Pros: Compact Size. Includes a Padded Case for Use at the Gym. Cons: Software not the best but Serviceable.
Ive used the Diamond Rio at the Gym and while running. It is a great machine and a very good value overall. Headphones make a very big difference. The standard ones included are uncomfortable (ear buds) and dont play as loudly as others (I would...
Pros: small, light, nice neoprene carrying case, decent capacity, extendable Cons: resets if you drop it, holding capacity, dies after 1.5 years
This was my first MP3 player, and in that aspect it was pretty good. Overall, its a good starter, but I wouldn't buy this if you want good reliability or great capacity.
It only holds on 64 MB in its onboard memory. This equals roughly 17...
Pros: Easy to use, battery lasts a long time, no moving parts. Cons: Software is difficult.
I purchased the Diamond Rio 500 for use in the gym. For what I use it for, it is great. Tapes and CD's tend to skip. You can buy larger storage and store all of your favorate songs on one card. The diamond is small and GREAT for working out, running....
Pros: Solid hardware, easy to use, good memory. Nice product. Cons: Little or no software around to intergrate with simple things like Windows Media player.
The Rio is straight forward and a solid MP3 player. I bought it for more than double what it would sell for today, but that was over 3 years ago.
Sound quality and usability are great. Software package is poor. Upgrading it on the web...
Pros: Great Mp3 player, Can hold alot of Songs, Nice quality Cons: Battery life drains quick
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...
Pros: Fast USB connection, small device, good features Cons: Inadequate firmware upgrades, battery life fairly short
I purchased my Rio off of a friend for thirty bucks new because his computer couldn't run the programs necessary for the player, (I had no problems). So I got the deal of the century, so I thought.
I bought my Rio 500 off of eBay almost a year ago at an incredibly cheap price. It was a refurb, but from SONICblue themselves, so I trusted the auction. I was not to be disappointed.
When I first got my Rio, I was more surprised than what I...
Pros: Compact Design, no moving parts, easy to use interface, perfect for eBooks Cons: Link software is shotty, battery life isn't much, no AC connection available
The Rio 500 set a new, better standard for portable mp3 audio units. It's small, sleek, backlit, and is packing 64 MBs of memory. The unit was above average when it debuted in autumn of '99, and can still hold it's own today. However it is lacking some...
Pros: Durability
Great Sound and Features Cons: Head Phones hurt, like sitting on a bike without a seat
This MP3 player is awesome, it is very easy to see, and very accessible to extra memory cards on the back. The features for sound are also a great feature, and the backlit LCD screen adds alot to this player. Without any moving parts, I think its...
Pros: Fits in shirt pocket, never skips, up to 128 megs of memory, good sound Cons: Inadequate headphones, controls can be confusing
I got my unit free from an online site that sells audiobook content. I've used my Rio a lot to block out background noise as well as to listen to music and books, and I'm very pleased with the 500 model in most respects.
Pros: attractive, great sound Cons: volume could be higher, not much storage
i bought this mp3 player at 800.com for 250$ not too long ago. i was pretty excited about the 64mb of ram in this mp3 compared to alot of others that were already out at 32 or 16mb. but once you get going and downloading more and more music and want to...
I actually came to own the Rio 500 because it came bundled with an HP CD-RW drive I recently purchased. The whole package cost me about 200 bucks. The CD-RW drive is not the fastest on the market, but I bought it because it came bundled with the Rio...
I recently purchased the Rio 500 mp3 player which comes with 64megs of memory for $100 (refurbished). The player is small and portable, though there is no clip provided which would allow it to be attached to a belt or clothing so it can be used while...
Pros: A handy little gadget that allows you to listen to audio books. Cons: The battery doesn't last long enough.
This past Fathers 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...
Pros: compact, Fast Transfers Cons: Battery life, software, "manual", can be difficult to use some functions, unreliability
After hearing good things about this MP3 player I decided I might aswell get one for myself seeing as I had the money availiable. And the Rio is a very good little device. The battery life could be a bit better, but using only one battery makes it twice...
Pros: great compatibility, sound, and quality. Cons: battery life.
I bought one of these for one of my friends for christmas last year and he absolutely loved it, and so did i. I had to have one, so not too long after that, i bought one myself, and im sure glad i did too. I use it wherever i go, i dont even listen to...
Pros: Sleek design, small size, useful display, cheap upgrades, mac compatibility, extremely durable, easy to use! Cons: So-So battery life, no voice recording, requires Mac OS 8.6 or later. Bad Software,
When my friend bought his RCA Lyra, I instantly felt compelled to match him. (techies understand this.) I was planning on getting the Lyra, since I am a satisfied RCA customer, until I read that it was not Mac compatible (yet.) So, I did a small round of...
The Diamond RIO 500 is widely marketed as a portable MP3 Player, and not surprisingly that is the use it is most often put to - but the entry-level audio...
Pros: Very small. Higher than many memory capacity on-board. Cons: Poor quality factory headphones. Bunk upload software.
Wow... I rarely write opinions on products, however, I've been REALLY happy with the purchase of my Rio 500. I bought it nearly a year ago and it's STILL my most utilized piece of electronic gear. I bought a set of 4 rechargeable batteries for it and...
Pros: Small size, large memory, Audible compatible Cons: None
I had been looking for an MP3 player for a while because I was interested in listening to my Audible.com audio books at the gym. Audible.com had a special a few months ago where if you signed up for their Audible Listener program, you got a discount on...
Pros: Small, light, fast USB download Cons: Software, volume, price
This was a gift and I probably would not have spent that much of my own money on it. But now that I have my Rio 500 I sure am glad. It is tiny which makes it great for running, you don't even notice that it is there. The little pouch that comes with...
Pros: USB connection(super fast transfers), audible ready, backlight Cons: only MP3 and WMA and audible
If you're looking for an easy to use, highly compatible, USB MP3 player this is it. It may lack an FM radio or organizer like others have but the same and its quality make up for that. If you want an FM player I suggest getting a Walkman by Sony or Aiwa....
Pros: small, long battery life, great audio quality, cute Cons: quite a few operation flaws, TERRIBLE software
Buying the Rio
I first got my Rio500 as a present just about 1 year ago, from CompUSA. The price was/is a bit high, but it seemed to be the best player available at the time.
I was overwhelmed with excitement when I first got my...
Pros: I got a great deal, easy at the gym Cons: case is kind of ill fitting, volume a bit low
I couldn't talk my spouse into just letting me buy the Rio 500. But,when Compusa offered a deal with a cd-burner, and 50 free cds and the player, for $300, he could tell me no no more!
I love my mp player- after fumbling around at the gym, listening...
Pros: Size of Unit Cons: Battery Life, Case design, software
I purchased the Rio 500 around New Years of 2001 mainly for use when working out. Working out at a facility that has very poor radio reception, I wanted to listen to music without the hassle of carrying around tapes of CD's.
The Rio 500 has been a...
Pros: Good out of the box experience, Easy to use, Good customer support Cons: Software unfriendly
I bought this player for only 49.99 (after 50 rebate). This is an offer from Audible.com and it is still on the last time I checked (Mar 21). An additional monthly subscription for one year at 12.95 per month will buy you this player. This is good...
Pros: Non-skip digital quality music. Great for jogging, rollerblading, etc. Cons: Dial on side has worn out.
Bought my Rio 500 over a year ago and use it ALL THE TIME. Mac users, this is a great MP3 player for us! One problem, the dial on the side (very important to the use of the player) is wearing out. As I roll it to select music or options, it doesn't...
Pros: Good sound, sleek, good lookin', decent battery life (see caveat below) Cons: No AC adapter or rechargeable batteries, need to keep track of firmware upgrades, not cheap
For those of you who have read my Rio 600 review, you know I received a 500 from SonicBlue as a result of having had to return my previous 600 three times (!) with the same electrical defect. SO I was a bit skeptical when they offered me the 500 as a...
Pros: Easy to use, relatively cheap, portability Cons: A bit difficult to transfer songs, limited storage space, skimpy features
I recently purchased the Diamond Rio PMP500, my first MP3 player. At the time I thought it was the coolest product that ever saw the light of day. But parting with the $260 that it cost to buy this product was not an easy task either. When I got home,...
Pros: Fine sound quality, small, sleek, and long battery life Cons: Included CD is hard to work
Installation
Such a breeze to get this item going. The software that comes with the player is a CD that includes everything from ripping CD's to playlists to copying to your player. I would have to say that the software is a little hard...
Pros: Lightweight and Compact
Great for listening to MP3 files while working out Cons: Battery life only about 6-7 hours
No AC adapter
Case somewhat chintzy
I have owned the RIO 500 for four months and have used it extensively for music when working out and also on plane trips.
I have found that it is a great device for pulling my MP3 collection off of the computer and letting me listen to any...
Pros: Size, ease of use, base memory, upgradability,sound quality, price Cons: included earphones, lack of belt-clip, battery-life is so-so
After looking over dozens of different makes and models, I decided to go with the Diamond Rio 500 for a few different reason:
Size- One of the smallest I researched and would easily fit into a pocket, purse, backpack or probably even wallet (just...
Pros: Cheap (if you know where to look), Good sound (w/ latest firmware), easy to use. Cons: BAD software (I recomend the RioRio 3rd party software). Poor battery life, no AC adapter.
I've owned a CD-RW, and had the ability to make my own music CDs, for years. However I always found portable CD players (and CD wallets) to be incredibly bulky and unportable. A soundcard with digital out and a Sharp 722 portable MiniDisc player...
Pros: Small, Light, Good on Batteries Cons: Software absolutely sucks.
I bought my Rio500 because I needed something small, light, convenient and good on batteries. I already owned a minidisc player but found it a real chore copying songs onto minidisc. The Rio500 works fine with only two drawbacks - the software and the...
Pros: Small, lightweight, durable, attractive,
good sound quality Cons: USB transfer drains batteries rather quickly, ugly carrying case.
I bought my Rio off of a friend who did'nt have USB. It was great in the beginning, the only catch being that my songs are in WMA format and needed to be converted before being sent to the player. Other than that, the sound quality was okay, but lacking...
Pros: great sound, nice size, easy to use Cons: expensive, headphones
When i was looking for a mp3 player the rio 500 caught my attention. The first reason i chose it was because it was very small and was the best one that you could buy at the time. The player starts with 64 megs of memory and is upgradable to 128 but you...
Pros: Quick USB connection, easy interface, good price w/ rebate Cons: Horrible software, bad earphones
I had the original Diamond Rio 300, and I desperately wanted to upgrade to increase my memory and connection speed. After researching all of the new models, I once again decided on RIO, as they have proven themselves in the MP3 market.
Pros: Great sound quality, downloadable firmware Cons: Case packed with player is downright awful; No radio tuner
Having not known a whole heck of a lot about MP3 Players, I did a little research and decided to buy this one. I have had it now for about 6 months, and I am very pleased with its performance. I have gotten great quality from the player with all of my...
Pros: Expandable RAM, Win2k/Linux Support Cons: Poor Software, Cheap Headphones
My husband wanted to surprise me a few months back with a gift. To my surprise it was the Rio500. I had never seen or so much as heard of a portable MP3 player. I really didn't know what to think. After he explained to me that he bought it for me to take...
Pros: Small, lightweight, battery life, ease of use Cons: documentation missing key instructions
Marilyn Monroe once said "Diamonds are a girl's best friend". This statement holds true for the Diamond Rio 500 MP3 Player for both girls and boys alike.
It's been almost a week since Santa delivered my first Digital Audio Player...
Pros: High Capacity, Excellent Sound Quality, Sleek, Headphones, Good Price Cons: Carrying Case
I bought the Diamond Rio PMP 500 6 six months ago, and it is still working perfectly, delivering high-quality sound. It has many advantages over other Mp3 players, which is why I chose it.
Pros: great sound, small, lite, easy to use. No extraneous frills. Did I mention it sounds great? Cons: no belt clip, bad headphones, funny "on/hold/off" switch
Just for the record this is the second Diamond product I have owned. I bought the first, controversial portable, mp3 player that Diamond put
out--the PMP300 and found it to be downright awesome. So, after such a good experience with Diamond Rio...
Pros: Great Player, Blazing fast transfers , Expandable memory available. Overall just about everything Cons: Blue and Purple Models of this player
I purchased a translucent blue Rio 500 when it came out in about March of this year and I found something interesting that not many people know about the Colors of the Rio and how they affect the performance of the player/software. I was so...
Pros: Great sound, USB connection Cons: short battery life, expensive memory
The sound quality is excellent and it comes with Soundjam, which does a great job of ripping songs off CDs, and the USB connection is also nice. The controls are easy, the backlight is easy to read, and this thing is so lightweight.
Pros: Construction, ease of use, size Cons: volume at is highest is not high enough
I did alot of research before purchasing the Rio 500. I looked at many other brands and models both cheaper and more expensive. I looked at various storage devices and ultimately, I decided this is the one. My needs were fairly simple. I wanted a...
I've wanted an MP3 player for a year, but the price deterred me, not to mention the limited space. After browsing around, I actually came across a Rio 500 for roughly 160.00 at a discount store. I love this product. I've been using it on a daily basis...
The Rio hardware is great. The software that comes with it is a disaster. You need to create a library of all your songs before you download anything, and you need to recreate the library anytime you add new songs to your computer.
Pros: Sound Quality, Size, USB Connection, Upgrade-Ability, Battery Life Cons: Software & Headphones(both are already remedied)
Why did I buy the Rio 500?
First and foremost it's features. It features 64mb internal memory(upgradeable to 128mb with Smartmedia Card + firmware upgrade), fast USB connection, easy to use interface, and great sound quality. Just check out...
I received the Rio 500 as a present from my father. It was good. The only thing I don't like about it was the Easley dent attractive casing. It is not hard to drop the dam thing. It is so user friendly to load music and it only took me ten minutes to...
Pros: Extremely Light, Great Sound Quality Cons: Eats Batteries For Breakfast
The Rio 500 is a great little portable MP3 player, especially since it was one of the first incarnations to arrive on the market. I admit it; I quickly bought into the MP3 hype and quicker than you can say "Napster", I had a huge stash of the...
Pros: Good sound quality, USB connection, easy to use. Cons: Limited EQ, stock earphones questionable.
It's easy to find a bad-sounding, tinny MP3 player. Some make up with it add-ons like radio tuners or other doo-dads. The Diamond Rio 500 stands on its own, and does so quite well.
The 500 plays digital music. That's all. No radio. No voice...
Pros: Compact size, excellent sound quality Cons: A bit pricey, short battery life, software somewhat buggy, needs a powerful processor
Dentists and marathons...what do they have in common? They're both occasions where you want to carry the Diamond Rio 500 for soothing or energizing music, anywhere, in a very compact size. (Oh, and they're also very painful too, but much less so with...
Pros: Make your own exercise playlists Cons: Not as versatile as a CD player
The player is small and has a good interface. But the process of getting music into the player is way too hard. It might be tolerable if you could get a few CDs on the player at once, but I found that to get good sound quality 64MB is only enough to...
Pros: Good sound, small, downloads books Cons: not attractive, useless case
An MP3 player was one of the few gadgets I did not own. Since I travel quite a bit, and get bored on airplanes, I am always looking for something new to entertain me. Hence, my decision to purchase an MP3 player. After much research, I decided to...
Pros: compact, expands with SM card, memory Cons: no radio
First things first, the Rio 500 sounds great. I love the fact that the thing is so small, and that it never skips, no matter how much I might jostle it on my bike/rollerblades. Navigation on it is alright, although the jog dial doubles as a volume dial...
Pros: interface, endurance, price, quality Cons: it did break once!
RioPort 500.
Look and Feel. Still smaller than a lot of competitors and the interface is easy enough that you do not need instructions. It really is the "next generation walkman". It comes in consumer colors...
Pros: Sleek, Sexy, Sturdy, Simple to use and mp3's Sound is great Cons: Pouch design, headphones, price
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...
There are a lot of upsides and a lot of downsides to this product. First thing that I need to say though, is that they have updated one very important aspect of the Rio 500. There is now availability to use a 64 MB SmartMedia card which makes a huge...
Pros: compact and brilliant sound quality Cons: clunky software
I recently received Grey Boy, as I have dubbed my Diamond 500, from a very very generous friend. And what a wonderful gift. It's something I never would have forked out for myself, but now I wonder how I did without it. He comes with me to the gym, on...
Pros: Light, easy to use, fast transfer, full track titles on device. Cons: Designed for Duracell Ultra battery and have had times where that's the only battery it works with, (but very rare and only temporary).
I got this for a Christmas present from buy.com for $199. It is a wonderful little toy with very fast downloads onto the device through the USB port. Software that comes with rips and encodes songs off CD after automatically getting track titles from...
Pros: Great for portable music, good battery life Cons: Extra memory cards are expensive at the moment
This is the coolest gadget I've bought this year, it really is. I've owned about 6 walkmans, and 1 discman before, but this thing beats them all. The bulk of my music collection is stored on my home computer in MP3 format, so it was natural for me to...
The Good: Superb music quality. This little baby packs a lot of power for such a small unit. It easily fits in your pocket. The software that comes with it is nice too. It includes a CD Ripper and a very nice MP3 player for your PC (and Mac too I would...
Pros: Expandable, Can play Audible files, USB interface Cons: Rioport software is not the best.
The main selling point of the Rio 500 (for me) was the 64mb of internal memory and the capability to expand the memory with Smartmedia cards. I am currently using a 16mb card in the external memory slot, which expands my total memory to 80mb. I can fit...
Pros: appealing, good sound, lightweight, easy to use Cons: not great memory
I have the Rio 500. The memory's decent. The great thing about it, is that it never skips. The sound is almost the same as CD quality. Once they come out with larger memory chips, then the Rio 500 will be perfect. The player is very lightweight and...
Pros: Excellent sound, easy to use, great looks Cons: Belt clip is bad, Rioport software is buggy
I bought the Rio 500 because the 32MB in my Rio 300 was not going to cut it anymore. The big advantage of the 500 over the 300 is the USB interface, which makes transferring files to the 500 super easy and fast. It also has 32MB more (for a total of...
Pros: Large internal memory, good looks, high sound quality Cons: Price, bad headphones (use your own)
I first became interested in a portable MP3 player when a friend of mine showed me his Rio 300 player. I liked the concept of MP3 on the go a lot, and having played around with his player a bit, decided to get one for myself. But I wanted more than the...
Pros: Easy to use, battery life, portability Cons: Belt holster, newer products on the market
I bought a Rio 500 right after thay came out. At the time, they were the hottest MP3 player on the market, and there were very few others at that. I dropped $250 for the player and another $100 for the 32MB Smart Media card so that I would have a full...
Pros: light weight, durable not to pricey Cons: standard headphones don't quite cut it.
For someone that is active and wants to listen to music, this is the way to go. I do a lot of running and have tried mini-disc players, cd-rom players with memory, tape players and radios. The disc players and tape players are to heavy and even though...
Pros: Small, Light and excellent! Cons: No rechargeable battery!!! Headphones poor
I decided that i would purchase a portable music device and in my error i spent my hard earned cash on a Sony MZR-91 Minidisc. The device is really cool but boy! is it tedious recording all those tracks and entering the names of the artists all to find...
Pros: stores 12 hours of music on a 1$ cd. Cons: flimsy
not the rio, but i do know where to get one. among other places,www.computergeeks.com has them for sale, they are called the genica mp3 cd players, and have approximately the same dimensions and stuff as a diskman, but they play 12 hours worth of cd...
Pros: light, will never skip, pretty, upgradeable Cons: may not offer all that the Nomad II does but is cheaper
So you want to get a mp3 player. You read all the literature and all the professional reviews and now you want to know what the common person thinks. You've cut it down to just two good players: the Rio 500 and the Nomad II. Tough choice. Hopefully...
Pros: easy file tranfere great sound quality @ high bitrates Cons: little bigger than some of hte newer players...screen gets scratches if not taken care of
I have a personal MP3 collection of over 2,500 MP3's not counting those i have from CD's, I needed a way to listen to those songs without burning a new CD everytime i wanted a differnt 'music mix'. My answer came when one of my friends introduced me to...
Pros: Great sound, easy use, easy transfer from your PC Cons: Poor earphones and case design
I had been downloading MP3 files for the last couple of years to play on my home PC while I worked. It finally occurred to me that it would be great to have some of that music available when working out at the gym or rollerblading. Compounded by the...
Pros: Great design, high quality, portable, lots of memory Cons: price
I got the Diamond PMP 500 RIO MP3 player this year, and I am really glad. I had heard a lot about them, but I never realized just HOW good it was until I had it. All you have to do is download your favorite songs from the internet for absolutely FREE....
Pros: Small and sleek design, great battery life, exceptional sound quality, great price for 64MB memory Cons: No FM tuner
I recently had the good fortune of receiving the Diamond Rio 500 MP3 player as a gift. I've found this player to be a great device, with functionality mixed with fun and entertainment. I hope the following review helps you decide whether the Rio 500 is...
Pros: Great sound, Great design, Fast and Easy Cons: NONE
I purchased a Rio 300 and It was a good player. Than I realized that this is not the best technology that is out there so I purchased the Rio 500. It is a great improvement over the Rio 300 and most of all a great overall player. The Rio 500 features a...
Pros: Convient, Lots of avalible music, good sound quality, small and light Cons: Expensive, Not able to hold a lot of music,
Mp3 is the music format that many think will change the face of the music industry forever and with the way it's currently developing, I would have to agree. For those of you that don't know, Mp3 is a way of encoding a music file so that it remains at...
Pros: Wont Skip Cons: A little expensive, memory can run out fast.
I bought the Diamond Rio PMP 500, a digital audio player, because I needed clear, pure, and solid audio. My CD player would skip when i went to run or work out. The Rio was the perfect gadget to solve my problems.
I ordered it off the internet,...
Pros: good software, works great, 64 megs ram Cons: cheap carry case and earphones
Happy fathers day daddy. I was surprised to get an mp3 player for Fathers Day, especially one this nice. My wife knew I wanted one so she searched the internet looking for a good one. I am quite pleased with the one she picked.
The PMP 500 has...
Pros: Small, Light, cool looking, lots of memory, good headphones. Cons: Expensive (But worth it.).
Over the holiday season and my birthday i really wanted an MP3 player. It took a while but i eventually saved up enough money to buy this $260 piece of software/ audio player. It was worth every penny i conjured up, i have used the Diamond Rio 500 much...
Pros: So Cool! Very Modern, Sleek Looking, Great Quility Cons: A Lot of Money, "Battery Guzzler", You Will Be Asked A Lot of Questions
About 2 months ago after thinking about it for weeks I finally went out and bought a MP3 player. Looking at my choices at Circut City, I ended up with the PMP500. I was about to get the 300 but I thought this one was alot better looking and had better...
Pros: USB for fast transfer of files, skip proof and long battery life, Macintosh Compatible Cons: memory is expensive
I did a few research on portable mp3 players before I made my purchase. After all things considered, these are the reasons why I chose the Diamond Rio 500:
1 - I have a Macintosh with USB
2 - This player has 64 Megabytes of memory ( 64...
Pros: Light, Easy to Use, Small Learning Curve Cons: Limited expandibility, Pricy
This product is great for people who want mp3's on the go. I own two portable mp3 players, the Sony Walkman and the Rio 500, and the rio 500 is by far the better choice. The learning curve is simple, it's lightweight, has never skipped on me, and is a...
Pros: Outstanding quality, easy to use, more portable than a discman Cons: Expensive, need USB port to use
I received my Diamond Rio 500 player just 5 months ago from my father's boss as a present. I was excited to explore this new technology, but to much of my despair, my computer has Windows NT 4.0 on it, which does not support a USB port, which is needed...
This product isnt all that great...the only good thing is that it has a usb port for fast transfer. It also helps mac users :). I my self have a PC so i dont really care for the usb feature, it kind of gets annoying because i have a external DSL usb port...
Pros: no moving parts, excellent portable source for digital quality music Cons: $200-$250 range, kind of expensive.
if you Listen to music, enjoy listening to mp3's, you NEED this Gizmo. This is an Amazing piece of electronic equipment, no moving parts means no skipping (no need for skip prevention like on portable cd players). I personally use this product the most...
Pros: 64 mb of memory, good sound quality Cons: It is worse than the Nomad in every aspect
I have own both a Diamond PMP500 and a Creative Labs Nomad 64, and hands down, I recommend the Nomad 64. The Nomad's magnesium case is far more durable than the Rio's flimsy plastic, The Nomad costs less than the Rio 500, the Nomad includes a digital...
Pros: great in the gym, near-CD sound quality, portable Cons: battery hog, bad software documentation, weak online support
I've been using the rio 500 for six months now. I bought this device because I wanted to listen to music while working out; turns out the rio 500 is great in the gym environment. There are no moving parts, so skips do not occur. If you keep your MP3...
Pros: Excellent Sound, USB connection, Mac Compatible, Really small, battery lasts quite awhile Cons: Delete files only from the PC, No cute extras, Bare Bones MP3 Player
In an age of highly overrated products with their share of hype and more than their share of shortcomings, it's nice to see a product that works as advertised for a change.
The Diamond Rio 500 is a brilliant piece of electronic engineering....
Pros: You can listen to whatever... whenever! Cons: Price.
This is my favourite new gizmo... and great for all of those college student/Napster freaks out there, myself included. I really dig this cute little thing because it's so much better than carrying around an old bulky CD player. I love to exercise with...
Pros: Sound quality and ease of use Cons: Lousy earphones
This may be one of my favorite toys! I got this for a birthday gift, and I love it! I had wanted the ability to have portable music anywhere, and the ability to pick my favorites to play on the go...and this baby is perfect for my needs. Sound is...
Pros: 64MB, USB connection, Software to rip and encode is included Cons: uh, umm, uh the box was ugly looking, sorry that was the only con I had
The Rio 500, what a great player. This is my first MP3 player, but let me tell you, I am very satisfied with it. It comes with software that lets you take your CD's and rip the songs then convert them into MP3 format, I love that the most, the new...
I purchased my Rio 500 in March. When it came I was suprised at how small and lightweight to me. The Rio has very much so changed the way I view music. It has made it easy for me to listen to my music on the go, without any skips in playback. Copying...
Pros: portable, convenient, cool Cons: pricey, fidgety, less than ideal sound
When the most excellent online spoken-word audio company, Audible.com, began pitching the Rio500 for $169--nearly $100 below the suggested retail price) in connection with their service--who could refuse? Certainly not I, a National Public Radio junkie...
Of all the mp3 players on the market, I found this one to have everything that I wanted (64MB onboard memory, expandable to 96) and it's compactness makes for easy storage on the road. However, the one thing that this player is missing is an AC adapter...
Pros: Inexpensive, well designed controls, good screen Cons: Potential battery problems, bad software
I purchased my Rio 500 from buy.com for $199 minus the discount I got for
using a new customer coupon. Given that this 64MB unit is now available at
this price point, I think that despite its problems the Rio 500 is still
the best option...
Pros: USB Connection, Good Sound, Works With Macs Cons: Pricey, Cheapie Headphones, $100 for extra 32 meg Smart Media Cards
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...
Pros: Great sound quality and batter life, attractive, lightweight Cons: skimpy little headphones
This player is a great improvement over Diamond's previous model the Rio 300. It's sleek and lightweight fitting easily wherever you desire. The built in memory is very adequate and allows a good amount of music to be taken with you. The expansion...
Overall, it's a pretty good product; however, it's plastic... it's not durable. I'm a school kid and the bus ride gets kinda boring, so i decided to buy a MP3 player. Everybody reccommended the rio to me, but after about a few weeks of use, it sashed...
Pros: expandable, high quality sound Cons: medium battery life, rioport software could be more intuitive
After shopping around for a portable mp3 player for about 4 months, I finally decided on this one. I purchased it in January 2000 from value america for $199 after rebate.
The rio500 comes with 64mb of built in memory, and one expansion slot...
Pros: Good sound, good capacity, wonderfully small Cons: Lousy headphones, lousy software
Having been interested in purchasing a portable MP3 player for some time, but distressed by the low capacity of those on the market - I finally reached threshold when Diamond released the Rio500 with 64Mb. Also - I was able to tack it on my purchase of...
Pros: Good sound quality, 64mb memory, USB support Cons: Expensive
This is a nice product that Diamond had produced recently. It may seem a little costly at the price of around 250 but it's really a piece of equipment you want to have. It's the first high profile mp3 player. It has a 64mb flash memory so you can put...
Pros: durable, USB, good sound Cons: software flaky, headphones crappy
I've been the proud owner of a Diamond Rio 500 for about 4 months now. I figured that I would wait a while before reviewing it to see what goes wrong with it. Well, to date it has always worked perfectly and still does.
Pros: No skipping - perfect workout partner Cons: 64mb of storage - When do we get a gig?
I've been waiting - and waiting for the price to come down. So it finally did and I snagged me an MP3 player. For $229.00 it's well worth the money. I'm very active, I run, I work-out... I need my music and I don't like it skipping and I definately...
this king is back and better than ever! no one could ever imagine that this player would turn out to be something as good as this! i'v3e had mine for a while and it works great sharp lcd screen nice features, alot of storage great design! everything! i...
Pros: Size, Weight, Looks, Quality, LCD, BatteryLife Cons: LCD could be bigger
There are too many portable MP3 players on the market today, and if you look at them all, hands down the RIO500 is the way to go! the rio has the right combination of style, weight, size, functionality, and features.
The LCD display on the RIO500...
This is one of the best purchases I have made in quite awhile.
The Diamond Rio 500 is compact,easy to use and has an excellent sound quality. I made use of their online software help, and their technician
quickly solved my problem...how often...
Pros: Ultra-light, long battery life, USB interface, Windows 2000 and Macintosh Support Cons: Needs more output power, earphones that come with it suck
Bottom line: if weight, size, and power consumption is important to you, the Rio 500 should be your de facto choice of music players. However, if you perfer sound quality and need something with more storage capability, go with a minidisc player. ...
The diamond rio mp3 player is an excelent portable player. The reason why i was interested in mp3 players is because i run and i love to listen to music. i needed a portable something. i like the radio but they play some crappy music sometimes so i...
Pros: small size, excellent compression, Mac compatibility, easy software Cons: high price
The Diamond Rio500 is one hot piece of hardware with software to match. I'm a longtime Mac user, but until the Diamond Rio, I've never found a machine/software combo compatible with Macs. The device itself is very small and light with easy navigation...
Pros: Is very nice while it's working Cons: It's not working for very long
Here is the story: I received one of these 500's for my birthday. It sounded beautiful, it was small, light, and incredibly portable, and even the headphones were much more comfortable than what I'm used to. I had a great time with it, mostly just...
Pros: Great sound, compact, lots of memory Cons: needs USB port
Until I tried out a new handheld MP3 player, I thought the industry was stuck on 40 anti shock. All I can say is you could probably PUNT this thing and it still won't skip. I got the player as a gift not that long ago. It is extremely easy to operate,...
Recently I started going to the gym, and I decided that the cruddy radio station they piped through the place was just not good enough to exercise. So I decided to get a walkman type device. I immediately ruled out tape and CD players, and limited...
Pros: Small, Light, NO SKIP, long battery life Cons: Pretty expensive
I recently purchased Diamond's Rio 500. This is an ingenious little machine. It can load about as much as a CD can hold just in its internal memory. This little thing is so light weight, and small, but still accomplishes more then any portable CD...
Pros: Very easy to use, very small and fits in almost every pocket Cons: When the battery gets low, the sound fuzzes
The Diamond Rio PMP500 is a great mp3 player. It is very easy to use and is the only mp3 player on the market that can work with either Mac or PC computers. I have paid for it at least 10 times over from all of the cd's that I would have had to buy! You...
The Diamond Multimedia Rio 500 is the newest of the popular series of portable MP3 players. The Rio is portable and lightweight. It measures 3.6" x 2.5" x 0.75" and weights less than 3 ounces. Internal memory is a 64 MB built-in...
Pros: Loads of memory; USB support; great sound quality Cons: Missing features that most other second-generation players have.
I am excited to get my hands on the Diamond Rio 500, since its predecessor, the Rio PMP300, was the first high-profile portable MP3 player. We found the Rio 500 a clear winner for certain users, but its lack of extras will be a disappointment to others....
Pros: Great audio quality, fast transfer, tons of memory Cons: High price
Back in the 80s tapes were the big thing. But, CDs came along, and the quality and ease of use blew away cassettes. And now again, we are in the midst of another revolution, the MP3. An MP3 player is a must have for the music lover. Specifically,...
Pros: Small, lightweight, no moving parts, great for the gym Cons: Poorly designed carry case and headphones. I hate the software. High $
My wife ordered a RIO 500 for me back in the middle of December from buy.com (at that time it was $199 but on backorder). Well, by the end of February, I grew tired of waiting and ordered another for $250 from JandR.com (if you do order from J&R,...
Pros: It is rugged with no moving parts so it never skips and also it lasts longer Cons: It can't hold THAT many songs
A lot of people I know believe you shouldn't buy this product because the music industry doesn't approve of MP3 as a format. Don't listen to them. Because even if you could never download a single piece of good music off the web (which of course, you...
I have just purchased the Diamond Rio PMP 500 and in the short amount of time I have it the sleek, compact, and light design of it have made me become dependent on it for working out and running. The Rio PMP 500 offers skip-free design, 64MB onboard...
Pros: Lightweight Cons: Short battery life, bad software, bad case
I bought a Rio500 and regretted the purchase 5 minutes after opening the package.
To load software from the computer to the Rio500, you use the AudioManager software that comes with your Rio. On 3 of 4 computers I tried the Rio software on,...
This is my second plunge into the world of MP3 players and the experience has been considerably better than my first. The Rio 500 offers about as much as you could expect from an MP3 player these days (outside of the cheap headphones). The USB upload is...
Pros: Great sound, easy to use, speedy USB Cons: Cheezy headphones!!!, Poorly designed carrying case. Below average software.
First of all, this is an expensive MP3 player, but you may be able to find a bargain. Most places are 240.00-270.00 but if you look long enough, you'll find one cheaper. Buy.bom had one when I bought mine for 228.00 and pretty cheap shipping. With a 10...
Pros: Sound Quality is GREAT, Shows the song title, light weight, doesn't skip,and Download time is FAST Cons: I have to say one thing it eats up battries but not as much as other players.This is the MP3 player to get.
This is so cool. What I think is cool is that there is so much memory on this player and download time is fast. What I think is also cool is that it shows the song title on the screen, my old player didn't have that and I am so glad I got this. Now there...
Pros: Great quality and capacity Cons: Steep price tag
Well, unlike the much inferior PMP 300, this version scores big. With an excelent 64 megabyte capacity upgradeable to 96 megs, great sound, and it also improves on everything else from the PMP 300. Another excellent feature is USB transfer capability....
For those not familiar with it, the Rio player is a compact portable music player capable of playing quality music files downloaded from the Internet or from CD's. The player is about the size of a deck of cards and roughly the same weight. Even better,...
Pros: Small, Convienet, Memory Expansions Available Cons: The Software could be more User-Friendly
A few months ago, my friend picked up a Diamond Rio 500 Portable MP3 player. He absolutely loved the product and brought it everywhere he went. He let me listen to it, and I was impressed.
Christmas time came along, and I got myself the...
Pros: Great sound, USB, easy to use, long battery life Cons: Audible audio awkward, SmartMedia limitations
The Rio 500 is not the MP3 player to buy if you're short on cash and are looking for a bargain. On it's own, the player and the RioPort manager software make a real nice, easy-to-use combo. But the copyright protection means you're going to be buying...
Pros: Lightweight, easy to use, fast to transfer MP3s, holds audiobooks and music. Cons: Poor software
I have a Diamond RIO 500 and I love it! Yes, the $250.00 price tag is a little steep, but you can expect that to come down soon. There are alternatives to paying full price, if you look for them. I bought mine through www.audible.com. For $169 I got the...
Pros: Great sound, not cheap looking, strong, easy-to-use Cons: A little on the expensive side
Of Course this is the best MP3 player. Why else would I be reviewing it? When I heard about this product, I had recently owned a Sony CD Player. My dad had had DSS and I was watching ZDTV. They had a review on the new Rio PMP500 MP3 player. I was amazed...
Pros: USB speed, 64MB, Win2k Support Cons: battery life, no AC support
I purchased a Teal Rio 500 looking for a reasonable amount of storage capability (64MB onboard), with quick download times (USB connection). The Rio 500 had both of these and came with good recommendations.
This is a great mp3 player.Best one in it's class.It holds sixtyfour megabytes, but with flashcard memory upgrade it can go up to ninetysix megabytes which is the most any mp3 player in the market can hold at the moment.The price may be something to...
Pros: Size, sound quality Cons: No doco, poorly designed case, slow CD encoding process
I purchased the Diamond Rio 500 for one purpose, music at the gym. I was tired of lugging my CD player around, the radio is NOT an option and cassettes were almost as bulky as the CD and not near the sound quality. The Rio 500 is pretty expensive,...
Pros: Backlight, Lite, No Skip Cons: Limited Memory, Hard To Make Folders
For all I've heard about mp3 players I am not very impressed. I purchased this for 229 and it does deliver however. The sound quality is excellent and the uploads are speedy. However, the one problem is limited storage space. Most mp3 players have 64...
Pros: Great and Easy to use Cons: Could do with being a bit louder
The Rio 500 Mp3 music play is light and very easy to use with its Muti Wheel. Download a song or copy it from a CD and you can upload it to your player in under 10 second using USB. The sound quality is great with a bit rate of 128, anything lower you...
Pros: compact, lightweight, fast USB Cons: price, software portability
I am a firm believer in the concept of free music available on the web. The initial problem with MP3s has been that the format has been restricted to use on computers and burned on recordable CDs with limited capacity and quality. The latest products to...
Pros: full hour of play back, one AA battery lasts 13 hours Cons: Customer service, blue color(others available)
I recieved my Diamond Rio 500 mp3 player this past November and it was awsome for about two weeks. Then it magically froze and stopped working. When I called Diamond they were very nice and friendly. They took some info from me and told me to send it and...
Pros: USB support, great sound quality, colors are cool, expandable, good software Cons: Kind of pricey for the few features
The RIO was the first MP3 player out there and is still one of the best. The software interface is about the same as the first generation software, which is easy to use. A great change was the switch to USB support, which allows lightning fast transfer...
Pros: it lets you enjoy your music everywhere Cons: your taste in music will change before it's done loading onto the player
A tiny magic box that hooks to your waist and delivers music through a wire can be yours for a hefty sum of gold. Portable mp3 players are the best way to take your music with you. Unfortunately, the Rio doesn't have enough on board memory to fit an LP...
Pros: Great Features, Easy Interface, Indiglo Screen Cons: Expensive,
The tiny little Diamond Rio 500 is a great little companion. I use mine quite often, when I go bicycling or exercising. It's very convenient to have digital quality without much hassle of buying CD's or such. MP3's are today's technology, and the Rio 500...
Pros: Small size, backlit display, great quality music Cons: some features confusing, not enough space
I recently bought a Diamond Rio 500 portable MP3 player. I have enjoyed it greatly, having but one major problem. The first Rio 500 that I received did not function correctly. It was changing tracks of it's own accord in the middle of songs. I must...
Pros: faster download Cons: no FM radio, pretty expensive
This newer Rio 500 makes an important improvement from the Rio 300 by adding more smartmedia ram, and using a much faster USB connection. It also comes in 3 new colors which are pretty stylish, grey, treal/blue, but not the purple (bleh!). Its expandle...
Pros: USB File Transfer, Mac Compatible, Legacy-Free (Whoopee), upgradable firmware, Audible Ready. Cons: Plastic Case, Current high Price for Smartmedia Memory cards.
As of today the only Rio 500's available on the market are the plastic grey versions but no matter which one you use, it's the underlying technology that's the important thing with these kinds of devices... I mean do you really want to go around waving a...
Pros: sleek design, high signal-to-noise ratio, more memory than previous players Cons: Too expensive, not adequate memory yet
All of the points brought up in sunami's review are indeed true. This is the finest portable mp3 player on the market. The size and designed have been improved, the signal-to-noise ratio (very important in mp3 players) is the highest you will find and it...
Although the sound is great and the machine easy to use, the software in the Diamond Rio 500 needs work. I bought the machine specifically to copy CDs into it. This allows me to jog and listen to music without the skipping that occurs with CDs. The...
Pros: a major improvement from the Rio 300 Cons: still not enough memory
I guess I shouldn't complain...the Rio 500, with its 64 MB's of internal RAM is a significant step up from the Rio 300. And it is up grade-able by another 16 or 32 MB's (expensive) by inserting a neat little memory card in the 500's expansion slot....
Pros: Light, fits in pocket, great sound quality, long battery life, superb software Cons: Extra storage a must for most users; priced a bit high
My brother picked up Diamond's new Rio500 as an early Christmas present this year, and I must say that I'm craving one. As soon as it's within my budget, I'll pick one up for myself. Here's the review:
Pros: Great sound quality, small & light Cons: No audible.com support yet, no AM/FM radio
The new Diamond Rio 500 MP3 portable player is one of the best purchases I have made in a long time. I used to use a standard cassette tape Walkman when I worked out, but I got really tired of always having to make new mix tapes: it's a slow process,...
Pros: lightweight, easy to use Cons: expandable to 96mb max
This is the portable MP3 player you've been waiting for. Even smaller than the Rio300, it improves the display and adds a functional jog dial (to scroll through those playlists), and a backlit screen. It even displays titles of songs, one of the key...
I've had this beauty for about a month ago and have to say overall I'm quite pleased.
I never went with the 300 series Diamonds due to the slowness of the interface and relative lack of memory (without upgrades). The 500 deals with both of...
Pros: Portability for MP3 addicts Cons: High memory cost
The Diamond Rio is a neat little machine. I purchased mine after a little bit of research for $75 only ($125 + $50 mail in rebate). You can get the best prices at www.shopper.com.
For the first generation player, it seems pretty good in terms...
Pros: Portable music--the RIO never skips Cons: Requires patience and software skills
Strolling into my local Circuit City, I saw the much hyped Diamond Rio PMP300 onsale for $175 w/ a $25 rebate. After little debate, I threw down the credit card and walked out with the newest technology in digital music. When I got home, I tore open the...
Pros: Small, light and durable Cons: All the other players are small too but they include more features
I got this product as a gift when it was the only portable MP3 player on the market. It is good but has some flaws. It can hold almost an hour at CD quality (comparable to other players). But products like the Creative Nomad have an FM tuner built in...
Works OK, had to get a refurb due to problems by jbx2usa ,Feb 25 '04
Pros: Plays MP3s and Audible audio books Cons: Defective products, no support past Windows 98, Customer service sucks
Avoid RIO players at all costs, they're junk. My Rio 500 broke within weeks and I had to have a replacement sent out by the company. The replacement was all scratched up and I had to ask for yet another replacement that was new like the one I had.
Everything with the replacement's been okay, but it doesn't support any other versions of Windows beyond 98. SonicBlue seems to think you should buy a new player every year to keep up.
Even at $49, there are much better players out, don't waste your time or money with any SonicBlue RIO.
The sound quality is great... by zigzag_dt3000 ,Feb 19 '03
The sound quality is great and featurs are good. Light and small in size, it can use 128MB SmartMedia external memory that can be changed in seconds, this MP3 player is just Great !
The sound quality is great... by zigzag_dt3000 ,Feb 19 '03
The sound quality is great and featurs are good. Light and small in size, it can use 128MB SmartMedia external memory that can be changed in seconds, this MP3 player is just Great !
This has been a great mp3 player for me. I own two other mp3's and the rio's sound and ease of use is quite a bit better. I have also been able to upgrade the internal software, this is a big plus.
This has been a great mp3 player for me. I own two other mp3's and the rio's sound and ease of use is quite a bit better. I have also been able to upgrade the internal software, this is a big plus.
The sound quality is great... by davis_dt3000 ,Jun 12 '02
The sound quality is great and the expandability is a plus. The windows software is horrible but with a Mac it hooks up seamlessly with ITunes. A good buy if you can get it for a cheap price.
The sound quality is great... by davis_dt3000 ,Jun 12 '02
The sound quality is great and the expandability is a plus. The windows software is horrible but with a Mac it hooks up seamlessly with ITunes. A good buy if you can get it for a cheap price.
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