Buying an MP3 Player is harder than playing pictionary
Oct 14 '01
The Bottom Line Choosing a player isn't all that easy and I've tried to simplify the process.
My Pick - Rio 800 or NOMAD II MG
Buying an MP3 Player is a fun thing to do..it's not the easiest but then again it's fun. Then you actually get the player and if you realize you haven't got the right..then it isn't fun anymore. It's just a loss of money. So one must be careful in deciding on which player to buy. In fact buying a player is easier today than it was because prices have fallen like hell..I've easily lost about $100 on my Rio 800. In fact, if you go to cnet.com and look at the lowest price for the NOMAD II, it's only $150 or something.. and the NOMAD II was originally quoted at $329. Don't you think it's great the way prices have fallen ? I'm sure someone (I could be someone) who bought the player at that time wouldn't like to find out that it is now available for less than half the price. Anyways on to the "digital audio" players..
1. NOMAD II & NOMAD II MG
2. Rio 800
3. Intel Pocket Concert
4. Rio 600 64 MB
NOMAD II & NOMAD II MG
These players used to and still are GREAT. They are about one and a half years old or so now but if that's not a problem then either of these players may be a good buy. The NOMAD II MG is more sleek and more usable. The NOMAD II MG has more features like it allows you to record from FM, etc.. but it isn't very convinient like for example, the buttons are on the side and not on the top. These players are also a very good buy because the price of SmartMedia cards have fallen like hell and you can get way more memory for the same price from smartmedia then from a rio backpack which is really expensive.. a Rio 32 MB backpack costs $80.
PROS - Cheap Memory Expansion, FM, Voice Recording.
CONS - 1 and 1/2 years old.
Rio 800
The Rio 800 is simply an amazing player created by Sonicblue formerly S3 formerly Diamond Multimedia. It looks amazing..it has rockin' features including voice recording, bookmarking and so on. In my opinion the Rio 800 sound quality is better than that of the NOMAD Series but then again I like it more so maybe I'm biased :) .
The memory backpacks are however very expensive so that's the only thing going against this player..Oh yeah..this player doesn't have FM either but SonicBlue said they would be releasing an FM Tuner for the player separately. As far as accessories this player comes with headphones and also a remote control which is quite small and cute. There are 3 versions of this player - 64 MB (costs about $200), 128 MB (costs about $250 at some online retailers) and the 384 MB Extreme version.
PROS - Great sound, Great design, Voice recorder
CONS - Expensive memory upgrades, no FM
Rio 600 64 MB
This is another good player .. not as good as the 800 in features but better in design. You can customize the player with faceplates and stuff. Unfortunately there is no beltclip and no voice recording. So I wouldn't recommend this player unless you want something that looks really cool..
PROS - Great design, good sound
CONS - Lacking in many features
Intel Pocket Concert
Intel joined the digital audio player market sometime ago with their Pocket Concert player. This is supposed to be a very good player. It comes with 128 MB of INTERNAL memory but unfortunately, this CANNOT be expanded. So if you want to buy a player for the long run and hope to expand it's memory and stuff don't get this player. This player has all the features you would expect from a player - FM Tuner, Voice recording, Support for WMA and MP3 formats. You can also buy an accessory kit for an additional price which has a docking station, carrying pouch, etc..
PROS - Great player, 128 MB, has all features that an mp3 player should have.
CONS - Can't expand memory, more expensive than other players in the market.
For additional details about any of these players you could visit :
http://www.riohome.com/ - Rio players
http://www.nomadworld.com/ - NOMAD Players
http://www.intel.com/ - Pocket Concert
Hope you buy the right MP3 player and hope you find this review useful.
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