I've had my Rio Nitrus about 2 months and use it an hour or two daily while exercising. It's really exceeded all my expectations. First it's incredibly small, smaller than most the flash-based mp3 players, and easily smaller than any hard drive based mp3 player currently on the market. I compared it side-by-side to a iPod the other day and the iPod looked like a giant brick next to the Nitrus! It also weighs next to nothing, about the same as 2 AA batteries, which is very important if you're going to exercise with this device strapped to your waist or arm. The case is wrapped in rubber, so it'll take a beating and keep ticking. The display is bright and very easy to read, and the battery life is phenomenal, double what the iPod provides. The buttons are intuitive too, I can easily switch songs and adjust the volume from touch without removing the Nitrus from my pocket. Can't say that about many other mp3 players out there.

Now the negatives. The software sucks. Hard to point out major flaws, but several minor ones add up, like the inability to create playlists on the player itself when connected to the PC, I must create the playlist on the PC, then transfer it over when I first transfer over the songs. The good thing is they're releasing updates every few weeks and they've come a long way from the original software, but unless you have a broadband connection you're not going to want to download 30 megs every month.

The random feature on the Nitrus sucks too. It'll repeat the same song after playing a few other songs, even if there's a hundred other unplayed songs to choose from. I'm also disappointed with the slow access: if I skip to the next song it'll play immediately, but if I skip to the song after that it'll take about 5 seconds to begin playing. Far too slow for my tastes, although perhaps that's a common problem with hard drive mp3 players?

Like others have mentioned I'm not happy with the fact the battery is not replaceable, but neither are iPods so I can't dwell on that minor fact. Besides, by the time it dies in two or three years better hard drive players will probably be less than $100, and perhaps someone will start offering replaceable batteries when Nitrus's start dying like they did with the iPod (the iPod originally did not have a replaceable battery, but due to public outcry Apple started offering a replacement battery service for $99 while third parties are offering it for less than $50).

Even with the negatives I'd recommend it over any other hard drive mp3 player out there. 1.5 gigs is plenty of space, and at ~$150 it's closer to the price of 256meg flash-based mp3 players than other $250 hard drive players.

**UPDATED December 2004**

I'm on my third Rio in less than 1 year. I thought the first time I had done something wrong so I didn't mention it here before, but this time I simply turned on the screen and it says "UPGRADER". Do a google search for "rio nitrus upgrader" and you'll find tons of similar complaints!! This "UPGRADER" problem seems to be a very common problem and there is no fix. If you search Rio Audio's Knowledge Base (KB) they claim it's as easy as upgrading the firmware but that didn't work for me and it doesn't seem to work for anyone else from what I've read online. I plan on purchasing a new Nitrus and returning this one back in it's place since the device is out of warranty, then immediately selling it on ebay to purchase a iPod. Sure they're expensive but you're paying for the reliability and the excellent interface (look up smartplaylists if you get a change) not the simple hardware.

I'm also not happy with the method PC mp3 players organize mp3s. Seems the only real options you have is either listening to them sequentially or on random, the same methods CD players have enjoyed for many years. While that's fine with 15 tracks, once you have hundreds of songs you need to little better method to find that one song out of hundreds or thousands that you want to hear immediately. The nitrus really doesn't give you that option, only iPods really let you easily select the music you want to hear with "smart playlists" and a ranking system so you can select exactly what songs you want to hear more even while on random. Features like that are why iPods are as popular as they are.
_____"UPGRADER" FIX!!_______
I read on the http://forums-riovolution.com/index.php?showtopic=10505 that a "good hard smack" will fix the "UPGRADER" problem in some circumstances. When I'd turn mine on and held it to my ear I would hear a slight whir and then... sounds like the scratch of a needle on a record player, basically it sounds like the hard drive was trying to spin up and then it'd run into some kind of problem and try again, continuing to do that.

At any rate I started the Nitrus, heard it making the noise and banged it hard on the side of a desk. Hard drive stopped constantly spinning up and down and worked like a champ immediately afterwards, no more "UPGRADER" bug (for now).

Recommended:
Yes

Amount Paid (US$): 150
Recommended for: Athletes - Lightweight and Portable, Perfect for the Gym