Rio Cali Sport (128 MB) MP3 Player

Pros: Lightweight, armband, waistband clip, upgradeable,
Cons: software, cannot perform drag-and-drop

After doing an extensive research on the Rio Cali 128mb, I decided to purchase it. As soon as I opened the box, I installed the Rio software that comes with it, plugged in the cords and I was transferring songs in 30 minutes. The MP3 Player came with a ...

Pros: sporty, great for running, arm-clip, large-screen, 1D3 Information, play lists,FM tuner, manual equalizer
Cons: Bad reception, 1/2 sec missed when paused, only 30 songs, no neck strap

Casing: - "Rio Stick" for navigation - Rubber Grip - Arm Clip for Workouts - Lock mode for Workouts - Stiff Headphone jack - Menu Button Features: -128 MB Storage - Expandable memory - Runs on 1 AAA Battery (Long Life) - FM Scanner (6 ...

Pros: Arm-band/portability, well lit screen
Cons: Terrible audio quality, hard to open battery case, hard to get to memory

I received the Rio Cali 128MB Digital Audio player for Christmas, and it seemed to work fine the first day. I simply connected the Rio to my laptop via the provided USB cable, and dropped and dragged the songs I wanted. All of this was pretty straight ...

Pros: Sound Quality,lightweight,easy to workout with,upgradeable memory.
Cons: Comes with awkward sport clip earphones.

I had been looking for and MP3 player that I could run and workout with for quite some time. After doing enough research, I decided to purchase the Rio Cali Sport 128MB, so I bought the player from WalMart for about $130. The Rio Cali ...

Pros: compact size, sturdy, easy to operate software, great rich sound quality, nice looking design
Cons: MINOR: weak volume, temperamental joystick, dim display, mediocre radio tuner,packaging tighter than Fort Knox!!

This is my very first portable MP3 player,I cannot compare it to previous buys but I did do research before purchasing this,and I am VERY pleased! I wanted it primarily for jogging and working out, and this fits the bill..Once snapped onto the armband, ...

Pros: light, armband, expandable
Cons: no built in rechargeable battery

I decided to buy a 2nd mp3 player because I was always afraid I'd drop or lose my Karma. The thought of having my entire music library destroyed was pretty devastating. Also, the Karma is a bit heavy and is hard to hold while running. I came upon Cali ...

Pros: Size, ease of use, expandibility, price, radio.
Cons: no mp3pro support. Requires a proprietary USB cable (included).

I got one of these for my Mom for Christmas. She wanted something for the athletic club. She can listen to talks/books while she bikes or use the radio to listen to the TVs they have set up. After toying with hers, I really wanted one. I got mine ...

Pros: Size, Ease of Use, Battery life, display.
Cons: Color, memory, placement of expansion slot, joystick control.

Introduction: I bought this little MP3 player with the intention of taking it with me when traveling as well as for use at school and whatnot. It came in a heat sealed package which was extremely hard to open. I liked the slot for expansion and ...

Pros: style....expandability....price....ease of use...size....weight....performance
Cons: no USB 2.0 or Fire Wire, but uploads fast anyway.

I run on occasion and workout at a gym on a regular basis. I always like to listen to my own music when I train. I had been using a sony discman for a while, but I finally decided that I could not tolerate the skipping CD's anymore.........time to buy ...

Pros: Outstanding sound, easy to use, this thing is awesome.
Cons: Tuner doesnt work very well, I didnt buy it for the radio so who cares!!!

Like many people I have been looking to buy an MP3 player for quite some time. I wanted one that I could take to the gym for lifting as well as running. I purchased the Rio Cali from Future Shop and was told by the salesman (who was an idiot) that it ...

Pros: None
Cons: Product breaks. Customer support is terrible. Must use Rio's proprietary software to transfer music.

The player worked fine when I first bought it, though I disliked having to use only the Rio transfer software (music manager) software to transfer music to it. Almost immediately the cheap USB cable it came with broke so I had to trash it and use ...

Pros: Good player and easy to use.
Cons: USB connection is iffy and not designed well.

I was pretty happy with this player for 3 months (coincidentally the length of the warranty). Then the weather got warmer and it stopped playing in the middle of a couple of workouts with the message "USB Connected - Waiting." I noticed that the USB ...

Pros: small; lightweight
Cons: mediocre sound quality; software problems

BUYER BEWARE! Many people have had software problems with this player. After the warranty is up (it's only 90 days), the player may go into "UPGRADER" mode and is basically useless until you resolve this problem. This happened to me about a year ...

Pros: Great styling, awesome sound, easy to use.
Cons: FM tuner reception and Reliability

I've owned this player now for 6 months and have used it approximately 45 minutes per day, 6 days a week. I use it in the gym each and every time I workout. Overall, I love the ease of use, style, and sound of this MP3 player. I am not very ...

Pros: Durable Construction, Long Battery, Small Form Factor
Cons: Bad Expansion Memory Slot Design

I really enjoy this player. It's everything that I wanted it to be. I don't need a hard drive player that can hold my entire collection and I wanted something small enough and light enough to go joggin with. This player is it. While 128MB is pretty ...

Pros: LOOKS NICE
Cons: CONSTANTLY BREAKING / VERY POOR SUPPORT

I purchased two / one forge and one sport
RIO makes a user friendly product in the sense that it is comfortable for work out use.
Beyond that the FM is very poor, don’t go to the gym thinking you are going to tune into their stations because the low pick up and extreme static make it unbearable.
The PM3 player is only good quality.
The head set hard and uncomfortable.
Both of mine had problems turning on. You have to pull out the batteries to reset which happens often.
It wasn't long until neither would reset or come on at all.
Don't waste your money. This is an inferior product.
Oh, by the way--they do have support but you have to FAX those receipts, request codes, wait on an email, call a phone tree, them you pay to send it to them AND if you talk to support it will cost you $17.00.
TERRIBLE PRODUCT, EVEN WORSE SUPPORT.

Pros: Great design, easy to use, expandable, great sound quality
Cons: Terrible reliability - intrinsic build quality problems.

I bought the Rio Cali Sport, and was absolutely delighted. The sound quality was great, it was very extremely intuitive to use, and expandable with an SD card.
Fantastic.
Until.. it died totally after 4 months, no warning.
I had lost the receipt so could not take it back to the store.
Thinking this must be a freak I went out and bought another Rio. When I took it out of the box, it was not working.
I took that back to the store, and the salesman there said they had had lots of returned Rios, failing totally after a few weeks or months, and many faulty out of the box.
I then bought Sony device, which was just so unusable that I gave up after 1 hour of attempting to transfer my music.
Anyway, Rio is the design benchmark from all the flash MP3 drives I have ever tried - a shame they can't put 'em together properly to last.

Pros: Easy to use. Reasonable cost
Cons: Reliability is terrible, based on my experience and research.

I bought two Rio Cali 128 players back last spring for my kids. They worked great until recently. I too am among those who have suffered the dreaded "upgrader" problem. Rio Tech support recommended a firmware update which failed to complete and timed out. They said try the back USB ports on my computer and that didn't work either. I also tried to update on another PC, and even my Mac (OSX). None of this worked, so it is on its way to the dumpster. It seems as though people who have the Rios that work are very happy with them. Reliability and consistent manufacturing seem to be the major problem. Just do a google of Rio and "upgrader," and you will see a legion of support groups, reviews, etc. that document this problem, which is not limited to the Cali player.

Well, if you decide to get this player, you had better get the extended warranty. If it works, you will have fun..

Pros: size, sounds good, ergonomics.
Cons: Customer service is worthless!!!

I really like the player but I bought an external memory chip which will not work in the player. My buddy has the same exact player and it works with his. I called the company. They gave me the standard flip chart response of flashing the memory which did not work. I bought a second chip which also does not work in my player but does work in my friend's player. I sent emails to the company and called customer service. They responded with the same thing about flashing the memory chip. It still does not work and now I don't get any response to my emails sent through Rio's website. The customer service totally sucks!!!

Pros: When it worked, it was easy to use, but that wasn't often.
Cons: Only worked for 3 months. The joystick works intermittently- no fast-forwarding through tracks.

I loved this product when I first purchased it. But it only worked properly for the first month. Now it turns off at random intervals; the joystick doesn't allow me to fast forward through tracks- which gets frustrating with over 60 songs on it. The warranty is up and I am out $150 with no mp3 player to use! I am very disappointed with this product.

Pros: None
Cons: Dead on arrival.

When researching this player there were a few reviews that talked about this player not working at all or dying after a short period of time. However, the majority of reviews were positive, and a friend has the similar S35 for over a year with no problems, so I rolled the dice and bought one for $117+tax from CircuitCity.

Well, the unit was DOA. I followed the setup guide and when I got to powering on the unit the splash screen came up and then the word "UPGRADER" displayed. None of the buttons or controls did anything. I searched for some help on the web and people said that Rio support told them to upgrade the firmware. Tried that but all that happened was that the word "UPGRADER" changed to "ERASING." While waiting for the firmware upgrade to finish the Windows application doing the upgrade came back with an error message that the upgrade did NOT complete successfully.

This unit went back within 24 hours for a refund. I'll pass on rolling the dice with Rio MP3 players again.

Pros: Small, easy to see case is meant to play rough.
Cons: Menus are difficult for some to get used to.

Prouduced by Rio, the Cali, this player is outstanding. My Rio S50 has an almost identical firmware to the cali/chiba and I have handled one before, so I know that this player is a winner. My friend that owns one couldn't be happier with it.

Pros: Inexpensive, easy-enough to use, radio tuner
Cons: Menus can be a little confusing. Bundled software is mediocre.

This is my first MP3 player, and for someone who just wants to listen to their own music (or books on CD, borrowed from the library) while they work out, it's perfect. The 128 MB is enough for two workouts between reloads. A battery lasts for several reloads, probably 12-15 hours. I don't recommend doing it on purpose, but when I got mine quite wet (jogging in an intense rainstorm) it shut down, but played just fine once it dried out. Headphones aren't the greatest quality, but that's a trade-off you have to make for ones that are light and compact enough for working out.

Pros: Nice design
Cons: Broke after little use, 90 day warranty

I purchased the Rio Cali for my Mom and 4 months later it will not work. I assumed the sport model would be durable and had a decent warranty, but both assumptions were incorrect. A 90 day warranty does not cut it in my opinion. I will not purchase another Rio product.

Pros: Small, light, pretty good sound from included cheap ear phones.
Cons: Loose internal connection caused complete loss of sound after two+ months.

Faulty internal build quality. After about two and a half months, there has developed some loose connection inside, which at first caused the sound to switch on and off, from either stereo side. Now it sends no sound at all to the cables. I now have to decide whether to get my money back, or chance another one.

I read a few of these reviews before I purchase my Cali. And I would have to agree that it needs folders, and that the lock feature needs to have a bigger icon or some other graphic on the display to remind me it is on.

But the biggest caveat is that it has some major reliability problems that cause it to stop working.

Until they acknowledge their problems, I would beware.

Pros: It dosn't skip and its small and portable
Cons: It can only hold about 20 songs but you can buy an extra chip.

I love my Rio Cali it the best for doing activities with. You don't have to worry about skipping or it getting broken or getting a CD runined. I've had a couple od MP3 Players and so far this is the best one!

Pros: small, great sound quality, easy to use, reasonable price.
Cons: 128mb is a somewhat small amount of memory for storage.

(My review is based on comparing this MP3 to a AM/FM Radio... not on comparing it to other MP3 players.) That being said, I absolutely love this little thing. This is my first MP3 player and it is so much better listening to an hour or so of my own music while running instead of listening to the radio & commercials.
The software is dead easy to use. The player's controls are just as simple.
The sound quality is fantastic and crystal clear. It can be turned up very loud too. The customizable equalizer is a great feature.
It's size is great (it's tiny). It's very light as well. The belt clip and arm band both work fine.
The only downside so far is really my own fault... I should have bought the next model up with more memory. 128mb fills up fast. No matter, I just bought a $40 expansion card that will add 4 hours of capacity, so I'm happy.

Pros: Ease of download and additional memory
Cons: Stops playing on its own.

I bought the Rio Cali based on the review in PC Magazine. It was a decent price ($130 after rebate), good size, and a 'sport' model. The 'sport' model aspect was important because I run with it, and sweat a lot. I fried a different player, so I thought a sport model would be a good choice. It is really easy to download songs to both the onboard memory and the additional SD memory card. It has great sound, comfortable armband and earphones, and plenty of volume. However, after 8 uses, it started turning itself off while playing. It would power down. I could turn the power back on and it would start playing from the beginning of the song list. So I exchanged it for another one. Same thing happened, only this time after 4 uses. Fortunately I was able to return it for a refund.