Customer Reviews

Rio 600 32 MB Digital Audio Player (MP3/WMA)

5 star:		(61)
4 star:		(62)
3 star:		(27)
2 star:		(28)
1 star:		(62)

 

 

Here's my assessment of things I like and don't like about the Rio 600:

Pros:

*Small, lightweight *No Skipping *Decent sound quality (the above apply to pretty much any portable MP3 player) *WMA Support *USB interface for fast transfer of songs *Future support for 340MB IBM Microdrive *Possible future AAC (Advanced Audio Coding) support *Low price

Cons: *Rio Audio Manager software is extremely cumbersome to use *Supplied earphones do not sound good and will have to be replaced *You cannot distinctly discern by touch what button you're pushing on the round pad. You'll end up stopping or pausing tracks when you want to skip to the next track. *Only 32MB RAM standard with no upgrades available at this time *Larger than previous model Rio 500 *No belt clip *No recording for FM tuner

The Rio 600 is your basic MP3 player. WMA support is nice, but because of Digital Rights Management, the WMA format is difficult to deal with and I'm not going to convert all my MP3s to WMA. Someone should have tested the Rio 600's button pad for usability. You can't feel what button you're pushing and because the Rio 600's body is curvy, it's hard to discern up/down/left/right without looking at it. You also have to use your fingernail to push the tiny center button or you'll accidentally press on of the up/down/left/right buttons as well.

As of right now, I would recommend the Rio 600 over any other MP3 player currently available, not so much because it's so good in itself, but it's good when you compare it to the others. The things I most wish it had right now are memory packs and better software. I'm not sure how much the memory pack upgrades will cost, but I'm hoping that a 32MB memory pack will not put it in the ballpark of a Rio 800 which will come with 64MB standard and have recording support.

The Rio 600 is cheap, but if you get the Rio 600, plan on spending more money on headphones and a memory upgrade, unless you want to deal with the WMA format. Faceplates allow you to change the color of the Rio, but the standard metallic blue is stylish enough for me.

Well, I was going to give it around a 3.75, but since there's no option, I left it at four. The Rio line of MP3 players is overall a very high-quality, top-of-the-line series of devices. The Rio600 in general is no exception, but I do have a few issues with it...

The funky shape isn't that bad... I have a Nomad II also, and the shapes actually are quite ergonomically sound, for both players. It does look funny though. The clip-on faceplate idea is questionable... Why not just sell it in several colors?

I don't care for the clip-on backpack idea... I feel that SmartMedia cards are more universally compatible. Sure, not as much upgrade potential with flash cards, in comparison with the 300mb+ capacities of the backpacks, but I usually steer towards more mainstream parts, away from proprietary designs.

The player is easy to operate, but I prefer the old circle-dial controls on the Rio 300. The "joypad" is close, but no cigar. ;)

32mb really is not enough for a typical person... Most people today are still using mp3 (myself included), and a half hour of music just doesn't cut it... Even using lower bitrates, you just lose sound quality. 64mb is a minimum for mainstream mp3 players... Big slip-up Diamond/S3/SonicBLUE. Sure, you could upgrade it with a memory backpack, but that brings up my problems with proprietary hardware...

Overall, a good player. I want to see the Rio800 when it comes available... Until then, this is a fairly good player. A word of advice to those buying though... Seriously look at the Rio 500 or the Nomad II. The Rio 500 might not be as ergonomically sound, but it's a proven, tried-and-tested 64mb player. The 600 has a bit more ease-of-use, but the 500 has better features. The Nomad II is also a wonderful player, with plusses such as voice recording and a built-in FM radio tuner. It has a more curved shape, comfortable, and is very shiny... (ooh, shiney... ;) All of these use USB, of course, and each is upgradable to support WMA (even though the 600 does it natively). The 500 is upgradable (with SmartMedia cards) right now to 128mb (with a firmware upgrade). The Nomad II will only go to 64mb currently, as a down note...

Again, I say, overall a good player. But, if you don't want to repeat your playlist every half hour, consider another, larger-capacity player.

The Diamond Rio 600 is a paradox. It's twice as good as anything currently on the market, but half as much as you need. There's something very right about each of the three components of the system--headphones, body and software--and yet there are serious deficiencies with each part.

The Rio's headphones are marginally tinny at any volume, and stressed at higher volumes, but good enough for a portable you'll probably use in a noisy environment anyway. To be sure, other headphones will be needed to fully realize the sound possibilities of the Rio, but the ones included give you at least the beginnings of great sound. Their rather odd, around-the-ear construction is both sensible and awkward. They're perfect for using while working out, because they never fall out, regardless of how vigorously one behaves. But they're hard to get used to because they do take a comparatively longer time to put in than other headphones. Serious audiophiles will dismiss them outright; those of us just looking for workout music will probably get used to their oddness.

The body of the Rio is its clear strength. It's about the size of a pager-but lighter. Of all the portable music solutions I shopped--CD, cassette, and digital alike-this one is the very best in terms of size/quality ratio. It's the best thing I've ever used for working out. It's also the best device currently available in terms of expandability. Though on the surface it seems to have less memory than the Rio 500, and than many other newer .mp3 players, it has the capacity for adding on 340 mb. Also, the fact that it takes the .wma (Windows Media) format effectively means that you can store what would be the equivalent of 64mb of songs in the .mp3 format

There are some reservations, though. First, its small size means that the battery is tucked away in a pretty inaccessible place. It's somewhat tricky seating a new battery. It's not impossible, mind you, and it's worth the effort given the benefit of the unit's small size, but it's still frustrating on occasion. Second, while a battery does actually give 10 hours of use, the unit's battery life estimator is never accurate. It deducts time too slowly at the start of a battery, so that by the time you get to 6 hours of apparent time left, you actually have only 1 or 2 hours. It's not a huge problem, once you figure it out, but it can be infuriating at first. Third, the unit doesn't come with a belt clip holder or an FM tuner. They're both available, but they're extra. I can understand the FM tuner being extra, but it seems ridiculous for a portable music player to come without the means to make it truly portable.

Finally, there's the software. Easily the weakest element of the Diamond Rio 600, it's only a *little* more than a way to add on $20 to the price of the unit. It's entirely too difficult to install and get running. I installed the version off the included CD. When I got it running, it linked me to rioport.com, which informed me there was an update available. This update, however, was really only for the Rio 300 and 500, and so it failed to recognize the Rio 600 as being present. So I uninstalled the update and tried again with the CD version. Then after a mere 50 rips, it told me I had to pay to "unlock" the program. So I tried to unlock, but the software never allowed me to get to the "pay" screen. I then reinstalled the update and miraculously was allowed to unlock the program. But this version still didn't recognize the Rio 600. So I uninstalled the update and reinstalled the original. Finally, everything worked. Hardly an encouraging start. Then, I instructed the program to search my hard drives and come up with a database of playable media. This it did, but it found a lot of `junk' files I wanted to delete. Unbelievably, the program doesn't allow you to group delete, so I had to individually delete each file I didn't want. Finally, after hours of time and $20, I got the software set up and ready to use. But then came another one of those little Rio paradoxes. One of the strengths of the software is that it allows you to read a CD at a variety of different compressions. You can decide to fit more of your songs on the Rio and sacrifice a little quality. The problem is that you might want a song at the highest quality to burn a CD (which the software also does) but at a lower one to send to the Rio. The result is that you practically have to read each CD twice. That's a lot of hard disk space to dedicate to your music library. Hopefully updates will include some sort of converter, so that you only have to scan CDs once.

On balance, I highly recommend the Rio, especially if you're just looking for workout music. Be warned, however, that it won't be quite the effortless pathway to great music that the merchandising proclaims, and that the Rio is based on modularity. It has the greatest potential of any current .mp3 player--it can be worn comfortably, has the largest potential memory, can play FM music, and can even be used on your car's lighter--but you're going to have to pay for each added function.

Ok, I had some savings in my pocket and I thought "Hmmm...what should I buy?" Voila! I decided to get an MP3 player...Rio600. Let's see what problems I've encountered with this nifty device:

Battery Pack: On my first night with Rio, we started having problems. I had to figure out how to remove the battery/memory pack at the back of the unit. There was this little button that you press but nothing happens. To remove the battery pack, you got to pry and clamp your nails around the edges to slide off the cover. Taking it off was difficult, putting it back was almost impossible. You have to align the connector pins between the pack and the unit and at the same time putting it at an angle so you can slide the cover back on. Too cumbersome!!! Requires getting to used to.

Power Guzzler: This baby drains your batteries like hot milk. My suggestion is you buy rechargeable batteries- Alkaline Rechargeables or Nickel Metal Hydride batteries. If you dont invest on rechargeables, you'll be making frequent trips to the corner store for batteries.

Now it's on, now it's off: By some weird phenomenon, my Rio600 kept shutting itself off. One minute it's playing, the next minute the system just shuts down. I reboot the unit and nothing happens. I reboot it twice, three times, and then it boots itself. Hmmmm... Off I went to the store and had it replaced with a new one. Now I got a new but the assembly was not done properly on the unit. A small opening can be seen on the sides. Somehow, somebody from Diamond Rio fell asleep while putting my unit together. Off I went again and had it replaced. Now everything's working normally.

The Software, oh the humanity: DiamondRio needs to release a more stable software. It's a bit too buggy. Most of the time, the software can't detect your USB connection to the unit. THe workaround is to go to the Options screen manually select the device connected to the USB. Also, there's a bug whereby if you delete some songs in your database, it still leaves the files in your hard drive. Weird really...

Now the good points:

WMA Files: It takes WMA files. Since it's only 32 mb, WMA can squeeze in more music into your player than mp3 at the expense of sound quality. WMA is Windows's answer to MP3. WMA usues 64kb as opposed to MP3's 128 kb.

Sound Quality: Sound is pretty decent when you listen to WMA or MP3. However, with the WMA, the cymbals and high hats sound a bit wavy rather than a consistent hissing sound of a cymbal.

Volume: This player packs a LOUD PUNCH. This is really loud. I'm using a Sony WEAR headphones and RIO600 just knocks your ear drums off. Not advisable to listen to full volume on extended periods. Too risky.

Overall, the device is good except for a few quality control issues. It's a shame because on the memory pack, there's a label that says ASSEMBLED IN THE USA. If you're planning to get this unit, be prepared for some surprises like returning it and getting a new one. People have already complained about the poor quality control on this device. But that doesnt mean all the units are duds. Who knows, you might be lucky enough to pick a solid one. ANyways, the device is worth the money. It's light, it's cheap, it's a got a solid sound quality.

Let's start with my beefs-they are few but if you're unfortunate enough to be suffering from the most troubling of them, you're probably breathing fire from Rio's handling of the situation. I'm referring to the 'USB bug' that infects certain computers (tech support couldn't be more clear/candid about how many people were suffering from the ailment). "It's our biggest complaint" were the words of my by-now beleagured support guru, Mike. It's essentially static that bleeds into your player when music is downloaded that translates into minor static bursts (try picking one up at high volume) to an outright skipping of the song to the next track...intermittantly. Try jogging with your car radio set to 'scan' without the benefit of a regular interval and you'll know what I'm talking about. Out of the dozen or so tracks (different bit rates, repeated attempts) I downloaded, 11 of them exhibited this maddening glitch, which to me rendered the device useless. Rio's response? "They should be updating the firmware in the next 2 weeks to compensate for the problem". This after the device was available on the market for over 4 weeks. Grrrrrrr.... The work-around? Buy a USB hub: my Xircom 4 port (after a speedy 3 minute installation) licked the problem for $29. Face it: the way the industry is headed, you're probably going to use multiple USB devices eventually. Use this logic to keep you from screaming into the phone at your tech support rep about how ridiculous it is that arguably the largest MP3 audio manufacturer can screw up this badly. And don't try the website for info on the when the glitch will be patched or even acknowledgement that it exists: it's useless.

My other beefs are minor, but annoying. No belt clip. Who do they think is using their product? Try the weight room or the track without the handy PMP 300 clip. Not very well thought-out. And the earbuds...it may be me, but are any of you noticing the "water ear" you get with aerobic exercise and these things? It seems that sweat gets diverted somehow diectly into your ear. If I'm not using these things correctly, please let me know.

With that off my chest, I have nothing but praise for the player and the software. The LED may (or may not) chomp at the battery, but it's clear, backlit and gadgety enough to impress my friends (if they're not in the middle of 'Freebird' when it skips). The menu button is handy and the forward, back, etc paddle is nifty enough. The hold button has even moved to a place where it can be used! (See PMP 300). The audio software for file transfers is lucid as any I've seen. I especially like the visual representations of the music (attention Rio:make it a screensaver-convertible and I'll forget about the earbuds). The possibility for expansion is cool too...300+mB? I can't wait to see the price tag (and I'm hearing ADDED? battery consumption *ahem*) on that one. Who am I kidding? To hear my Barenaked Ladies CD's at 192mps, I'll snatch it up in a heartbeat.

Bottom Line: If you're one of the unfortunates who picked up a computer with a 'polluted' USB, pick up a hub and some crazy glue for a belt clip. Or you could just buy a Yepp. But for my money, WMA compatibility and exponential expansion, I'll make do with a semi-scathing review on amazon.com.

I just recieved this thing today, tore of the wrapping and connected it to my iMac's USB port. After installing Sound Jam MP, my computer imediatly detected the player. I loaded about 10 tracks on lighting fast, it took about 3 min.s a track. I really like the software it came with and I think I am going to buy the full version. The Player it's self feels a lot more solid then the older players, with a kind of ruberized surfice. Its smaller too, and it's curved sides fit really well in your hand. I dropped it on my bike once, and it took the fall well. The Sound is louder than the old players too, and the base as well is better, esp. with the better head phones. My only complaints ar e as follows- this thing is way too cool...hope I no one steals it (hehe). Other than that theres really nothing about it I've found in the 4-5 hours of use. The 32 MB is a tad small, but I hear the memory "backpacks" that you can buy are cheap and huge. I asume they clip onto the back becuase theres a kind of a port for it. I really can't complain about this player it's great! And for $169.99 it's a steal! This is not the expensive, cheaply made thing like the 300/500, it's great! Sporty, Sexy, Slick and Small this thing is gonna be big.

I just recieved this thing and tore the packing off today. I had it connected to my iMac's USB port inno time and the software was a breeze. At about 10 seconds a track the uploading to the player was a breeze. Once I had done that I took the thing with me on my bike. The actuall construction of the player is much better than it's precedors- a rubberized outter layer makes it durable and I dropped it pretty good but it didn't seem to do a thing. The Player plays much louder with better base then my friend's 500, and the better head phones that are included help too. It's much smaller than a 300 or 500 and it's curved design fits well in my hand, but I like to clip it to my belt. Theres some kind of port on the back were you clip on the memory "backpacks" which is good becuase 32MB might not be enough (you can put plenty in, for what i hear, not much money). The LCD screen is clear and easy to read, and the button layout is very simple. I tried pulling and yanking or banging things on the player but the whole thing is really solid! When I had my friend's 500 it felt fragile and I was afraid to drop it. Anyway in about 5-6 hours of use so far I have found nothing wrong with it and I am throughly content, plus I saved $100 as I was going to buy the 500. I recomend this anyday over a 500, and would recomend this to anyone with it's ease of use and attractive price Tag.

I might think twice about purchasing this new player from Diamond Multimedia. My recommendation--spend the extra dollars for the Rio 500, and get more memory and software with fewer glitches. I purchased this for my sister, and she had a terrible time installing the software onto a Windows 98 machine. The USB device was not being recogized by the software, and Diamond's technical support was only able to help after sending a firmware upgrate for the software. Unless you care about swapping out the colorful faceplates that can be purchased with the device, I would go with the older, and more mature Rio 500. It may not carry as sleek of a design as the newer generation players or any of the cool on-screen graphics, but its simplicity keeps it reliable, which is the most important, right? As a side note, whenever you decide to purchase any of these MP3 devices, be sure and get one equipped with USB connectivity. Not doing so will severly diminish the transfer rate at which you can upload music from your computer to the MP3 device.

Ok, my last review had more to do with "championing" theadvantages of the WMA format over MP3 (since the Rio600 supports WMA). But I would like to know add my thoughts and review of the player and what I believe are it's biggest improvement (besides WMA support) over the previous Rio's, particularly the Rio500.

Style-No doubt about it, the Rio600 blows away the previous Rio's in the style category. Of course I realize that this is a subjective trait but the Rio600 is quite an "eye catcher" IMHO.

Feel-The case coating material (I believe it is teflon or some other "rubber" based compound) gives the player a real nice feel while holding it in the palm of your hand. Also, that "odd" shape is really quite ergonomically sound.

Functionality-Big improvement here as well. The "joy pad" (as Diamond calls it) is far better than the small individual "function" buttons of the Rio500. Once you put your finger on it, you are able to easily engage all the major playback options (play/pause, forward, backward and stop) without looking at the player. With the Rio500, you have to either take the player out of it's clip carrying case or just guess whether or not your finger is on the correct button for whatever play back option you are trying to engage. I am able to keep the Rio600 in it's case (I purchased a "generic" Neosporin cell phone clip case and it fits like a glove and works great) while just reaching down, putting my finger on the joy pad and from there it is quite simple to know where all the play back options are. Also, the playback buttons on the Rio500 were "above" the case surface. This made it somewhat necessary to engage the "hold" button on top. With the Rio600, the rim of the joy pad is "flush" with the case surface and then gradually is "indented" into the surface in a "cone like" geometry. So, if you bump the player into a piece of equipment, it is far more unlikely that the playback features will be altered thus making the use of the hold button unnecessary. Again, not engaging the "hold" button then makes it possible to easily engage all the other playback options with the joy pad while actively exercising, etc. This also makes the need for a add on remote less useful.

Navigation-Once again...much better than the Rio500. The thumbwheel of the Rio500 is not intuitive in the least. When I purchased the Rio500, the instructions (if you could call it that) that came with it were pretty pathetic. No where did it mention how to access the "submenu" options using the thumbwheel. I found that out after "technical support call #1" (with many, many more to come over the next several months). The Rio600 is very intuitive and very easy to figure out. How can you not understand it with a dedicated button labeled "menu"? Once you hit this button, a row of folder tabs rise from the button of the LCD screen. Very similar to your toolbar in Windows if you have the "auto hide" option chosen. Now here is where it does require a little technical intuition on the users part. You use the joy pad to navigate from one folder tab to the other. You hit the center button of the joy pad to choose your option. You are able to move in all 4 directions and choose the various options with the joy pad. Again, much better than the thumbwheel of the Rio500. Generally, the whole LCD display is far more pleasing than the Rio500.

USB Interface and Transfer-Well, hooking up the player end of the USB cable takes a little more effort than the Rio500 but it may be worth. It appears to be much faster than the Rio500 in the transfer rate. Also, if the player is off (in the sleep mode that is)...once you hook up the USB cable the player comes to life and turns on. This seems to indicate that unlike the Rio500, the USB is actually supplying the power during transfer. Big advantage if this is indeed the case...much less drain on the battery.

Bottom line...easily a big improvement over the Rio500! And with future accessories (particularly the memory/rechargeable upgrade back packs), this player will even be better. I was going to hold out for the Rio800 but since I was having so many problems with my Rio500 (can you say 4 returned and 5 failed units! ), I decided to grab this as soon as possible. I can honestly say that for $100.00 dollars less than the Rio500...this player has made me one happy consumer. If you think that I am forgetting the fact that this is only a 32meg. player vs. the Rio500's 64megs...please read my initial post about the WMA format support and what this essentially means in terms of total playing time. Also, a few have said that this player is having problems with MP3 playback. I can not speak to this since I only use WMA music files on this player and they all have worked flawlessly.

Hoped this information helps,

Drew

This is an excellent Mp3 player. Especially for its price, its better then the other ones, I could care less about the "radio" or the "voice recorder" on the creative labs model, I want portable music, not a whole kitchen worth of appliances. If you buy this, I strongly urge you to use the much smaller but equivalent sounding WMA files instead of Mp3s, and you will be able to fit approximately 67 minutes of music on this player. It also has excellent battery life. (make sure to keep the backlight feature off and you will get more battery life). The buttons are pretty easy to use, and the screen is easy to read. One thing I didn't like is that somehow a tiny piece of dirt got inside the plastic screen thingy. Other then that, its a very solid player, that hardly weighs a thing and fits easily into a pocket.