Rating: 
Summary: The Good, The Bad & The Ugly
Review: The Good-easy to use, firmware updates go smoothly, easy to upgrade memory and download songs to. I'm overall pleased with the product, was what I had expected. I added a 128 mg memory card and it now holds about 100 songs in wma format. The Bad- the radio is pointless, it probably would have been a better idea to just market product as a MP3 only player. as noted in many reviews, the radio simply does not work well. I use the player in the gym, occasionally the player will stop and the 'USB connecting' screen will appear on the display. I have no idea why this happens but it gets frustrating. The Ugly- the case, play dial and display screen easily become nicked and scratched. I've had the player for about 6 months and use it for all kinds of activities and have dropped it a few times on the pavement, player still plays but always another nick or scratch. the belt clip piece also nicks into the player b/c it does not cradle the player real tight. Just recently dropped the player and battery cover dislodged, called Rio, would cost $75 to repair.
Rating: 
Summary: Radio is useless
Review: The Mp3's play ok, but I found that the backlight actually produces a buzzing noise with the radio. So when you are switching stations, the backlight comes on and you hear a high pitch buzzing sound until the light goes off. I guess that doesn't matter much since the RADIO DOESN'T PICK UP A SINGLE STATION unless you are stading outside in line of sight to a FM radio station antenna. The radio is totally useless in my gym. It won't even pick up the FM broadcast for the TV's in my gym. I'm seling mine. I should have listened to the other reviews that warned about the radio.
Rating:
Summary: My two cents.......
Review: I'm amazed that there is such a variety of opinions on this device. I've had mine for about a year now. I use it mainly to listen to "books on tape" that I get from my local library and rip in WMA format as the file size is considerably smaller than MP3 format. I purchased a 256 MB card which is a must for longer books (not enought for some). I find the device easy to use with decent battery life. My main complaint is that the text size on the small screen is difficult to see (must be my middle-aged eyes!)
Rating: 
Summary: Buyer Beware! Not worth the price!
Review: This MP3 player does not have the performance for the price you would expect. I have read many other reviews where people have the same problems as I have. The thing konks out a lot, and you have to turn it off, take it out of its shell (which is looks like but is NOT a shock absorber) take out the battery and put it back in again. I dropped it one time and now it has a huge black blotch on the screen. I wear it on my arm a lot, and if I bump against anything, even lightly, it turns off and starts from the beginning. My dad gave it to me after he couldn't use it because he wanted to load books on tape onto it and found out it would not pick up where it left off if it was turned off. The battery doesn't last long at all. The only advantage is that you can constantly change the songs on the player, but you can do that with any player. For the price, don't beleive that because it's called 'sport,' that it's durable. IT IS NOT. It's a fragile little piece of crap. I shouldn't complain because it's a gift, but when I found out how much he paid for it I almost had a heart attack.
Rating:
Summary: Piece of trash--dead after 3 months
Review: My MP3 shorted out for good this morning--after 3 whole months. It never worked well--it always took 3-4 tries to get started. I found it extrememly frustrating to have to stop and start a run several times to get the thing going. I had to change the batteries every several runs--at 1 hour per run, this translates into one battery every 2-3 hours.
Rating:
Summary: Faulty product, Extremely bad customer service.
Review: I purchased a Rio S35S through the RioBlue website last spring. My first one lasted for 2 months before its "system" crashed and the customer service representative (after making me run though several month long hoops) finally said it was unfixable and replaceable. She had a new one shipped out to me after I sent in their faulty product at my own expense. Their customer service correspondance was largely ineffectual and very time-consuming. The entire process took me about half a year to complete, so you can imagine I was quite dismayed when the REPLACEMENT PLAYER I received ALSO CRASHED in the same manner, not two weeks after I received it. This was my worse internet shopping experience to date, and I warn you against dealing with this company and its products.
Rating: 
Summary: Love it.
Review: I am in the process of ordering my second RIO MP3 player. I accidentally set the first next to an electronic device that seemed to interfere with the MP3 player's abibility to function. I have been without for about 1 1/2 months. Miss it a lot! I thought it was easy to use, highly functional for workouts, and the sound was great. I would recommend it to anyone who requires music in the workout regimen. I also have the memory chip which allows for many more hours of music. Loved it! Can't wait for the new one to come in.
Rating:
Summary: Good sound, durable
Review: Contrary to many opinions in here, I think that the S35S is a great mp3 player and great for sports. I'm just going to point some of my experiences. * The belt clip broke within a few weeks of use. It took me several months of effort, but Rio issued me a new belt clip free of charge. * The buttons are not easily hit accidentally when involved in sports. In fact, if you hold the Menu + Enter buttons, you can lock the player. * Have been training for a marathon with this player since I purchased it sometime in the spring. I have sweat all over it and brought it out in the rain many times (I live in Seattle). Still works fine and there isn't so much as condensation on the screen. * I have dropped, kicked, and banged up the player countless times while either walking around or running. I even managed to separate the two halves of the case (it snapped right back). Still works fine. * Battery life has been fine using NiMH rechargeables. No experience with other batteries. The supplied headphones are not great, but what do you expect? Go buy a decent pair of Sony's for $10. If you're thinking about getting one of the hard drive based mp3 players reconsider if you're planning on using the player for sports. The mechanical systems can be jarred causing skips and, more importantly, they may become damaged. The solid state device technology is what you need if you're active. My only complaint is that it's difficult to change tracks when in the stopwatch mode since you need to switch back to the player mode. However, switching tracks while running isn't exactly easy either. Cheers
Rating: 
Summary: Not perfect, but good.
Review: Actual rating is probably 3.5 I've had this player for almost 1 year. I also invested in a 256K expansion card. The included software is questionable but I use Windows Media Player which works seamlessly with the unit. (must get software patch from Microsoft). I think that a lot of the negative comments are due to lack of reading the manual (eg: controls lock/unlock via pressing two buttons on unit, not by navigating 10 menu screens). To use the media player either requires having your songs in WMA format or waiting for the software to convert your MP3's to WMA. (it does not permanently convert them but does so as they are transferred to the unit). The complaints about the earphones are valid. I did not like them but some reviewers did. This is a personal thing and you should be prepared to by separate headphones that suit you. The sound is great and the FM radio works OK (although I find that I do not use this feature much). There were a few glitches but nothing that couldn't be worked through. This, like many computer accessories, is not like a toaster that you can just plug in and expect to work. If you are tech challenged, by a cd player.
Rating:
Summary: Poor attempt at a sports worthy mp3 player.
Review: I bought one at Costco, and ended up returning it (thanks to their excellent return policy). Here are my thoughts: 1) It's pricey, and for the money the included headphones do not fit well, and fall off in sports activities.
2) The battery life is very short.
3) The clock/date resets when you change batteries!
4) The controls are very easy to accidentally hit in sports activity.
5) No crossfading of songs
6) The FM radio is difficult to use, and has poor reception. And finally,
7) It may look rugged, but despite the fact that it is even in a padded belt clip, falling just 3 feet onto a carpeted floor made it break. Not very good for sports, eh? In short, I cannot recommend this unit for it's intended purpose of a sports mp3 player. A
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