Customer Reviews

Rio S35S Sport Digital Audio Player

5 star:		(85)
4 star:		(63)
3 star:		(18)
2 star:		(19)
1 star:		(58)

 

 

I've been running for about a year now and have found that my endurance has increased throughout the months. This meant that my time spent running became longer, which then lead to a need for keeping my mind busy with music. In the past I've used several methods of listening while running (holding a cd player, making mixed tapes, radio sets) and they all failed miserably. So I forked out the money to purchase this little guy because it was right up my alley: a. 128mb is more than enough music for me and b. my computer is my home jukebox, w/all my cds ripped to my hard drive.

Pros:
-rubberized casing that is part of the player (practical and stylish)
-came with an arm strap and belt clip, I prefer the belt clip
-pretty small for an upgradeable device
-added feature of a stopwatch
-single 'AAA' battery
-nice integration with XP

Cons:
-stopwatch is a little difficult to access.
-"lock" requires holding two buttons...not that bad
-bundled software (Rio Music Manager) is not that great
-could've done without the display to make it cheaper

Bottom Line:
It's a great player for exercising, but I'm sure Rio could've abandoned the need for a display and backlight. Personally, I feel there's no need to display the song title because I remember what I uploaded to the player. But I'm happy because I have the opportunity to upgrade it in the near future!

I love my new SonicBlue Rio! After having read every user review ...I had some reservations with the key complaints (which were relatively minor to begin with): FM radio, software use/compatibility, and headset comfort. But given Amazon.com's competitively low price by far, I went ahead with the purchase.

When I received it (approx. 2 days - using regular shipping), I had prepared myself to encounter problems with the aforementioned. However, I was pleasantly surprised to find the FM stereo feature not only works very well, but it did so both at the office (inside a 5-story building) and at the gym (converted industrial steel & concrete building). While the FM radio feature is usually not the reason one buys an MP3 player, it does come in handy when tuning into the TV monitors at the gym.

The software installed quickly and is very user-friendly. The downloads only take a matter of minutes for an entire playlist.

The earphones/headset is not only comfortable, but fits securely in both ears. The overall quality of sound is quite good, but as other users have mentioned, if you're a real audiophile, simply invest in a better headset that provides the heavy bass, etc. Otherwise, I doubt one would notice the difference much.

The unit itself fits ergonomically in either hand. The backlighting in the display is very useful, but the text can be too small to read when engaged in rigorous workouts, but that's somewhat expected in such a compact device anyway. The option to wear it on your arm or use the belt clip is also a big plus.

I don't know if it helps to lower one's expectations, but this unit worked out very well for me. After thoroughly comparing it to others in and out of it's class, I'd highly recommend this product. It's well worth the small investment! The only thing missing is a "free set of Ginsu Knives" to accompany it!

I was getting fed up of the talkshows in the morning and the advertising tirades in the evening on my sony tuner while working-out. I depend on music quite a lot for my running, so finally had to break down and buy an mp3 player. I am so glad I chose S35S, because it fits everything I had in mind. Light, tough, efficient and trendy. I upgraded to 256MB about a day after the purchase. The 128MB MMC (card) is about 80 bucks, but a good investment as it doubles the song numbers. I have about 100 songs in .WMA(the only way to go, since mp3 is usually about double the file size as wma) saved with some space left over, and with the shuffle mode on, working out to music is a breeze. Battery life is very good, about 10-12 hours on 1 AAA. I also upgraded to a Sony streetstyle (MDR57 ??) headphones which are much better than the supplied ones. The back-lit display and menu options are very easy to learn and operate.

The set up software couldn't be easier to use, with downloading and managing the songs the fastest I have seen.

There is a mail-in rebate offered by SonicBlue till January 03, so go for it right now, if you're in the market for a mp3 player for the fitness minded folks, or anyone for that matter.

The only negative is an abysmal tuner that fails to do anything, and will probably recieve a signal if you operate this inside a radio station. So that is a waste. And hence the 4 stars.

Counting that out, this is a great product, and since I am not missing the tuner at all, I would highly recommend this product.

An Update: After about a couple of months, I managed to crush my precious lil mp3 player under my truck tires in a freak accident. May be this would be an attestment to it's toughness, the display was broken, but the lil thing has refused to quit playing..Lets see your cd player beat that.

I bought this mp3 player and I am extremely satisfied with it. The player has a lot of functions including a stopwatch, FM radio, equalizer, etc... There are definitly no bugs in the program and very easy to use.

PROS:
1. Small (very small!!!), durable and handy
2. The software was excellent, no crashing, no stalling, and a fast transfer too! The program split the window into two parts, one is my library and the other is the files on the player. All the ID3 tags (tags that display the name, author, etc of a song)should be automatically added if you label them in Musicmatch, Real jukebox, or any other player.
3. Water and compact resistant (extremely durable, i even dropped it a few times on concrete and it still worked!)I ran in the rain once, it was working perfectly
4. Big LCD screen to display time, battery level, song title, song artist, album, a location thingy to display how far u are into the song, volume indicator, how much time left, how much time already past, and date. The resolution is very fine so the date and the time is not all distorted.
5. There are amazing functions including a treble/bass equalizer that doesn't distort the quality of the sound
6. The stopwatch includes laps, an average time, and the difference between each lap
7. The radio has a search option with 3 savable channels
8. A power saving capability to save power (cutting off backlight time and a saving power mode that acts like a screen saver)
9. A menu option to browse all the songs
10. Light and handy, i ran with it and almost forgot it was still clipped on my shorts
11. The cd also comes with iTunes and RealOne, both really nice music managing programs

CONS:
1. The big round set that has the Play, FF, RW, and Stop is easy to hit so you can't walk around with it in your pockets, on the other hand it is a good thing for running because no one would like to struggle pressing the FF button while keeping a even pace =)
2. The earphones aren't as comfortable
3. There is no remote control...
4. It uses an MMC card for expansion and MMC cards are usually 10 more bucks than Smart Media
5. It's a little thicker than most mp3's players (u can check up the dimensions) and its round shape looks a little babyish & toyish...
6. SONICblue boasts up to 10 hrs on one AAA battery, I only get around 5 hours....
7. no microphone...
8. there are no detailed instructions, just a quick start. The detailed instructions are found in the CD program

Overall this player is outstanding and I think that SONICblue has hit the target. As a runner, no other mp3 player would match this player's size, weight, and ease of use!!! The package comes with an armband, a belt clip, a pair of earphones, a cd software, and of course, the mp3 player! Again I would definitly recommend this for runners, or people who do sports. I would not recommend this for people looking for an mp3 player that is cute and small with advance features.

So three days before the Tucson marathon my Sony NWS-4 died on me. I was about to buy the Nike sports mp3 player when I saw a pretty good review for the S35s. Amazon.com overnighted it to me in time for the run. Within 30 minutes of receiving the package, I had the player loaded with music and ready to go. The PC interface and software are very easy to use; and unlike the Sony, they rip your CD's to mp3 not some propietary format.

The headphones are comfortable and didn't bother me at all for the duration of my run (over 4 hours). But, I found the controls a bit lacking. Buttons that I'm often searching for while running were hard to find (like volume). Others, like play and pause, were not recessed and were far too sensitive to the touch. So, any amount of bumping and you can start skipping or fast forwarding. And forget about trying to switch from mp3 to FM radio while running. You have to use the tiny little plasma display and start scrolling through the menu. Maybe on a long walk or a treadmill you could do this. But not while engaged in something highly strenuous. I couldn't even read the display with the player strapped to my arm. I tried taking it off and switching, but I only succeeded in turning off all music.

Basically, this is a very good item that could use some work on the look and feel of its controls. The Sony was a much better engineered package but it cost more and had only half as much memory. If you have time to figure out the controls it will probably serve you quite well. I cannot comment on the reliability, as I've only had mine a short while.

I bought the Rio S35S with some reservations after reading a few reviews mentioning problems with the diver installation on PCs running XP. I just installed the driver and music transfer software on my PC (running XP) and had no problem at all. If you just pug in the device and let XP detect and install the driver automatically it will NOT work, because Sonicblue is in the process of certifying the Rio S35S driver for Windows XP. Since this certification is currently only in process the diver will not be automatically detected. What did work is to first install the music transfer software from the supplied installation CD (the music transfer software is a different piece of software than the driver), restart the PC after the installation of the music transfer software, leave the installation CD in the PC, connect the player to the PC, turn the player on, XP will tell you that an new device was found, select the detect automatically option and click next (or continue), XP will search the and find the driver on the installation CD (which you left in the PC as mentioned above). After the installation of the driver is complete, XP will tell you that the driver was installed and that the device is ready to be used. Launch the installed music transfer software and you are ready to roll...have fun!!

First off, I'll say that overall, the S35S is great at its main function: playing digital music files in a versatile module. I have had it for a few months now, and I must say that it is superb in the gym (the only place I use it). I'm there 5 days a week, my circuits vary between weight training and cardiovascular workouts...and this player compliments those activities very well.

The shape is nice, very small and "cute", and doesn't get in the way very often. At first, I was using the supplied armband alot, but lately, I have resorted to clipping it to my waist. It makes it easier for me to run the cord inside my shirt and keep it out of the way of weights, etc. Either way, it's so small and light, you don't notice it's on most of the time. It's kind of difficult to get the player out of its little case (which has the belt clip on it), which you have to do every time you change batteries...but not so difficult to make a difference. The player is also very versatile and rugged. 2 days after I got it, I was wearing in on my arm, and I accidentally ran it into a wall corner. I was about to kick myself, until I realized that there wasn't a single mark on it. Nice!

The controls are good for basic functions. Even under my shirt, I can easily blindly feel my way to the playback buttons (all located on the oversize main button) and volume control. And something most people who have reviewed this product seem to miss is the button lock feature. Read the directions all the way through, you'll see that holding down the "menu" button for a couple seconds locks the keys, preventing accidental pressing.

The RealOne software that comes with it makes it very easy to rip and upload music to the S35S. I have compiled a list of about 300 workout-oriented songs from my CD collection; RealOne lets you create random playlists with a specific time limit and/or genre/artist filters. Me, I wake up in the morning, plug the USB cable into the top of the player (which, by the way, was very simple to set up), generate a random playlist with a total length of about 130 minutes, the general limit of the player (using regular 128k MP3 encrypted songs), hit download, and walk away. About 8 minutes later, it's ready to go.

Using traditional alkaline batteries, or even the new "E-squared" or "Duracell Ultra", you don't get a whole lot of time from a battery. Maybe 5 hours? So, I suggest that if you purchase the s53s, do yourself a favor and buy a AA/AAA charger with a few rechargeable Nickel Metal Hydride batteries (vast improvements over the old Nickel Cadmiums). Not only do they last longer than even the upgraded alkalines, but you save yourself mucho bucks in the long run. Energizer makes a nice charger, if you're interested.

The sound is great, but unless you have great headphones (which don't mesh with gym sweat very well), the bass isn't the best. The headphones that came with it were broken right out of the box, but who cares...I had a nice pair already. There is an adjustable digital equalizer, which is nice. Which brings me to the digital interface as a whole. It's alright, but overall, once you really start using the thing on a regular basis, you're bound to discover that the only controls you typically use are "on-off", "play", "stop", "forward/reverse", and "volume". Other than that, the rest seems a bit...superfluous. The radio reception is poor, but I didn't buy the thing so I could have a FM tuner. There are alot of options that I never fool with anymore; it's just set on "shuffle-repeat".

The one thing that is a disappointment is the clock. I was excited to be able to have a clock at the gym at all times...but I've found that it keeps time very poorly, and after a few hours, it will be ten minutes behind. So, I've stopped using that...though, the stopwatch is great for running, etc.

Overall, like I said, it does what it's supposed to do, and does it well. The other features seem superfluous at times, and I'd trade the radio for extra memory any day...but regardless, the digital music playback and the versatility of the package make it worth the money in and of itself. For what I wanted, I absolutely love this player...I don't know what I'd do without it.

This is a neat MP3 player for athletes. It's small, lightweight, easy to use, and sounds great. I'm a mac user and the player is compatible with iTunes 3.0.1 and OS 10.2 (but you have to download a special iTunes plug-in from [the website]). The FM reception is okay here in Los Angeles (keep in mind that the headphone cord is the player's "antenna"); the player can store 8 FM presets. The headphones fit okay but produce little bass. The player comes with 128MB built-in memory, but for the price I think sonicblue should have included 256MB. The file transfers are fast and easy, just drag-and-drop from iTunes library to Rio player icon. The player window is sufficiently backlit and shows date/time, complete song info (auto scrolling of long song titles is pretty neat). Playback options include shuffle/repeat, 6 equalizer settings plus 1 custom bass/treble and sound clarity is sharp. The player lets you set 9 different bookmarks so you can quickly jump to, say, track 18. The powersave mode options lets you extend battery life, whether you use alkaline or NiMH. The build quality of the player is very good, and it has a nice "grippy" texture and the round shape with red/silvery white coloring looks cool. Sound rating 4.5 stars, Ease/Use rating: 4.5 stars, Storage rating: 2 stars. Overall: 3.5 stars.

The one good thing about this machine is that when it does work, and if you use a pair of upgraded headphones (not the ones supplied with the player), the sound quality delivered to the listener is quite good - superb in fact.

As for the bads, and there are many:
1. the plastic clip-on case (not pictured in the on-line advertisement on Amazon or anywhere else) doesn't actually fit the player, so if you want to press buttons during use, you have to stop what you're doing and remove the player to be able to access the buttons - this makes it incredibly impractical as a "sports" music player.

2. within 2 weeks the actual waist/belt clip simply snapped (during routine, ordinary use) because it is made of poor quality, thin rigid plastic. Result: when I use the player now, I have to carry it in my hand or keep it in my shorts pocket. I have called the company numerous times only to be told that no additional holders are available, they're on back order. I guess other people have had the same problem as me!!

3. battery life is more like 4-5 hours if you use the player in a gym where it is likely to be noisy (often with background music, machines, people yapping) and you need to crank it up. The advertised 14 hour battery life may be attainable if you are listening in a quiet room and not moving a muscle.

4. the headphones supplied with the player stink, don't even try to use them

5. the software interface for Windows is a disaster and has crashed several times, requiring time-consuming un-installs and re-installs, ultimately requiring that I ditch the CD supplied with the player and go to the company website, under phone direction from their help line, and download the on-line version. Song order gets jumbled by the machine during transfer so the coherence of an album becomes unrecognizable. Finally I learned to bypass the company software altogether - music can be downloaded to it via Windows Media Player, as long as you have the most recent version (which I needed to download for this sole purpose).

My verdict is that the device has promise - sound quality itself is great and the price is competitive, but there are so many bugs with the product (hardware and software) that I think the company should be allowed a hiatus to stop and figure out what it is doing, and come back to us 6 months from now with apologies and major upgrades. They need to realize they can't skimp on the holder for the player. Had I known all this earlier, I would have spent the extra $100 or so on the smaller iPod. I have the bitter feeling that this was $118 poorly spent. My advice to any potential buyer would be to STAY AWAY from this company and product.

I could go on but I need to go to work.

Good luck!

I've had this thing for a little over a month now. The good things are that it holds about 30-35 average length songs, has an external card slot which can use either MMC or SD media, uses a single AAA battery, backlit display (with a lot of information, some of the cheaper MP3 players out there don't even display the song title), small form factor, belt clip, arm band, "FM radio."

Some things that could be improved on are the "FM radio." Just like everyone says, reception is still poor, even with firmware 1.60. The belt clip is cool, but it let the player fly off my sweat pants and hit the sidewalk while jogging (use the arm band). The ear phone cable could be at least 6-12 inches longer. The phones are decent, but another pair may be better. The Rio Music Manager could be improved. Doesn't display total playlist MB size.

Overall, I'm very pleased with this player. Battery life is good for the battery size (have yet to replace the battery in a month of using it about 2 times a week for an hour). The player case is nice, I'm glad to see the hold feature added (might be useful to still allow you to adjust the volume even with hold on, but this might make other people mad).