Rio Chiba 256 MB MP3 Player

by Diamond

Product Details

Supplementary Guide [266kb PDF]

|

Product Manual [1.57mb PDF]

• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B0000AQIFX
• Item model number: 90260515
• Batteries: 1 AAA batteries required. (included)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (43 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #86,809 in Electronics (See Top 100 in Electronics)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

Capacity: 256 MB

From the Manufacturer

Sophisticated inside and out, the mellow Chiba 256 brings over 60 songs* in style. The tight, original design houses a full set of features like an FM tuner, a big, backlit LCD and a 5-Band Adjustable Equalizer. Rubberized grip and simple controls keep your playback fumble-free. Add a memory card to the expansion slot for extra hours of smooth listening pleasure.

Features

• 256 MB of memory plays back over 4 hours of MP3 or 8 hours of WMA music (over 60 MP3 or 120 WMA songs)*
• Expansion slot to add up to 512MB additional memory using SD or MMC cards (sold separately)
• USB 1.1 connects to almost any computer
• Transfer content between multiple PCs
• 18-hour continuous playback using one Energizer AAA Battery
• 5-Band Adjustable Equalizer with pre-sets

Box contents

• Rio Chiba 256
• Carrying Case with Belt Clip
• Sennheiser MX300 Earbuds
• 1 Energizer AAA Alkaline Battery
• USB Cable
• Installation Disk
• Quick Start Guide
• Warranty Card

System requirements

• Windows 98SE, 2000, ME, XP, Mac OS X
• Intel Pentium II 233 MHz or equivalent
• 64 MB RAM
• 35 MB available hard drive space
• USB port
• CD-ROM drive

Warranty
90 day limited

*At 128 kbps MP3, 64 kbps WMA

Product Description

The sleek black Rio Chiba 256MB MP3 Player looks cool and sounds great through the included Sennheiser MX300 earbuds. With 256MB of memory you can enjoy more than 4 hours of MP3 (about 60 songs) or 8 hours of WMA (about 120 songs) music. Features: carrying case with belt clip; expandable memory up 512MB using SD or MMC cards (sold separately); FM tuner; USB cable; installation disk; quick start guide; connection to almost any computer; transfer of content between multiple PCs; 18-hourcontinuous playback and 5-band adjustable equalizer with presets. Songs purchased from Napster 2.0 are compatible with Rio portables. Please use the Rio Music Manager or the Windows Media Player 9 to transfer songs purchased from Napster 2.0 to your Rio. Napster 2.0 Client users can also use the free Napster Plug-In for the Windows Media Player 9 for an integrated experience. Available storage capacity may vary.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

74 of 80 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beginner or advanced MP3 player enthusiasts, this is gold!!!, December 13, 2003

By 

The Iced Priest "capn_crunch" (Lackland AFB, Texas USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Rio Chiba 256 MB MP3 Player (Electronics)

There are several reasons for my selection of this RIO as my player of choice and I will explain as best I can. So read this review in its entirety.Before ever owning the RIO Chiba 256M, the first MP3 player I had ever tried was indeed a RIO (the RIO 800 128M model before the new line of RIO MP3 players were recently put out on the market).The look and size was as instrumental in my choosing of any MP3 player back then (as it is now). I was frustrated with bulky discman CD players for years....because the bottom line is you CANNOT wear them without skipping at some point (no matter how long the anti-skip protection is) or major player instability while attached to your body. These were MAJOR issues for me. So it was no mystery that I sincerely enjoyed the RIO 128M model especially because of its SIZE and the wonderfully convenient BELT CLIP!! It turned out however that after using this 128 M RIO player for about a month I had found myself longing for more songs thereby larger internal memory.It was then that I visited the RIO website and discovered the new line of MP3 players with the RIO Chiba 256 soon to come out. I concluded 256M would be enough internal memory for me so while waiting for the RIO Chiba 256 to become available, I tried and subsequently returned MP3 players from IRiver, Samsung, RCA, and Creative Labs.All had plenty of "bells and whistles" for features but none had the shear small size advantage AND compactness (belt clip convenience) of the RIO 128M model I used to own. The general EASE OF USE(ridiculously easy), battery-life saving feature (all RIO players shut off within 5 minutes of inactivity by default), great sound quality via the more advanced graphic equalizer, as well as a very attractive blue-backlit LCD screen were other secondary but still significant advantages the RIO model had, those other players did not! When the RIO Chiba 256 finally did come out I purchased one without a second thought.

And now I'd like to add something!All these reviews of "cheap this, cheap that" are frankly nausseating if not comical!!People, you do not purchase this or any MP3 player to lose sleep over "what material its made out of" or "what would happen if i dropped it compared to another model".Yes, this player is not made of some space age plastic or material but no MP3 player is.The reality is this player has SOLID construction. It is sold at 199.99 on the RIO website and not counting participating department store discounts(about 20 or 30 bucks) such as Circuit City, for a $200 dollar value you can rest assured you are getting something of good foundational quality)!AND it designed to be used and carried around LATCHED in the provided beltclip compartment.Once its secure in the beltclip compartment and latched on to you via your belt, there are no issues with battery compartment looseness and very little chance of the user dropping the player.Wow, imagine that...a beltclip,what a concept!!Yes indeed everyone is still clumsy at somepoint.Regardless I have dropped my model at least ten times since I purchased it, it remains in one piece AND the sound quality remains exceptionally!C'mon people, have a little practicality in your reviews!!!

Ease of use is OK, however the included RIO MP3 transfer("ripping")software has ONE flaw, it doesn't recognize every MP3 or WMA music file you have.The solution to this problem is very simple.Uninstall the RIO software if you have already loaded it, then download and use Windows Media Player 9.0 for your Chiba's transfering needs.Windows Media Player 9.0 recognizes and plays EVERY music file,including all the ones the Real Player can.I find it to be of higher quality and more reliable than Real Player(in regards to suddenly shutting/closing down due to bugs in Windows XP).

The best headphones for this player ARE NOT the included Senheisser earbuds, but rather Sony, the SON MDRW08L model to be exact.I would highly recommend you invest the $10 bucks these sell for. You will find out within 15 minutes of use why these are 5000 times more comfortable than the included "ear soreing" Senheissers not to mention complement your Chiba's graphic equalizer settings with ridiculously crystal clear sound(due to Neodynium magnets for sounddrivers in each earpiece).

I have been using the Chiba for about 5 months now, I believe for beginners or advanced MP3 player enthusiasts alike RIO makes the best overall MP3 player on the market!!

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding Product, June 19, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Rio Chiba 256 MB MP3 Player (Electronics)

I'll start off by stating that this is the first MP3 player I've bought. That said, I'd like to address some issues other reviewers have mentioned in relation to my own experience.

Issue 1.) Insufficient volume.
Rebut 1.) Sure, if you have a need to blow out your eardrums. I find the volume more than suffient. Mention of insufficient volume in other reviews left me hesitant to purchase. If you like your music painful then perhaps this product isn't for you. Otherwise I think you'll be quite satisfied with the output it provides. Further, I'll offer a kludge method you can use to pump up the output further. Simply go into the equalizer settings, select 'custom', move all equilizer bars to max and adjust downward. Seems to nearly double the output volume on mine.

Issue 2.) Battery cover doesn't snap into place with much conviction.
Rebut 2.) As one reviewer mentioned, this isn't an issue when you have the case (which comes with the unit) on, and because the case (in my opinion) fits well, feels good, and is sturdy, you'll probably want to leave it on all the time anyway. This _nearly_ renders the problem a 'non'. However, you do have to take off the case when hooking it to the USB cable, so the issue does bear some merit though it's far outweighed by the positives this unit offers. Finally, on this issue, I test dropped the unit from shoulder height. It took about five drops to knock the batter cover off. A very tiny piece of tape prevents even that.

Issue 3.) Headphones are not of sufficient quality.
Rubut 3.) They're not ultra high end but I consider them quite good enough to use all the time. You could certainly go higher end but they're far better than the defaults that come with many products. I consider that a forethought on their part - one I appreciate.

Issue 4.) Short battery life.
Rebut 4.) Nonsense. Battery life is excellent. About twice as long on a single AAA compared to my CDMan on multiple AA's.

Now on to my own pros and cons:

Pro 1.) Outstanding sound quality with MP3 file types at 128kbps sample rate or higher. The provided software doesn't come with an MP3 encoder - BUT - they do provide a link in the help file where you can download one. You'll need the unit's serial number to do so (it's inside the battery compartment).

Con 1.) Not so great sound quality using windows media format files. Most notably the intro (first second or so) of songs go so far as to crackle or distort. I'm not overly bothered by this since I have a bit of a peeve with Microsoft for pissing their own version of every format around. Example - .MPG's are great; Microsoft prefers it's own .WMV format. And the list goes on. Knock it off Microsoft - getting sick and tired of a new format from you for every standardized one that comes out from someone else - it just adds to the muck. *soapbox off*

Pro 2.) It comes with a builtin FM tuner.
Con 2.) Reception could be better.

Pro 3.) Included software is easy to use.
Con 3.) Conversion from rip to encode is slow, as is USB data rate. Not a major hit in my book - it would just be nice if they could speed that up a bit.

Pro 4.) Unit is ultra light. You can actually twirl it around on the end of the earphone plug while you're listening to it if you get bored. NOTE: That's a 'could do' but not a 'recommend do'.
Con 4.) None.

Pro 5.) Case comes with a belt clip that works well.
Con 5.) No armstrap. This would be nice considering you can't easily see what selection you're choosing when the unit is upside down and on your belt. You can if you buy an armstrap and wear it there.

Overall I'm impressed and have been liberated from my Sony portable CD player by this device. I haven't dealt with Rio support so I can't comment on that.

Kudos to Rio and to everyone who reviewed this product here at Amazon.

21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great flash based MP3 player for the price, November 23, 2004

By 

W. Paul W. "Paul White" (Amarillo, TX) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Rio Chiba 256 MB MP3 Player (Electronics)

I've had this for about six months now, so I feel I can review it fairly accurately. It's a standard flash based MP3 player with 256 megs internal memory and an expansion slot.
Syncing isn't a problem, it goes fine using Media Player Nine or Ten (I have multiple devices that I need to sync, so I just always use Media Player--then I don't need to learn several different software suites).

The sound quality is fine, although I do reccomend buying better headphones for maybe 10-20 bucks--the bundled ones aren't all that good. Navigation in the player is a breeze, and the controls took me maybe 10 minutes to learn, if that, even before I read the manual. It's easy to go in and change any settings, set the time, etc. if you feel the need to do so. The manual that comes on CD is sufficient to teach you how to fully use your player. If only most computers and techie toys came with manuals like that--not elegent, but it gets the job done well.

Given how cheap even 512 memory cards have gotten, it's feasible to turn this into a 768 meg player real quick. Without a card, it holds about 65 songs at a 128 bit rate. It's not got the capacity of hard drive players, but it's cheaper, and it doesn't skip, which is good for those of us who tend to drop them, and/or use them during physical activity.
Battery life is great; I've been using it for 3 30 minutes bike sessions a week for over a month (although I have missed one or two), plus in between classes at college; haven't replaced it yet. The machine seems durable enough; it shrugged of a glancing blow when I dropped a 10 lb. plate on it in the gym (the plate slipped outta my hands while I was cleaning up) . It's not as solid as a rock, but stands up completly fine to day-to-day use.
If you want a good, inexpensive flash based player this is a solid choice

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