The Best, Flat Out!
Written: May 09 '00
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Product Rating:
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Pros: USB Connection, Good Sound, Works With Macs
Cons: Pricey, Cheapie Headphones, $100 for extra 32 meg Smart Media Cards
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| funkdaddysmack's Full Review: Rio PMP-500 (64 MB) MP3 Player |
Diamond's new Rio 500 is the best portable MP3 player yet, flat out. Maybe it doesn't have a built-in FM radio or an address book such as some of the competition, but it just does an superb job of what it's built to do, play MP3 audio files. With its USB connection, it's very quick to download a full 64 minutes of music from your computer. Also, with that nice USB connection, comes compatibility with iMacs, and other Apple computers.
The problem with portable mp3 players today (and still keeping them portable) is storage space. This player uses 64 megs onboard, and has an expansion slot for extra storage through use of smart media cards. Unfortunately, the largest smart media card out there right now is 32 meg, so that's 96 meg of memory. It's good, but still far away from the ideal situation.
For those of you who don't know how much music that means, it's approximately 64-96 minutes of CD-quality (One minute is Approx. one meg @ CD quality).
The bundled software that come with the player is rather easy to use, and takes a few minutes to install. It does a pretty good job of compressing that burley CD audio to the prefered MP3 file.
All in all, this is the best player out there. Also, it's the only MP3 player I'm aware of that is compatible with Macs. I don't own an Apple, but I can imagine someone's disappointment who has a mac, and can't use the portable MP3 players. But still, it's $270. That's pretty steep. In the future, as new hardware comes out, the prices for these things will drop steeply. If you don't need one now, I'd wait.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
funkdaddysmack
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Member: Dan Dreese
Location: Williamsport, PA
Reviews written: 49
Trusted by: 10 members
About Me:
24 years old, Database administration
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