Rating: Summary: Easy to use Review: This is a great player, it's my first one but it's easy to use, was easy to load the the software is a breeze to put to use. I would recommend it to anyone looking for a mid priced mp3 player with expansion capability and ease of use.
Rating: Summary: my best friend! Review: This little gadget is great!! Everything I was looking for! I'm a studnet athlete and wanted something small and sporty to run and go to the gym with. The Rio Cali is awesome. One of my favorite features is the stopwatch. We run a timed 3 mile 4 times a week and I can throw on my MP3 player (while all the other girls are lugging around their DiscMans) and at anytime I can glance down and check my time! It's so convenient!The FM tuner is wonderful as well. I've read many people complain about not being able to get radio stations in clearly, I live in the boonies and I can get all of the same stations that I listen to in my car, no problem. The Cali holds plenty of mucis, one battery given you hours of music, the headphone stay put (even after 3 miles), it's durable (I've dropped it 3 times on the road and you wouldn't even know it), and the backlite is great, it's a bright blue so it's easy to see. It's just a great little player, esp if you're looking for something small and inexpensive. *I MUST thank the guy that wrote a crappy review for the Nike player and suggested this one!! THANKS!! I am SO very pleaed with this player!!
Rating: Summary: WOW -- What a Great Sport MP3 Player Review: I am fairly new to the MP3 community. Recently I purchased a Rio Karma MP3 player for my 13 year old son. We both were really pleased with that player. However, I wanted one for myself and I needed it for the soul purpose of using it while out walking, jogging or using the treadmill. This little player is great! It is small, light weight, comes with an armband and carrying case and most important, it is very, very easy to use. In no time I downloaded all of my favorite music and was out the door walking the dog listening to a great sounding player. I would also point out that the earphones on the Cali are much better then the earphones that came with the Karma. The sound is also terrific, which was a surprise since this is a sports player and comments have been made to the contrary about sports players. The Cali is equipped to accommodate expanded memory and I just purchased a 256MB Flash Memory Card which will provide me with a total of 512MB. So far I have not encountered any problems and would highly recommend this player for anyone. Great player for the money.
Rating: Summary: Bytesector finds Cali to be versatile Review: The Rio Cali is a great new mp3 player that's being marketed the newest accessory for all the athletes out there. With its slim, ergonomic styling, and the sturdy sports headphones, the Cali makes extended workouts more entertaining with hours of music available to you in a lightweight package. The 256 Megs (approx 4 hours) of music that the mp3 player holds makes sure that it lasts as long as you do. (full review @ bytesector.com)
Rating: Summary: I like it! Review: I've owned this product about a month now, and it works great!! Easy to use, once you get used to that little red button that you have to move around and then push for five different functions. I jog with it almost daily, and haven't had any problems with it. The battery doesn't last the 18 hours or whatever they say, but the battery does last several hours, and longer than my previous portable MP3 player. I like the functions, and the light-up display is nice for when you're jogging at night. I put in a 64MB card, but I've read it holds larger cards than that. The software is fair, not exactly intuitive, but fairly easy to use and definitely gets the job done. I've even plugged it into the auxiliary port on my parent's Honda Goldwing and it played perfectly thru the motorcycle's stereo system. The wrist/arm strap is fairly high quality, and it even comes in a plastic "slipcase" to keep the player off your body when you're wearing it. The ear buds - well, I'd just have to agree with prior comments on those - I just use my sport headphones. All in all, I'm very pleased with this item.
Rating: Summary: It seems to be a great little sports mp3 player Review: I bought The Rio Cali for use during running, and after a week, I can report that it works as advertised. The software worked well (using Windows XP), and downloading music was a snap. Sound is very good, although there is some extraneous noise at very low volume settings. At normal volume settings, and the settings I use during running, this noise is not evident. The radio function is about on par with the Sony armbarm radio I have (SRF-M78). I know that other players are available that may sound better, or store more music, but this little thing seems well suited for the rough life it will receive in sports use.
Rating: Summary: Much more user friendly than some reviews made it out!!! Review: I was at first hesitant, to buy this, because some of the reviews made it sound very tough, and not user friendly!! I first bought an Ipod, and although I am sure it is great for some people, I am going to use it mostly for working out and just did not feel comfortable being active with that. This is much smaller, lighter, and at least seems more durable. What surprised me the most is how easy it is to use. I am not real good with computers, and a lot of this stuff, but I had no trouble at all downloading songs on it, and started downloading songs maybe 15 minutes after I got home. Maybe it works better with other computers, but it seemed very simple. I think someone also said it doesn't have a shuffle feature, but it does. I was also impressed that it was compatible with Itunes, as I thought that Itunes was only for the Ipod, it seems great so far. If you just want an mp3 for listening then the Ipod is propably best, but for exercising or active lifestyle, I think this would be better.
Rating: Summary: Junk Review: The product may work, I could not get it to function. The software is useless. The device does not come with a manual so you are on your own. The manual on the enclosed CD didn't work for me. Their website froze everytime. There were plenty of adverstisements included though and some more on the CD. I bought two of these things and have to return them. Don't bother.
Rating: Summary: Great little gadget! Review: I was looking for a flash mp3 player to use while exercising and mowing the lawn -- and, of course, to have another neat little gadget. I have been shopping around for about a year and came across the new line of Rios that came out this past fall. The Cali looked like it fit the ticket and it seemed to get favorable reviews almost everywhere I looked. So, I started to pack away some cash in my piggy bank to get one. I'm glad I did. Here's what I like about it. First, it's a flash player so it won't skip. Sure, 128MB (or 256MB) will not hold nearly as much music as an x-GB hard drive-based player, but who needs to carry their whole music collection around on their hip? With 128MB I can carry 4 hours of WMA files around with me in a smaller, lighter and less expensive package. This is plenty of room to accompany me on a riding mower or a long car or plane trip. Second, as I mentioned, the Cali is sleek and light. The controls are easily accessible and intuitive. The joystick is a little quirky sometimes, but still easily managable. Third, it sounds great and has plenty of volume -- with another set of headphones. When I first fired up the Cali I thought it sounded okay. Then, I invested in some Sony headphones and now it sounds great. Fourth, the memory is expandable if you want to pack more than 4 hours of music on the device. Fifth, the software is VERY easy to use. Transfering songs back and forth between Cali and PC is a snap. You can even control the order the songs play on the device by creating playlists. Sixth, the Cali uses only one AAA battery. Moreover, it can use either alkaline OR rechargeable NiMH. So, I plopped down five bucks at Wal-Mart for a pair of NiMHs. Now, I should be able to go longer between battery changes and shouldn't have to buy anymore batteries for about three years! Now, here's what could make the Cali even better. First, the documentation and help that comes with it are sub-par. They barely give you enough info to get the thing up and running. The web site help isn't much more extensive. I have read that the tech support is good, but I haven't had an opportunity to use it yet. Second, there is no mp3 encoder with the software. Sure, there are about a million other apps that come with it, but come on. If you want me to use your equipment don't make me have to access three or four apps just to do so. Third, it would be nice if you could load the drivers without having to load the music management software. If I could load the drivers only I wouldn't have to stop using my other digital music apps or take up more space on my PC. Fourth, it is USB 1.1. This is almost inexcusable. USB 2.0 technology has been out long enough that it should be standard on any new devices. Fifth, you cannot load an expansion card without taking the battery out. This would not be so bad except that when you take the battery out all of the info you have stored on the Cali goes with it. Many portable devices, such as PDAs, will have a way to keep data in memory for a period of time between battery changes. This would be a nice feature for the Cali as well. Sixth, the belt clip and arm band are a little cheap. The belt clip is secure enough if you don't actually clip it to a belt and the arm band is an absolute horror to thread through the clip. Well, that's about it. If you're in the market for a flash-based mp3 player, save your pennies and get a Cali. It's fun, flexible, and functional.
Rating: Summary: One person's review of a fine player Review: After lots of research on different brands, makes and models of MP3 players with FM tuners, I decided on this one. About the only thing I don't like is the Olive drab color. I wish other colors were available. Anyway, FM reception is decent. The included RIO Music Manager software is very easy to use. It allows setup of multiple folders on the hard drive and on the player as well. Even though this is called an MP3 player it doesn't come with any MP3 compression software. All the songs are compressed using the WMA format. All the songs I put on it didn't suffer from any compression losses that I can tell. The earbuds are fine. I haven't bought any SD media yet to check the expansion capabilities yet so I don't know how well that part of it works. Battery life seems to be as advertised. All in all I'm quite happy with it.
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