Rating: 
Summary: Sk--Ski--Ski--Skipssss
Review: Hey, I do like it. It's looks good. It feels like a quality unit. When it plays it sounds great. BUT MAN IT SKIPS. To be fair, it seems to decide to skip on certain songs only. Looking at everyone else's comments, I can only conclude certain MP3 formats give the Rio decoder trouble. I'd hate to have to re-encode approx. 10% of my library to bandaid this problem. Perhaps the Rio people can PUT THIS ISSUE AT THE TOP OF THEIR LIST on the next code update.
Rating: 
Summary: Works well ... if you are experiencing rigor mortis
Review: I was initally pleased with this product after I unpacked it and tried it out. Unfortunately, like others that have written reviews, that all changed after I tried to take it for a walk. The skip protection on this unit is totally useless. Unless you are standing almost completely still, it skips like crazy. I don't know how this company can claim it has 120 seconds of anti-skip memory. I can make it skip in a much shorter period even after being completely still for minutes before. Maybe you get 120 seconds if you encode at 8 kbps? I can't recommend this product for mobile usage. Isn't that what a portable is for?
Rating: 
Summary: THIS THING KICKS A**
Review: I am soooo happy i bought this thing... it is my best investment i have bought for the MP3 industry!!! I love it... i have about 80 songs on a disk so far and its not even half full. If there were 10 stars it would be 10.5! BUY THIS!!! BUY IT NOW!!!
Rating:
Summary: Best MP3/CD player you can get.
Review: This is the best mp3 cd player you can get... i've managed to burn a disc with 362 files when encoded in wma 64 kbps (the same as mp3 at 128 kbps...). the unit works great and i love the fact you can upgrade it with firmware. This unit is recommended to every one who loves music or even just audio...
Rating:
Summary: Ok for 1st generation
Review: I have been waiting for this device for a long time. It works well but lacks some usablitity features that hopefully will be addressed in future generations. First off, there is no support for playlists. It reads all the files and you can go through sequentially or randomly and thats it. Secondly, and most frustrating, is that the device forgets all settings between sessions. If you like the 'shuffle all' option, you have to set it each and every time you start the player. And not only that, it is six or seven clicks of the mode button to set it. This wouldn't be so bad if wasn't for the unfathomable decision of the engineers to set a maximum pause time before the device automatically shuts off. Do they think so little of the consumers that they don't think users should be able to decide for themselves what is an acceptable battery drain vs. pause time? If you are really, really want a device that reads CD-R right now, get it (despite my complaints, I use it heavily). If you think it is cool but aren't in any big rush, wait for the next generation.
Rating:
Summary: It does not skip at all with rightfully encoded MP3s
Review: When I first got the unit, I loved it when I played the first song on my MP3-CDRW, when it got to the second one, SKIPPING ALL THE WAY!... Then I noticed that it was always skipping at the same place, even though it did not skip when I played it in the computer. This was a song I downloaded from the internet, so I don't know what program was used to compress the song. So what I did was to reencode the song, turned it into a WAVE and then back into MP3, WOOHOO! NO MORE PROBLEMS!! So all of you who are having problems with some songs, that I am sure were not encoded by you, this is the fix. Now I get hundred of hours of great non-skip music. Also I have found that the unit starts playing CD-R faster than CD-RW, so if you are kind of annoyed by the 20 seconds or so that it takes for CD-RWs to start playing, try using CD-Rs... This unit is great and I recommended over any other unit out there right now!
Rating:
Summary: As good as it gets!
Review: I just got the Rio Volt as a present and it does live up to the hype. Upgrading the firmware was a snap, all it required was burning a file to the CD and starting the player with the CD inside. This upgrade adds features like resume and the ability to keep the backlight on. Not wanting to take the time with burner software, I just copied about 150 songs onto a CD-RW, and it plays without a hitch, no skipping like I've heard in some reviews. Navigating the CD is a snap, as a function will allow you to browse the CD while it is playing. Granted I take great care when creating my MP3's but the sound is excellent, though I discarded the enclosed headset (I do not care for earbuds). The remote control works well, though it does not have the navigation button. Lastly, it is an elegant looking, with a large display clearly showing the ID3 tag, something few MP3 CD players do. Simply, a player that holds 10X the music most MP3 players hold.
Rating: 
Summary: Watch Out for Sonic Blue Support
Review: I received my unit and right and was quite happy with it. I listen to books on tape and have over a 100 Cd's that contain my books on tape collection in MP3 format. I own two Rio 500 MP3 Players and have been using those for play back. After reading a few reviews I updated my Firmware. Very easy to do. On one of my music MP3 disks I had a few songs that would crash the player. Basically the player will reboot. So far I have not had the same problem with my books on tape. May have to do with the fact that I encoded all my own tapes to MP3. Quality if the sound is good and the output is sufficient as well. The EQ works ok but I use The 'ROCK' EQ most of the time. The ID3 Tags work great and the dir navigation is good too. Battery indicator does not work to well. Basically thing just shuts down with out much warning. Here are a list of problems for those who use this to listen to books on tape. 1.The scan speed can be set to X6 at the maximum. Most of my files are in multiple 45 to 60 minute segments. It can take up to 10 minutes to scan to the end of one of these. 2.No bookmarks 3.When you stop the player resets to first file in first dir. 4.Using the program option is the only way to play a set of books segments and then stop when done. If you don't use the Program option it will skip to the book 5.When you hit the stop button you loose the program Over All I like the player however I am sending it back as the Sonic Blue Support is the worst in the industry. Once 90 days has past you can not get them to honor the warranty. I have A rio 500 that is having problems that is still under warranty and they have been giving me the run around for over a month now. Soon it will be out of warranty. Given the problems I have been having with there support the RioVolt is going back and I am going to purchase a OEM AVC SOUL... Same unit.
Rating:
Summary: I'm an avid cyclist - and NO SKIPS
Review: I've read several reviews form people who say that their unit skips...I personally can't verify that in the least. I do quite a bit of mtn biking with my rio volt in a fanny pack on my waist, and the unit has only skipped 5 or 6 times. This is doing some serious biking, jumping logs, etc., so I can't really agree with people who have it skip during just walking. Possibly they have defective units or bad cd burns. I am using the latest firmware: ... (I have not used it with any other versions so I can't attest to that being a problem). There are some issues with the player: 1) With the remote, you cannot switch modes of play i.e. shuffle within another directory. 2) Battery door seems flimsy, although it hasn't broken after nonstop use >20 battery changes (NiMH). 3) Display could have more lines for navigation...but that doesn't affect me much because I always use the remote. 4) Earbuds are crap, don't even consider using them, they feel like they are going to rip open my ear. I have an old Sony set I bought for ..., so no biggie. All in all, this is a great player for ME and what I use it for. I can put one cd with 275 96kbs wma files, and ride all day, without worrying about batteries, changing cds or anything.
Rating:
Summary: What do you mean it's not great?
Review: I'm writting in response to some negative reviews i've noticed on this page... I for one am very happy with my rio volt. I love that it supports wma files (not just mp3 cds) because as windows media files take up half the space of mp3s of the same audio quality (as tested and reported by zdlabs), I've fit about 500 tracks on one disc. It is an 80 minute cdr, and I have had no trouble playing it back. The latest firmware update provides improved functionality like the ability to turn off the display of file type (making more of the song title readable), a resume function, the ability to navigate a directory hirarchy, and the ability to keep the backlight on while on AC power. There is also beta support for asf files. Sonic blue is making a concerted effort to maintain an updated product, and a quick question fired off to their free email tech support was answered within 24 hours. I'm very pleased with the Rio Volt.
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