Rating: 
Summary: Good product, but horrible customer support
Review: I was a big Diamond fan. I bought one of the first Diamond MP3 32 meg players almost two years ago. I loved it. I recently bought a RioVolt and was *very* satisfied.Then I broke a wire in the little remote control cable. After far too many emails to an unbelievably un-responsive Sonic Blue support organization, I realized I would never be able to talk with a human being about getting a replacement either via email or phone. I just got pre-formatted 'Robomail' responses telling me to blindly PUT MY CREDIT CARD NUMBER IN AN UNENCRYPTED EMAIL, and they'd bill me for an item I do not know they have, for a cost they would not state. Tell me, how can a company that makes *great* products be so short-sighted? I would not have bought my Acura, however well made it was, and for any price, however low, if I thought the support component of the organization wouldn't have been there when I needed it. Obviously, I will never buy another SonicBlue/Diamond product again.
Rating: 
Summary: Extremely cool player
Review: I have had my Volt now for several months and I am really enjoying it. I have had no problems with it and would recogmend it to anyone who wants a CD/MP3 player.
Rating: 
Summary: The best so far as I know....
Review: I got my Rio Volt a month ago and was about to take it back. The player was resetting its self over and over again after I up- graded to firmware 2.00. I think I may have used the Mac upgrade...I upgraded it with the Windows version and it has not given me any more problems...The sound is great but has poor anti shock support and It cost too much as well. I like the idea of this player playing WMA files. It could have came with a car kit, but didnt. It seems flimsy as well....again I think it may be one of the best out there that plays mp3s and the only one I know of that plays WMA files. TDK has one that has 8 Min of anti shock, no WMA support. I think it will be a major player in the future, but no firmware upgrade... Jim
Rating:
Summary: WARNING: Definitely NOT for joggers!
Review: After a fair amount of research, I purchased the Rio Volt with the hope that I could use it to accompany my running. I thought for sure the 120-second ESP buffer for MP3s would eliminate any concerns regarding skipping. Not the case. I may as well been running with a turntable. I even let the device spin a CD for two minutes before starting a low-impact run. Yet, even with this precaution, I was greeted with a fierce fit of skipping, which ceased only with I stopped running. I'm sure it's a great unit for any other use, but runners should definitely stay away.
Rating:
Summary: It's about time.
Review: When I was looking for a portable MP3 player I was at first a little discouraged by the MP3/CD players. But I finaly decided that they were the best way to go. I bought this RioVolt despite the reviews that said it skiped and was made cheaply. When I got this the first thing I did was take it for a 20 mile bike ride. This was not a ride on the highway either, this was through various ditches and dirt trails. Honestly there were a few skips but those were related to the MP3 itself and not the player. The remote worked well as I atached it to my sleeve, this way I could easily see it should the need arise. The case was also not as bad as everyone said it was. Although I can't see myself using it for much longer, it does work and it does what it is ment to do. The display is good nice, big, and bright. Overall this is an awesome product. I think anyone would be happy with it.
Rating: 
Summary: very good... ALMOST great
Review: Seldom have I come across a piece of consumer electronics as highly touted as the Rio VOLT. Everywhere I looked, I saw the same thing - "5 Stars!"..."Highly Recommended", etc. Being a bit of a (portable music) gadget freak, it was only a matter of time before I bought one. The whole idea of burning 150 songs onto a disc and chucking the player in my bag was too tantalizing - much more convenient and cost effective than lugging around an MD player and 10 discs! Having the player for a few days, I can say it is quite good. It plays MP3 and WMA files without fuss, and the shock protection works fine (no skips yet). Nothing that hasn't been said 100 times here. This otherwise great product does, however, have a few shortcomings. And here they are: 1)If you intend to use the Rio VOLT as an occasional stereo component, beware - the line-level jack does not put yield an adequate output level. I've found myself jacking the VOLT into my receiver using the headphone jack and cranking volume up to MAX. Even so, the output level of the unit is less than that for a standard plug-in stereo component. If you don't mind having to crank your receiver volume up 50% more than usual, you can ignore this annoyance. 2)The display on the front of the VOLT is too small. It can take some time to isolate a desired track, especially if you have multiple tracks by the same artist (you've got to wait for the artist's name to scroll s-l-o-w-l-y by to get to the track title). 3)The remote could sure use an LCD, a la most MD players. I'd gladly pay an extra $20 for this, especially with the gigantic playlist possibilities (aftermarket, anyone??). Gripes 1 and 2 are really only applicable to home-use, and number 3 is a little bit of a nit-pick. Safe to say, if you're going to use this product while walking around the City or commuting on the bus (like me, most of the time), it's just dandy. Nothing's perfect, tho...
Rating:
Summary: A player that adds features as it ages!
Review: When was the last time you bought a CD Player, and had features added to it after you bought it? The Rio Volt is that player! Via the magic of burnable CD's and downloaded firmware, this player can have additional features programmed into it as the manufacturer writes the software. I'm waiting to see the first website with "RioVolt Hackware," as I believe this feature will get used as more people become aware of it. The unit typically ships with version 1.09 (it displays the rev as it powers up) and the website has version 2.0 ready for download. I won't list all of the new features, but suffice it to say that they added an entire new menu structure for personal preferences. Want to make your own EQ preset? The 2.0 firmware adds this feature to the player. In a world of half-finished devices rushed to market, this is the way to go. On the note of skip-protection, I believe that has been fixed as well. The new menu give more options for skip-protection to choose from. Although I haven't gone jogging with the unit yet, I've used it while housecleaning, and didn't get one skip. It also performed flawlessly in the car. I've been running an "acid test" of MP3's through the system, and haven't gotten one to not play. This includes a few that my TDK computer software gakks on. One note of caution - I have yet to figure out a way to play secure WMA media on it. RealJukebox will only allow WMA recording if the encryption is turned on. I found this out the hard way. The earbuds are solid and work well, although earbud headphones are an acquired taste. Ya either like having little things in your ear, or you don't. The audio quality is good, though. Battery life I won't comment on yet. It seems comparable to my Panasonic CD player. It will get the acid test on my next cross-country flight. Biggest complaint so far - The remote really needs a stronger clamp. The thing falls off clothing too easy. Also, the version of RealJukebox it shipped with didn't load - I had to pull a copy off the Real web site. All in all, I'd buy this unit again.
Rating:
Summary: Rio Volt
Review: This is a very cool product. The only problems that I have noticed with it are that it has a very short battery life useing regular audio CD's. The other problem is that not all the software it comes with is Mac compatible. For example the CD burning software.
Rating:
Summary: Buy it and buy it now
Review: This little machine is amazing, sounds great, it can play MP3 as many as you can get on an 80min CD-R or CD-RW, I got about 170-190 more if all songs were encoded to MP3 at 128kbs. But the unit will play up to 999. You can patch it to your home stereo with a [$] patch cord from any electronics store that will patch to your RCA jacks on your stereo receiver and play your MP3 for 5 hours on one disk. Who needs a 300 cd player when you have this. You can get a car kit and play the MP3 through your car stereo. I now only take 4-5 cds with me in the car and I have my entire CD collection with me, how amazing is that. Plus, you can update the software to the player and you instantly have new features loaded. And getting the updated features on the player is simple. You can also play CD-R or CD-RW's with regular WAV files or play your regular cds. No skipping, I shook the unit and no skipping at all. The thing also spins up the song and once it has the song spun up the CD stops spinning to save on battery life, WOW!!! What else could you ask for, it even comes with software for you to burn mp3 and organize your music. Go, go now and buy this, you will not regret it!!!!
Rating:
Summary: Rio Volt - beyond expectations
Review: This is an awesome thing! I owned I-JAM 828 - a first generation player and switched to Rio as soon as it was out. I will not expand on all the advantages of the player - it is simply the best of what is out now, both in terms of functionality and sound quality. I had a chance to try out Sonic Blue customer support - I smashed my remote and asked for a replacement. It was promptly shipped to me by Fedex within several days - no problems. Overall, I am very glad to have this little toy and highly recommend it.
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