Rio Forge Sport (256 MB) MP3 Player

Pros: Easy to use, lightweight, great sound, expandable, very inexpensive
Cons: May not be too durable, recording feature just average, stopwatch is ehh

Christmas is over and, while my older son is enjoying his video iPod, my 15 year old son is enjoying his little Rio Forge Sport 256 MB MP3 Player that I impulse purchased on Woot! (woot.com) for a ridiculously low price of $40.00. Rio is ...

Pros: Quick Transfers, Friendly Software, Small and Compact, Armband, Looks Sleek, Battery Life, Decent Headphones, Backlit
Cons: Headphone jack issues, Serious Power Problems, Random Shutoffs, Short warranty (90 days - no surprise)

Being old fashioned and stuck with the portable CD player for the greater part of the 90s, I figured that half way through this decade would be a good time to move up to a portable digital player. As with most electronics, the choice of companies to go ...

Pros: FM Radio, Expandable SD Slot, Easy Controls and Durable Design
Cons: Low Battery Life, Low Memory, Relatively expensive when bough in 2005.

I've had my Forge 256 for over 2 years now and I still enjoy it. I am avid Mac user and am furious of the absence of the FM tuner to the iPod line and have refused to buy one until it's standard. This product is durable and nicely designed. Its great for ...

Pros: Basic, Durable, hard wearing, light weight, relatively low priced now
Cons: Navigation button badly designed, Bad Earphones, Firmware fails and requires reset

Since I wrote this review my player has failed on me twice. Some shopping websites explain that there is a common firmware problem with the Rio where it refuses to turn on at all. I decided to update my review with the fix. The fix is simply to plug the ...

Pros: LCD stays lit, easy to read and operate buttons
Cons: Doesn't delete pre-set songs, nor transfer songs to unit

Bought on Sunday, returned on Wednesday. I have WIN. 98 SE, which the package says it is compatable with. Downloading the software was easy. Their "music manager" downloaded two CD's just fine. But it would not transfer the music onto the player. The ...

Pros: It plays music!
Cons: It plays music when its working!

You know, my mother always said that if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything. So, for now, I'm going to listen to her and say some good things about this very shiny piece of rubber, plastic, metal and semi-expensive electronics. ...

Pros: Easy Music Navigation, Lots of Bells and Whistles, Cheap online
Cons: Armband Sucks, not compatible with AAC, FM radio doesn't work, not very durable

This MP3 player works great! I came up from a crappy GPX MP3 player, (don't get me started on GPX). I love that I can actually pick what I want, without hitting the next track 5 million times. On the go play lists would be great, but this is still great. ...

Pros: Reliable, good sound, small size, expandable, and has a radio tuner. Really a great player.
Cons: The radio tuner reception isn't the best, but good enough.

My first MP3 player was a Rio 500, with 64M of memory. I bought it 6 years ago, and it still works great. However, I train for marathons, and I realized a couple months ago that I needed something that can hold a lot more songs. I'm not that into the ...

Pros: Small, lightweight, easy to use sofeware, usb for fast uploads.
Cons: Not compatable with bodily movement, customer support = waste of time. Keep your reciept

I've had this for exactly 4 months.. The sound quality is somewhat gray and lifeless with the stock ear bud head phones, plus they wont fit my ears.. The software is pretty self explanatory and easy to use.. Handy usb cord for a quick transfer ...

Pros: Great for working out, sleek, light, easy menu, great overall!
Cons: None thus far, I love it!

I first bought this for my girlfriend being that it was reasonably priced and a fair amount of memory size. After seeing how much she liked it, I decided to get one for myself. At first I opened the package (which took me forever since it's one of ...

Pros: Nice menu, nice size
Cons: short battery life, not durable, lots of bugs

At first I was very impressed with the Forge, it uses very nice menu and the display is very easy to read, but when the battery that came with the unit was at about 50% of power (from the display battery read out) the unit started shutting down during ...

Pros: User interface.
Cons: Random shutoffs.

I thought this product was a really good value for the money when I brought it. I selected it for the size, price ($159.99), SD card expansion, and my past experience with the Rio Volt CD/MP3 player. I didn't like the earphones that came with it, but ...

Pros: Good music quality, cool features, relatively easy downloading system.
Cons: Stops working correctly after two weeks...stops working completely after 2 months!

I received a Rio Forge for Christmas 04 and it worked fine for about 2 weeks. I lead an active lifestyle and loved wearing it while running (it is called Rio Forge "Sport", right?). But after 2 weeks it would turn off from the slightest touch or ...

Pros: Great looks, great menu options, great battery life. over all happy w/ it (until quits)
Cons: Volume control stops, turns off randomly, can't switch music around

Well, at first I was EXTREMELY happy w/ this product. Easy to download, very sleek, easy to operate, great menu choices. It lasted well for about 6 months, then the volume down stopped working, so I would have to turn the unit off if I wanted it even a ...

Pros: Worked for awhile.
Cons: Doesn't work anymore and my 90 day warranty is long gone.

I did some homework (but not enough) and thought that the Rio was a good choice. Off and on, I had issues with the power (like don't plug in the head phones after it is powered on or it will shutdown). But overall, I was happy. And then, about a week ago, it stopped working. Initially, I thought it was a bad battery. After doing everything recommended in the FAQ, I have come to realize that it is officially dead. With a price tag of $150, I was expecting a longer life. After reading other reviews, I guess I was lucky. Based on my experience, I can't recommend this product.