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Rio S35S Sport Digital Audio Player

Rio S35S Sport Digital Audio Player

List Price: $129.95
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Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A great mp3 Player!
Review: I bought this mp3 player and I am extremely satisfied with it. The player has a lot of functions including a stopwatch, FM radio, equalizer, etc... There are definitly no bugs in the program and very easy to use.

PROS:
1. Small (very small!!!), durable and handy
2. The software was excellent, no crashing, no stalling, and a fast transfer too! The program split the window into two parts, one is my library and the other is the files on the player. All the ID3 tags (tags that display the name, author, etc of a song)should be automatically added if you label them in Musicmatch, Real jukebox, or any other player.
3. Water and compact resistant (extremely durable, i even dropped it a few times on concrete and it still worked!)I ran in the rain once, it was working perfectly
4. Big LCD screen to display time, battery level, song title, song artist, album, a location thingy to display how far u are into the song, volume indicator, how much time left, how much time already past, and date. The resolution is very fine so the date and the time is not all distorted.
5. There are amazing functions including a treble/bass equalizer that doesn't distort the quality of the sound
6. The stopwatch includes laps, an average time, and the difference between each lap
7. The radio has a search option with 3 savable channels
8. A power saving capability to save power (cutting off backlight time and a saving power mode that acts like a screen saver)
9. A menu option to browse all the songs
10. Light and handy, i ran with it and almost forgot it was still clipped on my shorts
11. The cd also comes with iTunes and RealOne, both really nice music managing programs

CONS:
1. The big round set that has the Play, FF, RW, and Stop is easy to hit so you can't walk around with it in your pockets, on the other hand it is a good thing for running because no one would like to struggle pressing the FF button while keeping a even pace =)
2. The earphones aren't as comfortable
3. There is no remote control...
4. It uses an MMC card for expansion and MMC cards are usually 10 more bucks than Smart Media
5. It's a little thicker than most mp3's players (u can check up the dimensions) and its round shape looks a little babyish & toyish...
6. SONICblue boasts up to 10 hrs on one AAA battery, I only get around 5 hours....
7. no microphone...
8. there are no detailed instructions, just a quick start. The detailed instructions are found in the CD program

Overall this player is outstanding and I think that SONICblue has hit the target. As a runner, no other mp3 player would match this player's size, weight, and ease of use!!! The package comes with an armband, a belt clip, a pair of earphones, a cd software, and of course, the mp3 player! Again I would definitly recommend this for runners, or people who do sports. I would not recommend this for people looking for an mp3 player that is cute and small with advance features.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Does the job around the gym and outside
Review: Durable, light weight MP3 Player. (I must have dropped it around a dozen times in the gym, keeps working) Good sound, after you replace the headphones that come with the unit. To enjoy the good sound you will need to get another headphone, (Sony and Panasonic have decent units for around $20.) Poor FM receiption, limited playlist managment. Volume not as lound if you plan to use them in the plane. Could use a couple more dBs to be near perfection. Overall a basic, no nonsense, durable unit to bring your tunes to the gym or outside.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Works Great Til It Doesn't...
Review: ...then you are doinked BIG TIME. My S35S worked great for about the first six months; I had some of the same clip holder issues that others mention but I could live with those problems. What I could not live with was the unit's death and Rio's Customer DisService. I called and talked to someone who was pleasant enough and gave me a case number to fax along with the unit's serial number and copy of proof of purchase. This I did according to their instructions. Waiting a couple of weeks I then called to get an update and was informed how busy they were and told to give them a couple of more weeks. A couple of months later I e-mailed them and received a reply explaining they were in the process of moving their warehouse and this resulted in the delay(???). Six months after sending them the information requested to implement repair or replacement I have nothing to show for my original purchase but a dead Rio and a worthless warranty. Ri(o)p-off. No more Rio in this household, period.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: There are better choices
Review: As my third MP3 player, I chose carefully, looking for excellent features on my runs. Unfortunately, I chose poorly. The clip broke quickly, making the poor-fitting case a moot point. Rio will not replace the case or the clip and you cannot buy a replacement. The capacity is excellent with the option of adding more memory a real plus. Battery life was reasonable. Sadly, the played completely stopped working after a few months. In a world where many companies have difficult customer relations, Rio stands out from the crowd in being particularly unhelpful. Though this player had promise, there are better choices. (I will be looking at a different company's players this time.)

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A must before you use the player
Review: I just received this player as a christmas gift. I found the sound is amazingly well for this small size gadget. It also has an equalizer to change the music settings.
I strongly recommend you to visit www.digitalnetworksna.com/support/rio/ to upgrade the player firmware and the RIO Music Manager.

After the firmware upgrade, it will let you upgrade up to 1G of memory (SD or MMC memory card). I believe 512M is a basic necessity. It also let me play by my own playlist rather than all the songs I have in my player. I find this very useful, because I can organize the songs by album.

I love the sound quality and the small size. It is a good quality product.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Fussy Player
Review: I've had this little Rio over 2 years now, but have decided to move on.
The FM has never been good. Even in flat Chicago with powerful signals, the stations never came in well. The software interface is clunky - however the update I found on RIO's website is much better.
After it froze up recently, I called tech support and was recommended to purchase a "reconfiguered" replacement for half the price of a new one. No way. While the tech guy was reading through his manual, I ended up solving the problem myself. Don't look for help there. It's been spotty ever since.
It often stops and tries to "connect" to the computer - even when I'm miles away on a run.
The headphones now only play out of one channel.
You've been OK for a little while, but never perfect. Time to move on, little RIO.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: greatgreatgreat
Review: I purchased 2 of these believing that they would be great for working out (one was for my wife). They sound good and the software is easy to use.
However - I would not buy this item again. The supplied sleeve to carry the player on your belt or in the supplied arm strap is not cut properly to access the buttons properly. The arm strap is not well designed to hold the player - the player will actually flip out with repeated arm movements(runners beware). Then, God forbid you drop the thing at all it will fall apart. It is not durable and the design creates situations where it will fall. I've had mine less than 6 months and have not used it very much. After it popped out of it's strap a couple of times, the unit began to separate at it's seem. There is no way for a consumer to attempt to put it back together properly. Too bad. I strongly advise against this item as a sports mp3 player - it is simply not durable at all.


Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Durable & User-friendly
Review: Pros: I've been using this little guy everyday as part of my daily fitness regimen; hiking, mountain biking, running, and into the gym for serious lifting... you name it, it's been there. It's very durable and on a couple of occasions while biking, I've fallen on it with not even a scratch thanks to its protective rubber-coating. I don't know how water-resistant it is, but I've put a good amount of sweat and some drizzle from the rain on it with no problems yet. The menus are very user-friendly and the LCD layout is clean, crisp, and can be read even when you're on the move. The sound output is great; I'd suggest using mp3 at a 96 bit rate to save on storage. The battery life is very dependable; on average I change out batteries once every one and a half to two weeks (I use it aprx. 2 hours a day). As for the software, I had some trouble getting it loaded up on my pc (b/c it's over 5 years old) but on my school's pc, it had no problems. The uploading of songs takes some time (depending on your CPU's speed), but it's not a big issue. The software menu layout is as easy as drag-and-drop and you're ready to go. All in all, I LOVE IT... with this little gizmo by my side, I've been able to lose 45+ pounds. Thank you Rio for an AMAZING product!

Cons: The radio tuner is non-existant, not a big deal since I don't listen to the radio, but there are downloadable patches on the companies website to upgrade the radio signal. The in-stock earphones aren't that great, it's suggest finding ones that fit more ergonomically to your head anyway. Storage can hold 20 songs at 182 kbs or 40 songs at 96 kbs, although sound quality is still great at 96kbs. If you need more than that, I'd suggest purchasing an add-on a memory stick.

NOTE: I bought this MP3 player when it originally came out (almost 2 years ago) for full price. Now, it's less than half the original price and still a better deal than most sport MP3 players today.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Small and durable, great for exercising
Review: I have had it for 8 months now and ready to upgrade my memory a bit. While running, I have yanked the cord by mistake with my arm and the headphones have stayed on my ears while the player hit the pavement. This has happened a few times and it's still working. My 140 lb dog has chewed it, only thing that didn't make it was the battery cover. I'm very happy with it. Radio doesn't come in that great. My only complaint is that the cover for armband and waistband wear is difficult to get on and off the unit.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Don't waste your money!
Review: I had the Rio S35S for about a year, when for no reason it just stopped working while I was running. The "USB connecting" message comes on and it won't play any songs. The thing randomly started working again, only to stop again the next time I ran. Now the bottons won't work at all, and it intermittently stops and starts working for no reason. Overall this product is very unreliable, and having read other peoples' comments I'm not even going to waste my time calling the useless, non-English speaking Rio tech support. Don't waste your money!


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