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Rio 600 32 MB Digital Audio Player (MP3/WMA)

Rio 600 32 MB Digital Audio Player (MP3/WMA)

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Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Has a great first run, then watch out!
Review: I was on cloud 9 with this product for about a week: wma compatible, nice headphones, etc. Then I needed to change the battery, and all hell broke loose. The backpack failed to snap back on after replacing the battery, then the off/on switch snapped and wouldn't work anymore. Within a week, this had turned into one useless product. So I took it back and exchanged it for the Intel 3000: it may look a little clunkier and the headphones aren't as nice, but it's been great so far, and I haven't had any problems changing batteries.

Buyer beware!

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Rio 600 for spoken word
Review: Overall, I found the Diamond Rio 600 only marginally satisfactory for my needs. In fairness, I should add that my needs are apt to be different from that of many other people. I bought the Rio 600 primarily to listen to spoken word, such as from Audible, not primarily for listening to music, and my most of my complaints about the Rio are of less importance for playing music.

Before turning to specific problems, let me say that there are several quite good things about the Rio. The USB drivers work flawlessly and downloading to the unit is fast and nearly trouble free. The only problem I had (using Windows 2000) was that the Rio Manager could not see the unit from a user account after installation from the Administrator account. I upgraded the user account to have administrative privileges and reinstalled the software from the user account to solve this problem. This compromises security, but it does work.

The connectors are solid and most of the buttons on the unit work with solid tactile feel and respond reliably. The only exception is the round shuttle which is quite sensitive to direction and which often does surprising things. In particular, any attempt to set a bookmark is a gamble on par with a Las Vegas slot machine. Most of the time you just loose (in this case, no money, just your place in the program).

On top of that, when you just stop the Rio, you automatically loose your place in whatever your were listening to. With music this may not be a major annoyance, but with spoken word it is an extremely annoying deficiency. After listening to the first forty-six minutes of a news program on my drive to work, I'd like to listen to the remaining forteen minutes later in the day - not start over from the beginning. Unfortunately, the Rio assumes that I would prefer to start over.

One other problem (for my admitedly peculiar needs) is recording density. The unit only supports monaural MP-3; it will not play monaural WMA. The impact of this is that it un-necessarily restricts the amount of material that I can record on the device.

Trying to notify Diamond of these problems revealed what is probably the biggest reason I regret buying the Rio 600. Their customer service stinks! If you call them on the phone they suggest sending email to avoid waiting. But don't believe this suggestion! They never answer email. Never, ever! Stay on the line! It may take an hour or two of waiting but this is the only away to get a response. When you do reach someone, they are apt to be knowledgeable and helpful, but obviously over-worked and way too busy to waste much time with you.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: good, good, good...
Review: a superb player, with great great terrific sound quality... after i was kinda resent the tiny amount of memory it came with, but after discovered how easy it is to use it with windows xp's windows media player, i was totally hooked with 64kps wma format which have great sound quality and can hold twice as many songs...

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Piece of Junk
Review: I loved this unit when I first got it and used it daily for 2 months. Then the on/off switch broke. Technical Support is impossible to reach unless you call 3 minutes before they open. I finally got them and returned the unit. 3 weeks later my new unit arrived and worked great for a week. Then it starting having memory problems and I could not get it to play anything. I complained to management and got a new unit about 1 week later. It connected to my computer and loaded music fine but all I hear is static. I have now had 3 units in the first 4 months and all had different problems but none works.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Really Good
Review: I think that the Rio 600 is really good. Umm, I'm using the 64 MB backpack right now. I love the rechargable battery thing. It only takes like 10 minutes for it to be finished. I really like the light on the LCD screen. I can see it when I'm in bed. I really like the shape and color it's "snazzy!" There are two small things that I don't like about the Rio 600: it runs out of batteries kind of fast (so just carry extra), and the search buttons are a little bit hard to use. Other than those two things it's a really great MP3 player at a really great price too! Enjoy!

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Nice, but reliability problems
Review: I had a problem from the day I bought it, when the battery gets to about 60% power, the player would restart when pressing the play button. Happens every time when this situation exists. I have sent a couple of e-mails to the company asking how I can get the player fixed, but no reply yet after about a week. I am quite unhappy because of the product being defective out of the box.

Not counting the reliability problems, it seems like a nice player, but 32meg is not enough. I cannot put one album on the player at higher quality levels.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Defective Product
Review: I too have fallen victim to one of Rio's defective products. This is the second MP3 player I have owned (the first was a Diamond PMP300). Unfortunately the "Joypad" button failed to work properly from the start. Previous postings are correct when they say that the product is great....if you get one that works. The unknown is if build quality is this inconsistent how long will the player keep working?

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Be wary of defective players
Review: If you get one that works, it's great...quick downloads, easy to use, good quality music. However, my first one had TONS of problems (music would "disappear," pushing play would shut the thing off, it would freeze, etc, etc, etc.) If you start noticing problems early on, return it IMMEDIATELY because the problems only get worse. My new one is great...let's just hope I don't have problems down the road.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A good 32MB MP3 player
Review: I've had the Rio 600 for over a 7 months. In that time I've dropped it countless times, stood on it, fell on it (bicycling), spilt coffee on it and other varieties of abuse! And it's survived unscathed. If you're looking for a player for outdoor use then the Rio is excellent.

The main drawback with this model is the buttons. If you aim to fast forward or to skip a tune, you generally hit the pause key. The headphones are poor quality (but aren't all headphones that come with these units!) and the software is pretty unfriendly. That said though, as it's only 32MB, it doesn't require much to transfer those 5-15 tunes.

Definitely go for the 64MB model as even compressing tunes down to a reasonable 96 kps only fits 10-12.

I had this given to me as a present, but I would certainly recommend buying one to my friends.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Too many problems!!! The "Yugo" of MP3 players!!
Review: This is my first gripe review. The backpack slips off when jogging, working out at the gym, or walking across a room holding it in your hand. The little "slider" that switched the player on and off, upload, somehow slipped into the molding. The only way I've been able to turn it on is with a small eyeglass screwdriver. NOW, two days ago, the unit began unexpectedly turning itself off!!
Unless your immobile and treat this like its a Tiffany vase, DON'T BUY IT!! I'm already looking for a replacement and never buying anything else from this company, EVER!


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