Rating: 
Summary: Life is GOOD thanks to the RioVolt!!!
Review: WOW! with that said, let me make a few brief remarks about how amazing this thing is. for starters, lets just look all that it can do: cd player, mp3/wma cd player, fm radio, programable play lists, shuffle, repeat, resume, remote control and equalizer. it comes w/ 2 types of headphones, pleather carrying case (with shoulder strap and belt clip) and a set of rechargeable batteries. next, let's look at the specifics: it DOES NOT skip (I was brave and while engaging the 8 minute skip protection, i dropped this thing about two feet to the ground and no skip), the equilizer has presets and a user configuration ability (nice!), when you create your mp3 cds, you can organize the folders on the cd and then flip through them on the RioVolt (this is good as it makes it easier to find what you want i.e. songs categorized by genre, album, or artist is easy and convenient = BONUS!!). finally, the price is right. now i know that rio's portable mpe3 players like the rio 600 and 800 have been known to be a little quirky, but allow me to lay your fears to rest by saying that the rio volt sp250 couldnt be any better if it tried. if you want a great discman to play cd's, fm, and mp3 and are skeptical of the high capacity mp3 players like nomad and archos (as you should be) then the rio volt sp250 should already be in your hands. if not, stop reading reviews and go buy one!! merry christmas!!
Rating: 
Summary: It is good
Review: I have had mine for a year now and it kicks azz! I don't think they break so easy, since mine was wedged between a metal stopper and an iron crate being pushed by a forklift! It dented the batteries in the case, I can't charge the batteries in the player anymore and the lid is a tad bit crooked, but it still plays perfect and the display works fine too. That convinced me that is was rock solid. Just hope you don't have any problems with it, because Riovolt has the worst customer service ever rated, they are horrible to talk to. just so you know.
Rating:
Summary: Great player
Review: I have had mine for over a year now and haven't had any trouble. Mine gets extremely lite use, (I only use it every other month), but the the case has held up. I've taken it on several trips and never had a problem. I'm sure to keep it in the included case although it is a bit ugly it prevents scratching and gives a little cushion if you drop it. The sound quality is excellent and I haven't had any trouble with the firmware. Battery life is acceptable and the controls are easy. I haven't had any skipping problems either. Overall I would recomend it, but if you need a rough and tumble player this is not for you. Spend the extra cash and go with a flash or hard drive based player.
Rating:
Summary: VERY COOL
Review: I've had this player about 3 days and am still learning the in's and out's but I'm impressed. I can't compare it to other MP3 players, never had any. I absolutely love the technology of being able to carry around a CD with 150 songs on it. That fact alone is awesome. It costs 3 times more than a Walkman but it's 3 times more fun having all that music on 1 CD. It doesn't skip and the batteries have not run down after quite a few hours of play. There's a lot of options as far as playing the music, you can shuffle or program playlists, etc. I'm still figuring out all the options, it's fairly complicated but if you can program your digital watch and/or VCR you can figure out most of the functions without help. The headphones are OK, I'll probably shop around for a better pair. I dig the leather carrying case, it fits perfectly. I have a little trouble accidentally hitting a button and inadverdantly changing modes or something while trying to hook or unhook the unit on my belt. The FM reciever is good, picks up stations as well or better than my car stereo. I'm still learning about it but so far I LOVE IT!
Rating:
Summary: This cool little player is one HOT item!!!
Review: After reading tons of reviews and demoing several CD MP3 players, I finally decided to spend my hard earned on this wonderful little device. The Rio Volt SP250, in my opinion, is as good as they come... and better!It has just about every feature you could dream of in an MP3 player, including: plays MP3's (of course... one would hope - haha), WMA's (with WMA files you could easily fit 20 hours of music on a single CD), it reads audio on CD-R's, CD-RW's, regular Audio CD's, and can be upgraded with firmware that you download from the Net to make it compatible with future formats (this is awesome because the player will never be outdated as far as usability is concerned; you will always be able to use it even when new music file formats come out later). The SP250 has an awesome, loaded, easy-to-read display and the coolest looking backlight ever (Indiglo blue baby!!), and it has an excellent EQ and the bass boost rocks! You can program this thing to play songs just about every way you can imagine and songs can play in order, at random shuffle or repeat. The shock protection is amazing! This sucker just won't skip!!! I sat there shaking the darn thing just to see if I could make it skip and nothing! The battery life is great too. The longest I think of any of the CD MP3 players. 15 hours of use easy with this one and what's better than that??? How about RECHARGABLE BATTERIES!!! YES!!! IT ACTUALLY COMES WITH RECHARGABLE BATTERIES!!! When the batteries get low, just plug the SP250 into the wall and it will recharge (takes about 5 to 7 hours for a complete charge - I just plug it in overnight and I'm good to go)! AWESOME!!! No more spending 6 bucks for a pack of batteries after a few hours of playing on your regular old walkman. It comes with a wired remote that is so easy to use you only need to play with it for a couple of minutes to figure it out. All those people whining about a... manual just need to open their mind (grin). I didn't read a thing and was having a blast with thing in no time. The stock wired remote is very cool and easy to use, but for... you can order a wired remote that also has a LCD display on it. That would be cool. Too bad it doesn't come with the SP250, but that's such a minor concern because the remote it does come with is still great and all of the other awesome features just drown out the little things... And think about it anyway, how many CD walkmans come with remotes anyway. This is a nice bonus! I noticed while reading reviews about the SP250 that a lot of people seem to complain about the headphones. ...it isn't enough that it comes with TWO,... styles how come no one mentions that they sound fine... oh, and did I mention it comes with TWO styles of headphones? Most regular CD players you buy that are worth anything don't come with anything but the player and maybe a cheap set of phones, so who can complain here? This thing costed less that my old SONY car discman and it just blows that old SONY away! So headphones? Minor detail. In fact, I thought the stock phones sounded great. That wasn't a big deal to me anyway because I mostly use the player in my car. I already had a car kit from my old player and it plugged right into the Rio (except for the power supply) so I was pleased as punch! If you do like listening with headphones a lot though, I would agree that you can buy a much better pair. The good news also about this player is that it has a lot of power in the volume department!!! You can crank it loud on the headset!!! I just hate it when you get a player that has nothing when you wanna crank it. The Rio does just fine in this department!! The SP250 also comes with a very nice protective carying case. I have one of those clips on the dashboard of my car for my cell phone and it works just as great for putting my SP250 on it while in it's case! Sweeeet! The FM radio is a bonus too. In fact I was having so much with all the features on this thing that I forgot it came with a radio. When I accidentially switched on the radio I was then totally excited. How can this thing be any cooler? It has everything necessary. Now, you might be asking me, do I think there are there any reasons not to buy this thing? NOPE! I can't think of one! Please, don't spend your money on an MP3 player just because it's half as expensive as the Rio Volt SP250. In fact, don't even get a step down from this model (i.e. SP90). I almost did that and I am so glad I went ahead and forked out the rest of the cash on this unit. It is true; YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR!!! This item has a $200 value if you ask me! I would have paid that for it. I got mine...at a store and I know there are some sites that have it a few dollars cheaper, but here's the deal, whatever you pay for it it's worth it. It's a good machine, quite durable, a ton of nice features, AMAZING SOUND QUALITY, and a very intuitive design. Anyone that's ever operated a regular discman can figure this thing out in no time! You will be happy!!! I just love it and highly recommend it. The only thing I wish it had was a car power adaptor. Currently they don't make one for this, but I'm sure one will be on the way given this things increasing popularity. In the mean time it's not so bad because the battery life is fantastic. Just charge it up at night and your set! If you're like me and only get to listen to CD's in your car for maybe an hour a day or less, then you'll love how many days this thing will keep playing before needing a recharge. A great buy! A great product! 5 stars easy! Amazon's a great store too and you should get it here if you can't find it at your local store.
Rating:
Summary: The best, most amazing portable cd player that exists!!!
Review: I spent around a month reading reviews and finding information on the Riovolts. I finally decided on the SP-250 because I had some money to spend and it looked a lot better than the sp-100. Let me garauntee you that it is!!!!! There are hundreds of reasons why this cd player is the best. Here are a few: the backlit display shows everything you need to know including a scrolling song title and artist (its display is way better than the sp-100), it looks pretty nice even though it is just black, you can fit over 200 songs on one cd, finding songs is easy with the navigation feature, you can make playlists usng winamp so you can sort your songs according to artist, genre, etc., sound quality is fantastic, it can get plenty loud, there are preset equalizers including rock, jazz, classical, and extra bass, or you can create your own, it is upgradable from the internet so you can customize tons of things to what you like, and it comes with a remote that has a belt/ shirt clip (the remote can controls all of the main things you would want like volume, skip forward or backward a song, stop play, mode). It also comes with two sets of heaphones. The headphones are horrible, but the earphones are pretty descent (it's not like any headphones that come with a cd player are that great). I would spend the 20 bucks to get nice headphones. The black leather carrying case is extrememly nice and useful and it allows you to control the riovolt while its in its case. The case also has a belt clip and a shoulder strap that you can attach. It also comes with an ac adapter and two rechargable batteries. The only bad things that I have found in the Riovolt are that upgrading it and making playlists are kind of complicated, and the getting started guide that it comes with doesnt tell you much so its best to print out the user guide that is on one of the cds that the riovolt comes with. I would completely suggest this to everyone. It is a fantastic portable cd player and never skips because it has 45 or 180 second esp for regular cds and 8 minute esp for mp3 cds.
Rating: 
Summary: I've had one for a year
Review: I was issued this player when I began my training. It is a pretty good player. It comes with 2 sets of headphones. AC adapter, rechargable batteries, carrying case, remote, and some software. I don't really believe it is worth the money for what I use it for. I don't use the radio. I only use it to listen to music now and used it to listen to MP3 files on discs issued to me for class. I think it is a bit ridiculous to have an 8 minute shock protection, especially when mine skips when I run. I had to stop it and didn't even use it the last time I ran because it was skipping so bad. I have dropped mine a few times and now it makes a funny noise when the cd rotates, but it still works. I know people who have said that it is easy to break the plastic. I know someone who has to use a rubber band to keep it closed. I think it is a nice player, however I am very disappointed in the 8 minute skip protection that doesn't work, I really don't think it is worth the price.
Rating: 
Summary: Not good
Review: If you are looking into buying a Mp 3 player DON'T buy this one. I had it for two years and I had to replace it onced beacouse of the cheap plastic. The plastic tab that closes the cd player just snaped off. Plus sometimes when you hit a bump in a road or when u shake it up it will start skiping. I really think that if you are interested in a Mp 3 player, Cd player and a radio player you should look for diffrent one.
Rating: 
Summary: Good looks, but Cheap Product
Review: Looks wise, i prefer this over the Iriver players, as the Text display is builtin the player itself, not the remote. However, the if you turn the player too much, like while running, or keep it upside down for long, it shuts down. Also, it has little trouble reading MP3 cd's with too many folders in them. Lastly, the metal plate inside which opens the player gets easily damaged over a few months, if used often.
Rating:
Summary: Poor Construction/ Poor Warrenty
Review: I think the options and updatable firmware are great, but that's as far as the praise goes. Mine slid off my knee, while sitting on a couch, and landed on a carpeted floor one foot below. The plastic of which the item's made, broke in three places (two of which were the door hinges). So I wrigged it to work, but a few months later out of the blue it wouldn't read the disc past the loading screen. I explained the above event to tech support and they informed me that the "drop" voided the warrenty. I'm very displeased with this expensive cd player.
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