Everything you need in a player, and more

Multimedia Player Review: Philips GoGear Muse MP4 Player

by Sim Cheng Kai
05:55 AM Oct 15, 2010

FACING stiff competition from smartphones that do it all, portable music players these days are tacking on a number of easy-to-implement extra features in an attempt to grab market share.

The Philips GoGear Muse, available with 8GB ($219) or 16GB ($259) storage space, is no exception.

In addition to audio (MP3, WAV, WMA, AAC, Ogg Vorbis, FLAC and APE) and video playback (mp4, avi, H.264, rmvb, and wmv) on a wide variety of formats, it features a mic for making voice notes, an FM radio (with recording), HDMI output (for 720p video playback), photo slideshows, a text reader for .txt files, dedicated Audible.com audiobooks supported with three reading speeds, and - if you use the special pair of in-ear monitors (with a tiny mic embedded) that come with the device - noise reduction.

The button layout on the Muse is somewhat similar to that of the Apple iPod Touch or iPhone, but that's where the similarities end.

This slim device is covered in brushed silver metal that's easily scratched by other metallic objects (a casing is a must, unless you find hairline scratches attractive), with a 3.2-inch resistive touchscreen framed in a black bezel on the front.

Below the touchscreen is a Home button, while a lock/unlock button is located on the top edge of the device. Volume keys are on the right edge. And although it looks like a bar-type phone, the Muse is meant to be held horizontally at all times - the onscreen display cannot be rotated to suit the orientation of the device.

Most of the navigation is performed on the resistive touchscreen, which means you will have to apply pressure on the screen to make selections - it's easier to do so with your fingernail than your thumb.

Scrolling through the menus is smooth, though it may take you some time to get used to the user interface. For starters, you will have to use the Home button fairly often, as most menus on the device do not have an on-screen "exit" button.

Also, in the Music, Video and Photos playback modes, sorting options are limited - there is a list mode that works fine, and an album mode that plays all music tagged in an album but doesn't allow you to browse the files contained within. You will not be able to customise playlists - repeat and shuffle options will run through all content in that category - unless you hook it up to a computer and insert playlist files.

But hooking up to the computer is an incredibly simple and fast process. Just plug in a USB cable and it behaves like any flash storage device. Thankfully, you're not forced to install any proprietary drivers before you can transfer files. And if you want to sync music between the Muse and your computer, Philips has preloaded the installation files for Songbird, Mozilla's open-source music management program, which works for many devices but has official support for Muse.

Battery-charging is USB only, meaning there is no power plug, and a full charge lasts 25 hours for audio playback and five hours for video.

Most importantly, audio quality on the Muse is good, especially when you have Philips' FullSound technology turned on, which Philips claims will make all the notes in your music sound right - though I've found it to work like digital surround sound in that it gives your music tracks a roomy atmosphere, as if it were played live at a cosy bar setting.

Videos and photo slideshows play back smoothly, too, regardless if it's on the device or an external monitor through HDMI. That said, if your videos/photos are not in the same aspect ratio as Muse's 3:2 screen, the device has limited resizing options: You can either watch the content with black bars, or stretch it to fit the whole screen - there is no "crop" option.

The Muse pretty much has everything you'd look for in a portable media player. True, it may lack the extended functionality of the iPod Touch with apps from Apple's App Store, bells and whistles like visualisations, and a non-scratchable exterior. But what's good is that it behaves like a thumbdrive; file transfers and management is fast and simple.

There is a file browser on the device itself too, in case you need to check if you've brought that all-important office document with you.

Philips GoGear Muse 8 GB MP3 Player (Silver)

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