Customer Reviews

Rio se510 512 MB MP3 Player

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I purchased my Rio se510 from a local store instead of Amazon solely because I was too impatient to wait for it to come in the mail. I had previously purchase a Rio Forge 512 for my spouse to take to the Middle East with him. While I liked his, I didn't need a player with quite the capacity of that one (up to 1.5GB) nor was I interested in having a FM tuner. I did more research with various MP3 players and after rejecting the IPods (yes, I did say 'rejecting' the IPods. I don't care for the style and having to pay extra for an armband. Besides, everybody and their brother has an IPod.), I chose the se510. I like the over-the-back-of-the-ear headphones (more on that later though) and the armband comes with the MP3 player. I didn't have to shell out another $20-30 for one. I use mine while I'm on the treadmill, doing yardwork, etc. so the armband was a must.

Installing the software was a breeze. I'm on an HP Pavillion 763n running Windows XP. Since we own two Rios I was concerned the program wouldn't be able to tell them apart. All that worrying for naught. The program recognizes both players easily. When you launch Rio Music Manager it automatically scans your computer for new music. I like the PlaysForSure feature since I frequently purchase music from MusicMatch. (I'm all for compatablity in my gadgets.) I have had no problems running the program or with transferring files. You can create playlists on your computer, plug in your Rio, click the playlist name, then the tranfer button and boom, all done!
I love the key lock feature on the Rio. Simply slide the lock up and it will lock the jog dial and all the buttons. You can configure the player to lock all but the volume, too (my preference since I can turn it down when needed without having to unplug). This comes in particularly handy with the jog dial since I have a tendancy to bump this puppy a lot. I can't tell you how many times I've dropped it (three today alone!) and it's still going strong. This baby is tough!
The menu on the Rio is super easy to access and navigate. Hit the little round menu button and then up down and right to left with the jog dial. My 7 and 9 year olds can navigate through the menu. How much easier can it be?

Battery life- not bad, not bad. I get about the 20 hour stated time on one AAA. Considering there are days when I live with the player on, that's pretty darn good.

Headphones- eh. Not the best but not the worst. Since not all ears are created equal, the included headphones are a bit big for my ears and would pop out occasionally. I do like the over-the-back-of-the-ear style though. If the bud part itself was a tad smaller, they would have fit perfectly. That said, I did have to replace the headphones because the wire by the connector became 'touchy' and the right side would cut out if it wasn't just so.

All in all, I highly recommend the Rio se510. And at this price, you can't beat it. I paid about $50 more at my local store. Get it for someone (or yourself!) for Christmas!!

This player is very sturdy. I have dropped it and banged it against weights while working out and it still works great. The sound quality is top notch and you won't need to spring for better ear buds like you have to on most mp3 players. The ear buds are very comfortable and will easily contour to your ears and not fall out while you work out. The software is extraordinarily intuitive and so is the menu browsing on the player itself. You can browse by artist, genre, album, songs, and a few other options. There is a stopwatch (I have never used). The date and time are synchronized every time you transfer music from a computer. I have been very impressed with the battery life. You will truly get at least 18 hours of battery life from 1 AAA battery (I have averaged about 20 hours of battery life from each AAA battery). The backlighting on the player is great and gradually fades out after you have made selections. I was so pleased with this player that it was the only one I would buy for my girlfriend and she has been incredibly satisfied by it as well.

I liked this so much I stole it- from my son. Holding over 100 songs this is an excellent entry to mid level player for most people. Let's face it: 100's of songs is great in theory, particularly if you're looking for a storage device though in that case I would buy an external hard drive for less money and more space, but realistically- when is the last time you sat down and listened to 500 different songs in a 8 hour period?

The sound quality is amazing, the files very portable (just hook it up with your usb cable to go back and forth between computers using the included Rio Music Manager or go 'old school' and use Windows Media Player which is pretty standard with the Windows OS), the sport earphones are the first I've ever been able to wear without them falling out every few seconds. I keep mine (well, technically it's his) in my purse and it's always enjoyed- on a recent car trip 4 different people borrowed it and 3 of them are now planning to purchase one for themselves. The other one is planning on me purchasing them one for their birthday.

The included music manager is versatile and easy to use with a familiar WMP type interface but goes one better and makes it simple to browse only the music on the Rio, set up playlists and with a simple right-click you can add tracks from your resident library to the player (heck, when we brought it home it was installed and we, absolute novices to mp3 players, were adding tracks to it in under 5 minutes) or a playlist.

To be fair- we have run into the upgrader/reformat/freeze issue twice in the 6 months since buying it but it was such an easy fix- pop the battery out and leave it that way for about 15-20 minutes- that it's simply not a huge issue and the bigger problem is transferring itunes music to it (which can be done with a little fiddling in your itunes settings- we called customer support and they walked us right through it). My older son, by the way, recently bought one of the newer ipods (the ones with video capability) against my recommendation and is now regretting it- he can add music from one computer but then when he goes to our second computer he has to choose whether to keep what's on there or add from that computer as it seems 'married' to one computer and lacks the individual track portability of the Rio.

And if anyone is wondering? I just picked up a Rio Forge 256 at eBay a few days ago so yes, there's a happy ending- my son will get his Rio back as soon as the new one arrives- unless his sister steals it :o)

The Rio se510 mp3 player has a good sound, drag and drop works as it should (you do not need software to convert the mp3 format into what ever), the earphones provide a good sound and are confinient, battery life is great and the menue is easy to us. That are all positive features of this mp3 player.

However, there is one problem! It happens sometimes, preferably during transfering files from the computer, that the player just crashes, e.g., like windows computers. That means, the display is frozen und nothing works. The problem is, there is no reset button to restart. I figured out, that removing the battery produces kind of reset. This indicates that there is something wrong with the software of the player in general. I think this should not happen!

If you can deal with this problem, and I think I can, this mp3 player is a good deal.

I had no idea what kind of MP3 to get when I finally decided to get one. IPODs seemed kind of expensive when I wasn't really sure how often I would use it (IF I would use it for longer than a month). I chose this because it was compatible with Audible.com.

I've had it about one year and I'm pretty happy with it.
It's small.
It's easy to use.
It has a lock on it so I'm not accidentally forwarding it or turning it off.

Things I don't like about it -
It does freeze sometimes when hooked up to the computer(EXTREMELY frustrating when you're in a hurry) and it sometimes freezes on certain songs/book chapters. Songs are ok to decide not to download but I don't like missing a chapter. Plus I've had it freeze my entire computer where I needed to reboot.
I also would prefer to just charge the thing instead of buying batteries all the time. I didn't listen to it for a month and forgot to remove the battery and it got a little crusty in the battery well. Good news is that the thing still worked!
It definitely needs different earbuds! Although I like the over the ear, the bud part itself is too large and pops out of my ears.

Still, overall it's a good MP3 player.

This was my first MP3 player. I wanted something that I could use at the gym. The player was purchased at Walmart in late November and worked fine until April when I started to have trouble turning it on. After repeated problems, I noticed that the display kept reading "upgrader". When I contacted Rio support, I was told that I needed to download the latest update for the player from their site. Unfortunately, since the player was not functioning properly, the unit was not able to be recognized on any computer that I tried to install the update from. In other words, since it was "broke", it couldn't be fixed. The support desk said I could send it in for repair. Unfortunately they wanted to charge me more than what I paid for the player when it was new so that was not an option. If you're looking for a nice player that will last for about 4-5 months, this is for you. If you're like me and think these things should last more than that, look elsewhere. I will never buy another Rio product and have already ordered a new SanDisk player to replace this one. Hopefully it will last longer.

i had a rio cali that was just great, so when it was lost, i decided to upgrade. the player is well designed and gives good sound. i threw out the headphones because i knew better from past experience. (i suggest the sony earbuds) but my apple powerbook didn't recognize the player or the software! this didn't happen with the cali. the webpage was of no use and it seems designed only for windows products. so, i burned a cd on my apple, downloaded on my pc and then transferred the music. laborious, but i was focused. in doing that, none of the songs were identified so i either must remember which song is "tune 3" or input the titles manually. so far, no crashes on the pc.

one thing really stinks is the holster! i am not an armband person and the holster cannot be used for pants, belts or gym shorts. so, either use the band, hold it, put it in a pocket or try to scrounge the holster from a rio cali.

but the sound is really great. and it is pretty easy to use.

Great little mp3 player. It has a belt clip attachment on the back, i can just stick it on the side of my shorts and go, it don't come loose. Good sound quality, battery lasts a long time.

our fam has two of these and we love them, so easy to use even a grandma can do it!

These MP3 players are simple to use, really tough, and cheap. I had mine for over 3 years and used it on many different occasions from conducting cold weather training high on the Sierra Nevada mountain range to the Middle East and Iraq. Plus, they come on different colors that are non-reflective for tactical situations.