Rio S30S Sport 64 MB MP3 Player

by Rio

Product Details

Product Manual [704kb PDF]

• Item Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B00006HYJ4
• Item model number: 90260376
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (93 customer reviews)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

From the Manufacturer

Designed for athletes, the RioSPORT S30S is built to withstand the elements. This rugged, durable player holds up to an hour of skip-free MP3 or 2 hours of WMA music. The 64 MB internal memory is upgradeable to 576 MB using SD or MMC memory cards. Includes sport armband, belt-clip and has a built-in FM tuner, clock and stopwatch.

What's in the Box

• RioSPORT S30S digital audio player
• Sport earphones
• Carrying case with belt clip
• Adjustable armband
• AAA battery
• USB cable
• Rio Music Manger software
• Audio management software for PC and Mac
• Getting started guide

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

84 of 93 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Itemized ratings. Including info not on website., March 19, 2003

By 

G. Walker "Yep" (Coruscant) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Rio S30S Sport 64 MB MP3 Player (Electronics)

Overall rating: 4.5/5; 90%; A-.
Happiness with product: Very happy (not ecstatic)

My overall rating is on the features I care about, which is everything except the included software, which needs work, and the FM radio, which I do not plan on using, but did test for the purpose of this review.

Itemized ratings:

5/5 MP3 Sound Quality (did not test wma)
5/5 Screen quality and information displayed
4/5 Case Quality (Only red is rubberized)
4/5 Battery Life (Tested with Alkaline, not NiMH yet)
4/5 Navigation (Menu organization is great, but slow processor)
2/5 FM Radio (It works like a $10 radio)
4/5 Size. (H=~2.875" W=~2.5" D=1.0") Circular, not rectangular!
4/5 Weight. 2.25oz w/ battery and expansion card. No headphones.

Pro's and con's:

pro's: Excellent reproduction of .mp3 songs, tough case, solid buttons, small size, 10 hours + on an alkaline battery, supports NiMH (Nickel-Medal Hydride) batteries, excellent screen, upgradeable firmware, very easy to navigate options and songs.

con's: Not fully rubberized. FM reception is poor and extremely succeptable to interference. Included software is mediocre.

The software and computer interface:
It's a CD. Sonic Media (the included software) should rip music; they use real one player, which is also included, for this feature.

You have to use 2 different software programs to really get the device to work well. This is a poor design. I'd recommend Musicmatch, but at the time of this writing they don't have a plugin for the s30s, s35s, or s50; thus you'd have to use 2 programs still.

The body:
Unfortunately only the red part is rubberized, which includes the side and the back. I was expecting it to be totally rubberized, except the screen, of course. When designing the device, they could have easily made it water resistant, but they didn't.

The raised plastic protects the screen, and the buttons feel solid. The unit feels like it could take many bad falls.

You can not just plug the unit in and use it as a removable device, at least in XP, which forces you to either use their software, or some other software that supports audio devices to communicate between the computer and the device. XP does fully support the rio s30s as a device. Thus you can not transfer files through "My Computer" for either the internal memory, or the expansion slot, which would be a lot easier. Of course, you could always remove the memory from the expansion slot and put it into a SD reader, then access it from "My Computer". Maybe there is some way to add the browsing of digital audio devices to "My Computer", but I have not found a way to.

The sound:
The sound from mp3's I've downloaded sound excellent, but ones I ripped sound flat. Is that the software I'm using, or the CD-ROM, or the sound card? The CD sounds great in a CD player.
I have to admit, I never tried using the included headphones, and they do look junky. I have a pair of Sony headphones (MDR-Q33LP/S); I researched a lot and found these to be the best for what I do; which is gym/bike/run. My 4th pair, 2 were stolen, 1 given away.

Internal hardware and software:
The upgradeable firmware is a nice feature; make sure your firewall is off when you try to download from their site. I updated from 1.61 to 1.8, it added a button lock function, hold menu and press enter, and several other features.

The processor in the device must be really slow, as when you press the button it takes about 1/4 of a second for it to respond, including the volume. Hold down the volume, and let it go before you get to the desired volume because it will continue to go up or down for that extra 1/4 of a second.

Misc:
Device uses a non-standard USB connector to the device, but standard to the computer. I do not know whether the connector to the device is standard for digital audio devices; I have never scene it, I think it's proprietary.

Comes with a belt clip and a length of Velcro to attach the device to your arm.

32 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Worth the Price, August 2, 2003

By 

R. Ward (KY USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Rio S30S Sport 64 MB MP3 Player (Electronics)

I found the Rio S30 well worth the price. I compared other MP3 players (sport models) and selected the Rio - had it for 2 months now and never regretted buying it. The Rio has a rubber-type body with a plastic front. It is extremely light as I clip it to my waistband - it bounces a little, but hardly noticeable. I could strap it to my arm with the arm band, but the earphone cord gets wrapped around my arm while jogging. The sound quality is excellent and has more than enough power - I turn it up to about 1/2 to 3/4 volume. The viewing screen is 1 1/2 inch square - easy to read with a scrolling song title across the top. The screen also shows the time, battery life, minutes and seconds for the song playing, and number of songs in memory (main memory and card). Currently, I am using a 64 meg memory card, which which combined with the main memory, gives me about 31 songs. I just ordered a 256 meg memory card.
Battery life is about 6 hours using alkaline batteries. The slightly kidney-shaped player fits snugly into a 1/2 rubber case with a clip. The case has small holes that allows access to the buttons for volume control, on/off switch and the headphones connector. My only suggestion is the case have a thin membrane over the openings to protect the buttons and a dust boot over headphones connection - so sweat cannot penetrate. The FM radio works OK - even with the upgrade. I can pick up a few stations, but choose to listen to MP3 anyway. The software is easy to install and is very intuitive. Transferring songs are a breeze. Overall, a good value.

28 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a runner loves this, January 29, 2003

By 

terri m (Albuquerque, NM United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Rio S30S Sport 64 MB MP3 Player (Electronics)

I'm a runner and a techno-phobe, but when my old radio finally bit the dust I decided to move up to an MP3 player. After carefully reading the Amazon reviews, I selected this player and promised myself I'd write a review with my honest thoughts about it. The verdict: It's fabulous. It was easy to set up, and after a few false starts I was able to transfer music effortlessly from my PC to my player. I use WMA files from MS Media Player and can get four hours of music into this baby. The sound quality is nothing short of wonderful--this is what I always hoped it would be like when listening to music during a run. The headphones are terrific--I don't know what the complaint is.

The disadvantages of this player are: 1) the radio is worthless, but who cares? I knew that when I bought it and believe me, I've had it with commercials during a long run anyway 2) the software does not allow you to manipulate the order of songs easily so you cannot shift them around once they are in the player--you have to unload it and reload another order 3) I haven't found it particularly easy to find FREE music that I want on the web. So far I'm downloading my own and that's ok, too.

One more thing: the durability of this player is nothing short of amazing. I dropped it in the toilet the first day I had it, but was lucky enough to grab it out quickly (double luck: clean water!). After a day's dry out, I turned it on expecting the worst but it fired up with no problem and has worked flawlessly since.

Buy an extra memory card when you purchase this--you;ll want it.

For a runner who doesn't like the learning curve for new technology, this is a terrific product.