Rating: 
Summary: so far 2 rio600's both trash
Review: My first rio600 waas improperly put together... The thing is light-weight plastic to begin with, but this one was not sealed properly and the on-hold-off button could just fall out unretained. Back to the store for a replacement.The second one is having all of the problems others have reported: (1) the introduction of painfully loud pops and crackles into the music, and (2) the inability to play MP3 files to completion. Anyone heard anything from S3 about these problems? I sent them a support email from their webpage, but no answer so far... So far this product looks like a rush job to fill the super-low-end market. Others seem to like it, so maybe I've just been unlucky. But the premature song termination problem seems reasonably wide-spread. I recommend buying this one from someplace you won't have any trouble returning it to if you have problems! Marc
Rating: 
Summary: Rio 600
Review: Great product, exellent sound. I also own a sony MD portable player, after I bought the Rio 600, I havn't used it once. My only complaint is with the Rio's software package, if you already have a large collection of MP3's I had a difficult time loading them into the Rio's database. Found it much easier to use the plug-in with MusicMatch Jukebox to download tracks into the Rio 600.
Rating: 
Summary: RIO Rocks
Review: One of the coolest products I've bought in a long time. Excellent sound quality, easy file transfer and great software. I use with IMAC and USB connection. Fast and easy ! No complaints...just plain fun. YEEE HAAA !
Rating:
Summary: A rock-solid value for a great product!
Review: I bought the Rio 600 yesterday, and it was my first mp3 player, even though I have accumulated mp3's on the Mac for many months. All around, I have been extremely impressed with this player. It works seamlessly with my Mac, even through an add-on USB card. The limited edition of SoundJam MP, included with the player, is as Mac-friendly an app as you can get, complete with full drag-n-drop capability and a clear visual interface. The controls on the player are straightforward and intuitive, and it's easy to navigate the player's menus. The bright blue backlight makes it easy to see what's playing, regardless of the lighting conditions. Even though it only comes with 32 megs of storage, I can still pack on a little over a half-hour without losing sound quality. My one request to S3 (the manufacturer) is that they speed the shipment of accessories like bigger memory "backpacks" and that they sell a version of the Rio 600 with 64 megs as well. Overall, I could not have asked for a much better player. What a bargain at $170!!
Rating:
Summary: Good Player...need extras to become great.
Review: Diamond is planning on selling extra memory packs (it doesn't use flash or any othe standard memory), and a remote/radio tuner soon. Once these are available it will be a great player.
Rating:
Summary: Premature Termination of Tracks
Review: At least two other reviewers here have posted about the problem of some Rio 600 units abrupting ending the play of a track before reaching the tend. Despite these warnings, and consoled by the large number of positive reviews, I took the chance and bought a unit from the local store of a large national clicks and mortar electronics chain. Sure enough, my unit exhibited the same behavior; of the three MP3 tracks I tested, ranging from six to eighteen minutes, all would end after less than a third of the track had been played. A repeat download of one MP3 did work, so the problem seems sporadic. Despite a nice design, the execution is flawed. Who wants a well-designed can opener that opens a can only part way? I returned the unit.
Rating:
Summary: Very nice player!
Review: This is a very nice little MP3 player. It has very simplenavigation and has a nice look also. The 32 MB of built in memory is fine. If you ever need more though, just get a memory backpack! The software is easy to use and works very well. The USB makes the transfers very quickly. The Rio 600 also supports WMA files which is a nice addition to an MP3 player. My ONLY complaints about this player is that 1. Some of the buttons and the switch on top feel kind of cheap and 2. I'm afraid that I might break the little guy. It actually would be pretty hard to break but I still like to be very careful with it :) The backlit LCD is nice and bright. Most of all, the player works flawlessly. The sound quality is great even at 60 KBPS. I have never had a problem with the Rio 600. If you want a small, lightweight, reliable, and sleek looking MP3 player, the Rio 600 is for you.
Rating: 
Summary: S3 Rio 600 review
Review: The Rio 600 is a very good product. It has a low price $169.99, very good sound quality,and, is above all easy to use. I did at first experience a few problems with the whole song not playing, but after a few painless calls to service and support, all the problems were fixed. The software is fairly easy to use and because of the USB connectivity, downloads only take a few seconds. You can also swap the blue faceplate for other faceplates that are available at riostuff.com. This player is definitely a fashion statement. The reason I'm giving this player 3 stars is it's meager on-board memory. There are memory back packs available to boost it's on-board memory,but it would have been a lot easier if it just supported Compact Flash cards. But, if its combination of low price, stylishness, and ease of use has won you over, just use WMA files like Drew said to compensate for its slightly lacking memory.
Rating:
Summary: Welcome to the Next Level
Review: S3 has heightened the standard for entry-level MP3 players with an inexpensive player that includes USB, Mac-compatibilty, and expandibility. Mac users rejoice, finally S3 (Diamond) has given us an inexpensive MP3 player compatible with the Mac. I own a PC at home, but I'm a Mac user in my office. While the Windows software rocks, the Mac's Soundjam software leaves a lot to be desired. At Mac World companies like MusciMatch were promising plug-ins for their MP3 players to allow 600 users to manage their portable players, so maybe someone will develop a better interface. However, I'm happy to have a player that works without any glitches on both OS 8.6 and 9.04. My main qualms with the harware is the on/off switch because it also controls the ability to turn off the buttons when you stash it in a pocket. In addition, I don't like the ear-buds packed with the system. Plus, don't trust the machine's battery monitor. When the batteries inch below 40%, grab an extra one in the event that it prematurely dies -- I had this problem in the subway the other day. In addition, I reccomend Duracell Ultras for the 600, and a good pair of Sony earphones. I can't wait for the memory upgrades. While other critics pan S3's choice to stop using standard flash memory formats, I praise S3 because the company chose the new form factor, so they could use IBM's smartdrive technology, which are basically small hard drives. The price of a 300 mb smart drive is the same as 64 mb of standard flash memory. Hmm, 60 minutes of music, or 5 hours of music? Unfortunately the smartdrive backpacks won't be available until Christmas. This player is ideal for both Windows and Mac users because of S3's embrace of smartdrive technology. However, if you already have a player, but are looking at nextgen models with USB, wait until Christmas when the smartdrive technology is available.
Rating:
Summary: Rio 600 Pros and Cons
Review: Here's my assessment of things I like and don't like about the Rio 600: Pros: *Small, lightweight *No Skipping *Decent sound quality (the above apply to pretty much any portable MP3 player) *WMA Support *USB interface for fast transfer of songs *Future support for 340MB IBM Microdrive *Possible future AAC (Advanced Audio Coding) support *Low price Cons: *Rio Audio Manager software is extremely cumbersome to use *Supplied earphones do not sound good and will have to be replaced *You cannot distinctly discern by touch what button you're pushing on the round pad. You'll end up stopping or pausing tracks when you want to skip to the next track. *Only 32MB RAM standard with no upgrades available at this time *Larger than previous model Rio 500 *No belt clip *No recording for FM tuner The Rio 600 is your basic MP3 player. WMA support is nice, but because of Digital Rights Management, the WMA format is difficult to deal with and I'm not going to convert all my MP3s to WMA. Someone should have tested the Rio 600's button pad for usability. You can't feel what button you're pushing and because the Rio 600's body is curvy, it's hard to discern up/down/left/right without looking at it. You also have to use your fingernail to push the tiny center button or you'll accidentally press on of the up/down/left/right buttons as well. As of right now, I would recommend the Rio 600 over any other MP3 player currently available, not so much because it's so good in itself, but it's good when you compare it to the others. The things I most wish it had right now are memory packs and better software. I'm not sure how much the memory pack upgrades will cost, but I'm hoping that a 32MB memory pack will not put it in the ballpark of a Rio 800 which will come with 64MB standard and have recording support. The Rio 600 is cheap, but if you get the Rio 600, plan on spending more money on headphones and a memory upgrade, unless you want to deal with the WMA format. Faceplates allow you to change the color of the Rio, but the standard metallic blue is stylish enough for me.
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