Rating: 
Summary: WARNING
Review: I reacently bought the diamond rio 500 mp3 player and i was really excited to get it. But when I installed it and all that other crap it wouldnt work! I found out that my mp3 player was defective. I called rio and they said that there is alot of defective ones out there so be aware. If you do get a defective one send it back and I suggest getting the sony vaio music clip it is probably easier than the rio to use. But if my rio worked I would have gave it a 5 stars.
Rating: 
Summary: A Great First Time Buyer's Device
Review: The Diamond Rio 500 is simply the best bet out there for anyone buying a MP3 player for the first time or buying one as a gift. It's also far and away the best bet for Macintosh owners.As others have noted, the only downsides are the lack of an AC adapter and the horrible headphones that come with the unit. This may be a bit subjective, but the design of the unit itself is also a bit uninspiring. The unit is, however, extremely small, light, and portable. You won't mind taking it with you in your coat pocket, although I'm not quite sure if it would be appropriate for jogging (I wouldn't know where to put it). Don't be fooled by the packaging which is overly large and cumbersome, the device inside is smaller than it appears. Oh, one last nitpick, battery life is pretty short. I would recommend using two sets of good rechargeable AA batteries, otherwise you'll be buying new batteries every other day! The Rio is a lot like an IBM ThinkPad. It's perhaps not the sexiest device on the market, and it's a little bit more costly than some other options, but it does everything a bit better than the competition and will last (making that bit more you spent up-front more than worthwhile).
Rating:
Summary: Great gadget - Suggestions for the prospective buyer
Review: This little device can change your lifestyle. If you like to listen to music while you run or work out, then go get one of these. Don't wait. After using mine for several weeks I have the following suggestions: 1) Based on the comments here, I didn't even bother to install the included software. 2) I suggest using MusicMatch Jukebox over Real Jukebox. I have both, and the MusicMatch software has much better flexability when it comes ripping CDs and organizing your mp3 library on disk. Both will allow you to download to the Rio. MusicMatch creates disk folders with the following hierarchy "Artist:Album:Songs" so its easy to keep your stuff organized on disk. Real Jukebox wants to store all your stuff ripped songs in the same folder (I appologize if I'm wrong here, but I didn't see any way to make real create an organized disk folder arrangement). MM allows you to sort by track in the library. I couldn't get Real to do this. It's kind of weird not to be able to retain the original CD's track order with out creating a playlist for each CD you rip. I didn't like this about Real. 3) Get new headphones immediately. Don't even bother to use the ones included. It just makes the Rio sound bad. Suggestion: Sony MDR-A30G. 4) I agree you'll use batteries, but so far it's not as bad as I thought from the comments here... The only reason I didn't give the Rio 5 stars was the lack of a AC power converter. It would be nice to save battery life while hooked to the computer.
Rating: 
Summary: The Best Computer Add-On... EVER!
Review: Right out of the box this Mp3 player is the best. It's like a piece of heaven for your ears. I have tried may other Mp3 players and just had to send them back because they either did not work, or the sound quality just was horrible; however, this is the one for me! If your thinking about the Rio300, I would highly recommend saving your money and investing your money in the 500, I could be the best thing you do!
Rating:
Summary: Great Buy
Review: This is the best MP3 player I ever had. I suggest that If you want to buy a great reliable MP3 player and you have a lot of money to spend, buy the Rio 500. It is everything you wanted in an MP3 player.
Rating: 
Summary: Rio500 -- Great Specs. Terrible Implementation
Review: I bought a Rio500 and regretted the purchase 5 minutes after opening the package. To load software from the computer to the Rio500, you use the AudioManager software that comes with your Rio. On 3 of 4 computers I tried the Rio software on, the software failed to properly interact with the Rio, popping up a dialog saying, "Either your Rio is busy or it has insufficient memory. Try turning your Rio off, then on again." A brain dead message - I wasn't trying to copy anything to my Rio, so memory isn't an issue here. Diamond's tech support did find a work-around that worked on 1 of the 3 failing computers, though. The reason I bought the Rio500 is because memory is expandable using flash cards. More memory is good. Also, I have some Compact Flash cards for my digital camera lying around. Unfortunately, Diamond opted to call their proprietary memory card, a flash card even though the memory is incompatible with any device using the standard compact flash card. The only reason I can fathom for the similar name is duplicity on Diamond's part. The other reason I bought the Diamond is for use in the gym. I grow weary of the classic rock at Gold's and want some Talking Heads, Lords of Acid or maybe Mozart. The carry case packaged with the player, however, is tedious. The fabric mesh case completely obscures access to all controls. In fact, while fumbling, I accidentally placed the Rio into "loop this track" mode. How did I do this? There is no loop button. Several minutes of inspection, between workout sets proved fruitless. Later, after I got home and read the manual - fold out pamphlet is more apt - I learned Diamond overloaded the use of the multi-button. Not only does the multi-button turn, but you press it for selections. If you have a Sony HandyCam, you know the drill. However, while in the gym, the Rio's interface had me baffled. I blame Diamond for a bad interface. A classic problem in the field of computer science is the knapsack problem. The knapsack can store only some many units and given a selection of different-sized units, the problem is to optimize how much you place into the sack. The limited memory of the Diamond is the knapsack. Your MP3s are the items you place into the knapsack. Unfortunately, when placing MP3s onto the memory cards, you have to select which card the MP3 is stored upon - either the onboard memory or the expansion. The AudioManager does not optimize for you. Leaving you to figure out how to best use every megabyte on your Rio. This lack of optimization is exceptionally tedious. Looking at the specifications the Diamond Rio500 seems a winner, but after some use and field testing, I realize terrible mistakes were made. Diamond duped me with their illegitimate "flash card," the AudioManager isn't fully baked and the interface to the player isn't straight forward due to one button having more than 1 function. Give this player a miss and wait for the 3rd generation MP3 players.
Rating:
Summary: Great product
Review: The Rio 500 is a great product. A single battery lasts for about 10 plays of an album. This is fine if you have rechargables. The earbud headphones provide rich sound. It's still expensive compared to similar products. Software is awful and there's no Windows 2000 support. But overall, I like it.
Rating:
Summary: rio 500
Review: i've had this player for about 1 day. i've gone through all the reviews on this site and sifted through the pros and cons. most of the cons expressed by others did not apply to me, the software loaded without a hitch, i downloaded songs with no problem, i was up and running in under the 20 minutes it took a previous reviewer. i will agree that the case's webbing impedes the access to the volume. and i wish when i was in browse mode that the complete title would scroll for better viewing (presently you only see the artist). i also wish i could upload songs. but these are just minor quibles. this is an excellent product that feels sturdy and performs well. one suggestion, ditch the earbuds for a better set of headphones and you'll enjoy the experience even more
Rating:
Summary: Dont buy an mp3 player!
Review: If you are rich as hell, go ahead and buy it. But for the price your paying for this, you could get a great Mini Disk player, and even plenty of discs for over 6,000 minutes of recording time with the same sound quality! Dont believe me? Goto the Mini Disc section and do the math! Even better, you can record mp3's onto the MiniDisk players, you can also record your voice, your playstation/N64/Dreamcast, VCR, TV, Radio, Tape, everything! I almost bought an mp3 player, and im glad i didn't. MP3's are too expensive compared to Mini-Disks, and if you look at the Mini Disk trend right now, its exactly like the CD trend 10 years ago. They are already making Mini Disk drives fro computers to store info. Just check out the Mini Disks before you buy this, trust me, you'll thank me. If you have any questions, email me, Ill answer them asap!
Rating:
Summary: Great item but when you get it check this out...
Review: #1 Get lots of AAA batteries. #2 Use RealJukeBox or someother MP3 software or #3 If you plan to use the enclosed software... DON'T. Go to www.rioport.com, register and download the latest version of the software. There's also a beta available for WIN2000. #4 The headphones suck. Use your own favorite pair. #5 Make sure you have lots of disk space because you'll be creating lots of mp3's to download on your RIO. Enjoy.
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