Rating: 
Summary: Display leaves much to be desired
Review: I played with this little thing for a week before I returned it. Having a portable MP3 CD player has been on the top of my wish list for years, and although the wish has finally come true, a few little elements leave some to be desired.The display pushed my patience into a wall. The characters are much bigger than they should be and the scrolling speed is excrutiatingly slow. And what's up with those little dancing guys at the little bottom of the display? Excess usage better utilized to display more information. I'd also prefer to see more information displayed on the screen, preferably more information off the ID3 tag and the bitrate of the song. But, the device works, and it works well. Sound reproduction was top-notch and the included headphones were excellent.
Rating: 
Summary: The Best Just Keeps Getting Better
Review: The single best thing about this player is FIRMWARE UPGRADEABILITY...I just upgraded to Version 2.01 (from 1.11) and almost every problem I've encountered (they were not really problems, just small annoyances) has been corrected...The player no longer skips AT ALL when playing MP3s...I've shaken it until my arms have tired and it's not missed a beat. If anyone out there is reading this from SonicBlue, please consider adding a way to advance 10 songs or 1 directory with the remote control. Also, if there is anyway possible, I'd love to be able to more quickly scroll the entire name of the song (it is pretty slow to scroll from left to right and when you have 10 songs by the same artist, it takes too long to pick the exact song you want to hear). Does anyone know where I can get a cigarette adapter? The Bottom Line is this is the single greatest gadget I have in my arsenal...I use it all the time, in the car (sounds great with a cassette adapter and I can drive for 10 hours without changing the battery or the CD and without ever listening to the same song twice)...in my home (sounds great hooked to my receiver...you wouldn't even know the music was coming from a portable...I tried another MP3/CD player before the Volt, and the sound from the receiver was simply AWFUL), in a hotel room (hooked to the input jacks of the TV), in the backyard (remote is excellent when mowing grass). I purchased a 50 CD spindle of CDRs for $10 (sale) and haven't run out yet (been 6 months)...With these CDs, you could play 500 hours of songs without ever listening to the same song twice. Compare this to 32MB CompactFlash card (1/2 hour) and you'll see why this player is the best value out there.
Rating:
Summary: Great and keeps getting better with free upgrades
Review: Very good product. I have used it to play lots of music in the last few days and it's been nice. I'll just hit the highlights for all you consumers out there: * Can play a metric buttload of music - I have my entire collection of music on 2 CDs now. I have just been experimenting with Microsoft's WMA version 8 and I'm sure I can fit the entire collection on one disc at near-cd quality. This is amazing for portable players. I am absolutely sure that more will appear in the next year or so with this capability, but for now, there are only a couple on the market that can perform this task. * I had a party a couple of days ago. I hooked my Rio Volt through my stereo (very easy through a little adapter I already had), inserted one of these (300+ songs) digital media CDs and hit shuffle. I didn't worry about music the rest of the night. During the party I looked over at my friend and said, "You know, if we left it on, this would still be playing this time tomorrow and we wouldn't even hear the same song twice." Pretty cool, huh? Who needs a 100 disc CD changer? * The unit itself is not indestructable. I wouldn't drop it on purpose or anything. Plastic, but durable plastic. The remote, I fear, may break some day, too. It looks very nice. * It does skip. I'm a runner and jogged lightly with it this morning. When it was in my pocket, it skipped a couple of times. The 120 second skip protection means it will skip a little in 120 seconds. I saw a product with 8 min skip protection! Well, that just means it'll start skipping in 8 minutes. :) CD players just skip, as of now. In a few years, they won't. I didn't buy an all digital MP3 player because they don't hold as much music, but I hear they don't skip at all. The good news is, that when I ran with the Volt in my hand, it didn't even skip once. * The dancers on the screen you've seen and heard about? Yes, they're pretty annoying if you sit there and stare at them, but if you're doing that, you probably should stop the music and see a doctor. * The navigation system is awesome. Just burn a CD using your regular file folders on your computer and they show up on the Volt! I have organized my MP3s by author for years and they transfered like a dream. I LITERALLY just cut and pasted the files, burned the disc, and popped it in the Volt. Now it's just up and down the list, to the song you want (ID3 tags and lables are fully compatible), and BAM, you're there. * The headphones are not that bad. They're a little tin-ny, but not cheap headphones. I have another set of headphones, and it does sound better with them, but that's minor. I'll still use the ones that come with it when I'm out. * The Equalizer has several presets that are very nice. You can also adjust the equalizer via the "user defined" setting ( I haven't needed to). * 8-15 hours of battery time is not bad for an MP3 player. * The firmware upgrade was easy to install and use, although it did cost me a CD. Who cares with all the features you get! Plus, Rio is coming out with these upgrades all the time and I am thoroughly impressed with that. Slowly, the music electronics market is starting to keep the pace with things like graphics cards for you PC. I will enjoy my Volt for a good long time. * It comes with a couple of nice CD burning programs. These were an upgrade for my computer and added a few features I didn't have before. * I have a few audiobooks and have transfered them to disc using a disc-saving compression and now don't have to carry around the 20-30 discs per book. Nice. * Overall, if you're considering buying a portable CD/MP3/WMA player, you can't go wrong with this one. This is just about top-of-the-line. 93% rating - A
Rating:
Summary: Storage capacity - ease of use - all I can say is AWESOME!
Review: After reading the good and bad reviews here on AMAZON, I was having second thoughts about purchasing. However, I bit the bullet and went with it. I received the RIO Volt and popped the batteries in. After locating my CD R/W of MP3 files I had amassed over the last several monts, I was off and running. At the worst the version 1.13fp firmware is slow to load the disc. After upgrading to 2.00 I am thoroughly impressed!!! It's got to be four (or more) times faster in loading the disc!!!!!! Hooked up to my home stereo, I now have a jukebox that pumps out music for hours! In the car, there were NO skips and audio performance seems equal to my Sony Discman playing the original Audio CD's. All in all, I can't comment on those who complain about skipping while walking. IMHO if that's what you are going to use it for, you are buying a CD based player for the wrong reason. You need memory based storage to prevent the moving parts issue from being your worst nightmare. This ID3 tag capable player will be the most used audio product I own. I can't find a single thing about it that I don't like. Use of the unit could be a bit cumbersome for those who are "technologically challenged". If you need a product with the KISS (Keep It Simple, Stupid) mentality designed in. This may not be the one. Thank you SonicBlue for the great product! All other manufacturers take note: this IS the player to beat!!!!!
Rating:
Summary: Tricky Software
Review: I love the player and all, but I can't figure out how to encode my music into .wma format. I've tried all the help stuff, and nothing has any information. If anyone knows anything about this, could they please write a reply?
Rating:
Summary: RIO Volt: Sounds Great and Easy to Use
Review: This RIO Volt CD MP3 is great. I can fit 12+ albums on one CD. It was easy to learn how to navigate thru directories and files. The Song title scrolls across the display. The sound is great. It has an equalizer with setting such as rock, jazz, classical Bass. I take the RIO Volt on the subway and leave my bulky CD wallet at home. If you are looking for an affordable digital music solution, this is it. You can get CD-Rs for .50 and burn CDs with whatever music you feel like listening to and [throw] them when you get bored with them.
Rating:
Summary: Great capabilities, no doubt a better buy than a jukebox!
Review: I came very close to buying a Nomad Jukebox because of its ability to store my entire collection of music. But the four-hour lasting power of the batteries discouraged me (I'm taking a lengthy trip where recharging will not be an option). I bought a Rio Volt and I'm thrilled with it. The batteries last about fifteen hours, but it can easily be plugged in (great for work). The lcd displays the artists and song which is fantastic for when you're listening to newer stuff you haven't listened to much. The remote that comes with it does make my wire fairly lengthy, but it's nice to be able to change songs without taking it out of the case it came with (nice hole exactly where in/out wires are.) Firmware updates are simple and quick, I update mine to version 2.0 in about 10 minutes with no hassles. My 1000+ collection fit easily onto four cds and I have trouble finding enough songs to fill any more! Durable, easy to use and streamlined packaging all make the volt a great buy at only 160 or so, compared to other mp3 players at this price, you can only take 20 songs or so with you. With the volt, you can take them all! Don't get me wrong, the Nomad Jukebox is awesome, but I'm waiting for better battery capabilities. Until then, a volt is the answer to the mp3 question for me.
Rating:
Summary: make's mp3's fun
Review: This Player Is Great Finally An Inexpensive player with great features and Flexabilty . Now you can make those fun cd mixes of your favorites for the road, parties or hiking. and with firmware updates already avaiable it seems that the company is in full support of this great player.
Rating:
Summary: great product
Review: I bought it a week ago and I love it. It plays both audio and mp3 cd's very well.
what I do not like in rio volt:
a) it is a little bit big and heavy
b) manufactured of [bad] materials (almost all plastic)
c) no display on the remote
d) lcd display on rio itself if small and if you have long
filenames it takes time before you can read it all
e) the firmware isn't working well (after upgrade it works
great!!)
Why do I give it five stars??? I own a sony cd walkman..., InnoGear mp3 player for handspring... and a walkman (circa...). I was not happy with any of them. CD - only 15 songs and you have to change cd's frequently, what sometimes might be tricky (in crowded subway, for example). MP3 Player for handspring can store only 64 MB of mp3's. If I record music I can't change it until I get home - so for the whole day I am stucked with one album. Furthermore it eats my visior's batteries very quickly. Walkman? Well... I am just to modern for this one. And here comes Rio Volt. Simple, but powerful. I just throw onto one CD circa 200 songs, put 2-3 cd's in my bag and if I go to school or work I can choose from 400-600 songs (26-40 albums). However, I recommend buying Rio Volt only to those who have 1 GB+ of mp3's. If you have only 10 MB - 500 MB of songs, better think of a cd player or regular mp3 player. Personally, I have 4,5 GB of mp3 and Rio was a great choice for me.
Rating:
Summary: great product
Review: I bought it a week ago and I love it. It plays both audio and mp3 cd's very well.
what I do not like in rio volt:
a) it is a little bit big and heavy
b) manufactured of cheap materials (almost all plastic)
c) no display on the remote
d) lcd display on rio itself if small and if you have long
filenames it takes time before you can read it all
e) the firmware isn't working well (after upgrade it works
great!!)
Why do I give it five stars??? I own a sony cd walkman ..., InnoGear mp3 player for handspring ... and a walkman ... I was not happy with any of them. CD - only 15 songs and you have to change cd's frequently, what sometimes might be tricky (in crowded subway, for example). MP3 Player for handspring can store only 64 MB of mp3's. If I record music I can't change it until I get home - so for the whole day I am stucked with one album. Furthermore it eats my visior's batteries very quickly. Walkman? Well... I am just to modern for this one. And here comes Rio Volt. Simple, but powerful. I just throw onto one CD circa 200 songs, put 2-3 cd's in my bag and if I go to school or work I can choose from 400-600 songs (26-40 albums). However, I recommend buying Rio Volt only to those who have 1 GB+ of mp3's. If you have only 10 MB - 500 MB of songs, better think of a cd player or regular mp3 player. Personally, I have 4,5 GB of mp3 and Rio was a great choice for me.
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