Creative Muvo as PC Tuner?

June 8, 2005 7:06 AM

I'm thinking of getting a Creative Muvo V200 MP3 player, ostensibly to have a USB drive and an FM radio in one. So I'm wondering, is it possible to listen to the FM radio on this thing while it's plugged into the USB port on a PC?

This would be sweet because I could listen to the radio all day at work without running the AAA battery down.

posted by bruceyeah to Technology (7 answers total)

Response by poster: I should also clarify... I don't need to listen to the audio via the PC, I just want to have it powered by the PC USB port so the AAA battery isn't being used.
posted by bruceyeah at 7:09 AM on June 8, 2005

Best answer: I just tried it with my Muvo TX FM and it seems all functionality is disabled when plugged into the USB port. No music, no menus, no radio, no nuttin'.

Since my model and the model you are considering are so similar, I would expect the same out of yours. FWIW, On the Muvo Tx FM, you must remove the player portion from the battery portion before plugging it in to your 'puter.
posted by sourwookie at 7:26 AM on June 8, 2005

If you put a scrap of paper over the middle two connectors, power will be connected, but data won't. That's probably not a long term solution, however.
posted by cillit bang at 7:34 AM on June 8, 2005

FWIW, For the V200 disconnecting the battery module is the same process as with the Tx FM.
posted by horseblind at 7:34 AM on June 8, 2005

I just tried it on my muvo micro n200 and as sourwookie said, all functionality is disabled.
posted by echelon at 8:25 AM on June 8, 2005

Response by poster: Doh... what a shame. Apart from this shortcoming this player sounds perfect. I just don't feel good about buying stacks of AAA batteries all the time just to listen to the radio.

Thanks for the great answers... guess I'll think about it some more.
posted by bruceyeah at 8:37 AM on June 8, 2005

i've got the muvo tx fm and love it. i bought four recharchable AAA batteries and use about 1 per day or two with continued use (listening to music or the radio all day). If you can get used to charging up your batteries every 4-7 days, it's actually not bad at all.
posted by jacobsee at 9:05 AM on June 8, 2005