Rating: 
Summary: A very good Jukebox Player
Review: ... I have used an original Nomad player, the Archos player, and the iPod. Of the three, I definitly like this one the best. It isnt even close.Just because this device works great for me doesn't mean it will work for everyone. I think the iPod serves a different nitch in the market so you want to pick the player that will fit your needs the best. I think the primary advantages for the iPod is the speed of the file transfers, and the size of the device. If you need a player that will fit into your shirt pocket and transfer your CDs extremely quickly, then go with the iPod. For me I went with the Riot instead because: 1. I like the display for the Riot 100x more then the iPod. The iPod display is pretty good, but it doesn't have enough information or enough real estate for me. The Riot's interface makes it much easier for me to find my CDs, and see my play list as I go. 2. I like the ability to remove files and manage my play lists in the player itself. I travel alot, and 90% of the time when I am listening to the player I am away from my computer. Being able to remove that song from that CD you just hate is a great bonus, and whipping together an "80s Playlist" is a big advantage to me. I do have a couple of issues with the play list and que, but overall I like this feature enough that it overrides the rest. 3. The size of the hard drive. Lets face it, for most of us 20 Gigs is going to cover our entire collection, I have 150 CDs, and I ripped them all at 192 rate for better quality and loaded them all into the Riot and still have 9 gigs of space remaining. With only 5 gigs of space (or even 10 with the iPod that will come out soon), I just can't say that. To me I would rather take longer to transfer all of my music then have fast transfers where I got to pick and choose a portion of my music. For someone who is around their computer more often, or where 5 gigs is more then enough for your music collection now and in the future then this may not be a big issue. 4. Size to me just wasn't a big issue. The player is about half the size of a CD player, and with the carrying case it is easy enough to carry along. I have to walk every day to the train and back, and I have no problem with the size of the player on the way. I think the size of the iPod is an advantage, but to me I wanted the larger hard drive and bigger display rather then the smaller size. The player easily fits in my coat pocket, and when I don't have one on, the carrying case works well enough for my needs. I wish they had included a portable plug instead of the standard one, but it isnt that big a deal. 5. And last but FAR from least is the FM tuner. It is great when I get bored with my own music to turn on the FM tuner and listen to some music. It is also nice to get the news or traffic updates while listening to the player. I would have prefered an AM/FM tuner so I can listen to my sports and news shows as well, but it is a minor quibble. 6. I have noticed a number of people complaining about the battery life on this device, and I must point out that I simply have not had these problems with the device. I generally charge my Riot over night then play it all day at work and in my car, and under this usage I have yet to run out of battery power during the day. Overall, I find this player to be perfect for myself. It can hold all my music, has a great interface and allows me to control my music while away from my computer. I think if you dont HAVE to have a player which will fit into your shirt pocket then I would go with the Riot over the iPod.
Rating: 
Summary: Somewhat Annoyed
Review: I'm not yet convinced the good outweighs the bad with this product. I can't complain about the 20 GB of memory, this was the main reason for my purchase. I like the large display and I find the firmware to be pretty intuitive. It is easy to navigate and I like the playback options. I don't even mind the slow speed at which songs transfer or the relatively large size of the player itself. What I don't like are the "skips" I cannot seem to avoid on tracks during playback. The player itself is not skipping, it is inherent in the track. I've tried everything and can't seem to avoid this. I've taken a new CD, ripped it to my computer and uploaded to the Riot using the highest quality and the skips are there. The Riot also has a nasty habit of cutting off tracks midway. The countdown timer will show 3 minutes left on a song and it will abrubtly end and go to the next track. The player even froze once requiring a reboot with a paperclip. The included headphones are of the type that everyone within a 40 foot radius will hear what you are listening to. They do not seem to fit very well and tend to fall off if you lean forward. Lastly, I find SONICblue's customer support a great letdown. After receiving a confirmation that my email would be responded to in the order it was received, I have yet to hear back. I sent that email over two weeks ago. All in all, I think this player would warrant a much higher rating if even some of the problems I'm experiencing would be remedied.
Rating: 
Summary: A great gadget for storing all your music!
Review: I bought the Rio Riot in August of 2002, choosing it over the Apple iPod, and I have been very happy with it. Its battery life is as advertised, and it will store 800 albums at CD quality (if you're using the WMA format; otherwise 400 for MP3). Windows Media Player (WMP) now is compatible with the RioRiot, if you download the drivers for it. If you're using WMA files, this is almost mandatory, as you'll lose most of the track info importing it to RealPlayer or MoodLogic, and experience serious audio glitches transferring WMA files from RealPlayer/MoodLogic to the RioRiot. Transferring WMA from WMP is absolutely glitch-free. Other reviewers here commented on the iPod's smaller size and faster file transfer. Here is my rebuttal: * Sure, the Riot is bigger than the iPod, but the 20 GB iPod is also about twice as expensive! Not only that, the Riot plays WMA files, doubling the song count capacity at CD quality! * Just how impatient have we become, when transferring 10 GB of songs (about 2 weeks' worth of CONTINUOUS playing time!) in 7 hours is too slow? If you're only transferring 5-10 CDs at a time, the wait doesn't really justify the additional expense to get an iPod, with its FireWire connection. Also, with 20 GB of space, you only ever need to transfer a CD once. You've got space for more albums than the average person has. This device rocks! I bought a cassette audio-output adapter for the car, and this thing blows away car CD changers. Also, I have small children who are destructive to CDs, so storing the entire CD collection on this, and playing it through my home stereo has allowed my to box up all the CDs and store them safely until the kids are old enough not to teethe on them. I'm looking forward to the day when I can store my entire DVD collection in a similar manner, and put the DVDs safely away.
Rating: 
Summary: Not The Best MP3 Player
Review: I bought the Rio Riot over a year ago, and have been mostly disappointed with its performance. I've rated this item elsewhere, and must advise prospective buyers that the software bundle is substandard. The Real Player, even when upgraded to RealOne, does not provide quality transfers. The bright side is that the CD includes MoodLogic, which I recently used for transfering MP3 files to the device (October, 2002). You have to buy the software, but by using this instead of RealOne, I have far fewer artifacts and glitches. I have an issue with the battery life as well--my other MP3 device provides rechargeable batteries that may be substituted with OTCs, which is great on those long trans-pac flights; The Rio Riot internal rechargeable battery sustains 8-10 hours of play at 50% volume and w/out the use of backlight.
The display is great, but I'm more interested in the music. I will soon replace this device with the latest by the well-known other OS system's venture into the world of digital audio.
Rating:
Summary: My opinion
Review: I don't understand the negative reviews written about this product posted here in early May. Regarding the Real Jukebox
software, yes, this is old software. But we're not stuck with it by ANY means. Just upgrade the software to the RealOne
Player. The RealOne Player has one of the nicest interfaces I've ever seen. It takes some getting used to navigating at first, but
like anything else, once you use it a little, you'll get the hang of it. Much nicer than the old Jukebox software that comes with the
Riot. As far as poor music quality, here's what I learned VERY QUICKLY. When ripping your own CDs, you can't do
ANYTHING else while your computer is ripping the music. Turn off your screen saver and close all programs. As soon as you
start ripping, don't even touch the mouse! Just leave it be. When transferring music to the Riot, RealOne Player does lock up now and then during transfers. It just seems to have
problems with certain tracks. Unplug the Riot's USB cable, rip the track again, plug the Riot back in, delete the track from the
transfer list and, finally, include the track in the transfer list again. It's been my experience RealOne Player successfully transfers
the track the second time around. This is cutting edge technology, not perfected. In my opinion, the shortfalls are far outweighed by the many rewards reaped
once the entire collection is correctly ripped then transferred :) Hope this helped.
Rating:
Summary: Good News Changed My Rating
Review: This following solution I believe helped solve the problems I was having with noisy & glitchy audio clips. Use this applet to transfer audio files to your Rio Riot device. Good Luck!!! :) Go to Microsoft and search for "Rio Riot" drivers. You should find something with the following description. ... Windows Media Player 9 Support for XP and Windows XP Plus! Digital Media Edition's Portable Audio Devices Power Toy
Version: 1.86
Date: 3/04/03
File Size: 271 KB This file is provided to owners and users of the Rio 600, 800, 900, RioRiot, or Nike psa[play for the express purpose of using Windows Media Player 9 to transfer music tracks from the computer to the Rio players and supporting Windows XP Plus! Digital Media Edition's Portable Audio Devices Power Toy. Please note that if you would like to add support for your Rio player to Windows Media Player 9, you must have the public release of Windows Media Player 9 installed to use this upgrade. To begin the installation, expand the contents of the .zip file LegacyRioSupport_MyAudio_WMP9.zip to a known directory. Browse to that directory and double click on the Sbdrvsetup.exe file and the installation will begin.
Rating: 
Summary: It just doesn't work right!!!
Review: After numerous attempts to try to get clean playback on this unit, I cannot avoid weird noise glitches and sudden jumps from the middle of songs being listened to. Customer Support was completely useless and unfriendly. I returned it for a new one and the new one has the exact same problem. I followed all of their steps for updating the drivers and it makes no difference. I would not recommend this product to anyone that I like! One more thing; downloading songs into this device is extremely slow. It can take hours, during which, unknown errors occur which cause me to have to start the process over again. The battery indicator on my unit doesn't work either. It is completely untrustworthy. SonicBlue should really be ashamed of this product and their so called Customer Service dept!!!
Rating:
Summary: Great Product!
Review: I have had the player for over a year, and it has well beyond exceeded my expectations. It is easy to use, it is strong and durable, and sounds great! This was well worth the money I shelled out for it. Battery lasts longer than iPod, a whole 10+ hours. Has a good FM radio with convient pre-sets. The Rio Riot has a 20gb hard- drive, which means it can hold A LOT of music. It supports WMA and MP3 audio, which are the only widely used formats anyway. The player also has a Bass/ Treble adjustment for the best sound. The software on this player is awesome too! It has Rio DJ, which can make custom playlists based on listening preferences, new tracks, old tracks, genres,... and the list goes on. One feature that is not even offered at all on the iPod but on the Rio Riot is the ability to create, delete, and edit playlists on the go, without a computer. The screen is also large and has an easy to read font and a bright blue backlight, which can be adjusted. The screen also has brightness/ contrast setting for easy reading. And more! I reccomend this great product to anyone looking for a less expensive, easy to use alternative to the Apple iPod!
Rating:
Summary: Not What I Thought
Review: i bought this mp3 player about 6 months ago. at first it was great. now, its very disappointing. it never turns on when its supposed to. also, it is very difficult to charge. first, the device has to be turned on to charge. second, even if it is plugged in, it wont always charge. third, if the battery gets too low, it freezes the device. there have been many times when i have had the device plugged in overnite in the hopes of taking it with me the next day on a long trip. but the next morning, i find my battery is still dead, and the device is frozen. the only feature i like about this device, is the rio dj. it creates autoplaylists, based upon decade, genre, most recently transfered song, etc. this would be an excellent product, if the battery would work. but since it doesnt, its impossible to use.
Rating:
Summary: Naver had worse
Review: In all the years of buying eectronics, never had I had such a lemon. I am on my 3rd and final replacement of this unit. The first Riot had a well known issue with the battery not calibrating and the software locked up in a permanent "Please attach the power cable" mode. After spending time on the web site and customer support I finally had it replaced. After several reminders that I was waiting for my replacement I finally got my new player and not 2 days later that the Volume up button stopped working. So I am emailing the tech support team again. They agree to send me out a 3rd unit and a long story short just one day later and the power switch breaks. None of this was due to hard usage. The 2nd and 3rd units never even left the desk because they did not work long enough to let me finish loading my music on them. Customer support has been helpful and attentive although a little slow. The Rio Riot issues are:
1. Battery is low quality and easily thrown out of calibration
2. All the Buttons on the unit are connected to micro switches on the electronic board inside and are too delicate for normal use.
3. The Rio Riot is too Big, Bulky and heavey to really be convenient as a portable player.
4. The turn dial is a bid difficult to manipulate at times.
5. I missed the fact that you could not random play a selected playlist.
6. The Interface software was not very user friendly. And you get the feeling that is just a big advertisement for buying other products, with built in banners etc.. I found more wrong with this player but I am tired of writing now and I think you got the idea now. If you buy this unit you are asking for trouble.
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