Rio Cali 256 MB Sport MP3 Player

Other products by Rio

Product Details

Product Manual [1.48mb PDF]

• Item Weight: 2 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B0000AXKBK
• Item model number: 90260473
• Batteries: 1 AAA batteries required. (included)
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (253 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #28,281 in Electronics (See Bestsellers in Electronics)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes
• Date first available at Amazon.com: August 9, 2003

Product Description

From the Manufacturer
Wrapped in grippy, protective rubber, the Cali 256 is built to play hard. Solid-state electronics carry over 60 songs* with no skips--ever. Comfortable Sport Clip earphones, case with armband, and integrated stopwatch with lap timer make the Cali a functional sport accessory. 5-Band Adjustable Equalizer gives more control over your sound than most players. Onboard FM tuner means you always have something to listen to. An empty expansion slot allows you to add up to 512MB of additional SD or MMC memory. Simple menus and intuitive controls make for easy one-handed operation.

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 Cali 256
• Carrying Case with Armband
• Sport Clip Earphones
• 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
Wrapped in grippy, protective rubber, the Cali 256 is built to play hard. Solid-state electronics carry over 60 songs* with no skips—ever. Comfortable Sport Clip earphones, case with armband, and integrated stopwatch with lap timer make the Cali a functional sport accessory. 5-band adjustable equalizer gives more control over your sound than most players. Onboard FM tuner means you always have something to listen to. An empty expansion slot allows you to add up to 512MB of additional SDTM or MMCTM memory. Simple menus and intuitive controls make for easy one-handed operation.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

31 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great little gadget!, March 4, 2004

By	Mike Carnevale (Bettsville, OH) - See all my reviews

I was looking for a flash mp3 player to use while exercising and mowing the lawn -- and, of course, to have another neat little gadget. I have been shopping around for about a year and came across the new line of Rios that came out this past fall. The Cali looked like it fit the ticket and it seemed to get favorable reviews almost everywhere I looked. So, I started to pack away some cash in my piggy bank to get one. I'm glad I did.

Here's what I like about it. First, it's a flash player so it won't skip. Sure, 128MB (or 256MB) will not hold nearly as much music as an x-GB hard drive-based player, but who needs to carry their whole music collection around on their hip? With 128MB I can carry 4 hours of WMA files around with me in a smaller, lighter and less expensive package. This is plenty of room to accompany me on a riding mower or a long car or plane trip. Second, as I mentioned, the Cali is sleek and light. The controls are easily accessible and intuitive. The joystick is a little quirky sometimes, but still easily managable. Third, it sounds great and has plenty of volume -- with another set of headphones. When I first fired up the Cali I thought it sounded okay. Then, I invested in some Sony headphones and now it sounds great. Fourth, the memory is expandable if you want to pack more than 4 hours of music on the device. Fifth, the software is VERY easy to use. Transfering songs back and forth between Cali and PC is a snap. You can even control the order the songs play on the device by creating playlists. Sixth, the Cali uses only one AAA battery. Moreover, it can use either alkaline OR rechargeable NiMH. So, I plopped down five bucks at Wal-Mart for a pair of NiMHs. Now, I should be able to go longer between battery changes and shouldn't have to buy anymore batteries for about three years!

Now, here's what could make the Cali even better. First, the documentation and help that comes with it are sub-par. They barely give you enough info to get the thing up and running. The web site help isn't much more extensive. I have read that the tech support is good, but I haven't had an opportunity to use it yet. Second, there is no mp3 encoder with the software. Sure, there are about a million other apps that come with it, but come on. If you want me to use your equipment don't make me have to access three or four apps just to do so. Third, it would be nice if you could load the drivers without having to load the music management software. If I could load the drivers only I wouldn't have to stop using my other digital music apps or take up more space on my PC. Fourth, it is USB 1.1. This is almost inexcusable. USB 2.0 technology has been out long enough that it should be standard on any new devices. Fifth, you cannot load an expansion card without taking the battery out. This would not be so bad except that when you take the battery out all of the info you have stored on the Cali goes with it. Many portable devices, such as PDAs, will have a way to keep data in memory for a period of time between battery changes. This would be a nice feature for the Cali as well. Sixth, the belt clip and arm band are a little cheap. The belt clip is secure enough if you don't actually clip it to a belt and the arm band is an absolute horror to thread through the clip.

Well, that's about it. If you're in the market for a flash-based mp3 player, save your pennies and get a Cali. It's fun, flexible, and functional.

41 of 44 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars well thought out, nice holster, September 22, 2003

By A Customer

Looked all over for a mp3 player to replace my mpio-dmk which gave out after a year. I use mine almost exlusively for working out, especially jogging. I know of almost no one who uses armbands, clipping the player to a waistband works much better, and looks less goofy. Even though mp3 players have been out for years now the clips and attachments are still often made as an afterthought, and rarely well documented on the internet, or in the cases at the store. A case in point is the RCA Lyra rd1080, which I returned for the cali. Buying the cali was still an act of faith since there were no pictures of the "sports armband" that came with it. Anyhow, I've only had it for a few days but here is what I like about it:

1. It comes with a "holster" with a metal clip that attaches tightly to the player without covering any controls except the usb attachment. Perfect for jogging, it is lightweight, and the joystick works well enough for advancing tunes while on the move. Volume controls also very easy to use, even when running. Also seems solidly made, hope it will last.
2. The sd slot cannot be accessed without removing the battery, so it is impossible to take it out with the power on. This also makes the slot well sealed. Smart design.
3. Navigation to fm tuner and other features is straightforward.

All in all good first impressions. Recommended for runners

41 of 47 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Great workout player, but cludgy for file transfers, January 1, 2004

By A Customer

I've used this Rio Cali 256 for a few months now, and it plays awesome! I added a 512MB SD card and can fit 13 hours of MP3 music and play it all on 1 battery! The Music Manager application is good for categorizing and transfers, but I used another application to rip my CD collection. You have to use the Rio Taxi if you want to transfer data files, it does not show up in Windows explorer as a drive letter. Taxi is a very tempermental application. When trying to transfer large files (over 8MB) via drag and drop it crashes. It seems to work when right-clicking the large file and choosing Save Item As, then picking the folder where you want to copy it to. Really large files (over 100MB) don't seem to copy at all; the application times out. Can't understand how I copied a 165MB file to the Rio but now can't copy it off the Rio? Copying files to the Rio gave me no problem, just transferring files back to the PC. Copy and Paste doesn't work at all. Since I use this 99% of the time for working out and listening to MP3's, I give it a 3 out of 5. You're better off with a USB jump drive or something similar if you want a small product to transfer files.

Music 5 of 5
File Tranfers 1 of 5