Rating: 
Summary: Not for the discerning ear...
Review: I just bought one of these a few days ago, so here's my first impressions.It states all over the place that 32megs will give you up to 1 hour of playing time. What that means is you can play 1 hour worth of 64 kps mp3's. I don't know what you listen to, but the minimum acceptable bitrate is 96, with 128 being the standard, cd quality rate. So right off the bat, you either have to sacrifice sound quality to get that hour of music, or you have to pony up some more dough to get a flash memory card. BTW: It only takes Smartmedia 3.3 volt flash cards just in case, like me, you were unable to find this out from the poor packaging and wondered what type to get. This unit will accept up to 128 meg on a flash card bringing the total to 160 meg or app. 2.5 hours at 128 kps. That's the max. Also, if you think you can live with your music at 64kps, you will have to re-rip all of it, or convert it. The included software doesn't have this ability unless you pay to upgrade it to RealPlay Plus. Even then, I can hear all kinds of blips and pops where the conversion program failed. So beware. I used MusicMatch 6.1 to do the conversion from 128 down to both 64 and 96 kps and both the converted files had the problem. The software included is RealPlayer's Jukebox. It comes with the plugin's necessary to move music to and from the Rio. If you've never used MP3 jukebox software before it will probably suffice, however it pales in comparison to MusicMatch 6.1. Right now MusicMatch does not offer a plug-in for the Rio One, just for the other Rio's. I have a call in to there tech support to find out when it will be avialable. On the plus side: Its lightweight, with a simple to use interface, the USB interface worked flawless, all of which is why I gave it three stars. Bottom line: If music quality isn't important to you, then this is a low-cost, very portable alternative to MP3 cd-players.
Rating: 
Summary: complete waist of time and money
Review: I spent 3 hours trying to install this product on my Toshiba laptop. Finally gave up and decided to send it back... I find MP3 players are still too new and have lots of bugs to be worked out. So for now I am planning to buy a CD burner and use my trustee CD player instead. Save your time and money.
Rating: 
Summary: Very Bad Sound Quality
Review: I thought that all those reviews talking about humming could not be true. I mean, this is a very well known player.
However as soon as I started using it I discovered that was true. The humming is very annoying. The sound scale of this RIO is from 1 to 20, and unless the volume is higher than 8 you will hear that noise.
I hope the Nomad is better than this. I'll return mine and get the Nomad.
Rating:
Summary: Lacking
Review: I got this unit to replace my Rio 500 that got lost in a car crash. I was disappointed with it as soon as I got it. First, there is a constant buzzing sound at low volumes that makes everything sound muddled. Second the display is awful. A cheap calculator has a better display. Third it decides to shut off right in the middle of a song for no good reason about every 15 minutes. I thought it would be a really good deal considering I could buy it and a 128mb smart media card totaling 160mb for quite a bit less then the Intel Pocket Concert(which only has 128mb). But the disappointing performance forced me to return it. After more in depth research, I found that the Creative Nomad IIc offers everything the Rio One does, plus a far superior display, backlighting, voice recording, etc. at the same price!
Rating:
Summary: Think about another player
Review: This is my second Rio One and both had the same problem. There is a constant HUM sound that is loud enough to be very distracting. They need to fix the audio sound qality on this unit. There should be no humming sound period. Have you ever hooked up a record player to your amp and you didn't ground it and you heard that constant loud hum. That's the audio quality of the Rio One. Second, I've only had the second one for a week and today It is just flashin USB on screen. Tech support wasn't helpful and suggested I buy another company's product. The only current support for this "FLASHING USB" message is to return it for replacement. Features and the low weight are nice. It simply is to bad the rest wasn't good.
Rating: 
Summary: Overall Great Product!!
Review: This mp3 is simply great!! I just bought this a week ago and i filled the 32mb memory up immediately! (so then i bought another memory card). The sound is crisp and clear. The 32mb is enough for a short trip for like to school but i highly recommend buyin this with another memory card cause if ur like me ull want to listen to everything on it!!!!!
Rating:
Summary: Mine just died (it is the third time)
Review: I bought one when it first came out and it never worked right. Since it was under warranty they sent me a new (refurbished) one and it had the same problem. Then after a two month battle they sent me out a brand new one and it worked great for about a year but then it just died. Actually it isn't totally dead but all it does is blink the amount of memory it has until the battery runs down. I can't turn it off or play any thing.
So the support people do the best they can but I don't think the player is designed very well.
Rating:
Summary: nervous wreck it'll break again...
Review: I bought the RIO ONE 32mb for my son for Christmas 2001. It stopped working about 2 weeks later. We had to download new firmware. Then about 3 weeks after that it died completely. We did nothing for months because the store we bought it from said "too bad, call the manufacturer." Then in Nov. 2002 I decided not to throw away a hundred bucks and I sat on hold for about 45 minutes until a tech answered the phone. It was pretty easy after that, I guess there are a lot of problems with these things. They gave me instructions to return it for a replacement, which I did and about 2 months later a new remanufactured one arrived. We still had to download something for it but we have had no problems since (6 weeks or so now). Wish us luck.
Rating:
Summary: The worst case of customer neglect I have encountered
Review: To make a long story short...it was purchased as a birthday gift. Worked for less than a month and completely died. Does nothing, nada, zip! No support - no replacement! Cheaply made piece of junk! PLEASE read all reviews on this product before purchasing it. Recommendation: Buy an MP3 player from another company!
Rating:
Summary: Great Basic Player
Review: I've had mine for about a year with minor difficulties and am pleased with the performance. In fact I may buy one for my wife. This will allow me to use the same USB connection for both units eliminating hardware/software problems that arise from having different type units. I've seen a lot of negative reviews on this product and I haven't experienced any of the problems listed. One comments on the cheap plastic case that is broken on the first drop...I've dropped mine several times, not a scratch. My only complaint is that the battery compartment opens too easily and can allow the battery to fall out. It doesn't have some of the features you may want like track programming or song info but for the money a great starter unit at fair price.
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