Rating: 
Summary: Worst product and service
Review: This company changes their name a lot as they lose their customers so much with their lack of service and support... there is none. They must think a new name will make people think they are a new product. "rio", "diamond", "replytv", "sonicblue" etc. etc. stay clear of them all as they are all the same ignorant and abusive company. I made the mistake of investing hundreds of dollars on their products and this MP3 player, and all you have to know is that when it stops working, you lose. Not only will they not fix it or replace their products, they will not send you to anyone that will. There are no authorized repair centers for their product. And if you ever get through to their long distance number, and the one to two hour hold times (no joke), you will get a rude and obnoxious rep telling you the only way to fix it is to buy another one. (again, no joke) It is beyond me as to why they are still around. You can see by the reviews of all their products that this is an issue. The only positive reviews are the ones that have not had a technical issue... yet. I urge all the people that have bought their products to save the worthless items, and don't throw it out. Only so you have evidence of purchase when the case against them begins. Save your telephone bills too. Everyone else, stay clear and make note of the current name "sonicblue" as the will soon be in the sonic red.
Rating: 
Summary: RIO 900 Great Style & Sound But...
Review: This is my first review on the internet, but after spending so much time researching MP3 players I wanted to advice those that will follow me. After several weeks looking, holding, testing and pricing MP3 players, the RIO900 was the clear choice for me. The size is great, not even as big as a 3" X 5" note card, and the weight of the unit is no issue. You can hardly feel it on you belt. The carrying case is nice and includes a built in belt clip and don't worry, it won't scratch your expensive belt your wearing with that work suit as you commute to work, it's padded and good quality. The only down side to the carrying case is getting the unit to charge. You'll need to remove the unit first to access the charging port. The display is clean, and for me, easy to read and navigate. I have yet to try using it as I'm running in the airport, or on the treadmill (that will never happen!). But for being able to navigate your RIO 900 it's just fine. Sound quality is very good for such a small device and I'm impressed every time I use the RIO 900. From classic rock to classical or jazz, the tones are clean and crisp. Unless you are unrealistic your in for a treat with the RIO 900's sound. Software and Battery Issues: Since this device is rather new there are no plug-ins for MusicMatch Jukebox. Unlike the RIO 800 and 600, you'll have to use the provided "REAL ONE" software that is included on the support CD. Not the best software, but it works. There are also no drives for Windows 2000 and I'm guessing that would also include Windows XP (however I don't use XP). When you connect your RIO 900 to your computer, it will detect a new device, but you'll not be able to navigate to it via "My Computer" or "Explorer". That is where "REAL ONE" will come into play. Do the old "drag-n-drop" for setting up the transfer of files to the RIO 900. Tech Support was kind in telling me they are the last to know when the software engineers are done creating plug-ins or drivers. At least getting in touch with support via a phone was easy and took less then a minute to do and the real person on the other end was very helpful and willing to go the extra mile for me. As for the battery it looks like the nightmare of the RIO 800 is coming back to haunt Sonicblue once again. To keep it short, the battery meter is telling me that my two calibrations have worked in priming the battery, but it's not looking like I'll get the indicated 10 or 11 hours of play advertised by Sonicblue. I'll keep you updated in regards to this issue. Tech support has a open trouble ticket on my unit and if the issue does not go away, I'll be getting a new unit under the warranty. Not bad, just a slight inconvenience. To close, I'll say this. Sonicblue's RIO 900 is a nice MP3 player, but being a new player on the market, you the buyer will go through the growing pains of no plug-ins, no drivers support for Windows 2000, and perhaps Windows XP. Looks like a rush to market for Sonicblue. Prices are dropping so look hard and you'll find a good price for the RIO 900. Give one a try.
Rating:
Summary: Nice design ruined by buggy software and inadequate support
Review: This player has lots of memory, for which you pay a premium, of course, hence the rather steep price. It is also a very lightweight device with a robust protective holster/case, perfect for exercising, even with a lot of sweat. Rounding out the plusses, the Rio series is among the few that is (allegedly) compatible with Audible.com files (although Audible Format 1 is not supported). The controls are fairly straigthforward, but the control wheel gives poor tactile feedback, so it's easy to activate the wrong command while you are exercising. This can make you stop the player and lose your place in the program, a real pain for audiobook listeners. The biggest problem I initially had was that when I downloaded certain mp3 or Audible.com files, the download application (both Audible manager and the bundled Real One app) would freeze after a certain percentage of the file had transferred to the Rio 900. I wasted hours on this problem; neither Audible or SONICblue customer service had a solution. Finally, I was able to determine that the problem was the USB hub. If I connected the Rio 900 directly to the computer's USB port, everything was fine. It really gripes me that manufacturers never test their peripherals with USB hubs; it seems that half the USB products out there don't work with them. Isn't the use of hubs the whole point of USB (as opposed to SCSI)? Grrr. The other big problem with the Rio 900 is buggy performance. Half the time after a complete charge, the player will not boot. I actually have to remove the battery (which is not easy, by the way), put it back in, and then the player boots. The other software problem is loss of place in Audible.com files. For Audible to approve a player (which it has done for the Rio 900), the player is supposed to pick up where you left off listening when you turn off the player. Infuriatingly, sometimes this works, and sometimes it doesn't. You end up having to set a bookmark to be sure you can start again in the same place; this is easy to do, but still another step that good software design should have avoided. Finally, the battery management software is totally bogus. I can charge the battery up to what the software says is a full charge (11 hours play time), set the player aside, turned off, for six hours, turn it back on, and the software says I have only 5 hours left. Where did the energy go? Double grrrr... ADDENDUM (12/6/02): I have found that one big problem is the no-name battery that ships with the Rio 900. Replace this piece of garbage with a name-brand NiMH AA battery, and it should double or triple the unit's play time, and the rate of battery discharge while not in use will be much slower. With the original battery fully charged, using the Rio for about 1 hour dropped the battery level to 50%. With a new Radio Shack battery, the same usage drops the level only to 92%. It is inexcusable that SONICblue would ship their premium-priced top-line unit with a low-quality battery. SECOND ADDENDUM (1/24/03): I have now been using the Rio 900 for several disappointing months and have ultimately lowered my rating to one star. Users of Audible.com will get hit by the double whammy of buggy memory management by Audible Manager and the cluelessness of Audible.com's support staff concerning the Rio 900. They referred me to rioport.com, not realizing that SONICblue no longer supports its own players. "Support" is done by RealNetworks (go figure!), which opens a whole new can worms. You can't even open RealPlayer to manage your player memory without initiating a spam stream from RealNetworks, and the manager program still won't solve the problem of not being able to download new files to the player or display files that are already there. So, the bottom line is that because of lack of software support, my strong recommendation is to avoid SONICblue products altogether, the Rio 900 in particular.
Rating: 
Summary: Brutal battery life
Review: Unless I am missing something after the calibration....the first time I used it, I ran it for 45 minutes while on my bike and it is now showing battery remaining to be 45%. Now I am no big Math whiz, however, I know when a company purports their product to last 10-11 hours on one charge and I will likely get 1.5 hours from one charge....something is missing. And it appears others are having the same problem.
I think it is going to have to go back to the store.
M~
Rating: 
Summary: Use to be good until...
Review: Use to love this product until I bought I-River's IFP-190T. The IFP-190T is the same quality of music (it has the same flash memory built inside of it) It holds more (256 MB's as opposed to the 192 this one has) It is much lighter,smaller and easier to cary around (something like 1.1 onces, lightest flash player on the market) and also has a built in FM radio including a radio recording device and a voice recorder with a high quality mic. Plus its fifty bucks cheaper. Now i'm not putting down this product because i must admit i did love it for quite a time but sonicblues support is terrible and i also had battery problems, go with the IRiver flash player, i know you will love it..
Rating:
Summary: Use to be good until...
Review: Use to love this product until I bought I-River's IFP-190T. The IFP-190T is the same quality of music (it has the same flash memory built inside of it) It holds more (256 MB's as opposed to the 192 this one has) It is much lighter,smaller and easier to cary around (something like 1.1 onces, lightest flash player on the market) and also has a built in FM radio including a radio recording device and a voice recorder with a high quality mic. Plus its fifty bucks cheaper. Now i'm not putting down this product because i must admit i did love it for quite a time but sonicblues support is terrible and i also had battery problems, go with the IRiver flash player, i know you will love it..
Rating:
Summary: Why?
Review: Why would anyone buy this outdated thing when Apple's iPod, with 5 GB (or 10 or 20) could be had for not very much more? Plus you get FireWire to boot!
Rating: 
Summary: Audio books
Review: Yeah, for music you can find something bigger (more memory), but I also enjoy listening to audio books, and this player offers the software to listen to audio books. It has the most memory of any Audible(tm)-compatible device. I like the idea of long trips and being able to listen to a book on my car radio :-)
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