Rating: 
Summary: Not for those who want continuous music.
Review: I've never owned a portable Mp3 player before, nor a portable CD player so I was on an unknown field when I went out to see which one to buy. I read a lot of reviews and came to realize I couldn't afford to buy a player only to face the need to buy a pile of memory cards for it - my collection of digital music climbs above 2 Gigabytes. So I decided to buy RioVolt. And I have to say I was pretty scared if I had wasted my money. So far it seems like I haven't, thank heavens. :-DThe bad things first: it's not completely silent. The CD will spin and stop a few times during a couple of songs, that will generate some noise. I haven't been bothered by it since it can't be heard through the music that well. Nonetheless, it is still there. In addition to this, I hear a small mechanical "tap" noise in the beginning and end of each song, no matter if it's a burnt or a normal audio CD. I don't know where it comes from and it doesn't bother me that much, but I can understand this can be a big problem for those who want to listen to continuous music. It doesn't annoy me if I'm outdoors, but it can be a bit of a problem if I'm listening to music in a silent room. These two are the two "biggest" problems I can think of. It's also clear, since it is a CD player, you can't wave it around as much as you probably could a solid memory player, that's why I encourage everyone to think twice what purpose you're buying your player for. If I really want to nag, the package of this thing is horrible. It took me forever to get the player out of it. Also, since I live in Scandinavia, the AC adapter that came with the player is virtually useless, but that's my problem. (batteries, woohoo! :-) The good things, well, it definitely does what it promises. It plays Mp3s and Wmas from both CD-Rs and CD-RWs. I was very, very worried about the song skipping issue I read about in other reviews but so far, I've seen absolutely no skipping at all. I'm also very thankful of the little case that came with it, I can stick the player into it and put it into my bag without having to worry about scratches and the player opening on its own. Although the player is a bit big, enough to fill my palm completely, it makes most buttons pretty well accessible. The fact that it can play playlists and has a few EQ choices are good things, too. But the best thing is...the CDs. I was able to put 400Mb worth of music on one single CD (that's somewhere around 4 normal CDs) and I still had 300MB left on the CD-RW for extra songs! I don't know what could ever beat that. I hate changing discs. :) The bottom line... I don't know about other people and how well RioVolt fit their needs, but I got what I wanted. Who knows, there might be lurking problems I haven't noticed. But right now, I'm happy with my player. I hope this helps those who are having a hard time trying to choose a player. :)
Rating: 
Summary: If you buy an MP3-CD Player, make it this one!
Review: Before I bought a RioVolt, I had bought a Sharp Minidisc player. Although minidiscs are smaller, you can still only store 74 or 80 minutes of music on them. I knew a friend who had recently bought a RioVolt and was happy with it. I started to investigate and found that: 1. you can store 10 to 20 hours of music on one CD 2. the player has a big backlit LCD 3. everything the player does is updatable - you go to rio's website and download a 300K file, put it on a CD-RW, put it in the player, and it automatically upgrades the features of the product (THAT IS AWESOME) I have 225 MP3's on my PC and I was able to fit all of them along with four complete audio CD's on only TWO CD-RW's. Another note is that the player spins for about 15 seconds to read the file on the disc, then stops spinning and plays the song from memmory (during this time, the player is un-skippable) The player also comes with the Adaptec EasyCD software that allows you to read and write to a CD-RW as if it were a floppy disk. Other MP3-CD players do not even compare to this product.
Rating:
Summary: Great product. Not perfect, but what is.
Review: While being a little cheaply built, this is the best MP3-Cd player currently on the market. Firmware upgrades have done a lot to solve some of the glitches that are discussed in other reviews: there is a resume where you left off function, no more gaps between songs along with all kinds of other features. It skips for me when I put it on my belt on the treadmill, but not if I hold it in my hand. no problems with it in my bag. Not the greatest battery life so far, but it plays my Cd-Rs and CD-RWs like a champ. All in all, excellent product, especially if you upgrade the headphones.
Rating:
Summary: Best Product in its Class.
Review: I waited until the TDK Mojo came out before I purchased the RioVolt. I ordered both, knowing I would send back one. If I could have only somehow borrowed some features from each, we would all be much happier. Lets start with some background. I am considered an audiophile. My main listening system is based on all tube components and carefully set up for maximum quality sound. So why do I bother listening to "MP3 quality" music? Because I travel and I love to take my music with me. I have been using a Nomad Jukebox for quite a while and found it to be an excellent, although quirky product, now finally coming into its own. Problem with this HD based portable is: It's heavy, takes one minute to begin working, gets about 4 hrs of battery life, must use rechargables and requires a cable to get data to it. A CD solution (like the Rio Volt)lets me take both regular CD's and CD-R's. Long battery life and cheap media as well as light weight make this a great toy. OK, The TDK Mojo; Great display, good navigation. HORRIBLE sound. It sounded so bad I thought it was defective until I heard from others who came to the same conclusion. It has no remote and comes with no software, although non is really needed. Battery life was about half the Rio. I sent it back 24 hours after it arrived. The Rio is stunning in it's musical presentation, far better than I anticipated. It is easily on par with the Nomad Jukebox and far better than other every other MP 3 CD player I have heard. I have heard most since I either bought them and returned them all or borrowed a friend's. The Rio can do many things well: Playing WMA files AND MP3's is a huge advantage. You will want this as soon as WMA Version 8 is finally released. WMA is good now, but it has a sonic signature, it slurs certain high velocity frequency ranges. WMA 8 has not demonstrated the same problems. With WMA 8 you can truly get great sound with 128k files. Yet, I have hundreds of CD's in 320k bit/sec files I still want to listen to. The Rio is not what I jog with, I take it on planes and leave it alone to provide an entire day of music on my desk so I am not as critical as others to skipping, which it has not done even once so far. Downsides to the RioVolt; The display, navigation and EQ. The display works fine, it's too primitive for such an advanced player. It should be more like the Mojo, which was a light year ahead of the Rio. True, you don't listen to the display but it's sure nice to navigate with when it works well. The Rio Volt's navgation system is a bit cryptic, particularly if you want to find a particular track. The EQ come with a few settings; classical, rock, jazz and normal. I wish I could adjust it myself although these each have an audible effect and actually sound pretty good considering we all have different hearing qualities.< Conclusion: This is worth owning. You have to understand that you will see a unit from Sony some time in the late summer or eary fall, which may be better. I waited in vain for the Mojo and it was a big disappointment. I suggest getting this as a treat to yourself. You won't be sorry.
Rating:
Summary: Upgrades Worth It
Review: I believe I have already written a review here on amazon, but even if I have my opinion about this product has changed. First of all, I probably gave it a 5 before, but now it deserves more than that. I say this because it now supports sub folders, and has a resume feature, so it starts exactly where you turned it off. I also believe that Rio is probably in the process of creating a firmware upgrade to allow the navigation features of the TDK Mojo to be used in this player. Because the Mojo dosen't have the upgradeable firmware, at least to my knowledge, this is a better player...
Rating: 
Summary: It works pretty well, but a lotta unpleasant things!
Review: I bought this player about 50 days ago and my first impression was ok. It looked a little too big and heavy but that didnt seem like a problem to me. It plays the music well, and it also shows the title of the songs on the display. Yet, there a few mayor things that really bother me: 1. takes hours till the cd is loaded 2. you can not turn off the player and have it to play the next time where you turned it off 3. battery life is freaking short 4. after u fastforward then the music skips for a while 5. bad headphones Eventhough i have all these bad comments, i think its ok, yet not for that price. Can someone tell me where i could get an upgrade for mine? Please answer!
Rating:
Summary: Skipping vs. no Skipping
Review: When I first bought this product I thought it would be the only portable music device I would ever need, but I was wrong. This device does have a quality buffer to load 120 seconds of mp3 songs into memory, but it DOES NOT HAVE GOOD SHOCK PROTECTION. I have attempted to take this unit jogging both on the street and on a treadmill and it does not skip while the disk is stopped for obvious reasons, but when I am moving the laser has a problem reading the disk again. I have to come to a complete stop or a slow walk, let it read the disk and start running again for another 120 seconds and repeat the process. The Panasonic Shockwave series offers much better skip protection for the active user. From a technical standpoint this device is easy to use, provides great sound quality, and great features. This device is a great alternative to the Creative Labs Jukebox, because it costs half the price, provides much longer battery life, and will probably last longer (I would not trust an inexpensive 6 GB hard drive in a portable device).
Rating:
Summary: Skip? - Sounds Great!!!
Review: I hesitantly got this unit looking at some of the reviews that say that it skips more than a rock on a frozen pond. I found this simply to be not the case. I tried to make it skip - putting it in my pocket and running upstairs (with unit slapping against my thigh) - no skips! Took it for a ride across rough terrain in a 25ft rental truck - no skips! I have had it skip when I tossed it in my car seat, and one other time - but to say that this unit is as bad as some say - I cannot find justification. This is not to say that some people don't get bad apples - but I am very satisfied to be able to take 150 songs at time with me - which is about how long the batteries last. My only caveat is that the remote is kinda sensitive when moving it around - say the unit is off and you go to put it away but you accidentally touched play on the remote - you'll end up playing the CD all night - running down batteries. But, hey, just keep a spare set of AA's around and your set! Nice unit - the remote is awesome to have - allowing you to set the player aside, in pocket, etc. Enjoy!!!
Rating:
Summary: Love this upgradeable device
Review: I have got at least 5 cd players (not including those built into my computers), and they lack one powerful tool that SONICblue included in the Rio Volt, and that's upgradeability. Other than the uncomfortable and clumsy headphones, I love the fact that they included things that other manufacturers make you buy (A/C adapter, batteries, burning/coding software, and a carrying case). The printed manual could have used one key instruction: power on! I used a little horse-sense and hit play anyway, and behold the machine powered up and did its job immediately. I was able to download an upgrade, which I burned to CD and flashed right away. If the user doesn't like something, he or she can make a suggetion to SONIC and won't have to buy the newest device just for a software modification. That makes the Rio Volt top-notch in my book. I asked for this device for my birthday for that very reason, and I am not let-down in the least. I jostled it, walked with it, and jogged with it; and I had very little trouble with skipping. I look forward to mounting it to the front of my Big Bear (ATV) and listening to Lenny Kravitz rock while I bounce over the Adirondack hillsides! If it weren't for the uncomfortable headphones, I would have loved everything about it. Kudos to SONICblue.
Rating:
Summary: Good solid music player
Review: Just got one of thease really impressed by it, It dose everything I want and then some. Good navigation, music quality, features, controls. One nice bonus that isen't mentioned is that it has two line outs, one combo hedphone and remote (the in line remote that it comes with) plug and one line out plug (just a hedphone plug). Major plusses: the upgradable firmware UPGRADE IT! the latest firmware has nice features that the origional dosen't have (directory browsing, startup at same track/time as stoped, a number of display options, another music format, more total songs) Greata battery life (10-12 hours for mp3's), Locking function is indipendent for the player and the remote, all play functions are available . Disadvantages/things I diden't like: Startup and time between tracks is a little long, the shape is kinda funny and feals a litle chincy. Many people have complained about skipping or popping noises in music, I haven't experianced (in mp3's) this while biking or in normal use, I've also ben told that the latest firmware fixes some of theas. All in all I think this is a go0d solid product not the absolute best but pretty close.
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