MP3 player - Diamond Rio 500 MP3 player
Written: Oct 01 '00 (Updated Oct 26 '00)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Sleek, Sexy, Sturdy, Simple to use and mp3's Sound is great
Cons: Pouch design, headphones, price
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| robertopaul's Full Review: Rio PMP-500 (64 MB) MP3 Player |
Two months ago I purchased the Rio 500 MP3 player and it has proven to be an excellent choice. I'm not too bothered by the fact that it doesn't have added extras like an FM radio, digital voice recording and other 'advanced' options. If you're after a feature packed player, then I would advise looking elsewhere (e.g. Creative Labs Nomad). The Rio has been designed as a no nonsense high quality MP3 player - it doesn't strive to be anything more - and that's to its advantage.
The Software and Installation
The software that Diamond provide is called 'RioPort Audio Manager', which was extremely simple to install. Within 10 minutes of opening the package I had managed to download a couple of songs and was listening to them on the player.
Audio Manager is a well-designed program, with only a few minor bugs in the software (not enough to worry about). Its layout is consistent, easy to understand and is divided into 4 sections:
* ...Playlist - allows you to mix and match songs and listen to them. The program can be minimised and thus acts as a software MP3 player, although not as feature rich as the industry leading Winamp.
* ...Copy from CD - encode songs from CD's into MP3 format for subsequent downloading to the Rio. Make sure you connect to the Internet so that the software can download the song titles from the CDDB database (you can also edit the titles of songs). I found on my machine (Pentium 3 450Mhz) that it takes about 2 minutes to encode a 4 minute song from CD.
* ...Devices - interfaces with the Rio. The player has a USB interface, and the lead simply plugs into a free USB port on your computer. I've heard people say that it's a hit and miss affair as to whether the software recognises the player, but of the 100+ times I've downloaded songs it has always connected and recognised the player.
Compared to the parallel port method of downloading, USB provides a very fast transfer rate (500Kb/s). For instance, a 4-minute song takes only 10 seconds to load onto the Rio and you can fill your player to the brim (about 15 songs) with MP3's in around 2 minutes.
* ...Rioport - you can browse the rioport.com site, search for and download mp3's. However, I've rarely used this site.
The minor bugs I found revolved around interface issues, like not properly showing the amount of space left on the device, and limited options when scanning your hard disk for MP3's.
The Accessories
* ...The Player - An attractive and sleek design. I had the choice of purchasing the green translucent version, but this was too 'Imacish', and the silver version looked far better. One of the player's most intriguing aspects is its size. Compared to a CD player the Rio might seem 'too' small, but you will definitely get used to this. In fact, I don't think I could now go back to using an oversized CD player having used the Rio.
The buttons on the player are efficiently laid out, with your basic play/stop/forward/reverse accompanied by a bookmark, browse and 'multi' button, which acts as a volume control and means to scroll through the menus.
Initially I found the multi button slightly annoying, but once you get used to the click (then scroll) style, it becomes second nature. The backlit LCD display is easy to read and shows track number, length, name/artist info and battery indicator.
The Rio takes one AA battery, and I've found that I can get around 7 hours out of a Duracell, and with a decent rechargeable I can achieve 2.5 hours playback.
* ...Headphones - Designed by Koss they hook around your ears and are less prone to falling out than the standard design, especially when jogging or participating in keep fit. In terms of sound, I would describe them as functional, although the foam covering tends to fall off and they do look a bit 'cheesy'. I would personally recommend shelling out $10 for a decent pair of Sony's, to get the very best quality from the player.
* ...Pouch - Since the player itself doesn't have an onboard belt clip, Diamond have included a little pouch holder. Quite frankly it's a bit of a design disaster. Trying to get the player in the holder is annoying, you can't see the digital display screen when it's in there, and trying to feel through the holder to the buttons is another source of immense frustration. Diamond should have considered a better design, because this simply isn't up to the quality I would have expected. It is however, useful for jogging and exercising, although some patience is required...
What does it sound like?
I encode all of my MP3's at 'near' CD quality (128kb/s). For me (and most folk), it's hard to tell the difference between the MP3 version and the CD version at this bit-rate, although others might disagree. The player also provides equalisation (bass/treble on a 1-10 scale) controls, in addition to some pre-sets like Rock, Jazz, Classic and normal, that add more depth to the sound.
What's it like in Action?
I've been using the player while travelling, out on walks, and even running. Being very compact and having 'no' moving parts means it's perfect for these type of activities.
With 64Mb of memory (some players still only have 32), this allows around 1 hours worth of CD quality music, and if you invest in another memory card you can get even more mileage from your player, although extra memory is still relatively expensive.
The Verdict
Having used it fairly intensively for a couple of months the Rio has proven to be a high quality MP3 player. It's easy to use, designed with style and simplicity, has been very sturdy and reliable (its been shaken and dropped a few times without any damage) and most importantly it sounds great (with a good pair of headphones). Although it doesn't have as many extras as other players, I personally didn't need an FM radio or digital voice recorder option - but others might feel these as an important consideration when choosing a player.
There are several other cons; the software has some minor bugs, the headphones aren't that great, the quality of the pouch is rather shoddy, and compared to other players it's one of the more expensive models (I bought mine for £170 [$240]).
Even with these negatives, I still recommend the Rio. It is especially ideal for people who love to mix and match music but who find the size and clumsiness of Personal CD players to be a disadvantage, and on the road, be it running, jogging or working out, this player is top notch.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
robertopaul
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Reviews written: 38
Trusted by: 29 members
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