The Chiba: Super small, super comfy and super cool.
Written: Nov 06 '03 (Updated Nov 10 '04)
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Pros: Small, Light, Great sound, Great battery life, Lots of options, Rio Reputation
Cons: None
The Bottom Line: What? We have to do the Bottom line? Okay...
I love this thing!
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| midknight2k3's Full Review: Rio Chiba Street (256 MB) MP3 Player |
MY STORY
Hard-drive MP3 players are becoming increasingly popular. Even with the “fantastic” “oh-so-sleek” “super slick” Apple iPod, the fact remains the same: Hard drive players are just too big to be used all that conveniently. If you want music to be really on-the-go you want a smaller Flash-based player. I recently tested 3 models (all including 256MB of Flash memory, two of which offering expansion ports):
iRiver iFP-390TC
Ri¬¬o Audio Chiba 256MB
RCA Lyra 256MB
Reviews on each coming soon! For now, you’re reading the Chiba review. Go Chiba!
PACKAGING
The Chiba comes in a plastic casing, sporting the model itself and the accessories enclosed in a black hollow plastic stand that lists the features (256MB, 5 Band EQ, SD/MMC slot, etc). The package was relatively easy to open, luckily (I hate having to open packages that have the thickness of a plastic cup. That is unnecessary. Anyways, yes, upon opening the package you will see the following:
-Rio Chiba 256MB
-Sennheiser MX300 Earbuds (nice of them to package ones that are USABLE)
-Belt Clip
-iTunes and Rio Music Manager/Rio Taxi
-Quick Start Guider
-(1) AA Battery (Energizer MAX)
SOFTWARE
The included software is good. I downloaded Real Music Manager 2.2 from http://rioaudio.com, so I don’t know what the version on the CD is. From Rio Music Manager, you can copy songs to and from the Chiba, make playlists, and with the Rio Taxi extension, move non-mp3 or –wma’s to different computers (it’s sort of like USB Mass Storage, but with a program instead of Windows Explorer). This is a step in the right direction for Rio; if they decide to do USB Mass Storage like iRiver did, they will be there. For now, RMM and Taxi work well for my needs.
THE PLAYER ITSELF
The player itself is VERY well designed – top marks here, Rio. It’s comfy to hold, although if you are left-handed you might as well not get it at all. That said, being right handed, I love the feel. It’s light, the RioStick sits right under your thumb and your pointer finger goes up and around the volume control (located at the top). The RioStick is a great new invention that Rio came up with. It’s a small joystick. You nudge the stick in a direction to control playback/navigation. When playing a song, nudge it up to play/pause, down to stop, and left or right to rewind or fast forward, or to skip tracks. Click down to select, or when playing a song to scroll through song info (Time elapsed, Time remaining, playlist position, file type, file size, file bitrate, and EQ preset). The other keys on the player are: Power (press to power on, hold to power off) and keylock (it’s a switch to lock the keys from being pressed).
THE INTERFACE
The Chiba’s interface is very well thought out. You nudge the RioStick right to move into a menu, left to leave a menu, and up / down to navigate. The menu tree is as follows:
Key
+ = Menu
-- = Option
---- = Setting (Parameters)
+Play Music
--Play All
--Play Track
--Playlists
+Tuner
+Stopwatch
+Settings
--Playback
----Repeat (One, All, Off)
----Shuffle (On, Off)
--Equalizer (Custom [5 Band EQ], Normal, Rock, Jazz, Classical, Pop, Trance)
--Bookmarks
----Select
----Set
----Delete
--Power
----Battery (NiMH, Alkaline)
----Pwr Save (Never, 1M, 5M, 10M, 30M)
--Resume
----Track (First, Current)
----Timecode (Start, Current)
--Display
----Backlight (Off, 2S, 5S, 10S, 20S, On)
----Contrast (Variable, 0-15)
--Time
----Set Time
----Set Date
----Time/Date Mode
--Language
----English
----Chinese
----German
----French
----Spanish
--Tuner
----Options (FM Stereo Mode: On, Off – Region: USA, Europe, Japan)
--Lock Setup
----Lock Volume (Off, On)
----RioStick (Lock, Play/Pause)
That should give you an idea for just how many features this thing has. The Tuner reception is great, the interface is well designed, the battery life is excellent (rated at about 16 hours per battery – with a 750mAh NiMH battery I got about that long). The list goes on and on. I love this thing. Keep it up, Rio!
MY EXPERIENCES
So, you know what they are saying about it, but what about from a consumer's point of view? That's what I'm here for! So first, you load your songs onto this tiny player. Transfer times are acceptable, as the Chiba uses a USB1.1 interface (and why waste money on a USB2 interface? You'll get that 256MB filled in a few minutes). When you get your music loaded up, you should consider making a few playlists (Workout Favorites, Around The House, Nighttime Music, etc) to better organize your music. Note: playlists can only be made on a PC, and you can't create one "on-the-fly". After all this, when you're ready to listen to your music, go ahead and head to MENU->Play music->All Tracks (or Playlists), go up/down to select one, and tap the RioStick to start playing the song (or playlist). For more customization, set your own Custom EQ; the included presets aren't that unique. The sound of the Chiba is excellent - no static or skips at any point, songs load instantly, etc etc. I read in a review about how the Chiba makes a beep upon startup/shutdown, but really, are you intending to be listening when you turn the machine on? [Note: there's a firmware update that supposedly resolves this] The controls are very simple to use, as the RioStick is pretty "universal": it works in the same way no matter what menu you're in or function you're using. Navigation is quite simple, too. All-around a great player.
CONCLUSION
The Rio Chiba has excellent value for the price. It features 256MB of internal memory, upgradeable via the SD/MMC slot inside the battery cover. Right now there are sales, and at Best Buy you can purchase this player for only $149.99! Works great, great work again, Rio. I think I will be the proud owner of a Karma soon!
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 199.99
Recommended for: Athletes - Lightweight and Portable, Perfect for the Gym
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Epinions.com ID:
midknight2k3
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Member: Zakk
Location: Seattle, WA
Reviews written: 40
Trusted by: 13 members
About Me:
When there's new technology, check here for reviews.
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