) that are already in order.





• Recordings made using the MuVo TX FM's built-in mic have a muffled, low-bass audio quality to them. The mic has to be held close to your mouth for it to record your voice.





• I see the MuVo Micro N200 has been released. Why is it that none of the photos from Creative's Marketing Department show the side of the player we're all interested in (the one with the line-in and USB connector on it)?





• A V200 model is out. It uses the two-piece design philosophy of the original MuVo. No USB cable is needed. Just the way it should be.





• Sales of the N200 have been low. Which is good because that means more sales for the 1GB MuVo TX FM!





• I recently bought a case for my digital camera. And it has room for two MuVo's in it besides the camera! Life is good.





• Like a crazy person I bought a 2GB MuVo V100. I mean who does that kind of thing still in 2010? Anyway, the player was dead in the box. No power on. No worky. But it did like being in device recovery mode for some reason when plugged into a computer, even though the V100 manual specifically states to not press the power button while plugging the MuVo into the USB port. So what the heck. I downloaded the firmware from Creative and installed it on the MuVo V100 and ta-da, it now turns on and the computer finally notices that something is plugged into it. I didn't know that Creative even sold MuVos without their firmware installed. That's just crazy talk. The painful part now (I find out) is that its USB is only 1.1 and not 2.0. So it takes an hour to fill up the 2GB with songs. Oh, the humanity!





• Unlike the MuVo TX FM, the MuVo V100 does not slowly kill the battery while the unit is turned off.