Rating: 
Summary: LITTLE MP3 DYNAMO!!!
Review: I bought this after researching to death all the sport mp3 players available. I upgraded the firmware immediately and have had no problems with the unit. The sound quality is excellent, and will really shine if you buy better earphones (I like the SONY in ear foldable phones that whisk sweat away from your ear). I added a 128 mb card and converted my mp3s to wma at 96 kbps and have over 75 songs that sound phenomenal! I don't know why anyone would complain about sound quality on this unit. The quality is based on the quality of the mp3s or wmas on it and even at 96 bitrate this is near cd quality. I use Windows Media Player 9 to transfer songs and have found it very easy and relatively quick. The unit plays the internal memory songs and card songs seamlessly as if they are from one large memory.
The backlight is great and the screen displays all the info you need and can switch from timing the length of a song to the amount of time left per song. I like that feature. The firmware definitely helped the radio reception, although I use this mainly for mp3s.
The unit is durable...I dropped mine, and yes it came apart but did not break and went back together fine with no problems.
There are a few minuses thus warranting a 4 and not 5 star rating...no files for songs (a firmware upgrade would solve this)so you have to tediously search through each song, no mp3pro support for now, and no voice recording capability.
Battery power varies and will be much less after you download the songs...I get about 6 hours from a rechargeable Nimh and the same from an alkaline, but after a big download, expect 4.
Overall, a great unit for the gym or sports...VERY high capacity with sd cards, small, lightweight, and good-looking. My husband used mine so much that I got him his own...ok I took the new one and gave him mine. Hey, I did all the research. Get it, I think it's the best sports mp3 out there...and it's UPGRADEABLE!!!
Rating: 
Summary: SONICblue Rio S30s Good Design, Bad execution
Review: I bought the Rio S30s at Costco. I intended to use it at the fitness center and while riding my bike for exercise. It is small and light. It's not big and bulky like a CD or tape player. It appeared the better deal over the S35s because you could simply use a larger SD card that are really dropping in price. The memory difference of 64mb wasn't worth [$$$], which is the only noticable difference between the two. The Rio software loaded on WinXP with no problem. It was functional and easy to use. The sound from the sample mp3's was terrific. The earpieces fit on great and the sound from them was smooth, unlike info from other reviews I've read. The opening for the battery and SD card wasn't as tight as it should be, however, the belt clip held it in place when fitted. So why did I rate this only Two Stars? BECAUSE THE FM TUNER DELIVERED NOTHING BUT STATIC. You need the FM Tuner to listen to the TV in fitness centers. What were they thinking when they threw a SPORTS mp3 player on the market with a junk radio? ...
Rating:
Summary: Good MP3 player
Review: I bought an MP3 player so I could listen to music while running. The Rio s30s serves this purpose well. The good: inexpensive, good ergonomics, rubberized outer shell (keeps sweat out), easy to use, expandable memory, light weight, decent battery life, built in FM radio, large, large easy to read display. The bad: the plastic carrying case, interference in the radio when backlight is lit, and the ear buds lack a full sound. Design:
The rubberized body makes the Rio s30s easy to hold on to, easy to clean and helps protect it from my sweat. It weighs about 2.5 ounces WITH the battery which makes it small and light enough to be practical to use while running , working out, or even just gardening. The display is large and easy to read making it easy to navigate songs and the menu options. The ear buds are the round, padded type that fit into your ear and have a clip that fits over you ear to hold them in place. They're comfortable enough but I found they didn't stay in my ear well while running. They also seemed to be a little weak in the middle frequencies. I replaced them with a pair of Sony MDR-J10. The case is another area I thought could use some improvement. It's a pliable plastic case with a belt clip connected to the back. It wraps around the sides and back of the player and secures the player pretty well. The problem I have with it is that the holes cut into the top of the case do not line up that well with the buttons they're intended for, so you'll find yourself playing around with the alignment in order to use the USB cord. This is easily solved with a Dremel tool. :) The case can also clip to the included armband. I found that using the armband while running caused the ear bud wires to get tangled with my arms. Features:
The Rio s30s plays MP3 or WMA and has a built in FM radio, which works perfectly well for me. It also has a built in stopwatch (nice for running), book marks (nice for audio book fans)and the standard repeat and shuffle mode. The s30s comes with 64mb internal memory. This is enough to hold around 30 songs encoded in WMA, 64kbps. It also has an expansion slot so you can increase storage using MMC or SD cards. The expansion slot will support cards up to 512mb. That's over half a gig including the 64mb built in. Performance:
The s30s uses on AAA battery. Battery life was around 8 hours using a standard alkaline and around 10 hours using 750mHa NiMh rechargeable.
Using the included ear buds the sound quality is acceptable. Changing these out for a pair of Sony MDR-J10 helped increase the middle frequencies and bass.
The FM radio works fine here in Orlando. The weaker stations are fuzzy sounding but it pulls in the major stations here fine.
Rating: 
Summary: Surprised it dosn't go for $150!
Review: I just purcahsed the rio sport mp3 player about a week ago after comparing it with many other mp3 players on the market. I do not and will never regret buying it. The interface is very easy to use and the screen is easy to read. The tuner can only get a few stations, but what do you expect. If the 64 megabytes it comes with arn't enough for you, you can purchase an extra memory card, as i did, very cheap. I got a 256 mb card for $40 giving me a total of 320 megabytes and about 85 mp3s. The batteries lasts for about 8 hours and if needed you can check how much power they have left on the screen. The featured headphones are ok and the music is not distorted even at the highest volume with the included headphones. The included plastic holder is perfect for clipping this light mp3 player to your waistband, or you can use the armband although i prefer not to. The key lock mode, hold menu and press enter also comes in handy. Lastly, file transfers are very easy on my mac, just plug it into the usb, open itunes where the rio shows up as a playlist and drag the songs in. It took my about 13 minutes to copy all 85 songs I have on it. Overall this is a great player, especially for the price.
Rating:
Summary: Don't buy this because it says "Sport"
Review: Le me start by saying this is not a bad MP3 player. In fact, it's quite nice when I'm traveling or sitting around in a quiet place. BUT!!! If that's what you are looking for then buy the SONICblue Rio S10 64 MB MP3 Player and save a few bucks. I have ran, rode a mountain bike, rollerbladed and hiked with the S10 and S30 and the S30 is nothing more than the S10 with a velcro-strap. Why not the S30 for sports? First, it's not water/weather resistant. Sonic could have easily made it so there was a plastic protector over the USB/Head-phone port....which by the way, is on the top of the player so don't sweat with it next to your body or with it on the armband and don't expose to a light mist or rain....it will malfunction!!! Second, the arm band is just a velcro-strap. Got to the dollar store and buy one for the S10. Third, the plastic cover is cumbersome and practically useless. It doesn't protect the player like the thick one that comes with the S10 and it restricts your ability to access volume/menu buttons. Fourth, I changed the equalizer settings and every time I turn it on, the music is muffled until I go back to the equalizer settings menu. That may be a problem with my player. Things that are okay: The earphones are fine, the volume is good, the software is super-user friendly, the music doesn't skip. Summary: Great player if you are into liesure or indoor sports, but if that's the case, go with the lower priced S10. I exchanged the S10 for the S30 ONLY to get a more durable, sport-friendly model and it's definitely not the case.
Rating:
Summary: An Awesome Player
Review: I bought this after trying several others, and for me it's great. The interface software is excellent and easy to use. You can defintely get by only referring to the quick start guide, although an entire manual is on the CD. The sound is very good and the ear buds are very good too - I like the way they fit my ears. I primarily used this while lifting in the gym or doing some cario work, and they work out perfectly. For under $80.00, this is quite a bargain considering what else is out there. Very highly recommended!
Rating:
Summary: solid, functional device
Review: I bought this device for the sole purpose of listening to music at the gym, or running outdoors, but I have also used it recently for listening to foreign language tutorials. It fits these purposes more than adequately, and the price was right (I returned an iPod and purchased this instead, as the iPod seemed overkill for my intended purpose). With a 64MB media card, this device holds about an hour's worth of music. The software interface is easy to use. I haven't used the included headphones, but they look bad (true of almost any 'phones packaged with portable players). Even with excellent headphones (Etymotic ear-buds), the sound is merely adequate, but if you were seeking an audiophile experience, you probably wouldn't be looking to an .mp3 platform! The FM reception is frankly non-existent - if you are buying this model for the FM functionality, you would be well-advised to purchase a different device. This is a good buy if you are looking for light, sturdy, limited-use .mp3 player.
Rating: 
Summary: BackLight Buzz on the FM?
Review: The FM radio is OK, but it buzzes any time the backlight comes on. Customer service neither knows their product or offers a solution. Their solution is for me to try to fix it by going to their website and updating the firmware. This is brand new and they want me troubleshoot it and fix it. How about making a product that works out of the box. This is another example of a product with alot of Hype, and poor execution. This product would get good rating if it was free of that backlight buzz.
Rating: 
Summary: good player, poor sport clip and customer service
Review: I bought this player primarily for running and use at the gym. The player works well except that a few songs I downloaded from the internet are not recognized by the player. I can upload them to the player but during play the songs are skipped over. Overall I'm happy with the player itself. The sport clip with armband are a whole other issue. The clip is very cheap plastic and broke after 2 months of use. Without the clip, the armband cannot be used. Rio does not cover the clip under warranty and also does not offer a replacement clip for sale! In fact, the rio website offers replacement clips for only 2 of their many models. Don't buy this player if you really need the clip and armband. Works great if you don't mind carrying it in your pocket!
Rating:
Summary: Great for the price
Review: With no experience with mp3 players I was surpisingly delighted with the Rio. I really just bought the Rio becasue it was the least expensive of all of the players( $60.00)but found that execept for more memory I couldn't ask for much more in an mp3 player. I love the shape which is great for use while exercising and I also find the sound quality to be superb. Although the radio is almost non-existent I didn't find that dissappointing becasue I bought the device for the purpose of listening to mp3's.
-Overall: Very Satisfied
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