Download, Drive, Listen: I Just Read A Book with Rio 500
Written: Jul 22 '01 (Updated Oct 24 '01)
|
Product Rating:
|
|
| Sound: |
 |
|
| Ease of Use: |
 |
|
| Durability: |
|
|
| Portability: |
 |
|
| Battery Life: |
|
|
|
Pros: A handy little gadget that allows you to listen to audio books.
Cons: The battery doesn't last long enough.
The Bottom Line: I like it! It plays well, is very small and once you know how to use the buttons is simple to use.
|
|
|
| jo.com's Full Review: Rio PMP-500 (64 MB) MP3 Player |
This past Father’s Day, my stepson gave my husband a gift of the Rio 500, which was part of a deal offered by Audible.com. The deal was a Rio 500 player if you sign up for a 12-month subscription through Audible.com for $99 less a $50 rebate making it $49. You have to buy the Light Listener Membership, which is $12.95/month. This gets you 2 books per month from any of the books Audible.com offers.
I am reviewing the Diamond Rio 500 Digital Audio Player. I did not know and neither did my husband that this is a refurbished player. (I checked with an electronics advisor, who said, in his opinion, reviewing one that was refurbished is fine.) I found out when I went to write this review and read the fine print on the warranty. I later found out when I was reviewing my cell phone that Audible.com is not the only one who replaces returns with refurbished products. In my cell phone warranty it says that if the new one is defective and it is sent back, a new or refurbished one will replace it.
In any case this is a review of the player and how this “deal” works which is really a great deal if you enjoy audio books.
How To Get Connected:
The Rio arrived and we went to www.riohome.com to register it. We then went to Audible.com/software where we downloaded the AudibleManager software. In order to do that you have to have USB (Universal Serial Bus) port connection (I know what USB means because I found it at this website: http://www.usb.org/) and Windows 98 or higher. You also need to have Pentium 90 or higher and 32 MB available RAM.
My husband’s laptop’s USB port connection is only available on his docking station, which is at work, but there is one on the back on my computer. We found it because looking at the back of my computer we saw a hole that had the same shape as the Rio’s connector (the USB port connector). I do realize that those of you who are not technically challenged must be cringing that we connected something to my computer based on the shape...but you do what you have to do!
We plugged in the connector to my computer and went to Audible.com, put in our user name and our password, which was provided when this was bought. We looked at many of the titles and offerings we wanted and put the books in the shopping cart. We then checked out and the books got saved in our account. We then were given instructions on how to download the book. With our cable modem it loaded very fast through the USB port connection.
Now about the Rio player:
•The Rio player’s sound is very clear. On our way to New Hampshire a couple of weekends ago we listed to Steve Martini’s, The Jury. How I feel about listening to audiotapes is another review, but it came through loud and clear.
•It comes with headphones but will accept any headphones. The ones it came with wrap around the ear. Personally I prefer my own headphones and use them. I bring the Rio to the gym oftentimes and listen while on the treadmill.
•It also comes with a cassette adapter. The cassette adapter is a cassette that attaches to the Rio with a cord. That cassette goes in your cassette player just like a music cassette does. It is powered by 1 double A battery. The use of this one battery gives the player about a 13-hour life span. That isn’t a lot, especially if you are travelling. Batteries are expensive. It would be nice to have it come with a more powerful battery. Realize that your car battery doesn’t power it like your cassette player does in the car. So be aware and have extra batteries with you.
•We didn’t get a manual apparently because this is a refurbished product. We got a 2-sided piece of paper, but the frequently asked questions on it were quite helpful and have to be read. It is very important to read the instructions about the buttons. For example, if you want to rewind a little bit you have to press and hold the rewind button (You can't just hit rewind) and you won’t know this unless you read the FAQs.
•The buttons:
-play is also pause
-stop
-fast forward
-rewind
-on/off
-browse button –This one is confusing at first. The Rio holds 28 hours’ worth of books, which means you may have many books on it at one time. If you want to change books you have to hit browse.
-multi button is how you select the book that you have browsed to find. It also changes the volume.
•The Rio 500 feels pretty solid but I wouldn’t step on it. It is made of what seems like a heavy-duty plastic and will certainly take a lot of knocking around.
•The color options with this deal are grey, clear teal and clear purple. My stepson chose the clear purple for us.
•One problem we had other than having to change the battery after 13 hours and in the middle of a book was the Rio stopping for no reason right after a new battery was in. We played with it, shook it around, then took out the battery and put it back in. No idea what caused it. That only happened one time and it could be due to it being refurbished or it could just have been a loose battery.
•There is a 90 day warranty on this product and if it continues to stop we will return it and I will update the review. I am hopeful it was just a quirk.
•You need a serial number to register this product. Seriously, you really need a microscope to read it. (no kidding – it isn’t because I am old.) I am sure we registered it under the wrong number since we don’t own a microscope.
•It comes with a plastic, mesh carrying case that you can clip on to clothes.
• It is 2.5” x 3.5” x.62” It weights 2.7 ounces.
The offer through Audible.com is only available in the US and Canada.
In summary:
This is a fun gadget. If you like listening to tapes this is a great deal and for the price, the Rio 500 is a really good deal! I am not rating it down because it stopped on us. I am attributing that either a quirk or it being refurbished which is Audible.com’s fault, not the manufacturer.
Also, although books on tape are available in the library, my experience is that these are not necessarily current and are frequently in bad shape. The quality through Audible.com and heard on my Rio is excellent.
PLEASE NOTE: It appears that a battery life of over 10 hours is considered excellent. I don't consider it excellent but will conform to the question and give it 5 stars.
If you have any questions about the player or Audible.com, feel free to e-mail me.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 49/gift
|
|
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.