Good, not Great
Written: May 10 '01 (Updated May 14 '01)
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Pros: functional, plays MP3 and WMA formats, supports ID3 tags,
Cons: cheap plastic, long headphone cord, average battery life, ESP does not work well.
The Bottom Line: Give the Rio Volt a try.
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| kornell_911's Full Review: Rio Volt SP100 Personal CD Player |
One of the first (and most popular) CD-MP3 players to come to the market, the Rio Volt boasts a slew of impressive features not seen in many CD MP3 players.
Despite all the popular press and praise regarding the CD player, I was a bit disappointed with the Rio Volt.
Features
- Plays some 20 hours of digital audio (roughly 650 MB)
- Plays MP3 format and WMA format
- Plays CD-R, audio CD, CD-RW.
- Includes a remote control.
- Backlit LCD light.
- ESP for up to 120 seconds.
- Supports ID3 tags.
- Has a spinning, dancing guy that grooves in the LCD screen.
- Comes loaded w/ Adaptec CD-R software.
- AC adaptor.
- Carrying Case.
- Takes 2 AA batteries that are included.
CONS
-Poor ESP.
My biggest concern for the CD-MP3 player is the anti-skip protection, which does not work well at all. The ESP feature never seemed to reach 120 seconds; whenever I ran outdoors, the player would always skip on me.
Even when riding the bike at the gym, the player skipped.
-Average battery life.
The battery life was not 15 hours; rather the batteries would die on me within a couple uses at the gym.
-Cheap construction.
The Volt is constructed of cheap plastic; the body is made of lightweight plastic, not the sleek, metallic of other CD players (Sony).
-Head phones.
The cord is too long and the remote control is constructed of cheap plastic, as well.
-Slow load up.
Takes a bit of time for the player to read the MP3s when initially turning on the player.
-Pause between each song.
Couple second pause between each song.
- Boxy.
A little too thick for my liking.
- Problems reading my 700MB CDs. This was because I did not close the CD. I've read elsewhere that people also had the same problem where they did close the session on the CD and still, the Volt wouldn't play their CD.
PROS
Despite all the negatives aspects of the CD player that I have pointed out, there are a lot of good things I can say about the player.
- Cheap.
For roughly $140, not many other companies can compare in price. The Volt's competitor, Creative Lab's Nomad Jukebox prices at over $300.
- Good sound quality.
Digital quality. There is also good bass.
- Good features.
Adjustable equalizer (bass, classical, rock modes, etc), shuffle mode, repeat mode, record mode, programmable playlist to name a few.
- Good usability.
Most anyone can figure out how to use the player without reading the manual.
- Good software included in the package.
- Handles directories and skips over file types it cannot read. For example, I popped in a CD-R with a couple word documents, Excel files, downloaded programs, as well as MP3s. The Volt managed to only read the MP3s.
- No need to carry CDs again. hours and hours of music on one CD!!
Overall
A very good CD-MP3 player, the Rio Volt is definitely worth checking out if you are willing to put up with the ESP, poor battery life.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 140
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