Rating: 
Summary: The end of mp3 handhelds? I think not
Review: What some electronics fans will have you believe about mp3 players is that they are too expensive and they have been beaten by the CD. This is hardly the case. While the CD is able to hold large amounts of DATA it is only able to hold about 74mins of music. This is of course unless you'd rather burn MP3s onto the CD, which cannot be read by your average CD player. So forget anything you've heard about CDs being able to hold astronomical amounts of music. Another factor that plagues the CD medium is that CDs are easily damaged. I don't care how much ESP your CD player has it cannot fix scratches. Obviously MP3s cannot be scratched. Next there is the time issue. It takes the average CD burner anywhere from 30-60mins to burn a full music CD. A MP3 player with USB support such as this one can download a full hour of music in about 10 mins. Then, as if I needed to continue, there is the permanence of CDs. Yes I know there are new re-writeable CDs but the burners that support them are pricey. Traditionally once you burn a CD, listen to a few times and become bored with it you can either use it as a coaster or trash it. There is not permanence with MP3 handhelds. I hope I have convinced all of you CD die-hards that the CD (soon to be followed by the MD) is on the way out the door while MP3 handhelds are checking real estate.
Rating:
Summary: Ryo 500 rocks!
Review: although it's a bit over-priced, the Ryo 500 is probably worth it. sounds too good? I, too, said that before i bought one, but it is actually that good! the battery is enough for a few hours, and setisfies the user for long time of good music. The music doesn't cost me any money, as i can just download my favourite songs off the internet. Believe me- before i got the Ryo 500, i thought all the ads were just lies, a month later, i recommended it to my friends!
Rating: 
Summary: Nice unit, lousy software
Review: The actual unit is well thought out, with some nice little features like EQ, and a jogger dial. Headphones were awful, even though they were Koss. The software is not very intuitive, and it's difficult to add files from my hard drive effectively. Get the extra memory, you can't put enough of your favorite songs on this thing.
Rating:
Summary: good but this is better...
Review: I just want to emphasise what a reviewer several pages backsaid..."...Already, companies like MamboX arecreating the much-awaited portable CD/mp3 players which can read both mp3 and regular CD tracks from any CD. At 650 MB per CD, there's not much comparison with the handhelds- you can hold over 600 minutes of music, or 150+ tracks. And did I mention that these players sell for $200-$300?" "Don't shortchange yourself by buying a regular mp3 handheld (their one advantage is no skippable parts; but are you really going to notice any skipping with on a CD player with 45-seconds ESP?)...."
Rating: 
Summary: Very Disappointed
Review: I just got my Rio yesterday, I worked for about a minute, and then went dead, now I have to return it. I am truly disappointed, it would have been a great product in theory, if it worked, I really am unhappy with it. The unit itself didn't respond to turning on half the time, and now is completely useless, what a waste of time.
Rating:
Summary: I will never use my CD player again
Review: This little piece of plastic is amazing. I bought a Rio 500 and a 16 MB smart card. Between the 64 MB onboard memeory and the memory expansion, I can get 2 and a half hours of music. I can buy CDs and put them on quickly and effortlessly. I can download free music from the internet. Best of all, it's smaller than my wallet! All this music in the palm of my hand! It's amazing. If you even remotely listen to any kind of music, do yourself a favor and buy this. You won't regret it. I will never buy anything else to listen to my music. That is, until the Rio 600
Rating:
Summary: Disappointed
Review: I had to return my Rio after two weeks of its failing to work properly. Once I did get it working, it then went dead. Rio's response? Too bad. If you want to see how bad they are, check out their website. Look for the feedback section and you'll see there is none. (In fact, you'll see that the site doesn't acknowledge the new Rio 600, which has been advertized in our newspaper for some time now; are these folks asleep?) Case closed for me.
Rating:
Summary: quality pick
Review: Solid little player - good construction and features. Directions included with the player are not very clear at all. The "multi" button on the right of the player can actually be depressed to reveal a host of options: EQ, programing, and back-light options (plus it tells you what version of the software its running - since the 500 is upgradable). Access to these features were not clear from reading the included directions. The accompanying software is pretty good and is self explanatory. It is basically an MP3 management system. The 64 MB memory can hold about 17 near CD quality tracks (128 kbps). I don't care what anyone says, to get real CD quality you'll need to create MP3s closer to 200 kbps, which take up alot more space. As memory gets cheaper and more plentiful (hopefully soon), we'll be able to fit more higher and higher quality songs on these players.
Rating: 
Summary: Great MP3 player
Review: The Rio 500 is good in what it has to do. Download your MP3 fast though USB, store them in 64 Mbyte on-board memory, and play then back. For the first time I can enjoy (skip free) music on my daily lap running. My first choice would be however the Nomad II. It offers all this, plus a FM radio and the possibilities to upload mp3 files back to your computer. Handy if you have high speed internet access on your job but not at home. However ... I live in Holland and the Nomad will not be available here before the end of the year so I bought the Rio. Oh almost forgot ... the in-ear haedphones that came with the Rio sucks! Sound quality is bad and the fell apart. I had to buy nice quality Sony headphones. But the Rio 500 player itself: great !
Rating:
Summary: Diamond Sparkles with Rio500
Review: I have had my Rio500 for a couple months now and I love it. The sound is excellent and it does not skip a beat. It is great for running since it is small (about the size of a deck of playing cards), lightweight (2.7 ounces) and has a case to clip to your pants. I have an AIWA CD player with 40 second electronic anti shock system but when I run the only way it does not skip is when I hold the player in my hand. If you like to run and listen to good tunes the Rio500 works great. The software that is included with the Rio500 is ok but I believe that Music Match Jukebox (MMJ)is much better. I have been using MMJ for creating various play lists, striping songs off CD's and downloading MP3 files to the Rio500. The headphones that are included with the Rio500 are not very good. They have very poor sensitivity, bandwidth and a real pain to fit in your ears, literally. I would recommend getting the Sony MDR-A30 or the Sennheiser MX-5 headphones for excellent bass and overall quality sound. It is extra for the headphones but well worth it. The unit is really easy to setup for use with your computer. What you do is have your computer up and running and power off on the Rio500. Then connect the USB cable to both the Rio500 and the computer. Turn the power on for the Rio500 and Windows 98 takes care of the rest and adds the device to your USB controllers. After Windows recognizes the device then open up Music Match Jukebox and start fooling around. Downloading music to the Rio500 is quick and easy. It doesn't take very much time (a couple of minutes) to fill up the 64 MB of the internal memory. This will give you about an hour of quality music. I haven't really had much use for the external memory since I save various play lists on my computer and download to the Rio500 when I feel like listening to something new. Everything is saved on the Rio500 until you delete it. One caveat I noticed is make sure you have a fresh battery installed when you want to delete some songs. I had a problem playing some tracks after I tried to delete a couple of songs with the battery indicating one segment left. It was like the songs were not being deleted completely. I could see some junk on the display when that particular track appeared. To solve this problem I put a fresh battery in and erased all the songs from the player's memory and then re-programmed it. That took care of the problem. All in all I am quite satisfied with the Rio500 it and des it has to offer. The main reason I purchased the device was to get quality skip free music and have the ability to quickly add songs and remove songs. It certainly performs those tasks rather well. It is a 5 star product with the addition of MMJ and the Sony headphones.
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