Rating: 
Summary: Zero if it was possible. i have never been more dissapointed
Review: I recieved this player on christmas morning of this year, and boy was I excited. I took the player out of the box, and found that it needed a whole 5 hours of "calibration" time before it could be used by me. I followed every direction in the box flawlessly, plugged the piece into the wall, and let it charge. Things started looking bad as soon as my display light decided to go off and then my charge light went off. This kinda got me worried but I figured I would just let the time run off and then unhook the rio and see what happens. After about 5 hours, the little red light came back on and started blinking at me... great. I unhooked it from the charger, tried turning it on and nothing happened at all. The unit died on my and will not turn back on at all with the charger plugged in or not. My brother also got one of these players from this company for christmas also, and his is the same story. I was so incredibly dissapointed and very mad. If you are going to be spending 240 quality dollars on a product, you kinda expect it to at least work for more than the initial charge and then breaks. Really folks, DO NOT BUY THIS. Sonic Blue had to of known of these defective players also as I have read the other reviews on this site now. Some one should sue this company.
Rating:
Summary: A Piece of Junk
Review: I don't have anything new to say about this unit that other Amazoners have not already expressed. I had the same charging/calibration and tech support problems. The only reason I'm writing this review is to do my part in lowering the offensively high rating of 2.5 stars. That is way over what it should be.And I'm sure there have been many units shipped that charge perfectly fine and I'm sure the unit works great after that, but a company that ships out such a poor product knowing full well that their understaffed tech support will be way bogged down should not get anyone's business. It's a shame that I wasted all my time on this product and my girlfriend will still not have a working gift tomorrow morning. I am frustrated beyond control with this company. I will definately never do business with them again. That is if they even last past this Christmas season.
Rating:
Summary: I WENT THROUGH 2 DEFECTIVE PIECES O' (junk)!!
Review: Everything about this player from the begining was shady! Upon opening the packaging you are greeted by a slip of paper warning you about powering the device (appearantly people have been trying to charge it through the headphone jack--ruining it). When I opened up the instruction book, there is again another disclaimer stating that "sonicblue is not responsible for the information in this instruction booklet." Well, then who is?! I begin my tedious 300 minute battery "calibration". When i come back home hours later, the unit is charged and ready for action! I transfer all my files to the unit, plug in the headphones and hit the play button for its first test drive . . . dead. i flip it on and off a few times. . . nothing!
I must not of charged it all the way. I plug it back in . . .nothing. I went back to the instruction booklet, looking for warranty information (that isnt there) and found the tech support number. Interesting, the sales number is an 800 number, but the tech support line is long distance. After waiting 20 minutes i get somebody that tells me that i have a defective unit "which is pretty rare" and that i should exchange it at my place of purchase for a new one. So, I do. This morning I went through the same ritual, being sure to follow the instructions to every letter! After merely 10 minutes of charging the unit shuts down and wont take a charge!! Without giving the tech support another chance, I returned it. I have since read numerous reports and reviews and it seems that i am not the only one having problems with the device. DON'T BECOME A STATISTIC!! YOU WORK HARD FOR YOUR MONEY--KEEP IT!! THE HOLIDAY RETURN LINES ARE LONG AND BORING!!!(...)
Rating:
Summary: Don't be fooled by the Rebate!
Review: Mine didn't even work when I took it out of the package! I guess thats good in a way because I didn't have to waste 5 hours of my life(the battery calibration time) to find out its a piece of (...)! No wonder they tacked on that nice little rebate..they're trying to get rid of them!
Rating:
Summary: Only lasted for half a hour.
Review: I guess I was too opportunistic because I still went ahead and bought it after seeing all the bad reviews. My unit arrived yesterday. I carefully followed the instructions to get it charged and still the unit just went dead after I connected to the charger for 30 minutes. The charging light and the LCD just went off and that was the end of it. Can't turn the unit back on with or without the charger connected. Continued to have it charged overnight and the same thing this morning. I cannot believe SonicBlue still continue to ship it with the defective rate this high. Reconsider if you want to buy it.
Rating: 
Summary: Heed the battery warning!! Stellar product becomes useless.
Review: I read all the reviews, but naively figured that I would not have any battery problems if I purchased a Rio 800. I even made sure to calibrate it right away as directed. The sound was great and overall I really liked the Rio, but my battery meter would go from >10 hours after a charge to about 5 hours within the course of 30 minutes of listening. Then, if I shut it off overnight, when I turned it on it read that I had 8 hours of battery left. Very, very confusing. I thought maybe it was just a flukey battery meter until the battery went to 0 and the Rio actually shut off after only about an hour of listening. I don't want to carry around my AC adapter all the time in case the battery decides to die. Unfortunately, Rio doesn't offer any other option besides the included rechargable: you can't replace the battery with an alkaline or a more reliable rechargable. So sad that the battery life significantly detracts from an otherwise stellar product! Given all the complaints (through Amazon and other sites), I can't believe that Rio does not have a better response. You can't find any battery information or recommendations on their site and customer service seems low. Begrudgingly, I returned my Rio 800 and await the arrival of an Intel Pocket Concert.
Rating:
Summary: Bad Rios knowingly shipped for Christmas
Review: I just had a bad experience with a brand new Rio 800, went back to the store in 24 hours. (...)It seems there is a reason Rio is trying to move them. Their tech support lines seem to be jammed too. Seems they have been knowingly shipping units with bad chargers that may permanently damage the unit, and even my 'new' charger doesnt work. Here's my disgruntled letter to Rio support: --- I am returning my Rio 800 player I bought yesterday for many reasons. When I took it out of the case and read the charging directions, there was a slip of paper saying that if the charger didn't look like the charger in the picture, not to use the device until Rio ships a new one. First, if there is someone taking the time to put the slip of paper in the case, that person should instead be checking the power supplies and exchanging them in the box before shipping the product. If the new power supplies are not ready, then you shouldn't be shipping units for Christmas that cannot work without them until they are. I would have been infuriated if I had given this as a Christmas gift and the recipient had to wait a week for a charger to play with it. Why not just ship stockings with coal? Quality-control is a job your employees do at packing time, not your customers. Luckily I *had* a charger that looked like one in the picture, as best as I could figure. You don't specifically mention on the sheet what to look for to tell if you have a new charger, and you don't provide a picture of the old charger for comparison. I assumed that since the small nub jutting out beside the jack was unique, that that was what I was looking for, so I went ahead and conditioned the unit, per instructions, because I had such a charger. Well, within 30 minutes the charge light went out and the condition screen went off. You mention in the instructions to make sure the charge light stays on, but provide no instructions on what to do if it goes off. Since I could not get back into the menu, I unplugged and re-plugged in the charger, and went back into the conditioning menu and continued charging. In the morning the light was off, and the unit had only 3% charge. So I called the technical support number on the package, and this is where I ceased to become a Rio customer. I had to navigate a long and borish IVR system, riddled with tales of online customer support (I think I have 3 completely different email addresses for your support, including riohome.com, diamondmm.com, and sonicblue.com), other products, and even specific mentions of solutions for problems and products I did not have. When I finally got to the end, I was told not only were the customer support reps busy, but I would not even be put on hold. No queue times, no hold music, no nothing - just 'go away'. Companies have an obligation to customers to have a concise IVR system, appropriately staffed lines, and to allow a caller to remain on hold and be kept advised automatically of their place in queue and expected hold times. These IVR features have been around for a while. You sell a hardware product - if you arent going to help me fix a problem quickly over the phone, back to the store it goes. I am not going to sit around and wait for email support. Anyways, back to the store, one more lost Christmas sale.
Rating:
Summary: Honest Review of product
Review: I bought this item like many of the others who tried to "dodge the bullet of defectiveness". I brought this item home and discovered one important thing. The primary calibration of the battery does not fully calibrate properly the first time....you must repeat the process and you will eventually get the full 10+ hrs....it played music after the 3rd calibration for a little over 10 hours straight. Now the problems. I began getting blips in my sounds. Before you begin judging my mp3 collection, I am an audiophile. For heaven's sake I even do a little bit of music recording! And we're not talking small, quiet blips here. Loud blips that sound as if they would ruin my left speaker. These blips later on switched to the right ear and finally to both (stereo blip!). Something is horribly wrong here.... Secondly, whenever the backlight goes on when you push a button, the unit emits a loud buzzing sound. Considering the fact that it made no buzzing sound when I first got it for backlight...I assume something in the circuitry is going to fail at some point. (Perhaps the blips) Now for the good. The screen is very readable and contrary to the reviews...everything fits in that small oval window. They designed it so that even though the display behind that circle is a rectangle...the text only appears where the oval opening is. It had great sound quality (minus the blips) at volumes 3-6 out of 20. The unit gets quite loud. In conclusion, if your going to attempt this product...order it with another set of headphones because the collapsing type are quite annoying and, I hear from others, that it doesn't fit everyone's head. Transfer speed is ok, but I can burn a CD just as fast (with no blips!)...256k/sec transfer speed (I clocked it). This is a wonderful product design idea poorly implemented. I promptly returned mine.
Rating: 
Summary: Comparison Shopping
Review: Credentials: I listen to my MP3 player 2.5 hours/day and I am computer friendly.
Why I am writing: I am looking for an MP3 player for my father for xmas. Bottom line: The Rio800-128 is the best MP3 player for the money. It may be a little more expensive but its features outweigh the expense. Background: My father is looking for a 64MB MP3 player to take on walks with him. Afer doing my own research, I've found that most 64MB MP3 players with reasonable sound cost $200. Spend [some additional money] and get an excellent player. Why:
1. Sound-the point of this is to play music and the rio has good sound quality for an MP3 player. After using a few MP3 players, I realized the sound can be very poor and the rio800 offers excellent output. 2. 128MB- most 64MB players cost around $200, spend [a fraction of that more] and get double the memory. It yeilds double the play time and will cut the transfer time if you don't use your player that often. 3. Rechargeable. Most players use batteries at a rate of 2 per/ 15 hours. This adds up over a year. 4. The transfer is quick. 5. The biggest problems I've heard are about the battery pack. Most complaints say it dies or doesn't hold a charge. I must admit, my battery died twice. If you buy it from a reputable dealer, they will exchange it "no questions asked." Even with this problem, I am still recommending it above all others. Overall: After searching through every website I can find I've come to this conclusion: If you want a decent MP3 player you'll need to spend $200 so you might as well get a great one with the Rio800-128. If you don't want to spend the money, buy a CD player.
Rating: 
Summary: Audible.com here I come!
Review: I enjoy listening to books. Originally, it had to be via casset.
I now can download narrated books via internet. No more shopping
for retail talking books, shuffling cassets, and tape hissing. The Rio allows ease of use, easy functionality, perfect listening
of 42 hours of listening on the Rio 800 (128mb), and great battery life (which is another problem you don't have to deal with anymore). Audible.com is the other partner to this. Great
product and partnership. I am enjoying it. No problems, mate.
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